Sunday Bookends: The irony of complaining about books with no plots, nice warm weather (for now), and mystery shows

/ 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’s Been Occurring

After I wrote my post yesterday about how nice the weather was this past week and how we finally had some sun, the sky opened up yesterday afternoon and it started to rain. Not a ton, but still, it put an end to our sunny streak. That was sad but I was grateful we actually had sun last week. The people in our area are super pale and sad from the lack of sun right now. Some day I am going to write an autobiography and that will be in the running for the title: Super Pale And Sad. Other candidates are Lost in The Corners of My Mind and Always on the Edge of Chaos.

I stole that last one from our local library director who looked at me with empty, glazed over eyes last week when I picked up  my books and asked a question and then said to me, in a very spaced-out tone of voice. “I don’t know. We’re always on the edge of chaos here.”

I really want to make t-shirts up and give them the librarians down there. I wish I was an artist. I’d draw them all hanging in the sky off of a bookcase with the bookcase tipped and books falling all around them and with that quote emblazoned at the top of the shirt.

Right before I finished writing this post I also learned that we are supposed to get a major snow storm on Tuesday so. . . winter is not done with us yet.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I find it ironic that I complained a bit last week about a book I was reading not really having a plot when I read tons of no books without actual plots. Little House books, the books in the Anne of Green Gables series, the Cat Who books (Their plots are often very loose and the mysteries they are supposed to have sometimes aren’t even really mysteries!) Yes, the irony was lost on me but it isn’t now.

Currently Reading:

If I have more than one book listed here, that means I am switching back and forth and reading whichever one fits my mood at the time.

The Cat Who Went Into the Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson

(I have to be honest that I might not make it through this one. It’s heavy. Very. And I am not that far into it yet. I may need to skip ahead to the next one because The Husband says this is if of the darkest ones in the series)

Nellie by Amy Walsh

The Borrowers by Mary Norton (reading at with Little Miss. We’re almost finished)

Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood by Richard Kim (reading with The Boy off and on)

Do the New You by Steven Furtick (reading this here and there to get ready for a Bible study at the end of the month)

Recently Finished:

The Bungalow Mystery (A Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene

Up Next or Soon:

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

Bats Fly At Dusk by Erle Stanley Gardner

The Thief of Blackfriars Lane by Michelle Griep

The Husband is reading Fields of Fire by Ryan Steck

What We watched/are Watching

This past week we watched a few episodes of Miss Scarlet and The Duke.

The Boy and I watched a few episodes of Psych together and that was nice because we don’t always like the same kind of shows.

I watched the latest episode from Forgotten Way Farms

And

The latest episode from Just A Few Acres Farm


What I’m Writing

I am working on Cassie still. If you’re curious what it is about, here is a rough description:

 It’s 1995 and 32-year-old Cassie Mason is an actress who made it big on a sitcom in the mid-1980s but hasn’t been able to find a job since the show ended five years ago.

After being fired by her talent agency, Cassie takes her sister Bridget up on her offer for Cassie to come back to their hometown for an extended visit to unwind and regroup.

While there Cassie finds out her younger sister – the one with the handsome husband and three kids and running a farm – is going to open a café and farm store in the small town they grew up near. Cassie decides to stay long enough to help with the grand opening of the local community center, though she isn’t sure what she can do since she doesn’t know a thing about cooking like her mom and sister and isn’t great at organizing either.

In fact, Cassie isn’t sure what’s she is good at other than acting. Bridget hasn’t been able to help out at the Berrysville Community Center like she’d like to with all that has to be done to open the business so she asks Cassie to fill in for a couple of volunteer opportunities. That’s when Cassie finds out that her sister’s neighbor, Alec, isn’t only a small farmer – he’s also someone who knows how to cook and showcases those talents in a weekly cooking class at the community center.

During her visit home, Cassie struggles to figure out not only where she fits in and feels most at home but also to figure out if acting is all she is meant to do with her life or if there is another way God wants to use her talents.

And God? There’s someone else she needs to learn more about on this break from the career she thought she’d always have.

It will be released in August of 2024.

I hope to have the rough draft finished by the end of the month, set it aside for a bit, and then start the third book in the Gladwynn Grant series.

