(Debby)
What I’m Super Enthusiastic About Right Now

- Ivanhoe – Sir Walter Scott - Knights traumatized from the Crusades and wandering around England, Robin Hood, Prince John, Richard the Lion Hearted, Friar Tuck, Templar knights (ooh, creepy!), a Jewish heroine (and a huge amount of uncomfortable passages about the Jewish ‘race’), Saxon – Norman tensions, great humor, someone in the early 1800s writing about the 1200s or 1300s or something like that….This book is a Great Time! (I feel like I’ve somehow become a fan of Boy’s Adventure Fiction, between this and Treasure Island. Ah well. So it goes) (not done yet – I’m totally on the edge of my seat! What will happen to Rebecca??)

- Anthills of the Savannah – Chinua Achebe – I love the characters, I love the politics, I love it. (not done yet)

- Beowulf – Seamus Heaney translation – Ooh, it’s great! I remember struggling through excerpts of Beowulf in high school English. Seamus Heaney has transformed it into a Highly Readable poem, so that the story comes out. And it’s a really good story! (not done yet)

- Green Land, Brown Land, Black Land: An Environmental History of Africa, 1800-1990- REALLY interesting book; how colonial and post-colonial environmental policy in Africa has been largely based on misunderstandings of the land, its “pristine” state being largely a myth developed by colonialists and often embraced by post-colonial governments. The narratives of place and the landscape ideals upon which we base our national and regional policies!!! Isn’t that an AWESOME concept? I am SO enthusiastic about this!!!