Sunday Bookends: Thoughts on reading, didn’t see that deer coming, and Gladwynn’s second book coming out Tuesday

/ Lisa R. Howeler

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.


What I/we’ve been Reading

I don’t read as many books in a year as other people and this year I decided that was okay and I don’t care.

I sometimes do not finish books either and I decided this year I was also okay with that.

Every week or so my husband announces how many books he’s read so far in the year and I like hearing it. I like that he keeps track of it and that he reads over 80 books each year.

He was also a more avid reader than I was. I only started reading more books again in the last few years. I used to read all the time as a teenager, took a break in college and while working for newspapers and even while raising my son. Now I’m loving how reading has become an escape from the real world for me again.

For a while, I wanted to be like my husband and count all my books read and be able to announce the totals to him and the world.

There were several problems with this, though. One, I’m a slower reader. It isn’t that I read slow. It’s that I get interrupted a lot while reading a book so it takes me a while to finish one. People or pets aren’t always what interrupt me. Sometimes it is housework or homeschooling or my own writing or simply because I can’t seem to stay as focused as I used to.

I like that The Husband tells me his book count. It used to irritate me because I felt less than but now (okay in the last week) I let it go.

I don’t have to read a bunch of books in a year to be a reader. I don’t have to finish a book I started to be a reader because life it is too short to worry about competition in something like reading which is supposed to be relaxing and it is too short to keep reading a book you’re not enjoying.

There are also too many good books in the world to waste our time on a book that might be good but isn’t working for us personally.

I often think things like, “But this is a popular book. It’s on the NYT bestseller list. It must be good, right?”

Well, it may be that it is good for some and not for me and that’s okay.

I read a lot more than books during the year, as well – textbooks with the kids and blogs, articles, etc. So I do read a lot just not always full books. Again. That’s okay. If it is okay for me, it is okay for you.

If you’ve been holding on to all these imaginary ideas of what it means to be a reader and a book blogger or whatever – let them go.

We all have our own journey and path and just because we don’t inhale books like Galactus eats planets, we are still readers.

Anyhow…on to what I’ve been reading this week.

This week I have mainly been reading The Spectacular. Every other day I was reading a chapter from either Little Women or The Cat Who Talked Turkey (a cozy mystery). I dropped The Cat Who book last night because there was no mystery. It was driving me crazy. I was on chapter 4 and still nothing had happened other than Qwill looking for someone to narrate some presentation he was giving.

This book was one of the ones written later when people suspected Lilian Jackson Braun had gotten a bit too old to write and had a ghostwriter. It showed. I have a soft spot for the Cat Who books but I had to set aside for now because I have so many other books I want to tackle. Not every book in a series can be a winner.

I love reading Little Women a chapter at a time. I don’t mind dragging out the enjoyment of reading it because it gives me something to look forward to every night.

The Spectacular is fairly slow moving so far and I’m on Chapter 12. My husband insists that something is going to happen soon and I hope so because I’m a bit bored. I read a lot of boring books this year so in 2024 I am going back to Longmire and Anthony Horowitz to give myself some excitement. Those and some more Christian fiction because I know there are some good ones out there I haven’t read yet by authors like Nicole Deese.

I still haven’t finalized what I will read this winter but The Boy and I are reading The Tale of Two Cities for his English so I do know I’ll be reading that.

I also just ordered a Christmas regency-era book recommended to me by Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

Little Miss and I just finished The Black Stallion. Talk about boring and wordy.

She just wanted to watch the movie but I insisted we finish the book. Then I ended up skimming two chapters and getting us to the end because good grief there was way too much explanation and rambling in that book. I mean how many times could the dude describe what it was like for Alec to ride the horse? And for three to four pages every time. Plus the dialogue which was repetitive.

We are listening to The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson at night now. I read this book to her last year and I wouldn’t mind reading it again but one night I was too tired to read so we put the audiobook on and now she enjoys the narrator more than me (I think. She didn’t actually say it), so we are listening instead of me reading it.

The Husband is reading In The Blood by Jack Carr.

What’s Been Occurring

Last night The Husband, Little Miss, and I went to a Christmas parade about half an hour from us. We saw some of our friends and visited for a bit, The Husband took some photos for the newspaper and we headed home. On the way to the event and back we saw a ton of deer and had to put our brakes on more than once. About ten minutes after an eight-point buck that was blending in with the center line, turned and crossed in front of us, another deer came out of nowhere from the right and there was no missing it when it turned to go back in front of us. We slammed into it but I have no idea what happened to it, though I vaguely remember it darting off to the left.

