Tuesday, February 22, 2022

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? Careful What You Wish For by Hallie Ephron. I met Hallie Ephron at a book fair in 2015. I found her to be a nice lady. I already liked her writing. I've previously read two of her books: There Was an Old Woman and Night Night, Sleep Tight. It's not the plotting of these mysteries that makes me return to her. It's her turn of phrase, the way she sets a scene. When I read Hallie Ephron, I'm transported into someone else's life for a while.

I'm finding that to be true with Careful What You Wish For. Emily is a professional organizer who helps others declutter their homes. One of her rules: you can only get rid of your own stuff; you can't toss items belonging to your spouse or kid. This wisdom comes from her life, since Emily's husband is something of a hoarder, a garage sale junkie who cannot resist second hand "finds." What a great premise! Add a dead body and some stolen property, and I'm along for the ride.

Emily might seem kind of thick when it comes to the intrigue around her. Usually I'm a little annoyed if I figure things out before the professional investigator does. But that's the thing: Emily is a grade school teacher/closet organizer. She's not expecting to be surrounded by all these evil doings, so I cut her a little slack.

2. What did you recently finish reading? She Made Me Laugh by Richard M. Cohen. An entertaining memoir about the bitchy, bossy, funny, talented Nora Ephron by one of her closest friends. It made me sad that Nora's gone, because I would have loved to have read her take (and no doubt take down) of the Trump era. Daughter of Hollywood, what would she have thought of #MeToo? She was one of the first bloggers, now would she be on TikTok? Foodie extraordinaire, would she have bought a spurtle? 

This is one of those memoirs where I'm not sure if I'm fond of the book or the topic. If you were a fan of Nora's (and I adored her), you'll love this book. Beyond that, I don't have anything objective to say.

(Yes, Nora was Hallie's big sister.)

3. What will you read next? Non fiction.