What I'm Reading Now

The Rosewood Casket, by Sharyn McCrumb.

My mom turned me on to Sharyn McCrumb. She lives in Virginia, but most of her books (the ones I've read at least) are set in Western North Carolina and East Tennessee. She always has a historical element running in tandem with a modern day story. I've read quite a few of her books now - my favorites being She Walks These Hills and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, although, I have to admit, many of them run together for me. They have the same modern day characters, whose stories progress in each book. The historical parts are easier to keep straight. The Rosewood Casket focuses on Daniel Boone and the Cherokee for the historical part, and some guy with, you guessed it, a rosewood casket in the modern day part. The two stories will eventually entertwine, I'm sure.

If I remember correctly, my mom bought me my copy of The Rosewood Casket, and Mark took it on a trip with him and left it on the plane. So Mom bought me another copy. Moms are good that way. In fact, I think Mom has bought all of my McCrumb books to date; oddly enough, she finds them easier to find in her local bookstores than I find them in mine. Something about a prophet and his hometown, I think.

Here's some trivia I bet you don't know: McCrumb's latest works revolve around the Nascar circuit (don't ask). The first in this series is called St. Dale, about a pilgrimage involving the one and only Dale Earnhart. In the hard copy (can't say for the paperback, as I haven't seen it) McCrumb lists a number of people whom she consulted in the writing of the book. One of them is none other than my mom! (Name misspelled, of course.) Mom had an email conversation with McCrumb about McCleod hospital - parking lot, ER, entrances, and exits, etc. St. Dale was taken to McLeod after piling it up in Darlington one year, and McCrumb wanted to get the details right without actually driving to Florence. Go Mom!