达·芬奇密码 The Da Vinci Code

Somehow I had sensed the result would be like this, but the author had the ability to walk us through the quest ... with fascination and interest.

Because we all have the drive and urge to search for the Holy Grail. It is our natural curiosity.

The author obviously had done a lot of research on the subject. I try to imagine what a true biblical scholar or religious historian would say - but what does it matter? Regular folks are not going to read what they write, somebody has to "dilute" their scholarly findings and present them in a more interesting way, such as a novel, and a best seller at that.

I have never been a big fan of mysteries and suspence, simply because I don't like solving riddles; more importantly, they don't give enough reasons for me to care one way or another. People risk their lives just to get hold of some money or treasure - not worth it.

But faith - history - intellectual curiosity - that's another matter. People want to know and they can't help looking for the truth. So this book already started on a higher note.

Not sure if this is intentional, but the protrayal of the British historian is much less successful than the American one. Teabing appears so "fake" and "phony" in his entrance into the book: the three questions, tea, constant reference to his knighthood and special social status - that's not true. I've known a few Oxford scholars and quite a number of British aristocrats and none of them was like that - the more a person has privileges, the less likely that he would mention them himself - for him, these privileges are just an integral part of their social environment - only an outsider would notice it and remind the others of it. :))

The scene at the Westminster Abbey was a little out of the plot. There was no need for T to appear confrontational. I missed that knot on the chain.

faith - silas and bishop A.
faith and compassion - grand pere and Sophie
(healthy) academic curiosity - Langdon and Sophie
obsession: acedemic curiosity gone awry - Teabing

Of the various lines of narration, the academic one obviously is more appealing to me. And all the old mentors, professors and colleagues came across my mind. I do miss that part of academic life, although I'm fully aware of the fact that 90% of the time they were not "discovering", merely "teaching" and making a living.

The detective line sometimes tires me and bores me, but in quite a few places I was able to guess the answers one or two pages ahead of the author and I had to resist the urge to take a peek at the answer. :) It has been a while since I'd played this game with myself. :)))

Look forward to the movie. I only know Tom Hanks will play Langdon. I'm still trying to think of the rest of the cast - trying to put faces on each character. I don't know many actors, so most of the time I put faces of real people I know in the movie. :)