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. 

PS I no longer participate in WWW.WEDNESDAY via that link because her blog won't accept Blogger comments. I mention this only to save you the frustration I experienced trying to link up.

1. What are you currently reading? Finding Jackie: A Life Reinvented by Oline Eaton. Yes, this is yet another Jackie biography. But this one is different. The author, Oline Eaton, is a woman of about 40, so she barely experienced Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in real time. She approaches the Jackie's story with a definite feminist outlook, viewing her subject as more than an extension of her husbands. So far I am enjoying it. There's no new information here -- it's not that kind of work -- but a great deal of reframing.

2. What did you recently finish reading? Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage by M. C. Beaton. Jimmy Raisin, a dissipated alcoholic who has been living "off the grid" for years, shows up in the Cotswolds, the peaceful country community where his long-ago wife, Agatha, now lives. Jimmy is a disruptor, and bodies start piling up.

As a mystery, this book is fine but rather forgettable. But as an entry in the Agatha Raisin series, it's important. This is where we get to hear Agatha reveal her own backstory, and it's fascinating and it makes a lot of sense. This book explains how and why Agatha became the flinty, independent and yet eternally lonely heroine we've come to know.

 

3. What will you read next? I'm looking for something Christmasy.