Books 3 and 4

I finished two books in the past few days!

Thursday I finished The Pope's Elephant:

It's a non-fiction book written by one of our neighbor's father! It chronicles the arrival, life, and impact of an Indian elephant to the Vatican during Pope Leo X's reign. I love Italian history, and this text really chronicles the politics surrounding the papacy. It was incredibly well-written, and I make use the first chapter the next time I take grad students abroad! I also really want to go back to the Vatican and look for the carvings of Hanno the elephant that still remain.

This morning, I finished the next fiction book, The Columnist:

 Honestly, I have no idea where I got this book, but it was on the pile. It's a fictional memoir of a political columnist. There were parts I loved, but the beginning is tough. I think the fictional author isn't proud of his younger self and the writing is supposed to highlight that, but it just wasn't great. I about gave up on it, but the middle got really good. Then it just kind of ended. All in all, I don't recommend it.