The Declaration of Independence edited by Michael Hardt

This edition of Jefferson's writings, prefaced by an essay of Hardt's, insists on separating Jefferson's political thoughts from the inconsistencies in his life. Furthermore, the selections are carefully chosen to reflect Hardt's own ideas about how Jefferson ought to be read--as advocating a model of democracy with revolutions every 20 years and then training the citizens for democracy with a ward system.

The Annotated Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

This edition of The Hobbit is handsome, generously illustrated, and has notes containing more of Tolkien's poetry, details of his life, and similiarities to Norse epics. Reading the story for the 10th time, I think, I noticed more structure this time than usually--Gandalf uses reverse tricks to convince Bilbo and Beorn to help the dwarves' quest, and as Bilbo must be saved from the trap of the trolls, he saves the dwarves from the spiders and elves. A great story.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

Tolkien's son published the writings about the origins of the elves, in which Tolkien found people less than interested during his lifetime, in this book. The Silmarillion is obviously less polished than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, both of which read gracefully. This volume includes five overlapping texts: Ainulindalë, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion, Akallabêth, and Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. Despite the lack of continuity--which makes the reading slower and less enjoyable than the polished works, these stories constitute a faithful continuation of the history of Middle Earth. Tolkien still values beauty, moral goodness, and making choices, and constructs his world such that choices have to be made--no one, except possibly Ilúvatar has it all.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

This drama is domestic and vicious. Reading it is like watching A Lion in Winter.

The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein

I found this play entertaining reading, but I'm not convinced that it completely works in the end. I like the art history lectures, and the idea of telling the story through vignettes of Heidi's life, but the politics of the play are fairly predictable and routine and Wasserstein strikes such a reasonable, middle-ground sort of point, that I'm not entirely convinced she's saying much of anything at all. Ultimately one of those works far more interesting for its flaws than its successes.

The Oxford Murders by Guillermo Martínez

This mystery was fairly compelling. The red herring was particularly well done; I spent so much time paying attention to her that I nearly missed part of the murder. Some of the math discussions dragged on a bit too long and some of Martínez' work covering up the clues that would give away the mystery was a bit heavy-handed, but otherwise a quick, smart read.

The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman

This novel is perhaps the worst of the His Dark Materials trilogy, though of course one couldn't appreciate the trilogy without reading this book. Pullman has constructed a church so evil, it's impossible not to hate organized religion, which is all well and good--except that it makes the moral decisions in the book too easy. Also, the book is filled with easy ways out--between the knife, the alethiometer, and the spyglass. While Will and Lyra make a hard decision at the end, by the time they get there, these other flaws in the books make that decision far less significant than it could have been.