The eighteenth book: #18 The Conquest of New Spain - Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Or rather "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain", this book details the expeditions of the conquistadors (including Cortes' famous one) as the memoirs of Bernal Diaz del Castillo, one of the people who joined in the expedition. Aside from writing the history, he also seems to have wanted to correct another historian's work, which had become more famous but (he said) included several inaccuracies. I don't know whether this is necessarily more accurate, rather than being an alternative point of view, but it does provide an interesting narrative.
The book is written from the perspective of the invaders being good people, doing their duty and claiming their right. They're not quite there to civilize the barbarians (although they are converting heathens), but you get the feeling that they assume they should have control very quickly, even though these people had lived there for ages. Some barbaric practices are ascribed to the indigenous people (ones that I do believe are real) but for the large part they seem friendly - and more than once taken for fools by the Spanish. Their military prowess still comes through, even if some numbers seem exaggerated.
What makes it interesting to read is how the writer's personality shows through. He puts in asides to tell off other writers who got it wrong and feels the need to justify some of the things that happened. At the same time, at least where the leaders were concerned (he was a soldier, so wouldn't have had much say, at least in the narrative as portrayed here), he says that they've done wrong several times. They're human and are painted as having several flaws.
All of that makes the book quite readable as well, and aside from getting confused with names a few times, it read quite well. I really enjoyed it, and was actually surprised it ended when it did (thanks to a lot of appendices in the copy I had). I would certainly be interested in more books of this type.