Yes, I read The Da Vinci Code and I was entertained by it. I also enjoyed Angels and Demons, but I also consider these as airport or even subway reads. In fact, I read both of Mr. Brown’s books while waiting for a plane. These stories are great to pass the time, tune out your neighbor and the screaming kids, and with some luck, polish off the book during the five to six hour flight. For the most part, I rarely remember the finer details of the plot or the characters. If someone asked if I liked it, I can easily give a quick rundown of the story and say, “It was entertaining. I needed something to read and kill time.”

With the recent announcement of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol, it got me thinking that maybe I should include a new category for books of this nature, these are Guilty Pleasures–not great works of literature, but fun to read on a plane, a train or at the beach.