Books

Okay, Ally, here's my post. Thanks for keeping me on track!

Well, I haven't taken any pictures lately, although I'm anxiously awaiting Allyson's post on our playground adventures the other day :) So, I decided that I could post a little about the books that I have been reading lately.

Conquistador is a non-fiction account of the Spanish conquest over the Aztec empire. I know that non-fiction historical accounts can be a little dry but I would recommend this one to anyone interested in Mexican history or Mesoamerican cultures/civilizations (chances are, there aren't too many of you out there but we all have to have hobbies, right?) This is a very exciting retelling of history and very insightful into the handful of men that were responsible for the fall of one of the largest civilizations on earth.

Maddie has been trying to get me to read Middleworld for ages now and I just finished it. It is a fictional story that revolves around Maya culture and folklore, both ancient and modern. Young teenager Max Murphy is the son of two renown archaelogists. But when his parents go missing while on a dig in the jungles of San Xavier, it is up to Max to battle it out with the ancient Lords of Xibalba to get them back. Mom was making fun of me for reading a children's book but I quite enjoyed this one. The couple that wrote the book come from a line of archaeologists and the husband grew up in Central America. The story is peppered with facts about rainforest plants and animals, Maya folklore, Maya glyphs and calendars, and modern life in the rainforests. (Plus, the book is printed on 100% recycled paper to save the rainforests - I know, I know, not very typical of me to make a big deal of this but when you read this book you appreciate the effort of this very down-to-earth couple).

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is a book that cousin Manda recommended to me. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the Maya, the Aztec, or the Americas in any way (and that's probably a good thing since I've started to have strange dreams about corn spilling out of rocks and Maya warriors with crocodile heads). This book is a children's book that is about 600 pages long. Before you freak out let me explain that it is mostly illustrations. It is made so that you feel like you are watching a silent movie so there will be several pages of illustrations and then a few pages of text. The plot contains a mystery about the French movie-maker Georges Melies. I have seen his movie A Trip to the Moon and I was highly disturbed...but only because of that freaky picture of the rocket ship that crashes into the eye of the man in the moon. However, the story is fascinating and the design of the book is captivating.

The are several other books that I am reading (I currently have 7 or 8 items checked out from the library) but this post is already too long and boring. Until next time...