Welcome to a new week of WWW Wednesday. This is a meme now hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. In it, we answer three questions and leave a link in the comments sharing our own posts for other bloggers to view.

The Three W’s are:

• What are you currently reading?
• What have you just finished reading?
• What will you read next?

What am I currently reading?

Call me an overachiever, but because I forgot one of my books at work one evening ***gasp!!*** I wound up starting another one in the evening and getting halfway through it before the night was done and I had no choice but to make myself sleep. So I now have not 2 but 3 books I’m currently reading including my audio.

On audio, I’m listening to a new-to-me author. He’s actually a small animal veterinarian who previously published a couple of collections of short stories from his veterinary practice. How wonderful, and I mean look at these! I want to read these!

Though I’m adding these to my To-Read list, I am reading a book of Schott’s that is incredibly different. The Willow Wren is a historical memoir based upon the stories his father, Ludwig Schott, told about spending some of his most formative years in a Hitler youth camp for young boys. The son of a senior Nazi leader, Wilhelm Schott, young Ludwig has no interest in towing the party line and has nothing but apathy for Nazi propaganda at the age of 10. The novel, though a coming of age story about a young boy, doesn’t hold back with the horrors of WWII. I’m loving this book so far. Ludwig is a charming and wonderful narrator with a strong and wise voice, but it will make you weep for the small children who were forced to grapple with intense fear and who struggled to understand the concepts of war and death at such a young age. This is also a wonderful perspective on the war, as we see first hand the twisted message that was fed to citizens in Germany in the 30’s and 40’s. This is a brand new book that was published March 23, 2021.

I’m also reading our next book club selection, a fascinating and unique time travel tale called Faye, Faraway, in hardback. I’ve just started this, but so far it’s quite captivating and I’m enjoying it. This book is the debut novel of the author, Helen Fisher.

And for my productivity book, I picked one up on a whim from the library simply because I need to read a productivity book for my book challenge and OH LOOK! THERE’S ONE! Librarians are so intuitive! Someone must have known that I needed to read this book, because they set it on a display right there in the middle of the library for me to find. I chose Stop Living on Autopilot by Antonio Neves. This is the book I read half of in one sitting two nights ago. I expect to finish it today. I expected to be bored to tears by reading a productivity book. I’m not into self help, and I just don’t gravitate toward non-fiction in general. However, I needed to read this book. The first page smacked me in the face with some truths I needed to hear. There are some exercises throughout the book that really are quite helpful, and Neves has some pretty great and, often, humorous stories to share about his quest for rediscovering a “bolder, happier” self. At 236 pages, it’s a short and sweet book that packs a pretty big punch. I’ll have more thoughts in the coming days.

What have I just finished reading?

I just finished reading Walking With Ghosts by Gabriel Byrne, a pretty great and moving memoir by a veteran stage and Hollywood actor. It’s a very personal memoir that deals more with his journey from boyhood in Ireland to the stage and screen and talks about the pivotal moments in his life that have shaped who he’s become. You can see my full review of this book here:

What Will I Read Next?

Oh my, choices choices!!! I have absolutely no idea on audio, as I typically visit hoopla or overdrive and see what catches my eye. I do have a couple on hold from overdrive with no idea what might come available, so I’m keeping that one up in the air. In paperback, I plan to pick up Agatha Christie’s debut novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles. I have chosen this one for my reading challenge pick for debut novel of a famous author. I haven’t read enough Christie and I’d love to see the introduction of her famed detective Hercule Poirot.

So, there you have it! I’ve actually been rather busy lately and was pretty excited to have so many fresh updates for this week. Feel free to comment on any of these you’ve read or want to read and share with me what you’ve been up to lately.

Happy Reading!