WWW.WEDNESDAY

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1. What are you currently reading? The Nine of Us: Growing Up Kennedy by Jean Kennedy Smith. Among Joe and Rose Kennedy's nine children were war heroes, world leaders, diplomats and philanthropists, even a noblewoman. This extraordinary clan literally changed the world. Shortly after marrying into it, Jackie said her husband and his siblings were like soda water, and that next to them, the rest of world seemed flat.

Jean Kennedy was eighth of those nine. This is her memoir. So far, it's a rosy and uncritical look at the family she grew up in and admired. It's certainly not the most balanced account of "growing up Kennedy," but it's loving and lovely and I'm enjoying it thoroughly.
 

2. What did you recently finish reading? Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt. What a happy surprise this book was! Here David Rosenfelt has been writing this entertaining series since 2002, and its taken me a long time to reach for his first Andy Carpenter mystery. 

Defense attorney Andy Carpenter is a charming protagonist and I rooted for him from the get-go. He has a smart mouth and he's not afraid to use it. He also loves baseball, dogs, justice, and his dad. His father, Nelson Carpenter, was a well-respected, retired DA who makes a strange request -- he wants his son to handle the appeal of a man Nelson himself prosecuted and put on death row. Before Andy can find out why, his father suddenly drops dead. Going through his father's personal papers, another huge family secret is revealed.

It's an exciting courtroom drama but there's quite a bit of action outside the halls of justice, too. The tension in this book comes from all Andy has to lose: emotionally, financially, professionally and physically. The story has lots of twists and turns and I admit it had me fooled at one point. I love that.

3.  What will you read next? I don't know.