The aim of this study is to investigate why fictional literature holds a privileged position within the Swedish library system through a discourse analysis of the Swedish Library Act. The analysis suggests that the privileged position might be understood partly through a symbolic association with the book as a symbol of knowledge, and partly through the institutionalization of the illusio of literature manifested in the myth of the good book. The study is concluded by a discussion on whether fictional literature ought to keep its privileged position, in which I argue in its favor and for the need of replacing the myth of the good book with a body of reason.