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?

Once again, I’ll be away from my computer most of the day and won’t be able to visit my blogger friends until late in the day. I can’t wait to see what everyone is up to!

Yay, I get to go back to work, after a 10-day quarantine. Luckily only one of us tested positive for Covid, and my daughter only had mild symptoms. The holidays were good; had North America’s Best Kringle and donuts for breakfast as usual, and ordered Chinese food for dinner, as we do every year we don’t celebrate with family on Christmas Day. I talked to my mother on the phone (she’s old school–no computer or cell phone so no chance to Face Time or Zoom with her.) She only lives two miles away from me, and I realized it’s been 10 months since I’ve had a hug from her. I will be visiting her this week for a socially distant visit.

What are you currently reading?

That Time of Year: A Minnesota Life by Garrison Keillor (Amazon) (AbeBooks). My husband bought me autographed copies of this book as well as Keillor’s Lake Wobegon Virus (click here for my review). One inscription reads “From one aspiring writer to another,” which was just perfect and humorous, just as I’ve known Keillor to be for the past 40 years.

Several weeks ago I won and just received an ARC of Yellow Wife (Amazon) from Simon and Schuster and Goodreads. The novel is released January 12th, so that’s my target date to finish.

Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation, belonging to neither world.

She’d been promised freedom on her eighteenth birthday, but instead of the idyllic life she imagined with her true love, Essex Henry, Pheby is forced to leave the only home she has ever known. She unexpectedly finds herself thrust into the bowels of slavery at the infamous Devil’s Half Acre, a jail in Richmond, Virginia, where the enslaved are broken, tortured, and sold every day. There, Pheby is exposed not just to her Jailer’s cruelty but also to his contradictions. To survive, Pheby will have to outwit him, and she soon faces the ultimate sacrifice.

What did you recently finish reading?

Books I finished with reviews posted:

The Official White House Christmas Ornament: Collected Stories of a Holiday Tradition by Marcia M. Anderson (Review to be found here)

A Nancy Drew Christmas (Abebooks) (Amazon) (Review found here)

Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II (AbeBooks) (Amazon). (Click here for the review)

Mixed Nuts: America’s Love Affair With Comedy Teams From Burns And Allen To Belushi And Aykroyd by Lawrence J. Epstein (AbeBooks) (Amazon) (Review here)

I also have an ARC from NetGalley to read called The Faberge Secret (Amazon). It’s release date is January 5. I also finished Fast Girls: A Novel of the 1936 Women’s Olympic Team (Abebooks) (Amazon), so you’ll see those reviews soon.

I also finished Volume 19 of the Nancy Drew Mystery Stories, The Quest of the Missing Map, both the Original Text (AbeBooks) (Amazon) an the Revised Text (Amazon) (Abebooks). The story is the same, the RT is just shortened and updated a little. Review to come on Friday.

What do you think you’ll read next?

It’s been years, so I’m going to re-read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe‘ (AbeBooks) (Amazon) so I can dive into the “sequel”, The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop (AbeBooks) (Amazon), that I just got from the library. I have to be completely honest: I found the movie of Fried Green Tomatoes better than the book. I know, I know, it’s rare that someone feels that way.

What are you reading? Do you have any recommendations? Drop your list in the comments. Thanks for stopping by!

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