MAY WRAP UP: What I Read This Month

Hi everyone! Welcome back to Bibliophilia Book Reviews. Today, I’m reviewing the books I read in May. This month was definitely a slower reading month for me; I only read 4 books. Here are my thoughts about them:

1. NONFICTION AND MEDIEVAL HISTORY: 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley

This book is an account of the fall of Constantinople in 1453. Setting the stage by introducing the main actors―the Emperor Constantine XI and the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Mehmet II―this book is a good introduction to the history and politics behind this earth-shattering moment of history. Stefan Zweig calls it one of the decisive moments of history. Constantinople―now called Istanbul―has been a beacon of Turkish culture for 573 years. The Ottoman Empire, abolished in 1922, isn’t a political entity that far off our lifetimes and it shows how quickly the world changes―politically speaking― when it doesn’t seem like it does.

The holy war between Christianity and Islam is prominent in this book too. In 1453, Constantinople was a shadow of what it once had been. Reduced in territory to the city itself, a few suburbs in Thrace and a province in the Peloponnese, it was virtually surrounded on all land sides by the expanding Ottoman Empire. The Christian Empire of the East was alone, abandoned to its fate by the Holy Roman Empire of the West.

For the history aficionado, this is a quick read. The writing is also very accessible and I highly recommended it to anyone interested in reading more about the fall of Constantinople but doesn’t want to get too bogged down by the sheer amount of history facts. I know these can easily bore someone who isn’t as interested in history as myself, a history devotee and enthusiast.

2. CHILDREN’S LITERATURE AND MYTHOLOGY: La princesa y el guerrero (The Princess and the Warrior) by Duncan Tonatiuh

This book introduces children to the myth of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl in Mexica (Aztec) mythology and folklore. It is the story of the two most famous volcanoes in Mexico City, the eponymous Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl; Iztaccihuatl, the beautiful and noble daughter of the Mexica emperor, did not want to marry a man who offered her material wealth. Instead, she fell in love with Popoca, a brave soldier in her father’s army, who promised her to always be by her side. War and political intrigue, however, keep them apart and Popoca comes back from fighting to find out that Iztaccihuatl has fallen into a deep sleep and can’t wake up. Popoca, lost in grief, takes her body and places it on a bed of flowers before sitting by her side to wait for her to wake up. And this is how you’ll find them today. Iztaccihuatl is still asleep and Popoca is still sitting next to her, waiting for his love to wake up.

3. SHORT STORIES AND HORROR: El tapiz amarillo (The Yellow Wallpaper) by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This book is about the patriarchal control of women’s mind and bodies. The protagonist, who is suffering from postpartum depression, is confined to a room with hideous yellow wallpaper as a “rest cure” for her condition. Unable to do anything but stare at the wall, the nameless protagonist becomes obsessed with the wallpaper, seeing a trapped woman behind its pattern, and she descends into madness, ultimately tearing the wallpaper down and identifying with the creeping figure behind it.

This short book is a critique of 19^th century medicine that diagnosed and oppressed women by taking their autonomy away from them under the pretext of treating their hysteria or depression. The wallpaper symbolizes the expectations women were subject to by the constraints they were forced into.

Not being able to write or express herself in any way, the protagonist’s madness is the only escape left to her.

4. NONFICTION AND HISTORY: War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers and an American Invasion

This book is an account of the “Punitive Expedition” of 1916, a conflict between the United States and Mexico that still resonates today. The catalyst of the historical Mexican Border War between 1910 and 1919 occurred on March 9, 1916, when Pancho Villa, the famous Mexican revolutionary, raided the small US town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing 18 Americans. In retaliation, President Woodrow Wilson sent General John J. Pershing and thousands of US troops into Mexico to capture or kill Villa. This “incursion” was illegal. American troops did not have permission from the Mexican government to perform a military operation on Mexican soil. And this expedition is still a sore point between leaders and citizens of both countries. Today, tension on border security along the Rio Grande is still strained.

I learned a lot from this book, and some of it pertaining to my own family history. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about US-Mexico history and public relations between these two countries.

 

That is everything I read this month. My next post will be the best and worst books I read in May.