It did some extensive damage to the front of our car, smashing in our left headlight and the body of the car in that same area, but allowing us to get home without any damage to us.

We were really very lucky considering I’ve heard stories of deer being hit that way and rolling up onto the hood and through the windshield.

We aren’t sure if our insurance will cover the accident since we adjusted our deductible to make our premiums less. We will find out more later this week but for now the car is parked in the garage. The deer left part of its fur under the edge of the hood.

All three of us were fairly shaken up and a bit in shock from it all so at first we didn’t think about how much the damage would cost us. I think we were all simply happy it wasn’t worse. There have been a lot of accidents in our area caused by deer lately and I’ve never seen as many as I have this year.

It is hunting season in our area right now so I don’t know if the deer are running wild because of that or not but driving is certainly nerve-wracking for now whatever the reason.

The Boy was at a friend’s house spending the night so I called to let him know about the incident. I also sent him some photos to which he replied, “She’ll be fine with some Flex Tape.”

Having the car out of commission is a bit sad for me as I finally had a car to drive that had heated seats and a stereo system I could patch my music into.

My husband gave me the car after he bought his truck, which we call Bambi Killer. Sadly, it has horrible gas mileage so we took the car to save on gas. Had we had the truck, there would have been very little damage to the vehicle but a lot to the deer.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week I watched Beyond Tomorrow, a fairly obscure Christmas movie from 1940. I wrote about it on the blog Thursday.

I also watched – or well, watched most of The Bells of St. Mary’s, which I hope to finish later today.

Little Miss and I watched A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, which has become an annual tradition for us now.

We also watched Elfat Little Miss’s request.

I’m sure there will be other Christmas movies and specials on our list this upcoming week.

I also plan to continue watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman this week. I am rewatching it after last seeing it some 20 years ago when I was in high school.

I started Men In Kilts: A Roadtrip with Sam and Graham this past week as well. I enjoyed the first episode.



What I’m Writing

Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage comes out Tuesday in ebook on Amazon. Amazon messed something out with the paperback so it is out now.

I am working on Cassie and made a bit of progress on it this week.

On the blog this week I shared:

Erin and I are also hosting a Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature where other bloggers can link up their Christmas/holiday-themed blog posts. You can find the link up here:

https://lisahoweler.com/comfy-cozy-christmas/

What I’m Listening to

I listened to a lot of Needtobreathe’s The Cave this week.

Photos from Last Week

I didn’t take a ton of photos last week. I hope to remedy that this week and get my camera out more.

Here are a couple from the parade we went to a display in the town.

Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

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29 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: Thoughts on reading, didn’t see that deer coming, and Gladwynn’s second book coming out Tuesday”

  1. This made me spit out my coffee:
    but now (okay in the last week) I let it go.

    And yah, we totally shouldn’t judge our reading, especially our numbers, but it’s so hard when there are so many around us who read 5 times as many books as we do. I can totally picture your husband shouting out his numbers and you silently seething, up until last week, of course. 😀

    Ohmygosh…deer…one of the main reasons I hated driving anywhere in Arkansas. I had a constant fear of hitting a deer. I sure hope insurance pays to fix your car and I’m glad you guys are ok and I’m willing to bet the dang deer is fine, thank God, minus some of his fur.

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    • My husband hit one two years ago and he said the thing just kept going so I’m sure she’s fine. Still, it was quite a hit.

      And I think some of those readers listen to audiobooks or read short books 😉. That must be it! 😂😂

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  4. Oh my. Deer! My husband and my brother-in-law hit a deer in a rental car a few years back. Surprisingly, my brother-in-law was able to pop out the section of the car where the deer hit, and there was no damage to the car. Good luck with your repairs. I’m very glad no one was hurt.

    The Christmas event sounds like a lot of fun. I’ve participated in Advent events in the past. I will try to see if I can come up with something this year and join in.

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    • My dad says we might be able to replace the headlight and just put up with the dent but he suggested an estimate first so we are getting one later in the week.

      Jump in with whatever post you want to if it is holiday related in some way! We’d love to have you!

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    • Yep – I love that everyone has their different ways to keep track or count their books and we that can just read how we like to. I do keep track of my books – I didn’t really mention that I dont’ think, but I have just decided not to stress about counting them.

      The deer thing has me on edge anytime we have to drive at night. This has been the worse year for them that I have seen maybe ever. I’m very curious why and think I’ll either call someone or look it up.

