Although not the first book I started reading in 2005, the first I’ve finished is Searching for Bobby Fischer by Fred Waitzkin. A quick and enjoyable read, I went through it in about three days. I’ve seen the movie of the same name a few times but until I saw it on the shelf had never thought about whether it had been based on a book. Waitzkin is a sports writer, so it seems natural for him, neither the forced (and/or ghostwritten) zeal of a father who cannot write, nor the pure detatchment of a journalist. His prose is transparant, caring, and unhurried.
I really hate being a literary snob. For the most part, I think that having a discriminating mind does not serve me. It does not make me happier to point out the flaws in other people’s work; in fact, I’m much happier when I can just sit back and enjoy something that contains flaws galore.
*The Da Vinci Code* made it very difficult. First of all, Dan Brown was dealing with heady stuff: cryptography and religion. That right there raises the bar, engaging the logical, analytical side of me, which makes it hard to ignore lapses in logic and sense.