Reading Rainbow

Yesterday a friend of mind was bitching about everyone reading "The Da Vinci Code" and taking it so uber-seriously. Now while I agree that the darned thing is just a book that manages to hold your attention most of the way through, I'm not as vehemently anti-DVC as he is.

I think his analogy of DVC as the adult's Harry Potter was incredibly apt: everyone is reading it and talking about it and speculating here and there. Much like Harry Potter, the book is being taken a bit too seriously for what it is. However, the comparison is a good one in a positive way as well. Harry Potter got an entire generation of children interested in books again. Sure it would be better if they were all reading a higher caliber of book, but in the age of the internet and PlayStation 2, isn't it nice to know that kids are clamoring for the next Harry Potter book as much as the next version of Grand Theft Auto?

With adults, it's pretty much the same thing. Work, family, life, can all interfere with the unadulterated pleasure you get from reading. If a book, any book is energizing people over the age of 18 to read, then can we really be so derisive? Again, it would be wonderful if the book that caught the country's attention was "Moby Dick" or "The Iliad", but something that doesn't involve a Fabio look-alike on the cover isn't all that bad, now is it?

Of course if "Troy" does well, who knows? Maybe Homer will start getting residuals...