• Herbert and Hillerman

    by  •  • LifeStuff • 0 Comments

    After about two months of listening to the audio book while I drove to and from work and out about twon and on a few day trips, I finally finished one of the more hefty- and meaty- books I’ve read in a long time. “Dune” by Frank Herbert is considered by some to be the best science fiction book ever written, and although I never read science fiction, at a friend’s coaxing I was told it would be worth it.

    And it was.

    But after that brain bruiser, I was ready for something a little lighter (and a little shorter), so when Tim and went to the downtown branch of the city library last week, I thought it was a good time to read someone who was local, but an author who was also well known.

    I was lucky to find that there was one audio book available on the shelves by New Mexico’s own Tony Hillerman. I don’t know if this book is one of his more popular ones or not, but once I started listening to it, I knew I would enjoy it. Called “Sinister Pig”, it’s a story about a federal agent who is killed mysteriously in the Four Corners area when sent there to investigate years of unpaid oil and gas transport fees owed to the U.S. government. When locals and journalists from D.C. start looking into the agent’s demise from two different starting points, it becomes clear there is political and corporate garbage happening all around this circumstance. And a few local Navajo officers and a US Customs Agent find themselves in the eye of the storm, trying to unravel the truth about what is really going down related to this incident.

    The story itself is a wonderful roller coaster ride through an imagination of how some of Amewrica’s political machinery probably really works. But what I certainly enjoy equally as much is being able to see the places where Hillerman’s characters go when they are traipsing around the state. I have some awareness about the places in the Four Corners area. I can see scenes in the story with a little more detail.

    After Herbert and his carefully detailed architectural plan of the social, political, spiritual, and technical cultures of several peoples on the Dune world in his seminal work, Hillerman lets you learn some things about power and political processes and crime and corruption in modern America with the casual cadence of a mellow mare. His people and places are less intense, but are interesting anyways. His story moves along at a good even clip. And it keeps you involved.

    Herbert and Hillerman are two different writers, with differing styles, and differing topics in different genres. But they are both enjoyable and readable and rewarding writers.

    I’m glad there is plenty of space for differing books on library bookshelves, just as there are so many uniquely different stories living in this world today.

    About

    A web programmer by day, I somehow still spend a lot of time thinking about relationships, God, and the significance of grace and love in daily events. I am old school in the sense that I believe in the reality of sin, and in the need of each human heart for deliverance to the Divine. I am one of those who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that you can find most answers to life's pressing issues in Him and His Word, the Bible. I ain't perfect, and a lot of the time I ain't good, but by God's grace and kindness, I am forgiven and free.

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