Date: 22 November 2015
Location: Bob & Linda
We had a nice turnout on a chilly Sunday afternoon–our very warm fall seemed to abruptly turn to winter. Of the fifteen Bookers in attendance, all but a few actually read Tony Hillerman’s book. In fact many of us had read the book years ago, and some had read all of his novels featuring Navajo Tribal police officers Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee.
This novel involves the disappearance of an anthropologist, several murders and the looting of ancient artifacts. While originally published in 1988, some aspects of the story are still relevant today. Gina pointed out a recent Smithsonian article describing the seizure of thousands of ancient artifacts.
It appears that everyone enjoyed the book, which is not surprising. Hillerman created some appealing, believable characters, and he placed them in interesting plots that always kept you guessing. His greatest skill however was his ability to describe the land, the weather and the cultures of the desert southwest. Reading his books gives you the feeling of actually being there and experiencing the incredible beauty and wild vastness of the Four Corners region.
Not surprisingly, we really didn’t talk very much about the book itself. Many of us have visited the region and some have spent a fair amount of time out there, and this naturally led to numerous side discussions. Linda D. explained how they were working at a location near Aztec NM and were on a bus trip of Elder Hostel participants. As they passed through the town of Shiprock, the bus guide pointed out the police station, and all the folks on the bus asked to stop so they could speak with Jim Chee.
Reynolds mentioned that the term Anasazi, often used to refer to the ancient Puebloans, has a somewhat negative connotation. There is an interesting Wikipedia article that goes into this in more depth. We also discussed numerous other things, such as the peculiarities of the Navajo culture and the origin of fry bread.
Linda B. had one of the neatest surprises. She had mentioned to a cousin, who lives in Texas I think, that we were reading a Hillerman novel. Her cousin embroidered a beautiful shirt and light jacket with southwest pastel colors and images of Kokopelli. Linda was wearing this to our meeting. Now, how cool was that!
As is usually the case, we ended our meeting with a real feast. This time, of course, the theme was southwestern food, and it seems that everyone brought something appropriate. We had a lot of good food and this provided a nice finish to another great Happy Bookers meeting.
— Bob