on
3.5/5
Non-Fiction
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Rating: 4/5
Pages: 689
Started: 11 July 2022
Finished: 14 July 2022
Summary: After being wrongfully accused of murdering a museum employee, leading symbology professor Robert Langdon, accompanied by the dead man’s granddaughter Sophie, embarks on a hunt for the Holy Grail. With secret societies and ulterior motives complicating the hunt for ancient information that Langdon knows cannot be lost, he and Sophie must use their considerable skills to follow a trail to the Grail and find the truth, once and for all.
Thoughts:
If only the writing was better and more accurate, I would be super impressed with this book. I love symbolism, art mystery, and action, so the premise of The DaVinci Code was perfect, and I genuinely enjoyed reading it. The details were specific and the clues were clever. But the writing was super trite and uninspiring, the characters were bland and static, and I spend a lot of time worrying I was soaking in incorrect information. This was definitely an entertaining book, but if I’m going to read more books in this genre—and I do want to—I’m going to have to find ones written with a little more fínese.
Words:
Parquet (n) a patterned wood surface
Orgiastic (adj) of, relating to, or marked by orgies
Sepulchral (adj) of or relating to a tomb
Labrys (n) an ancient Cretan sacred double ax
Caducei (pl n) symbolic staffs of heralds
Ephemeral (adj) lasting a very short time
Oculus (n) a circle or oval window
Gnomon (n) an object that by the position or length of its shadow serves as an indicator, especially of the hour of the day, such as a sundial
Prelature (n) the office of a high-ranking christian official
Sangfroid (n) self-possession or imperturbability, especially in the face of pressure
Incisive (adj) impressively direct and decisive
Offertory (n) the Eucharistic offering of bread and wine to God before they are consecrated
Extradite (v) to deliver up the surrender of an alleged criminal usually under the provisions of a treaty or statute by one authority to another
Nubile (adj) of a marriageable condition or age
Ascetic (adj) practicing strict self-denial as a measure of personal and especially spiritual discipline (uh-set-tik)
Apropos (adj) being both relevant and opportune (ah-pruh-pohw)
Exactitude (n) the quality or an instance of being exact
Nave (n) the main part of the interior of a church
Transept (n) the part of a cruciform church that crosses at right angles to the greatest length between the nave and the apse or choir
Cupola (n) a rounded vault resting on a usually circular base and forming a roof or a ceiling
Epithet (n) a characterizing word or phrase accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a person or thing (ex: his charitable works have earned the epithet "Mr. Philanthropy")
Prelates (n) ecclesiastics of superior rank
Sodomy (n) anal or oral copulation with a member of the same or opposite sex
Cassock (n) a close-fitting ankle-length garment worn especially in Roman Catholic and Anglican churches by the clergy and by laypersons assisting in the service
Alacrity (n) promptness in response; cheerful readiness
Luminary (n) a person of prominence or brilliant achievement
Incontrovertibly (adv) not open to question
Environs (n) the districts around a city; an adjoining region or space (ehn-vye-rins)
Predilection (n) an established preference for something
Andirons (pl n) metal supports for firewood used in a hearth (and-eye-erns)
Miter (n) a liturgical headdress worn by bishops and abbots
Doxology (n) a usual liturgical expression of praise to God
Atbash (n) a replacement cipher used in Jewish mystical and allegorical writing
Literati (pl n) the educated class
Tetragrammaton (n) the four Hebrew letters usually transliterated to YHWH, the biblical name of God
Fecundity (n) a state of being fruitful in offspring or vegitation
Melange (n) a mixture, often of incongruous elements
Apsidal (adj) of or relating to an apse
Cinquefoils (n) a design enclosed by five joined foils
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