LDS Ladies Book Club discussion

Who all will be reading Inferno with me?

I would like to read this one and comment as we go. I liked the suggestions about prefacing each comment with a subject line (don't read unless up to chapter 15, etc.). What do you all think of this?

I am planning on reading Inferno, if I can get a copy of it. I'm tempted to buy it but we'll see :)

I bought it! But I have all Dan Brown's Robert Langdon books. They are my guilty pleasure books.

I want to read it, but there are 20 holds on 2 copies at the library. I might buy it???

If you have Amazon Prime you could rent it free or get a cheaper Kindle copy. I bought it because I love a good hardback.

Since I couldn't get a hold of Inferno in time (I'm #30 on the hold list), I went ahead and picked up The Lost Symbol...
Has everyone who is reading Inferno read The Lost Symbol??
If so, would anyone like to discuss that with me as I read along?? :)

I have read The Lost Symbol and would love to discuss with you!

Yay! I will get started tomorrow... I have to finish my final paper today... (Darn schooling gets in the way of my reading! LOL)

I'm new to this but I have already read Inferno and would love to discuss it. How does this work?

We will start a new thread. Wait until July 1st to begin posting please. Some of us won't be starting the book until then. When the new thread is started, just preface your post by saying, "if you are up to chapter __ read the following", or something to that effect.

Ok! I'm up to Chapter 20 in The Lost Symbol! Yikes! How does Langdon always seem to get pulled into these crazy hunts?! Lol
I totally grossed out with the severed hand! I hope Peter is ok... His sister couldn't bare to lose him...
Speaking of which, Noetic Science!!! Is that real?!! Cuz on my mission I learned something close to that at a zone confernce one time, and it totally hit home for me!!! Anyone want to hear about it?! (I found it SO interesting, but I don't want to bite you guys since its not a out the book!)
Ok... And the other thing about this book is the author... Anyone else notice how easily he explains away religion??? Like as if Christianity were just simple-minded people's way of explaining how some guy who was really smart managed to cool them all??? I don't know... The way he knocks religions kinda bugs me... I mean I'm cool with it because I'm very secure in my beliefs... I just think that his explanations could cause someone whose testimony isn't very strong to waiver... You know?

Ugh! Darn auto-correct!!!
That was supposed to say bore not bite! Lol

And again... Fool, not cool!! (Rolling my eyes)... Sorry, I'm done. :)

I would like to hear about the zone conference.

I think A LOT of intellectuals explain away religion. It seems easy to find among really intelligent people that research things to death. They don't ever rely on faith, only facts. You have to exercise faith to have a testimony of it.

Planning to read Inferno in July, as well.

I listened to Inferno last month

Im at Chapter 19. How is everyone doing? I'm liking it so far. It's just like all his other books, but I don't care, they are entertaining!

Good news! i finished Lost Symbol, and loved it! What a surprise ending that was!!! it was his son all along!!! who knew?! lol
More good news... my copy of Inferno came in, and i am already reading it! yay! Definitely entertaining! I'm at chapter 11, and I have to say at least this book didnt start with him being pulled into some crazy scheme while trying to lecture! Lol
I'm excited to see where this book goes!

I'm on chapter 19. I'm enjoying it, too. I read The Lost Symbol yesterday to get me back in the Dan Brown mood. It's a good one for sure. Better than Angels and Demons.

I'm on chapter 34 for now, and while I'm enjoying my book, I have to say, Brown's descriptions of the various places in Italy have me feeling like I'm reading a tour guide's book! Lol I wouldn't be surprised if someone paid him to be so descriptive just to increase tourism of those areas! Lol

I agree! This book in the series, so far, isn't quite as good as the others. I keep waiting for some really intense stuff like the other books!

Are we ready to discuss this book yet? Where is everyone in this book? I just finished chapter 54... Just want to know how far into the book it is safe to speak about without spoiling it for anyone...

I'm on chapter 60.

Anyone done?

