August 19, 2020 GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

One positive during the pandemic is the resurgence of board games. Believe it or not--Scrabble, Monopoly and a form of Parcheesi called Ludo are still the most popular board games. Do you remember playing

Parcheesi?  I whittled  away several hours trying to win that game. Haven't played it in years though.  I've been playing Scrabble my entire life though and have to admit that I'm a little addicted to Words With Friends. Monopoly always took TOO LONG for me so it wasn't one of my favs BUT I spent huge amounts of time pretending I was Miss Scarlet when I played CLUE--one of my all time favorites. Remember playing Trouble with its "Pop-O-Matic" dice action, Or Sorry, Checkers and Battleship? It's funny--I always thought of Battleship as a boys game. Not sure why but I can still hear the commercial from back in the day--"you sank my battleship." Right now--I'm listening to a couple of teenagers try to play SpongeBob Guess Who!! Ha! They haven't played this game in years. Life is good. 

 Life was also pretty good for the Vignes twins before they ran away in The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. Stella and Desiree Vignes grew up in a small Southern black community in Mallard, Louisiana.  Although the residents are black, they pride themselves on being very light skinned. Desiree, feeling smothered by the town, talks her identical twin sister into running away to New Orleans when they are sixteen. Starting a new life is difficult, until Stella realizes that she can pass as a white person while applying for a job at a local department store. This realization sets in motion events that separate the twins forever. While Stella disappears to California and life as a white privileged woman, Desiree flees her abusive husband and returns home with a daughter, Jade, who is "dark as tar". After enduring many years of abuse because she is dark, Jade moves to California for college where she unexpectedly runs into her aunt. This story is told through flashbacks and alternating points of view between the 1960s-1990s. It's an interesting read that focuses on race, identity, sisterhood, and how the choices people make-- many times due to circumstances--can shape a life. This moving novel is about 350 pages or 4 mile run that is well worth your time.