Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I am not Irish, but the rest of my family is. My husband’s Irish ancestors came to America not long after the Great Potato Famine and settled in central Wisconsin and were farmers. My husband grew up on one of those farms, and we still own some farmland that was passed down to us when his parents died. Oddly enough, two things my husband hates to eat are corned beef AND cabbage, so we never have that for dinner on St. Patrick’s Day.

It’s also WWW Wednesday, which asks three questions:

What are you currently reading? What did you finish reading? What are you going to read next?

What are you currently reading?

Mirrorland by Carol Johnstone (Amazon). This is a NetGalley ARC and I’m unsure why I requested it; maybe it was when I didn’t have many ARCs and they offered it to me, but it definitely not a type of book that I normally read. Psychological thriller/magical realism. I have to admit I’m having a hard time with this one but am almost done with it.

“Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.

But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting…”

I’m also reading a couple of books but am unsure if I’ll review them because they are political in nature. I read biographies of politicians all the time, but these two books are definitely skewed one way. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man by Mary Trump, which I borrowed as an ebook from the library. I was curious to read because why would a relative of Donald Trump turn on him and write a book about him? The answer is complex and as subjective as the book, which makes me think I won’t review it. The other book is We’re Better Than This: My Fight for the Future of our Democracy by Elijah Cummings with James Dale, the late Democratic Congressman from Baltimore. What I thought was going to be an autobiography is partly that, but mostly about the causes Cummings championed in his long tenure in the House and only his side of the story. It’s interesting, but definitely skewed to the left. I’ve reviewed books featuring both major American political parties in a historical context, but feel I need to find a counter-balance before reviewing these books for the blog. I don’t want this to become a blog that only left-leaning or only right-leaning individuals read; I want to include both sides when possible. After all, two of my favorite presidents were the Roosevelts, and they represented opposing parties.

On Audiobook, I’m listening to The Windsor Knot (Amazon) by S.J. Bennett. Of course I’m going to check out a book where Queen Elizabeth II plays detective like Miss Marple. It’s a gas so far, I can’t wait to find out where it is going.

“The morning after a dinner party at Windsor Castle, eighty-nine-year-old Queen Elizabeth is shocked to discover that one of her guests has been found murdered in his room, with a rope around his neck.

When the police begin to suspect her loyal servants, Her Majesty knows they are looking in the wrong place. For the Queen has been living an extraordinary double life ever since her coronation. Away from the public eye, she has a brilliant knack for solving crimes.

With her household’s happiness on the line, her secret must not get out. Can the Queen and her trusted secretary Rozie catch the killer, without getting caught themselves?”

What did you finish reading?

Just as I Am: A Memoir by Cicely Tyson If you rarely read memoir, I still highly suggest you read Cicely Tyson’s. Her role and view of the ongoing civil rights movement are powerful prose.

The Clue in the Old Album (Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #24) by Carolyn Keene Now that I’ve written a review of this book, I’ll never have to read it again and wonder why I rated it so low on Goodreads. 🙂

From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding (review on Thursday)

The Professor and the Puzzle (Nancy Drew Diaries #15) (review on Friday)

Anxious People by Frederick Bachman (review on Monday)

She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs (review on Tuesday)

What do you plan to read next?

Castle Shade: A novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes (Amazon). I’m so stoked I got an ARC to read the 17th book in one of my favorite series. I’ve got other ARCs to read that are being released sooner, but I can’t wait to dive into the latest adventures of Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes. I discovered the books almost 25 years ago and have followed along almost non-stop since then.

“The queen is Marie of Roumania: the doubly royal granddaughter of Victoria, Empress of the British Empire, and Alexander II, Tsar of Russia. A famous beauty who was married at seventeen into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie had beguiled the Paris Peace Conference into returning her adopted country’s long-lost provinces, singlehandedly transforming Roumania from a backwater into a force.

The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The castle was a gift to Queen Marie, a thank-you from her people, and she loves it as she loves her own children.

The threat is . . . well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. But this is a land of long memory and hidden corners, a land that had known Vlad the Impaler, a land from whose churchyards the shades creep.

When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But a young girl is involved, and a beautiful queen. Surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi?”

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

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