It’s Wednesday, so it’s time to take a look at what I’ve read, what I’m reading, and what I’m planning on reading.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I’m still working on His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life. While Carter himself has written many books, there hasn’t really been a full-length biography of the Nobel Prize-winning former President. Carter is the first president I remember, and not until he was running for re-election in 1980 when I was seven, so most of the information I’ve read so far is new to me.

I’m also listening to Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust: My Friendship with Patsy Cline by Loretta Lynn. I got a deal on both the Kindle version and the audible version several weeks ago. The older I get, the more I listen to and appreciate country music. And since I watched every single episode of Ken Burns’ Country Music at least three times, I want to hear more stories from the world of country music.

What did you recently finish reading?

I just finished Before the Crown: a Novel of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, which has been on sale for Kindle and audio book for a few weeks now.

Before the crown there was a love story…

Windsor Castle, 1943

As war rages across the world, Princess Elizabeth comes face to face with the dashing naval officer she first met in London nine years before.

One of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy, Philip represents everything she has always been taught to avoid. Instability. Audacity. Adventure.

But when the king learns of their relationship, the suitability of the foreign prince is questioned by all at court.

He is the risk she has never been allowed to take. The risk not even the shadow of the crown will stop her from taking…

Step through the palace gates and discover a captivating historical novel of royal secrets and forbidden love exploring the tempestuous courtship between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in the wake of WWII.

I also just finished Prince Philip Revealed: A Biography as a bookend of sorts to Before the Crown.

Discover the full and fascinating story of Prince Philip—one of the most important, influential, and elusive royals—in this colorful and revelatory biography written by the renowned royal family expert and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine.

The son of Greek and Danish royalty, consort to the queen, and the grandfather of Princes Harry and William, Prince Philip has been at the heart of the royal family for decades—yet he remains an enigma to many.

Now, Ingrid Seward, the editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, brings her decades of experience covering the royal family to this fascinating and insightful biography of Queen Elizabeth II’s husband, and father, grandfather, and great-grandfather of the next three kings of England. From his early childhood in Paris among aristocrats and his mother’s battle with schizophrenia to his distinctive military service during World War II and marriage to Elizabeth in 1947, Seward chronicles Philip’s life and reveals his many faces—as a father, a philanthropist, a philanderer, and a statesman. Though it would take years for Philip to find his place in a royal court that initially distrusted him, he remains one of the most complex, powerful, yet confounding members of Britain’s royal family.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Same as last week; my reading priorities changed when I saw what was due at the library.

I’ve got an ARC from NetGalley I’ve been dying to get to: Can’t Slow Down: How 1984 Became Pop’s Blockbuster Year. It will be the perfect trip down memory lane as I was 11 that year and it was all about Nancy Drew and music and MTV for me then.

The definitive account of pop music in the mid-eighties, from Prince and Madonna to the underground hip-hop, indie rock, and club scenes
Everybody knows the hits of 1984 – pop music’s greatest year. From “Thriller” to “Purple Rain,” “Hello” to “Against All Odds,” “What’s Love Got to Do with It” to “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” these iconic songs continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves – until now. Can’t Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!’s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the stars of the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music.
Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can’t Slow Down is a vivid journey to the very moment when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large – one hit at a time.

I’m also on to volume #16 in the Nancy Drew Mystery series, The Clue of the Tapping Heels, both the Original Text (Amazon) (AbeBooks) and Revised Text (Amazon) (AbeBooks).

So, what are you reading? Drop your link or tell me in the comments section. Happy reading!

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