Jump to content
Cinnamon

The new Dan Brown

Recommended Posts

Its like that for some men - my FIL lives his life for masonic stuff.

 

Hubby just goes for a laugh,the beer & the fun of some of the rituals :roll::lol:

A lot of his lodge are young men, who have a really nice relaxed attitude to it all.

 

Anyhow, my book has just arrived, so I am off to bed with it,my fluey head,a mince pie & a hot toddy.

 

I may be some time.....................................

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A friend of mine bought it for a fiver in Asda, read it, and actually wept at the humdrumness of the plot and the inelegant sentence construction. But then he is a writer and intellecshool and had probably been drinking.

 

He also has a theory that DB wrote the first one and then the next lot were rushed out under ghost writers as the DB brand was really kicking off and the publishers wanted to capitalise on it. He bases this on sentences like the one in Digital Fortress where a couple of blokes play squash, then go and change (with a few too many descriptive adjectives) and then have 'a cranberry juice'. He says only women and gays would write about that level of detail in a thriller, hence it was ghost written.

 

I read as much of Harry Potter and the Stone of Da Vinci as I could and then thought my eyes would bleed at the prose style and had to stop. He should have had more wizards in it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its looking good so far!

 

OSH, hubby is often suprising me with tales of famous Masons he has met.

Most of them are just normal blokes though, who find the ritual & history interesting.

 

The only benefit we have found is cheap parking in London in the carpark owned by one of the brethren. ........which is pretty handy. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always wondered as a little girl what was with my grandads 'apron, jewels & white gloves'. I'm still none the wiser , apart from knowing it was something to do with the masons. Oh & why do they do the funny handshake, have special words to say when they greet another mason & call each other brother? Is it a sort of religion too?

There is something about a black & white tiled floor in the lodges & the nomination ceremony is something to do with putting white balls in a bag. If someone puts in a black ball, then you are not accepted.

I also remember grandad having to learn his book word for word! :shock:

Aren't masons craftsmen or something?

It's all very hush hush - not sure I like such secrecy. What is it all about - what does go on in the lodges?

I don't like secrecy, but want to know the ins & outs of it all.

 

Emma.x

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always thought it was a society for self gain. Helping each other and all that. That's why it's so frowned on "officially" by the government in such areas as the police. Isn't the "funny handshake" so that you can recognise a fellow brother?

They do charity work but it's all raised within the brotherhood so it's like organised philanthropy, if you like.

The Catholic Church is against freemasonry and its belief in A Supreme Being who might not be God.

I may be wrong about all this, after all I'm not a mason. I don't think I'd pass the half chest bared and the trouser leg raised up test :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not for self gain - there is no self gain at all.

In the Lodge, the philosophy is that everyone is equal. So a street cleaner who is a Mason is the same in every way as a member of royalty for example. Not a bad ethos,really 8)

There are men from every conceivable walk of life in Brian's lodge,including politicians,actors,builders & a window dresser.

 

You would be surprised at the amount of charity work that is done,& the amount of money raised,as well as to where is goes,usually totally anonymously.

There are Masonic charities,schools,hospitals & the like, but most money raised goes directly to the sort of places you & I would know by name - normal charities that support every person.

 

Its not a religion,& anyone of any religion can become a Mason.

As a non believer anyhow,their beliefs & who approves & who does not don't interest me in the slightest.

 

Its just a boys club really. The history of it is really interesting, & some of the buildings that I have been to are wonderful.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dad used to be in the Masons, I remember seeing his apron, we used to call it his pinny to wind him up. He got fed up with it all though, think you have to pay to be a member and he wasn't going often enough. Not a clue what they got up to there though.

 

Interesting article on the BBC about the book and the Masons today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8258575.stm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...