22 October 2015

Chronicle of the Narvaez Expedition, by Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca

Chronicle of the Narvaez ExpeditionChronicle of the Narvaez Expedition by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Brief, but not an easy read, though it contains fascinating observations that make it worth the effort. A lot of the vagueness obviously comes from the challenge of writing about things never written about before, but even the details of the Spaniards' expedition itself were sometimes difficult to follow. However, the glimpses of the land seen hundreds of years before today's countries came into being made it worthwhile.

Read from October 12 to 21, 2015

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12 October 2015

The Conquest of New Spain, by Bernal Diaz del Castillo

The Conquest of New SpainThe Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A little repetitive to start but then the enormity of the events described benefits from the dry way in which Diaz describes them. It ends up as a stunning first person narrative on epochal events.

Read from August 28 to October 12, 2015

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