Dan Brown and John Grisham

I read a few novels in a row in the past couple of months - Deception Point (by Dan Brown), The Broker (by John Grisham) and The King of Torts (by John Grisham as well).

Two authors, two different styles.

Dan Brown - His novels mainly belong to the fantasy category. He always writes gripping stories, always makes me want to turn the page and read on. Very intrigering, very fast-paced, and also informative (Not that I believe everything he wrote - remember, we are talking about novels here.).

John Grisham - a legal thriller writer. I liked "The Firm" the most, but these two books made me yawn a few times. For example, "The Broker" spent almost half of the book describes how Joe Backman adjusted himself to Italian living, how he learned the language, what is the history behind some of the famous churches, etc, etc. However, as I patiently read on, I started to like the little city that John Grisham elaborated about. I started to like the characters as well, so much so that I often thought about them long after I finished reading the book. There is some kind of sophisticated or romantic feeling that I didn't want to let go of. Strange, isn't it? While when I finished reading Dan Brown's fiction, I felt I enjoyed a great story, learned a few most advanced techical gadgets and some scientific or political info, but not too much about the characters. Dan's fictions are just very interesting, smart stories while John really owns a superior way with words.

Eat up the world in tiny chunks

I was surfing the Internet today and came across Keri Smith's personal blog. I like her way with words. She is ... quite inspiring...

What's my hometown like now?

往事越千年，
魏武挥鞭，
东临碣石有遗篇。
萧瑟秋风今又是，
换了人间。

Ok, maybe a little bit exaggeration here. But I heard it has changed a lot. I will be able to see it in just a few days!

Extreme Papercut

This is what I call creativity ...