Almost Clueless –The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict

A book club choice that received mixed reviews in our discussion: I would normally have returned it to the library after the first 25 or so pages, but I like to honor my book club reading commitments. I've enjoyed many works of historical fiction that are written around the life of real-life person, but this one felt a bit flat. To me, it was clear that Agatha Christie's staged disappearance in 1926 was partly a publicity stunt, and partly a move of revenge against her husband, who had just demanded a divorce. It generated a vast amount of publicity so Christie was successful in grabbing the attention of the public while she dealt with her husband's infidelity and what comes across as his mental cruelty towards her.

The author, Marie Benedict, specializes in bringing the lives of obscure or somewhat-forgotten women to light in her novels. I previously read her book about Albert Einstein's first wife, which claimed that she (also a physicist) was responsible for the Theory of Relativity. I recall that I didn't care much for the book, and found it somewhat unbelievable. Benedict also wrote a novel about the actress Hedy Lamarr, who was also an inventor and scientist – and much more interesting to me. I haven't decided as yet whether or not I'll read it.

Eighteen Voices – A Paris All Your Own: Bestselling Women Writers on the City of Light, edited by Eleanor Brown

A mixed bag of essays on Paris by women writers. Some were certainly more appealing (at least to me) than others. 

My picks, alphabetized by author:

Investigating Paris by Cara Black

Thirty-four Things You Should Know About Paris by Meg Waite Clayton

My Paris Dreams by M.J. Rose

The Passion of Routine by Jennifer L. Scott

Paris Alone by Maggie Shipstead was my favorite: The author writes about a time when she had received funding for residency in a Paris complex for artists and writers, where she could write her book, and she did, indeed, while spending nearly all of that time alone with her work and thoughts, something she was quite comfortable with and that I can completely understand. When speaking of social encounters at cocktail parties, trade events, and other events of the publishing life, she quotes another author, unnamed, who tells her, "You're a gregarious shy person," ... "You can do the sociable thing, but you don't draw power from it the way real extroverts do. It takes something out of you." The next time someone asks me if I am an introvert or an extrovert that is what I'll say – I'm a gregarious shy person.

Paris Is Your Mistress, by Ellen Sussman

A Myth, a Museum, and A Man by Susan Vreeland