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 can 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? Deliberate Cruelty by Roseanne Montillo. In the 1950s, Ann Woodward was a disgraced American socialite, a widow with money and more than a whiff of scandal, living in St. Moritz. Truman Capote was a fledgling writer on vacation. Their paths crossed, sparks flew, a feud began. 

Twenty years later, when Truman was world famous and Ann virtually forgotten, he needed a topic for his comeback novel. He wrote a scorching, thinly-veiled "fictional" account of Ann's life. The attendant publicity humiliated her anew, and she committed suicide before the excerpts were published in Esquire.

This well-written book is not only about how a feud became fatal, and how Truman heedlessly used his immense, God-given gifts to destroy, it's about how similar Ann and Truman were. They were both desperate to escape hardscrabble, small-town childhoods. They each created a persona that would enable them to star in New York society. It's perhaps these similarities that helped them get under one anothers skin with deadly results.

 

2. What did you recently finish reading? Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamor of an Icon by Kate Anderson Brower. One of the world's most beautiful women, one of cinema's most recognizable stars, Liz led quite a life. Child star who transitioned to sex symbol. Superstar with jewels, husbands and Oscars. Philanthropist and mogul. It makes for a great read. This book doesn't disappoint.

It's not the best book on LaLiz I've ever read, but it's one of the most complete. One of her husbands, Senator John Warner, cooperated with the author and provided some interesting insights into their life together and her attitude toward her husbands (she really did remain close to all but one of her exes). If you're new to the subject, this is a good primer.

3. What will read next? I don't know.