Novels come and go. Most are ignored. A few climb the best sellers lists and quickly descend. A lucky few hover for two or four weeks. The Da Vinci Code, on the other hand, has built a permanent home on top of the lists. Published in April 2003, it is currently #3 on the New York Times best seller list for hardcover fiction. And according to this March 8th article, sales are not slowing down:
Twenty-five million books, in 44 languages, are in print worldwide and no end is in sight. Booksellers expect The Da Vinci Code to remain a bestseller well into 2005. A planned film version by Oscar-winning director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind) should bring in even more readers. And at a time when consumers are supposedly minding their budgets, sales for the $24.95 US hardcover have been so good that Doubleday still has set no date for a paperback.
That means the novel has sold over a million copies per month for nearly two years. So why has it been so successful?
The Da Vinci Code has also thrived during a time when both literary and commercial novels struggled, when a tight economy, competition from other media and election-year tensions drove the public to non-fiction works or away from books altogether. Publishers and booksellers say Brown's novel has worked by combining narrative excitement and provocative - and disputed - historical detail. "It just proves that people want more substance in their books. They like a good, meaty read," says Laurence J. Kirshbaum, chairman of the Time Warner Book Group.
"More substance"? "Meaty"? One Whopper® has more substance and meat than a pile of Coded Craziness—despite the novel being filled with dozens of whoppers. Might I suggest a nutritional, balanced, and healthy alternative?
Ron Howard, the all-American boy "Opie Taylor" and "Richie Cunningham", is planning an anti-Christian movie. Hmmmm. The devil is certainly active. We should not fret because this is a good opportunity to speak the truth to others. We can use the book and movie as points of departure. There may not be enough of us but maybe some will be shown the truth.
Posted by: pazdziernik | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 04:40 PM
"Meaty"? This is one word that does NOT describe DVC. Light, fluffy, splenda and tissue paper are words that come to mind.
I agree with Paz above, the devil is involved in this.
I'm glad your book is out. I mention it in an article that will be out shortly (April) in This Rock. Hope you like it!
Posted by: Nancy Brown | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 05:42 PM
A few weeks ago I spoke with Barbara Nicolosi, of Act One fame, about the progress on the film and if there was a timeline for completion.
She said that they haven't even gotten the script finished yet and working on it has been the real sticking point.
I wonder why? A movie filled with lectures wouldn't be that exciting.
Posted by: Sean Gallagher | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 06:06 PM
The movie is slated to be released in mid-May 2006. I've also heard that they are having problems with the script. The novel is essentially a soap opera with much (false) intellectual pretense and loads of anti-Catholic blathering, which doesn't make for much of a major motion picture. It wouldn't shock me if it either flopped, or was at least raked over the coals by many critics. One can always hope, I suppose...
Posted by: Carl Olson | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 06:18 PM
If there's a delay in the script it's probably over an attempt to get the right quota of verbal profanity and immoral nudity into it. Any word on who the actors/actresses may be?
Posted by: pazdziernik | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 07:10 PM
Tom Hanks is playing Robert Langdon, the "hero." Audrey Tautou is playing Sophie Neveu and Jean Reno is playing French police captain Bezu Fache. Here's a link:
http://videoeta.com/movie.html?id=58471
Posted by: Carl Olson | Wednesday, March 09, 2005 at 08:52 PM