Part of our new and growing Myths and Mysteries series, Myths and Mysteries of New Mexico explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in the Land of Enchantment's history. Each episode included in the book is a story unto itself, and the tone and style of the book is lively and easy to read for a general audience interested in New Mexico history.
OK - if you're in my library book club, you can skip this because you'll have to hear it all on Monday. I read books based on "what they are". If the cover and the blurbs scream: "This is a great literary novel!" then I judge book against my opinion of what a great literary novel should be. This is not a great literary novel and doesn't pretend to be. It's a short collection of short retellings of legends from the history of NM. There were stories I'd heard and stories I hadn't, and they were written in a basically competent fashion. For me, the book delivered on what it purports to be. So I liked it well enough.
I’ve only lived in New Mexico for a short time. I’ve only been to very few places. (I’ve seen Billy the Kid’s grave, I’ve hiked around to find Alien Throne, I’ve been to the Petroglyph National Monument, I’ve been to Roswell…) This book wasn’t what I thought it would be… Honestly, I expected a collection of stories such as La Llorona. I expected gripping tales of all sorts. But that’s not what this is. There are a couple of interesting legends, but mostly just an anthology of historical accounts that may or may not have a conclusion. I will say, though, I do have a couple of new places now on my list of things I want to check out… Anyone up for a visit to see a redheaded ghost? 😉
Found the myths interesting. Some of them I was familiar with but some of them were new to me. My art club will be looking into using some of them for a live art performance project.