WWW.WEDNESDAY

 

WWW. WEDNESDAY asks three questions to prompt you to speak bookishly. To participate, and to see how other book lovers responded, click here. 

1. What are you currently reading? Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger. I will write this carefully, because I don't want to give anything away. Of course, I'm pretty early into this thriller, and it's so twisty I'm not 100% sure of what I'd be giving away!

Selena is mom of two boys who just returned to work because her husband lost his job. She finds out through the nanny cam that instead of looking for employment he's ... um ... "enjoying" their daycare provider. Selena impulsively shares this with the stranger she finds herself next to on the 7:45 PM train home. That woman reciprocates by saying she feels trapped in an affair with her boss. It's the kind of sharing that's more comfortable with someone you're sure you'll never see again. The stranger muses that it would be nice if all their problems could just "go away." It seems like an innocuous comment. Then, Selena's nanny actually does disappear. What's going on here?

 

I admit I chose this book for its cover -- a moody illustration of a woman through the window of a train. I love train travel and I miss my old, pre-covid life, which included a commute every workday, where I did my reading. I'm enjoying this story, and know it will inspire many a fantasy when I once again find myself riding the rails.

2. What did you recently finish reading?  My Girls, by Todd Fisher. Todd's "girls" were mother Debbie Reynolds and sister Carrie Fisher. Confession: I'm not a Star Wars fan nor a Debbie Reynolds fan. But I always admired Carrie's writing, wit and courage in sharing her bipolar diagnosis. I looked forward to reading about her by the one who knew her best and knew her longest, her little brother, Todd.

It's a fascinating book. He was famous before he was born, the child of America's Sweethearts. One of his stepmothers was the most beautiful and notorious woman in the world, Elizabeth Taylor. Staff outnumbered the residents in his childhood home. Todd gave me a glimpse into a life I'd never know otherwise.

But at times I was annoyed. As Carrie often said, her family wore their underwear on the outside, meaning Debbie, Carrie and now Todd all had a penchant for oversharing. Because of Todd's candor, it became obvious that he chose his family of origin -- especially his mother -- over the family he was building. I was shocked and disappointed by Todd's apparent insensitivity to his wife Christi as she dealt first with alcoholism and then with cancer, and he was always racing to Las Vegas to be at Debbie's side and help her with her ongoing financial and marital travails. 

Oh, well. I'm not sorry I read it. It was lovely to spend time with the exasperating and extravagantly talented Carrie again, and I'm grateful that her brother shared her essence in this memoir.

 3. What will read next? I've always wanted to read A Night to Remember. Written back in the 1950s, Walter Lord's well-respected chronicle of the last hours of the Titanic is still considered the gold standard. Now I may finally get to it.