Eddie and I, in an attempt to be culturally relavant, tried to read The DaVinci Code--recommended by librarians, coworkers, and Americans in general. We made it to chapter six, before we threw it down in disgust: not because of a wierd worldview, though there is that, and not because of a lack of historical accuracy, though there is that. No, rather, we just about gagged on the writing, which showed a serious lack of literary talent.

Not only did Brown make up words by adding "ly" indiscriminately, but he used nary a strong verb or noun in the entire six chapters. Rather, every one of his sentences contained at least one (and usually about twenty!) adjectives and adverbs. My husband is not much of a reader, and this book drove even him crazy (you can imagine that it drove me, a former English major, completely insane).

I am concerned for America's soul, concerned that she shows far too much similarity to the ancient Romans (who after swearing to follow Brutus to the death, turned on him after a rousing speech by Antony), concerned that she can't tell right from wrong to save her life. But I am also concerned by her total lack of literacy, not just in being unable to write well, but in being completely incapable of knowing terrible writing when she sees it. Americans are not stupid all the time, but when it comes to chosing which books to put on the bestseller list, they show themselves remarkably illiterate.

Sometimes my husband and I will be browsing through books at Barnes and Noble when we come across one that is very badly writen. We remark to each other (just loudly enough to be heard by interested eavesdroppers), "Oh boy, this author's trying to pull a Dan Brown!"