City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte

I liked this book more by its end than I thought I might at its beginning. It tells the story of Sarah Weston, a grad student in musicology, who receives a mysterious invitation to work at a Prague museum over the summer, cataloguing scores and papers relating to Beethoven, her musical hero. But even before she arrives at the castle, she realizes that all is not well. Most of the story was really clever and inventive. But there were a number of moments when I found myself rolling my eyes--many of the characters seemed to lack clear motivation, especially at first. I'm intrigued to see where the story goes next.

Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters Who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone

This book is part biography and part history. It's about the four daughters of Raymond Berenger, count of Provence. Marguerite and Eleanor marry the kings of France (Louis IX) and England (Henry III), respectively, and the two younger daughters marry their sisters' brothers-in-law. Both of these brothers are crowned kings in their own right (although they do less ruling). Sanchia marries Richard of Cornwall, who is briefly king of Germany, and Beatrice inherits Provence and marries Charles of Anjou who takes the throne of Sicily. I was very interested in the power politics behind the thrones, and I loved reading the history associated with these four women. I was surprised by how much a king's prowess in battle mattered in the Middle Ages, and by how religious Louis and Henry both were. I also enjoyed a minor theory expounded in the book: while earlier Provence had been the center of a literary movement (troubadours writing poems about courtly love) after Raymond Berenger died, there was no count (and thus no court) in residence in Provence (Beatrice lived in Sicily, and in other places, after her marriage), so there was not the same support for the arts, and the interest in love poetry moved south--to Italy.

The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht

I enjoyed this book. It's set in an unnamed, Slavic country still dealing with a long history of war, and it focuses on the narrator's relationship with her grandfather, who is the linchpin in a number of stories about his life. Although the stories felt scattered at first, they came together in a really moving way. They rely heavily on a magically real aesthetic, and the relationship between humans and animals. They also have a strong folksy feel--both in the setting and in the moral-like tone of several of the stories. Overall, a highly enjoyable book.

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco

This book centers around three editors for a vanity press in Milan. When the press decides to start publishing a series on the occult, the editors, up to their ears in conspiracy theories, decide to create their own version of the Plan, by which the Templars secretly went into hiding in the fourteenth century, and which they were supposed to use to return to power in 1944. But as the conspirators cook up the Plan, they realize that others are taking their game very seriously. Part of this book is a fun conspiracy story--it puts together an almost-plausible narrative that links the Templars with other mysterious groups through the ages (and has a ton of literary and cultural in-jokes, to book). What separates this book from something like The Da Vinci Code, though, is that the other part of the book is so moving. Belpo and Causabon, in particular, are well-developed characters, and the reader comes to understand that their manic devotion to finding the truth behind these conspiracy theories (which in the book are lined up like a house of cards) is about a lack of meaning in their day-to-day lives (which they only realize too late) rather than from any value inherent in the theories. I really enjoyed this story.

The Vampyre by John Polidori

This book was originally attributed to Lord Byron, but it was actually written by his physician, John Polidori. It tells the story of a young aristocrat, Aubrey, who finds himself attracted by the mysterious Lord Ruthven. When he discovers that Ruthven is a brute committed to destroying women's reputations and lives, Aubrey tries to pull away, only to have the vampire Ruthven take his revenge on Aubrey's family. Sensationalist and lurid, this book is one of the earliest vampire stories.

Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson

This book presents a complex and intriguing portrait of the Royal Society around the time of its founding, mixed with adventures in European politics and espionage. Some of the characters (particularly Eliza) are really compelling, and it's a treat to see the great minds of the Royal Society in action. There's a lot of attention to cryptography, mathematics, and science in this book, which I enjoy. If anything, it's lacking a clear plot: there are elements to various stories that play out very clearly, but overall, I'm not quite sure where this story is headed. I'm willing to give the second and third books a chance, though.

The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel

This book tells the story of Ayla, separated from her family by an earthquake and raised by the Clan of the Cave Bear. Although Ayla is obviously different, one of the Others, she quickly learns the ways of the Clan, even if she finds them unduly strange and restrictive at times. I really enjoyed this story--the characters and their struggles felt real and familiar, even as their surroundings, culture, and customs were totally foreign.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This book made a lot more sense (or the plot lines seemed to work together better this time around). I intrigued by Dracula's move to London--he's interested in the new urbanization and the huge population accessible to him from there. I also found the Renfield subplot more comprehensible this time.

In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway

As I read this book , I was interested by the women this time through. Hemingway at least mentions childbirth in three of the first four sections. The men in this book seem overwhelmed and unable to connect with the women; when I was younger I read this as evidence of Hemingway's misogyny, now I think it's much more indicative of the trauma the male characters are suffering.

The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell

While this mystery starts with the discovery of two dead men in a fishing boat, it quickly becomes clear that its scope extends beyond Sweden's borders to Latvia, which is growing restive after having been a part of the Soviet Union since the end of World War II. When Inspector Wallander travels to Riga to investigate the death of a colleague he finds himself drawn beyond the official explanation in a land where he can trust no one and can't even speak the language. I really enjoyed this mystery--which was fully of twists till the very end.

Quicksand by Nella Larsen

This book tells the story of Helga Crane, daughter of a Danish mother and an African American father. As I read the book this time, I particularly noticed how vivid colors are important to Helga, and how she embraces conspicuous consumption as a means of navigating the world around her. While she's not the easiest character in the world to sympathize with, I found the ending, in which she finds herself as disconnected from her children as her parents were from her and in which the Helga Crane we've been reading about throughout the novel dies (the character doesn't die, but she does stop trying), very moving.

Apollo's Angels: A History of Ballet by Jennifer Homans

This book is fantastic. Homans faces a difficult task in describing the history of an art form which for much of its existence has been passed down from dancer to dancer instead of being recorded in some form of notation. She admits to these challenges from the beginning and meets them with style and grace. Homans theorizes that by tracking ballet's role in European cultural life, we can see larger political and cultural changes, and although she doesn't provide a grand theory explaining everything, she makes a great case for the relevance of ballet. Although she ends the book pessimistically, I think the effort she's put into telling ballet's story (and the apparent popular success) belie the point she makes at the end, namely that ballet's on its way out.

Orientalism by Edward W. Said

This book contends that in Western nations--especially Britain and France, historically, but also the United States in more recent times--a type of scholarship and attitude towards the other, and more specifically, toward what these Europeans class as Oriental. Said does a really nice job of showing how these Orientalists (people who study the Orient) aid in the imperial projects of these European countries--and how the West can learn more about itself from its views on the Orient than it can about the Orient. This book is a model of interdisciplinary and nuanced scholarship.