[A CA Guy]

Oh, so you didn't know people actually converse around the fiction like it is real?

They do and I've heard them do it.

I do wish the more idiotic people who stop taking it seriously.

[Lochlainnach]

I think you're right...to a point. William Faulkner said the best fiction was more real than any reality. Now, of course he was a fiction writer--but he has a serious point. One that illuminates the problems with fiction like Dan Brown's.

There is Literature, and then there is fiction. Literature tries, for the most part, to be of Faulkner's statment--true to life, meant for a purpose beyond publicity and money. Literature is meant to last the ages (to some extent) and influence society in a meaningful manner--whatever that means. Some may call it pretentious, but at least its typically heartfelt and meant to spark minds.

Then we have fiction, the kind of books you throw away after reading, or lose and never think of again. These are the books that get made into movies. And sadly to say, most writing that comes out in America today is fiction. Even nonfiction books like "A Million Little Pieces" seem to fall into the fiction category. Hm. That people talk seriously of Dan Brown's books baffles me...and scares me, and seems indicative of the cultural lowering of the bar, as it were, that elevates people with seeming no talent into the spot light.