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? In the Best Families by Rex Stout. After a pair of biographies, I have fled back to Nero Wolfe's brownstone. Mrs. Sarah Rackham is a millionairess (and back in 1950, a million dollars was still a very big deal). She had a troubled relationship with her dad and a painful first marriage, leaving her with low self esteem and a distrust of men. So it's not really surprising that she would hire an investigator to check up on her younger, handsome second husband. Since she's quite rich, it's not surprising she'd turn to the best, Nero Wolfe.
Wolfe accepts what looks like a rather straightforward case of domestic surveillance but turns out to be anything but. Sarah's husband is involved with some very bad people, and now it includes murder, arson and kidnapping.
There's more tension and action in this one that I'm accustomed to in Nero Wolfe mysteries. Do I think this is a good thing? I don't know yet.
2. What did you recently finish reading? The American Duchess: The Real Wallis Simpson by Anna Pasternak. I've come across the Duke and Duchess of Windsor in books and articles all my life. Yet I knew little about them. Now I do. And here's my verdict: what sad, empty lives they led.
King Edward VIII comes off as shallow and impulsive. Spoiled and uninterested in the world around him. I think Wallis did the UK a huge favor by getting him off the throne before WWII.
She's more complex and interesting. Some say she a social climber who, like the dog who caught the car, didn't know what to do when she won her prize, the heart of the world's most eligible bachelor. I came away believing she always loved Ernest Simpson and thought when the King dumped her for a "suitable" bride – like Charles would supplant Camilla for Diana – she would return to the safety of that marriage. I don't think she expected or desired the attention of the world and the enmity of Great Britain.
During WWII, Edward was made Governor of the Bahamas, where many soldiers were stationed and the injured went to recover, and Wallis did good work. But there are few similar episodes of altruism. How sad that the Duke and Duchess had decades media attention and the power that came with it and did so little good in world. Say what you will about Diana, but she worked to make lives better.
This was an interesting if not always pleasant book. I'm glad I read it.
3. What will you read next? Maybe something Christmas-y.
