I'm (finally) reading the Da Vinci Code

I figured I'd see what all the fuss was about. That's one reason I haven't been posting much lately. Luckily, it's a pretty fast read, so I should be finished soon. The main thing holding me back is trying to keep track of all the lies and half-truths that Dan Brown manages to cram into his story line. This has all been discussed in great detail elsewhere, of course, but something Brown wrote in Chapter 28 really threw me for a loop:

"Those deemed 'witches' by the [Catholic] Church included all female scholars, priestesses, gypsies, mystics, nature lovers, herb gatherers, and any woman 'suspiciously attuned to the natural world.' ... During three hundred years of witch hunts, the Church burned at the stake an astounding five million women."

Yup, pretty darned astounding...mainly because it's a complete fabrication. Five million women over 300 years comes out to 16667 a year, a figure that no reputable scholar would ever come up with. Now, I understand that the book has to be read with the understanding that it's a work of fiction, but come on. This assertion is presented as a "fact" by a character - Professor Langdon - who is supposed to be an expert in such matters. If Dan Brown's intention was to write a farce, then we'd expect him to make routine use of that kind of gross exaggeration - but from what I've heard, he wants his book to be taken seriously, or at least semi-seriously. I don't see how such cruel distortions serve any purpose other than to annoy those readers who know better.

Anyway...the DVC may be annoying and downright silly at times, but I agree with almost everyone else who has read it - it's a tough book to put down, and the sooner I can do that, the better. Needless to say, I won't be seeing the movie.