Dan Brown? Really?

I read a Yahoo story (below) this morning because the headline intrigued me.

Thoughts, in no particular order:

I would be curious as to the actual poll wording. The Bible comes out as the "most popular" book. Was the question, What is the greatest/most important book of all time? Or what was the best book you ever read? I can see the Bible being the first response to the former, but maybe its just my brain, I probably would not have thought of it as a possible answer to the latter. Could be just me.

For #2, I get the GWTW/LOTR/HP responses. I'll even give you Steven King, though I've never read him myself. But Dan Brown?? Twice in the top 10??? What????

All right, I didn't read Angels and Demons. But I read Da Vinci Code. It was a good yarn, a rip-roaring fast read, and I enjoyed it at the time. But I didn't like it enough to go pick up everything the author ever wrote -- and I do that with most authors. And I would never read it again. Its in the same class as an early Tom Clancy, a good Grisham or Baldacci or Patterson to me -- books that I'll pick up, read in a summer's night, and only vaguely remember.

To me, a truly great book is one you want to read over and over. One you'll pick up in the middle and read to the end on a whim. Or one that you would recommend to a good friend, but buy her her own copy because you can't bear to give up yours. A book like that would be in my top 2 or top 10. And I can't imagine anything by the author of the DaVinci Code, let alone that book itself, making anyone's top 10.

Gotta get going. End rant, I guess.

The story, because if I just linked to it, it would be obsolete in a day:

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - When it comes to literary pursuits in the United States most people agree on at least one thing -- the most popular book is the Bible, according to a new survey.
It came in first in a Harris Poll of nearly 2,513 adults but the second choice in the survey was not as clear cut.
"While the Bible is number one among each of the different demographic groups, there is a large difference in the number two favorite book," Harris said in a statement announcing the results.
Men chose J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and women selected Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" as their second-favorite book, according to the online poll.
But the second choice for 18- to 31-year-olds was J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, while 32- to 43-year-olds named Stephen King's "The Stand" and Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons."
Picks for second-favorite book also varied according to region. "Gone With the Wind" was number two in the southern and midwestern United States while easterners chose "The Lord of the Rings" and westerners opted for "The Stand."
Whites and Hispanics picked "Gone With the Wind" as their second-favorite book after the Bible, while African-Americans preferred "Angels and Demons."
"Finally, they may not agree on candidates, but one thing that brings together partisans is their favorite book. For Republicans, Democrats and Independents, the top two books are the same -- the Bible followed by "Gone With the Wind."
Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code," "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee, "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand and "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger rounded out the top 10 favorites.