Last week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to an Audible version of In This Mountain by Jan Karon.



Now it’s your turn

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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22 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: The irony of complaining about books with no plots, nice warm weather (for now), and mystery shows”

  3. I often read more than one book at a time, but they have to be very different! I always have one or two audiobooks on the go at the same time, too.
    I loved your autobiography titles and T-shirt idea, especially as I’m a librarian at a public library. You’ve got me thinking about my autobiography title. Maybe “Always Tired and Complaining About It” or “Why Am I So Tired?, and Other Eternal Questions”. haha

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  4. I miss the sun if it doesn’t shine, it sure affects how I feel. Most days have sun here as its summer but not always. I guess some books work without plots and some just don’t. The ones that work I guess have some magic that works.

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  5. We’ve been having nice weather in an atypical winter. Nice looking assortment of books. I’m not familiar with any of them. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  7. I like the plotline for Cassie.

    “If I have more than one book listed here, that means I am switching back and forth and reading whichever one fits my mood at the time.”

    I admire anyone who can read more than one book at a time … and even more so when they are writing their own at the same time! I’m writing my third book at the moment and it takes 100%

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  8. Pingback: This week’s small pleasures #374 – Thistles and Kiwis

  10. Some books don’t create the expectation of a plot. The ones you listed, which are growing up and coming of age stories are a good example of no such expectation. Maybe the one that bugged you DID create an expectation of a plot and then didn’t deliver.
    Good luck with the weather and the librarians.
    best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  11. Hmmm…books without plots. I don’t know. I’m sure I’ve read plenty of them but just didn’t recognize that! If I get caught up in the story, then there must be some kind of plot, right?

    How did you like the Louise Penny book? Or, are you the one who introduced me to her? I just finished Tom Lake. I have to say it was just OK for me. I know everyone loved it, but I only liked it. Though, I do think it would be interesting to see it made into a movie.

    We are going to have several springlike days with a cooldown for next weekend. Of course, that forecast will probably change drastically as the week goes on.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  12. The classic book with no plot for me is the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. Here and there, a book will have a real mystery, but, for the most part, the main character is the wonderful setting.

    “We’re always on the edge of chaos here.” Whew!

    Good luck in finishing Cassie by the end of the month!

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  14. Good morning.
    It rained during the night, and it’s still overcast. The temperature is 46. It will be cool today but not cold.
    Yesterday my husband and I shopped Lowes, and then at a secondhand store. At the secondhand store we found a complete set (12 of everything) of white Correll dishes for less than $30. We also bought four glass bowls with scalloped edges. These bowls are for ice cream or puddings, etc. Nearby is our favorite barbecue restaurant. I ordered and ate my usual. It’s a sliced beef sandwich.
    Also, yesterday I baked a heart shape red velvet cake and iced it with white icing. Tomorrow is my birthday.
    My dryer is down. Today our younger son will come over and hopefully diagnose and be able to repair.
    The books I’m reading are We Shall All Be Changed: How Facing Death with Loved Ones Transforms Us by Whitney K. Pipkin, On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
    I recently read Small Things Like these by Claire Keegan.
    I love the YouTube show Forgotten Way Farms. I watched the latest episode yesterday.
    I also enjoy watching Farmhouse on Boone, Route One Farm, Grace Nevitt, The Pioneer Home, Seed and Sparrow Homestead, and Our Oily House. —Those are some of my favorites.
    I have an answered prayer. First of all, I was diagnosed last spring with chronic migraines. And later in the year, cluster headaches. On December 7, I saw a neurologist who ordered an injectable medication for the migraines. I’ve tried a couple of different pill type prescriptions that are preventative meds. I’ve been waiting all this time (since Dec 7) for the injectable preventative medication to get approved by my insurance. That has now happened. I can pick up the drug at my pharmacy tomorrow which is my birthday.

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    • Oh my! So much going on and I am so excited you were approved for the medicine!

      I am going to look up all of those YouTube Channels. They sound right up my alley.

      My dryer died this week – I wish your son could come over to fix mine too!

      That was a great price for the Correll dishes!

      And I hope you had an amazing birthday! Happy belated birthday!

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