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? Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir by Eddie Muller. Eddie is TCM's Czar of Noir (and, sigh, my TV boyfriend) so it's hard to imagine a better host as we meet 15 of the most influential actresses in the genre of film noir.
When as a teenager I discovered film noir, I dismissed it as misogynistic. The femmes fatales were all so dark, so hostile. In my enthusiastic but unsophisticated feminism I missed an important point: the films themselves were violent and cynical by definition, and within the world created by film noir, these women had clear power, motivation and agency – dimensional qualities they often don't have in sunnier comedies and musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. Today I'm more receptive to learning about these actresses, their films and their lasting cultural impact, and not just because I'm in love with Eddie.
2. What did you recently finish reading? The Guest List by Lucy Foley. Oh, what a thrill ride this was! A rich, beautiful and ambitious publishing exec is about to marry her rich, handsome and ambitious reality TV star fiance in an exclusive wedding on a secluded Irish island. On the surface, it looks perfect. The closer we look, the more fissures we see, and the more dangerous the wedding becomes.
Someone has been sending the bride anonymous warnings not to marry the groom. Who? Why? The groom is concerned that his best man is a bit too much of a loose cannon and too fond of booze and coke for such a high-profile role. For his part, under his hard partying facade, the best man is jealous of the uber-successful groom. The bridesmaid is beautiful but achingly fragile and as she tries to overcome trauma in her recent past, she's afraid she could crack under the pressures of her wedding party role. The "plus one," her husband a close friend of the glamorous bride, feels miserably out of place in this fast company. The wedding planner is valiantly trying to keep this disparate group on track.
Then a storm hits. The generator goes out. It's hostile and windy outside, pitch black and maybe just as dangerous inside. One of the waitresses screams that there's just "so much blood." Is someone dead? Who? How? Is there a killer loose? So many suspects, so many motives.
I really enjoyed this worthy homage to Agatha Christie.
3. What will you read next? I don't know.
