the fallacy of the da vinci code

or why i dislike a book i've never read.

i normally reserve my judgment for things - books, movies, people, food - until i've actually tried them for myself. but since i do not intend to ever read this book, i'm gonna have to go ahead and semi-blindly criticize it. everybody LOVES this book, it's their new favorite! it's such a page turner and just a really good story. they promise that if i could just ignore the entire premise of the story (you know, the outrageous conspiracy theories about my church) then i would love it too. sweet, let me simply cast aside my sense of reality and fully embrace this marvelous tale.

i'm kidding of course, i take criticism with immeasurable grace. and really, part of the reason i won't read it is just because everybody loves it. i tend to enjoy being difficult like that. so if dan brown wants to write a novel with an exciting plot that is full of half truths, that's fine.

my problem is that people think it's reality. once and for all: it is a piece of fiction. you do not need a dateline special or a half-hour documentary on the history channel to explain that he made this up. he's a writer. of fiction. that means his stories aren't true. fiction=pretend. nonfiction=reality. there's a difference and it's an important one.

stepping off the soapbox and tucking it nicely under my bed......for now.