Playing for Pizza

I picked up Playing for Pizza by John Grisham the last time I was home at my parents' house. I read this book in about three days. Although I wouldn't call this the greatest written word of all time- or even put it on the list- I believe this is a good book made for beach reading. In a stereotypical world a young woman would read one of those dime-store romance novels and a young man would read Playing for Pizza next to her in beach chairs.

The descriptions of food, wine, and the countryside are wonderful. However, the book felt like it was almost taken over by descriptions of football. While I am a fan of the sport, I am about as apathetic towards reading about football as the general Italian population in the book are towards attending the games.

I found the romantic relationships in the book to be refreshing compared to romantic relationships spouted onto the page by other popular authors (i.e. Dan Brown). Rick Dockery is jilted in every way that a man can be in this book, first out of work, a professional with an apathetic agent, and then by the most attractive woman he can find (who can speak English). Then he stumbles across a beautiful, intelligent, strong-willed, and adventurous young woman to provide him with companionship.

This is an entertaining book that is great for summer reading. I hadn't picked it up before because I had already read two or three of his books and wanted to read something fresh. Grisham's adventure out of the legal world was very successful.

Angles and Demons

About a month ago I finished reading Angles and Demons by Dan Brown. At that point in time I was so annoyed that I decided it wasn't worth blogging about. Too many people have read it and liked it for me to give an opinion that matters much and...I haven't seen the movie yet. However, I have very strong opinions on the writing. While I, like most people, really enjoy the history and the discussion of art in Dan Brown's writing, I, unlike many people, am completely disgusted by him at the same time. The major thing that Dan Brown grosses me out with:

The ridiculous "24 hour love" relationship between Professor Langdon and whatever woman is in the book---Of course she is clever and beautiful---Of course she has a thing for smart, older, and self deprecating men. Vomit.

Now, the reason I decided to blog about the fact that Dan Brown is slightly ridiculous is quite simple. I got an e-mail from Borders today. He has written another book in the Robert Langdon series titled The Lost Symbol. This is their teaser for his new book.

"Super symbologist Robert Langdon returns in another gripping story. All we know is that Dan Brown took five years to research a story that takes place is 12 hours"

Great, I bet this one has a 12 hour love relationship.

To be honest, I read The Da Vinci Code about 5 years ago and I actually liked it. I was disappointed with Angels and Demons because it was the basically the same plot. My prediction for the future is that I will read The Lost Symbol and write another angry blog because I have read three books with the exact same plot and somebody (Dan Brown) made a mint just changing the girl, the city, and the art.