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? Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson. Savannah Cade is an editor at a small publishing house specializing in highbrow non-fiction. But her heart and imagination belong to romance novels. She's been working on one for years and keeps the manuscript tucked in a secret hiding place at the office. One day, as she checks on her "baby," she finds critical notes in the margins. So the editor has her own editor ... one who prefers to remain secret.

As I write this, I'm about 30% of the way through. I guessed who her secret editor is. I know they are falling in love. Yet I'm sticking with it. The setting -- Nashville -- is new to me. I enjoy going to story conferences and book fairs with Savannah. I'm a book lover and relate to our heroine's passion for words. So I may ultimately end up liking it better than I do right now.

2. What did you just finish reading? Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and The Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashner and Nancy Shoenberger. This book truly does have everything. Yachts and private planes. Oscars and eye-popping jewels. Booze and pills. Aging parents and rebellious children. Adultery, divorce, and reconciliation. If two people can experience it, consume it, or buy it, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton did.

It was a great escape. After scooping sodden cat litter from the box and carrying it to my alley dumpster, I got to read about Elizabeth's two-day birthday celebration in  Budapest, where they partied with hundreds of guests, including Princess Grace and Ringo Starr. Richard gifted her with the heart-shaped Taj Mahal diamond. Later, her poodle gnawed on the multi-million dollar La Peregrina pearl as though it was a bone. I mean, it's irresistible! And all true.

But it's rather sad, too. Both Taylor and Burton were addicts and much of their excessive behavior was fueled by drink and prescription meds. She faced it head on and went to the Betty Ford clinic to get clean. Burton never did admit he was an alcoholic. He died, still in his 50s, insisting he was like his father: a drinker, not a drunk. I believe they really loved one another and (importantly) loved each other's children. Perhaps if they'd both gotten treatment earlier ...

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