The Haw Lantern by Seamus Heaney

This collection of poetry contains my favorite sequence by Seamus Heaney, "Clearances," a most lovely meditation on his mother's death. In "Clearances" the simplest, everyday tasks gain meaning and dignity. I also particuarly enjoyed "A Ship of Death," a translation from Beowulf, and "A Peacock's Feather," on a niece's baptism. In addition I was intrigued by this collection's focus on language and writing (the first poem is called "Alphabets" for good reason). Overall a beautiful collection of poetry. Worth reading and owning for "Clearances" alone. I bought this book when I heard Mr. Heaney read at Goucher College in 2002.

The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel León-Portilla

This book anthologizes Nahautl writings about the conquest of Mexico in order to create a smooth narrative telling the events from an indigenous point of view. It's important to remember that this book has been produced through multiple layers of mediation: most of the accounts in this book were written in Nahautl and then translated into Spanish and from there into English. Furthermore, the book's translator freely admits to wanting a smooth read, so much so that paragraphs have been dropped and words changed. Furthermore, the book is anthologized, so rather than following one account, many accounts are excerpted. I would have particularly liked to get more of the poetry (not to mention some explanation of how Nahautl poetry works: is it rhymed? does it use alliteration? what about meter?).

While most of the book is clearly a native account (both through the clarity of the names that Spaniards seemed to have trouble getting right in their own accounts and in the perspective), there are moments when Spanish intervention is clear (for example, most of these accounts are written in alphabetical Nahautl, taught to the natives by Spanish priests, and at times there are references to Spanish places and the Catholic faith in ways that strike me as unusual for natives). The Aztecs don't hestitate in admitting that they first saw the Spaniards as Gods (specifically Cortés was supposed to be Queztalcoatl), but they also quickly see how the Spaniards are debased by their obession with finding gold.

I was also interested in moments of translation within the texts: most of the time, the texts just record discussions, but sometimes they explicitly show the presence of La Malinche (Doña Marina) who translated between Nahautl and Mayan, and a Spaniard who translated between Mayan and Spanish. Often these accounts portray La Malinche as siding with the Spaniards, although they don't necessarily hold this allegiance against her.

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear

This mystery may be one of my favorites in the Maisie Dobbs series. In this story, Maisie goes to Kent to investigate a land purchase for James Compton. Again, there's less of the annoying "Maisie knows what she knows by mimicing people's body langauge" and the story surrounding Maisie's personal life is also less annoying this time. I really appreciated the way the book investigates the questions of difference and fear, and I thought the Zeppelin mystery was quite well done.

The Other Victorians by Steven Marcus

This book is an academic reading of the dark underside of Victorian sexuality. A large portion concerns publication history, a tricky question because so many of the texts that shed light on the topic were published with false names and dates or suppressed entirely. The book relies heavily on the thesis that these materials show the Victorians operated in a pre-psychological world, that is, in a time before Freud demonstrated how the mind affects our bodily impulses. The style of this book is actually quite enjoyable, perhaps because the author has such a clear grasp of and evident affection for more canonical texts; these traits enlighten his reading of the other, less well-known texts that comprise the body of his work.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

While this book is more clearly a children's book than others I've been reading lately, it offers a delightful story that I know I would have loved as a child. Four children, who, for various reasons, find themselves alone, answer an ad in a newspaper, and, after passing a series of tests, begin spying to thwart an evil man from taking over the world by brainwashing its people and making them think that there's an Emergency. The dystopia plot lines fell a little flat for me, but I loved watching the children's ingenuity as they solved problems, worked together, and learned to be a team and a family of their own. I am looking forward to reading the next books in this series.

The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

This book continues the journeys of Rincewind, Twoflower, and the Luggage, who when we last saw them, were hurtling off the side of the Disc. I found this book much funnier than The Color of Magic, but that may just be because I'm starting to get Pratchett's sense of humor. I particularly liked the sidebars about metaphor and description, the way that the wizards generally had no idea what was going on, the metaphysics behind the Octavo, the star, and A'Tuin, and the new characters, especially Cohen the Barbarian. A delightful read.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

This book tells the story of a boy in a small, Southern town who falls in love with a girl who's not quite all she seems. I enjoyed this book, but I'll say right off the bat the "Southern-ness" of the book came off as stifling and awkward--not in the "I can't get out of this town" aspect so much as "I can't believe they're speaking in such clanky Southern accents" aspect. Also, I found the fantasy element (all the material about the Casters) to be a little hard to understand and awkwardly worked in. The family trees that were drawn in to the book were NOT helpful--they were in a form that made them hard to read. Still, the adventure kept me turning pages until late in the night--I liked the pacing and the plot. I thought the relationship that developed between Ethan and Lena was sweet (and a lot more realistic than some YA books I've read recently). I'm definitely going to be reading the next book in the series.