Reading/watching

Just read A Bitter Brew, the story of a 2003 arsenic poisoning that took place in a Lutheran church in the small Maine town of New Sweden. No one was ever charged with the crime, but a loner shot himself shortly after it happened and left a note confessing that he did it to make a few old men who were teasing him a little sick. He had apparently tossed enough arsenic into the coffeepot to kill the entire church a few times over, though. One man in his 70s died, and many others barely survived. Strangely, no one could accept that such a gentle and slightly daft man could do something so vicious, and instead concentrated on making his overbearing older sister's life a living hell. A sad and bizarre story. The church reminded me so much of the Lutheran church I attended, I swear the residents of New Sweden could switch places with the people in my hometown, and no one would notice. They're like parallel worlds! There was a bossy woman my grandmother despised, just like the poisoner's sister, and both churches had elderly spinster sisters who were practically joined at the hip. Also, everybody bitches about bad coffee but still drinks it.

Watching: Some documentaries Richard bought last week, including Our Own Private Bin Laden and Unconstitutional. Not sure what I think of them yet. I'll watch them again and let you know.
Saw Hollywoodland last week. It offers three wildly different scenarios about what might have happened before George Reeves shot himself (?), leaving it up to the audience to decide which is most likely. A bit long and not overly faithful to the facts, but solid acting and a fascinating mystery.