I am!

Heather nailed it on a few points I agree with. The things I didn't like though, was it read like a travel log, requiring Google the whole time to keep up. I enjoyed the The Lost Symbol for the action and historic content. Anyone else find the ending of Inferno intriguing?

I agree... I had a hard time enjoying this book because it felt like a travel magazine... It was hard to ignore that fact.... What I did like was all the twists of thinking we know who someone is and finding out later we were wrong! Lol Most obviously, I am referring to FS-2080 being Sienna Brooks, who ends up being Bertrand's lover, and then who ends up twisting again to stop the virus, but also many more: Vayentha ends up working for the WHO, along with Agent Bruder and his team, instead of for the Consortium. Robert Langdon ends up being drugged and cut, instead of shot with amnesia, like we thought throughout the while book. Bertrand's virus ends up being a sterility virus, not a Black Plague kind of virus like Zobrist kept hinting at... I would have to say that the biggest shock/relief for me was reading on to find out that FS-2080 was actually a girl (Sienna), and that Bertrand wasn't gay... I just SO did not see that coming! Lol So, because the ending had so many twists and surprises, I did enjoy the ending!!

Yes I could second everything you said!!! I also find the whole sterility virus an intriguing idea. Scary and horrible, but makes sense if someone really wanted to save the world from over population. Although, I think there is a good chance a terrorist group could do something similar but instead cause horrible deaths. I wonder if anyone in the world is close to creating a sterility plague?

It's possible, I suppose... But I have faith that God would never let that happen unless all his spirits have had a chance to come down and receive a body...
That being said, chemical warfare scares me more than any other kind of war... It's an enemy that you could never see coming, and that continues to attack when you have no idea it's even there... Especially if the chemical used was a virus that caused Black Plague-like symptoms, how horrible would that be?!
I just read the Maze Runner series that touch on this: the idea of a virus plaguing the earth, and having to watch your loved ones slowly go insane to the point of non-recognition... It was a great series that touched on a very disturbing concept, one that could be quite possible!
Apparently this transhumanist concept is real... Humanity + , and even the FS-2080 code name were all real... And the idea of these transhumanists being largely influential characters in the world: again true... Kinda creepy... What if these were the people calling the shots in our government/communities/so on?!

This could be how the Anti-Christ gains so much power, being "trusted" and recognizable. All this is very thought provoking, and makes me wonder how the end of the world plays out.

I agree... Many people of our faith, even, have fallen to this belief system... There is even an organization set up for Mormons who believe in transhumanism... It's called the Mormon Transhumanist Association (http://transfigurism.org/), and it's based on the idea that so many people in the scriptures have been "transfigured" , and how many lds beliefs are similar to Transhumanist beliefs, etc.
I don't know... To me it sounds like a long shot! I was shocked to see they have this organization! Like, really???!

Finally finished Inferno. I loved all the twists and turns. This book had a lot of what I love about Dan Brown books, the "never saw THAT coming" aspect. This one was a little slower, and I agree that it read like a travelogue sometimes, but the scenic descriptions didn't bother me. Perhaps because I am also reading The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone, which is about Michelangelo and his life in Italy, so it was fun to put the two places together. And, if I ever do get to visit Italy, I think I will know just where to go and what to see. I was also relieved to find out the implied gay relationship wasn't real. A clever way to throw in the gay thing I think. Overall, I liked it and was glad I read it.

I agree Cari. I enjoyed and enjoy the thought provoking aspects of life Dan Brown throws in.

I finished reading it. I found the travelogue/descriptions long and hard to get through. However, the issues brought to our attention, are worth discussing: is fear really the biggest motivator? Can/can't we rely on God's words that 'the earth has enough and to spare' for the world's population? etc

Ellen, good question. I was very curious about the statistics they talked about and how they say the world will be filled with people, or overfilled. I personally think The Lord will come again before this happens. But, if The Lord said it then we have to trust he has a plan. It's all very interesting.