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  6. Sorry to hear about the deer-car collision. We have lots of deer around too. Great Christmas pictures! I do read many, many books a year and keep track of them. But I don’t have a family or much else to pull me away from reading. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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    • I think it’s wonderful when people can read so much and I know that one day that will be me too. I do actually keep track of my books, which I didn’t really clarify. I just am not going to worry about the count because it makes me compare myself to others. I love that my husband does it and I love hearing his tally.

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  7. As long as you are reading, that’s all that matters. Sounds like you are looking at it positively. Sorry about the dear. I live in WV and we have deer everywhere. Hopefully you can get it fixed quickly.

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  8. I agree with your reading thoughts. When I started my book blog, I was in a different place than I am now. Back then, I set my Goodreads challenge to read 50 books a year, knowing that I would read over 70. Now, I set my Goodreads challenge to 40 books a year and sometimes read 41. I’ve noticed that the better my writing goes, the worse my reading goes. I’m okay with that.

    I learned from my mother, when she had a job that involved driving around Missouri at dusk, that deer are rutting in the fall and therefore on the move. They tend to cluster at that time of year. Her rule was that when you see one deer, slow all the way down — because there’s going to be at least one more right behind it.

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    • It is the same for me with the reading and writing. If I am on a deadline for a book or I have written a lot of words one week then the reading is in a slump. I just can’t seem to balance both and that’s okay. They are both a joy for me.

      I knew that deer are clustering in the fall but I was thinking that they’d be over that now. I would guess it is the hunters riling them up. And yes, I always remind my husband that another deer will be right behind the one — as if he hasn’t been driving in this state his whole life. Ha!

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  9. I’m glad you’ve made peace with your reading life, I saw an article a while ago that stated less than half of Americans read for pleasure, so you are well ahead of many even if you read just one!
    Sorry about the collision with the deer, I hope you get your car fixed soon.

    Wishing you a great reading week

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  10. Oh dear, a dear!

    That happened to me the day before my husband was shipping out on a year-long military tour. I remember standing at the body shop asking how I was supposed to get home since I no longer had a partner to ferry me home. I burst into tears.

    Have a lovely month! Cheers! My Sunday Salon post

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  11. I used to read four or five books all at the same time and could keep up with the plots for each. Now, it’s one at a time, and I am constantly finding reasons not to read. It’s not the book; it’s me. I completely get the less than feeling. I follow some bloggers who have read more than 100 books this year but then admit they listen to some of them as they are driving. I don’t count that as reading.

    One year, we hit not one, but two deer! It’s scary and sad all at the same time. Both deer got up and went on, but I don’t know how badly they were hurt.

    I did finish a Louise Penny book and just started a Thursday Murder Club book. I must have a thing for murder mysteries! We went to see Napoleon at the theater today…three hours I won’t get back. I started watching Phantom of the Opera Saturday night. My dream is to someday see it on Broadway (but I think it’s closed).

    Have a wonderful week, Lisa!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    • I listen to audio books too but still don’t really count them as reading. I count them as listening so I clarify and say I listened to a book on audio.

      I’ve been reading murder mysteries too off and on.

      I had a feeling Napoleon was one I would not want to see – in the theater or otherwise.

      I have never seen Phantom of the Opera. I need to look that up!

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  12. I’m glad you’re okay! A lot of people around here have deer catchers on the front of their trucks for this exact reason. This state is infested with deer!

    I used to read around 100 books a year, but then life changed, and now I can’t. I guess that’s just how things go.

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  13. Those darn deer! So sorry you had to “meet up” with one. And don’t you just love that not only do they do all that damage but they leave their fur behind too? Eww. I am constantly on the lookout for them and screaming, “Deer!” when hubby is driving and honking my horn at them when I’m driving. We’ve both “hit” deer in the past although it’s more accurate to say the deer hit us. Anyway, I surely hope your insurance will cover it. On other subjects: the parade photos are fun; I started keeping track of the books I read every year about 5 years ago. I do like to know how many I read each year but also keep the titles so I don’t borrow the same ones from the library. I’m not much for re-reading a book unless it’s REALLY good.

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    • I am the same about re-reading books. It has to be really good for me to read.

      One time a friend and I drove about an hour from a mall and she honked her horn almost the entire way to keep the deer away. I was laughing so hard and kept telling her she was going to wake up all the farmers who go to bed early every night.

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  14. Wow, I’m so thankful you all are safe after this deer accident, and after the near-miss you wrote about yesterday! Those both would sure bring a big case of the shakes to me! I’m glad for old movies to wind down with in these crazy days. We’ve been watching old Dagwood and Blondie movies. Such a different time. But a lot of laughs too. Congratulations on your next Gladwynn book coming out this week!! ❤️❤️❤️

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