What I'm reading Wednesday...

Finished

Carnegie's Maid by Marie Benedict

Since Juhli asked for my thoughts on this after completion, here they are.  The writing was good, but I have to say that I wasn't keen on this fictionalizing of a historic figure.  The author explained the premise for her work in the afterword, but I feel like it would have been better to change the name of the male character and explain in the afterword that he was based on Andrew Carnegie.    People these days believe anything they read (just look what they 'share' on Facebook), and they skip the afterwords.  I'm afraid that too many readers of this book will accept it as fact, and it feels as if it diminishes Carnegie's philanthropy to suggest that it was influenced by a fictitious person.  (I'm thinking that I would love to read a book about Carnegie by Erik Larson, who makes facts as spellbinding to read as fiction.)

As an aside, I think it was in the 80s that I read a novel about a Carnegie-like character...a Scottish immigrant, a miner turned oil man turned steel baron who ended up a captain of industry and built a great fortune, but whose children suffered and his adoring wife finally even gave up on him.  I loved that book, and would like to read it again, but for the life of me I cannot remember the title or author.  I can clearly picture the cover illustration, but not the title.  If this description happens to ring a bell for anyone, please let me know!  

Also finished

A Dog's Purpose by W Bruce Cameron

I really enjoyed this one.  Yes, there were a few tears, but there was also some chuckling out loud.  A sweet imagining of a dog's progression through life and death and over again.  Very entertaining, very touching, and it is making Rudy wonder what's up with all the extra hugs and treats and 'good boys' he's getting lately.

About to start

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler

A family is fractured by events surrounding the 'disappearance' of their 'daughter.'  The parents, a psychology professor and a nonpracticing scientist, raised Fern as their own child, a sibling to their children, but Fern was a chimpanzee, and she was removed (involuntarily?) from the family, leaving a trail of ongoing unhappiness.