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 Pieces by Sally Field. It's not an exaggeration to say I grew up on her. My little friends and I loved watching Gidget, especially to see how Sally Field was wearing her hair. We were so young we didn't understand then that it takes a week to shoot episode and she had hairstylists tending to her. Then there was The Flying Nun. We all loved that show, too, and in those long-ago days, networks marketed tie-in paperback books about our favorite characters. I have an indelible memory of myself the summer I was 11, reading The Miracle of San Tanco, a book purchased at the drug store with my own money, in the backyard.
So I came into this emotionally invested. Add to that, Sally Field writes very well, and you've got me devouring this book in greedy gulps.
By the way, Sally looks back on Gidget fondly but hated doing The Flying Nun. I've rewatched both as an adult and she was right. Gidget had actual plots whereas The Flying Nun was dopey, aimed to appeal to "the whole family" and by trying to be all things to all people it ended up as blah. I imagine in today's world, where children can choose from PBS and streaming content aimed created specifically for them, The Flying Nun could never have exist.
It's not the worst show she did, though. The Girl With Something Extra lasted one season and I don't think I saw more than an episode or two. It was that bad. It'll be interesting to see if Sally addresses that colossal turd in her memoir.
2. What did you recently finish reading? Rescued by David Rosenfelt. I enjoy this series so much that this book made me mad. The characters are well drawn, the dialog is alternately heart tugging and funny, the setting (Paterson, NJ) is unique, the murder trial held my interest but damn! He did it again! Rosenfelt puts our hero, Andy Carpenter, in the middle of a super violent, complex plot filled with multinational intrigue. WHY? What makes Paterson, NJ, such a hotbed of terrorist activity?
I watch Dateline. I read the news. Most murders happen because an argument turned violent ... or somebody caught somebody cheating ... or somebody owed the wrong person too much money ... or a battered spouse decides they just can't take it anymore. Shadowy hitmen with code names and access to weapons of mass destruction are not the norm – unless, of course, you happen to live in Rosenfelt's Paterson, NJ. For real, every one of Andy Carpenter's cases is thick with Boris-and-Natasha bullshit. At times I rolled my eyes so far back I was looking at my own brain.
Just once I'd like Andy to get a case where he realizes his client is set up (I get that Andy's client has to be wrongly accused) over an insurance scam or to eliminate a business rival. I would sincerely love that.
3. What will you read next? Lincoln's Last Trial by Dan Abrams, because sometimes I just want to spend time with Abe.
