1. What are you currently reading? Diana by Sarah Bradford. You don't have to ask "Diana Who?," do you? This biography of The People's Princess was recommended for me by my library's algorithm. Bradford has written popular books about Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Queen Elizabeth and Princess Grace of Monaco, so she's familiar with this terrain.
Diana was such a complicated woman. Charles' love affair with Camilla left her brokenhearted and disillusioned. Her life was such a pressure cooker, she felt she deserved comfort wherever she could find it. But it confuses me that she would, time and again, choose married men. Barry Mannakee, Oliver Hoare, Will Carling. Ma'am, what were you thinking?
Obviously I know how her sad saga will end. But that doesn't stop me from rooting for her and trying to understand her. I hope she's resting in the peace that eluded her in life.
2. What did you recently finish reading? Heartburn by Nora Ephron. What would you do if you found out your husband is in love with another woman? Would your answer change at all if you had a toddler at home and another baby on the way? How much can you forgive?
This is the funniest book about the end of a marriage I've ever read. I devoured it in greedy gulps. It's also emotionally raw, which gives the comedy more power. Part of what makes Mark's betrayal of Rachel so painful is that she believed they were happy. She believed in their love and their bond and their forever. She feels foolish, and that's something that neither Rachel nor author Nora Ephron (who drew upon her marriage to Carl Bernstein) can abide.
Something to keep in mind: Heartburn was written in the 1980s by a woman born in the 1940s. Her attitude toward lesbianism made me a little squirmy at times. They're people, Nora, not a punchline.
I enjoyed My Darling Husband, and Heartburn, both the book and the movie, is a favorite of that era.
ReplyDeleteNow I want to read the Diana book. I've read a few already! Here's MY WWW POST
I'll have to keep the Diana book in mind. I like my preserved memories of her, though, so I would hate to have reality crash into them.
ReplyDeleteI just finished listening to Heartburn, read by Meryl Streep, who did a great job narrating it. You'd mentioned reading it here. It was an intriguing book, and funny, too. Streep had the right inflections where they were most needed as she read. Thanks for the recommendation.
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