What I'm Reading Now

I'll Watch the Moon, by Ann Tatlock.

Another church lady bag book. Never heard of the book, never heard of the author. The publisher is a big name in the Christian fiction market, so I can only assume that it is considered "Christian Fiction", but nothing in the story itself has led me to that conclusion so far.

So far, it's set in the forties in Minnesota during a polio epidemic. The narrator's brother gets polio, and the house gets quarantined. By "house", I mean boarding house, which is where the narrator's family lives. They have an assortment of interesting characters boarding with them, which adds a lot to the story.

I wouldn't have guessed it, but the polio epidemic is fascinating reading. I asked mom about it this morning - she remembers not being able to go outside, and she thinks my dad was officially quarantined at one time.

I remember reading Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin, where she writes about her childhood in Brooklyn. I was jealous of the lifestyle she described - kids could wander around town all summer long, not worrying about freaks and pervs and the like. It seemed so much better then the scary world we live in now. And then, bam! some kid gets polio and the whole community shuts down. No one goes out, no one comes to visit. It made me realize that modern times aren't all bad.

It also makes me wonder what we fear today, that will be nothing in fifty years. Leukemia? Breast Cancer? Aids?

So if you like historical fiction, and you'd like to know more about iron lungs, try this one. I'm about half-way through and enjoying it.