Kibbitzing THE LOST SYMBOL at the Vulture Reading Room

The fine folks at New York Magazine invited me on board for the newest edition of the Vulture Reading Room, their occasional online book club. And just when you thought THE LOST SYMBOL had reached its saturation point, well, here it is again, discussed in round-table format by Geoffrey Pullum (of the University of Edinburgh and Language Log), Rolling Stone provocateur Matt Taibbi, the magazine’s contributing editor and publishing reporter Boris Kachka, book critic Sam Anderson, and yours truly.

Anderson kicked things off in parodic style, followed by Pullum’s explanation of why Dan Brown is America, and I veered on the side of wacky by bringing in klezmer music, lame attempts at parody, the weird creative juju at Amherst College during the 1980s, celibacy-mutilation complexes, the A-Team, Glenn Beck, and Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Lord knows where it will go from here, but find out over the course over the next few days…