Maya, Contemporary Arab Fiction, Hibbert, Gorki

Since my last post, I've read one issue of Eclectic Reading, and one issue of Hello Canada. I've also read George IV by Christopher Hibbert, which I enjoyed. I read the 800-pager The Ancient Maya, by R. J. Sharer and L.P. Traxler. It was well-illustrated, and well structured, and I learned a lot. I also read the latest in my contemporary Arab novels, I'jaam, whose main interest was a play on words somewhere in the thirty- or forty-first pages. I also read Mayan worldviews at conquest, edited by L.G. Cecil and T.W. Pugh, and Ancient Maya Cityscapes by L.P. Villamil.

I also read four novels, a memoir, and several stories by Maxime Gorki. I confess to being disappointed, after being quite drawn to these works based on their description. I enjoy pastorals, or stories of struggle, but struggle by agricultural workers or serfs against the Czar don't usually end well. My other problem was that my view of all this was influenced by, you guessed it, Doctor Zhivago. Oh well.