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 Quiche of Death by MC Beaton. This is the first in Agatha Raisin series. It introduces us to a successful London PR exec who retires to a sleepy village, and finds herself bored. She simply doesn't know how to behave in a bucolic setting. She decides to remedy this by entering the local baking competition. Now Agatha will not be second best, and to make sure she wins first prize, she enters a professionally-baked, store-bought quiche. She's disgusted when she still doesn't win, presumably because the contest was rigged. Things get even more complicated when the judge dies and an amateur sleuth is born ... out of a mix of pique and boredom. 

This is a reread for me. I'm giving this book to my aunt for Mother's Day, and I wanted to be able to discuss it with her. I think my aunt will get a kick out of a cozy mystery with a heroine, Agatha, who is anything but cozy. She's prickly, grumpy, and entitled. She's also smart and funny. I'm sure my aunt will like this series. I know I do.

2. What did you recently finish reading? So, Anyway by John Cleese. I came away from this book surprised by how unambitious Cleese was. He was going to be a school teacher ... or maybe a lawyer ... or a banker ... or a stage actor ... He enjoyed writing more than performing and is, of course, terribly funny and his career just kinda sorta unfolded. He's refreshingly candid about being a late bloomer romantically and about his issues with his complicated mother. This book is sweet and refreshingly free of malice. I enjoyed the book a lot, smiled often, and was sorry when it ended.

3. What will you read next? Something 'Murican. Both John Cleese and Agatha Raisin are Brits and I think it's time for me to return stateside.