What I'm reading

This past week, I was trying unsuccessfully to convince someone I was supposed to write a profile on that he should cooperate. "But I'm so boring," he finally said and I knew I was getting closer to the reason he was reluctant.

I laughed and said that I had interviewed so many boring people that that condition on its own would not stop me. This feature must be half on his work life and half on his personal life. He said he has no wife, no kids, no hobbies, doesn't follow sports and I took a guess and said, "But I bet you read" and he said yes. "And do crossword puzzles," and he said yes.

I asked him what he reads and it's mostly espionage novels, and he said he is going back to read all the Ian Flemming books. Those are the James Bond books. He was a bit embarrassed about that, but I thought it was interesting.

"Hey," I said. "I'm so boring that I just bought a biography of Bess Truman!" It made me laugh, but it's true. I'm not sure what attracted me, but a few chapters in, what has surprised me is that she was an avid tennis player, which goes against her image of uptight 1950s wife with hat and gloves. Next, she had such a low profile that eight months into President Truman's term she was so unrecognizable that she went into the DC department stores to do her own Christmas shopping.
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That's almost impossible to believe today with 24-hour news cycles and every move of the First Family chronicled.

When I mentioned this book to a friend in his late 70s, he said, "She had big shoes to fill." And that's one of the ironies of the book. Eleanor Roosevelt was so public and Bess didn't even like being photographed. I think Bess may have saved the day as my boring man, who really is not, agreed to be interviewed on Monday.