Books & Virus

So staying in, not having events to attend or having to volunteer at Neighbor Ride means I get to do much more reading than I had been doing.  Here are some recent books I've read that I want to pass on to you.

The Tale Teller by Anne Hillerman

If you ever read any Tony Hillerman books set on the Navajo Reservation you will recognize the characters in this book.  I can't say I read all of Tony's books but even reading some I could follow this mystery written by his daughter.  I can't say it was written as well.  Something was missing.  Maybe it was in the long dialogues without much description.  It still was an interesting mystery.

The Brownstone House by Rae Foley

This was written in 1974!  No cell phones, computers, internet in this mystery.  A story of three young women, friends in college, who still are connected out of college because of the largesse of one of them.  The story is told from only one of their viewpoints and its not the benefactress. Lots of twists and turns, betrayals and lies make it a good read. I thought I had it figured out but I didn't.

Finding Dorothy by Elizabeth Letts

I picked this one up at the library on its second to last day before closing. Do you know the name L. Frank Baum? The author of the Wizard of Oz?  His wife, Maud, is the subject of this book.  It describes her life, courtship and early marriage to Frank while flashing forward to 1939 when the movie version with Judy Garland as Dorothy is being filmed.  Maud wants to preserve Frank's vision of Oz in the movie and finds herself concerned for the welfare of Judy Garland.  Besides a view into the movie making business, it gives a picture of the hardships of living during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Mama's Boy: A Story from Our Americas by Dustin Lance Black

This was my book club's selection for March.  We discussed it over emails last Friday.  Maybe next month we all can get on Zoom.  Black describes his mother's life growing up with polio away from her family for 10 or more years of her life.  That was eye opening! Her marriages, raising her children as a single mom when the marriages don't work out.  Black is her middle son who recognizes early on that he is gay but hides it because of the consequences of that living in the South, in a Mormon family.  This book is so very well written.  One hard to put down.  You will be impressed by his Mother and Black and their forbearance in troubled times.

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I think there are only 2 ways the coronavirus is going to come to Vantage Point where I live.

1.  Those of us who are still driving and going out to grocery stores may pick it up unknowingly from a shopping cart, button on the checkout, a pen, a can or package, etc.  Then bring it back here.

2. Staff working here though they are checked daily may be infected and nonsymptomatic and bring it in to us.

So far so good. But it's just a matter of time.