The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

It took me longer than usual to read these books this year; I think I both got tied up in library books and busy doing other things than reading. When I did finally read them, I was most struck by the language and the structure this time around. Tolkien has a very good ear for the English language--so he was able to make his book sound like something that's come out of thousands of years of mythic history--while still using subtle differences in dialect to distinguish between the types of characters (and he has a series of invented languages from which the Lord of the Rings was supposedly translated that add a layer of complexity to his work). The structure is also very well done--things that open earlier in the story close later on (even Fredegar Bolger, who was left at Crickhollow in an attempt to foil pursuers is accounted for when the hobbits return to the Shire after destroying the Ring). I think this happens most clearly in the case of Smeágon/Gollum: his fall in Mount Doom is clearly foreshadowed by the oaths he swears on the Ring while he helps Frodo and Sam into Mordor. Despite the clear losses that everyone suffers in the story, it's really a hopeful tale: good can prevail, at least one age at a time, and we know it is good, not just because we are told so, but because it treats those who have done it evil with kindness and mercy; we can also track evil in its self-defeating hostility to all, even its so-called allies. I really love these stories--and I can't wait for the movies about The Hobbit, which start this December!

Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis

This book collects short fiction in a variety of forms. Some of the stories are as short as a sentence (a favorite in this category is "Collaboration with Fly": "I put the word on the page, but he added the apostrophe"), and others are longer meditations. There's a fair amount of engagement with grammar, words, and the meaning of language, in addition to the literary tradition and canon. Two of my favorites from this genre are "Southward Bound, Reads Worstward Ho" (a brilliant meditation what we can and may get out of reading Beckett) and "Walk" (an encounter at a conference between a translator of Proust [presumably a version of Davis herself, since the story quotes her Swann's Way] and an unappreciative critic). Finally, there are the almost-scientific accounts of characters in various aspects of their lives (Mrs. D.'s attempt to find a suitable maid, a study of the long lives of Vi and Helen (with addenda about Hope), the letters a fourth grade class writes to Stephen who's in the hospital, and the changes that a baby brings, for example). Many of the more-sustained stories (and even some of the shorter ones) think a lot about family--how we relate to each other, what we owe each other, and how we change each other. While some of the stories are more effective than others, all in all they provoke thought--especially about family and language.

The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way by Bill Bryson

This book reflects on the English language through history. Although I don't agree with all of Bryson's points (at one time he says that people like English because its spelling and pronunciation are uncomplicated), he does a fine job covering the basics of how English was formed (the ur-moment of the Norman Conquest from which Anglo-Saxon and Norman slowly grew together into something new), but for me, the really new and interesting parts focused on spelling and pronunciation and tracing back their roots to find the sources of the weird and wonderful ways in which English works. There's also reflection on translation and the future of English (in questions like: Will English go the way of Latin and split into vernaculars? but also questions relating to immigration and bilingual education in the US) that I found thought-provoking. Not the most scintillating thing I've ever read, but I'm glad I got the chance to read it.

The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám by Edward Fitzgerald

This long poem is something between translated and inspired. Its quatrains touch questions of nature and love, but the theme most interesting to me is the sense of time passing--a carpe diem theme. I enjoyed this collection.

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.

The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

This book is a bildungsroman that develops slowly but surely. I liked the thoughts about translation and interpretation based on the narrator's job. I enjoyed watching the bad girl show up time and time again. Mostly, I enjoyed this book because of the narrator's kindness and love not only for the bad girl, but also for the other friends he makes throughout the course of the book.