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? Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death by M.C. Beaton. Locals come from miles around to fill their flasks with the mineral water that flows from a natural spring. A corporation takes note and makes plans to bottle and sell the water. The community is divided about this decision -- will the money that flows in be worth the disruption of their peaceful village? Temperatures flare and suddenly, one of the major players gets dead. Guess who found the body? Our girl, Agatha. 

I've read so many heavy books lately that I'm really enjoying this cozy mystery so far.

2. What did you recently finish reading? The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott. In 1945, young Jessica Malloy idolizes Ingrid Bergman. She has a closer connection to her favorite movie star than other fans, since her dad is Ingrid's publicist. Because of her father's connections, Bergman and Bing Crosby come to Jessica's convent school for a few days for on-location shooting on The Bells of St. Mary's. Between her portrayal of a nun in that film and then in the title role of Joan of Arc, Ingrid personified everything Jessica thought was noble.

 

Then, in 1949, Ingrid went to Italy to make a movie and she fell in love with her director. She got pregnant, even though the man was not her husband, and she wanted the baby. The world went apeshit. At about this time, Washington's anti-Communist witch hunt tightened its stranglehold on Hollywood. Jessica's family life is upended, as her father has to cope with both Ingrid's scandal and actors and writers being blacklisted.

I wish I liked this book better. The premise is rich. The writing is generally very good -- I could almost smell the chlorine at the pool and hear those tennis balls being thwacked over the net. But I didn't really care about Jessica or her mother. So for me, it's a 3-star read.

3. What will you read next? Don't know.