you titled your thread opposition to the da vinci code. You asked if others refused to read it because so many people like it.
If you're saying you don't want to waste your time reading a bad book, and that the books mass appeal leads you to believe the book sucks, that hardly makes sense.
I was like you. I avoided it for at least a year because of all the hype. Then one day I picked it up off my girlfriend's desk, read 10 pages, and finished it the next day. Same thing happened with Angels and Demons. Factually correct or not, Brown's books are fun to read, and read quickly.
Don't punish Brown or the books for how people today follow trends like lemmings, and can be so easily amazed by a book like that.
As a reader, here's one thing I noticed. I never wanted to put down da vinci code. Why? Brown filled the book with cliffhangers. Every chapter would end with something like "it all goes back to that one time when I was a child and...I don't have time to finish that sentence now, I'll tell you next chapter" So he's constantly introducing questions and dangling them in front of you so you want to keep reading for the answer. Is this a cheap trick? Maybe. Did I realize it while I was reading the book? Yes, but I enjoyed reading it anyway. If you've ever studied music, a common technique is to create tension in a phrase, and when it gets to the point of the final note that the ear is suspecting, you back off, and go some other direction with the music. Eventually you come back to the same point, and possibly go elsewhere again. When the ear finally gets to hear the theme end on the note it was expecting, it is satisfying. I think it's the same concept.
Anyway, you've taken the time to make a thread about the book, why not just bite the bullet and read a little bit? If it sucks, or you don't like it, you can put it down. But maybe you'll like it, and then won't you be glad you gave it a chance?
