Nachos Book Club: Episode 8 (Dinosaurs, Greek Myths, and More)!

One of my 2020 New Year's Blog Resolutions was to read at least 12 books.  Thanks to the coronavirus (and the corresponding "forced to stay at home" that goes with the virus), I've managed to read four full books already and I've made quite a bit of progress in a fifth.  As I did last year, I figured it'd be interesting to share what I've been reading with all of you - who knows, perhaps something will be of interest to one of my readers!

Oh, and if you are interested in more books feel free to click on the Nachos Book Club tag at the bottom of this post!

Alright, now let's get to the books I've read so far in 2020:

  The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs:  A New History of a Lost World by Steve Brusatte

My first book of 2020 was a book written by a current paleontologist.  The book had a lot of interesting bits and pieces about the life of dinosaurs.  There's a very real chance that what you "learned" as a kid about dinosaurs (or in school) has been now either proven to be untrue or at least conjectured to be untrue based on new evidence.  I found the dinosaur talk quite fascinating.  What I didn't find fascinating about the book as the author's continued insistence to name drop every other person he worked with, knew, or even had a cup of coffee in the same room as.  To quote Shania Twain, that don't impress me much.  In the end, I could read through the name dropping and keep my focus on the great dinosaur content.  Final score:  91/100.

 The Pharaoh Key by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child 

This should have been a novel right up my alley, it had all the soundings of a book along the line of The DaVinci Code.  Unfortunately, it never really lived up to its promise...and by about the middle of the book you had to suspend so much belief in reality that the book ended up nearly unreadable (it was not supposed to be a fantasy novel of any sort).  As a whole, the book felt like the authors had a couple of neat ideas but no idea of how to marry the ideas together in any sort of literary harmony.  While the book did keep me turning the pages, the latter half of the book ruined any shot at a decent grade from me.  Final score:  25/100

Mythos:  The Greek Myths Reimagined  by Stephen Fry

Mythos isn't a book that one would neceessarily sit down and read in a single go.  That said, it is a book that one should read from start to finish if you are interested in Greek myths (or, as a I learned throughout the book, if you are interested in the history of words)!  I'm a big fan of Greece (I've led two college study abroad trips to Greece) but I didn't know a lot of the Greek myths.  There were a number of things in this book that I think I'll be able to incorporate into my next trip to Greece, especially as we ride a bus through the countryside from one location to another (especially from Athens to Delphi since Delphi is ripe with Greek myths and history)!  Final score:  95/100

The Last Oracle by James Rollins

This is the second James Rollins novel that I've read (the other was Map of Bones which I didn't care for at all).  Luckily for me, The Last Oracle was much, much better!  Ostensibly, the book is about the Oracle at Delphi (which ties nicely into the previous book that I read).  Perhaps more accurately, the book is about the people within the Oracle and their lineage throughout history.  By the end, there are plenty of good guys, bad guys (and girls), guns, nuclear devices, radiation, and your usual Russian/American alliances and betrayals to make any beach read a quick, entertaining romp. 

One thing that was interesting that I only learned as I started writing this post, both Map of Bones and The Last Oracle are part of the same Sigma Force series.  I say it's interesting since I basically disliked Map of Bones and yet The Last Oracle was quite good.  Perhaps the author finally figured out the proper pacing, sequencing, and storytelling necessary for a good novel since The Last Oracle is the fifth book in the series whereas Map of Bones was the second novel in that series.

Also of note, I particularly liked the end of the book where the author tries to separate fact from fiction.  It's definitely a book where there are just enough facts that you can see how bits and pieces could...maybe...sort of...somehow...be possible.  And that's what you need for a good action novel, at least in my eyes (something that Map of Bones was definitely lacking)!  Final score:  90/100

A nice enough mix of books for the first four readings of 2020, right?!  If I had to recommend one book from the list, I guess it would be Mythos though if dinosaurs are more your thing you can't go wrong with the first book on the list instead.  If you happen to be someone who enjoys reading good books, I'd love for you to share any book recommendations that you have for me in the comments below!