Sunday Chat/Sunday Bookends: First snowfall/snowstorm and a variety of books to read

/ Lisa R. Howeler

Welcome to my Sunday Morning Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

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



What’s Been Occurring

We got snow this past week, but it was a weird storm. We got 6 or 7 inches in our little down, but a few miles up the road they got 10 or 12. My parents live about five miles away from us and they got about 4 or 5. The town three miles north of them received a dusting. The town 15 miles from us where we buy the bulk of our groceries received only rain.

It was a strange storm, needless to say. It wreaked havoc because the snow was very heavy and wet. It knocked down already dead Ash trees in our area (killed by the ash boar) and knocked them down onto lines, taking out power for many in the area. Our power has been flickering off and on since Friday night.

For some reason, we have no cell service right in town but at least my Wi-Fi calling works in the house. We aren’t sure if that is connected to the storm or not.

The snow, for all the chaos it caused, though, was very pretty.

I’m hoping future snows this winter will be less heavy and damaging. A few of our bushes and one of our trees was damaged. A big maple in front of us that we can’t currently afford to have cut down (this thing is one of the biggest maple trees I have ever seen in my life!) lost a limb. I was worried it might lose more and cause major damage to our house or our neighbors. Getting this thing cut down will have to be a priority in 2025.

I had hoped that the snow day would mean more time in front of the fire, reading a book. Sadly, I spent most of Friday watching Little Miss play in the snow, loading the woodstove with wood, cooking some dinner, and doing other odds and end chores. I did find a little time to read some, though, thankfully.

What I/We’ve Been Reading

I have been reading The Secret of the Wooden Lady by Carolyn Keene. It is, of course, a Nancy Drew Mystery. One of the early ones. Number 27 to be exact. It’s okay but I’m a little confused about the plot and who the wooden lady is. This one seems to be a bit all over the place. It’s not like anyone has ever called these early middle-grade books great literature, of course. The mysteries do hold up most of the time. This time around I don’t feel like this mystery is really capturing my attention like others have.

I also started Christy by Catherine Marshall last week and while I am only on Chapter 2, I am really enjoying it.

The Boy and I are reading The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle for his British Literature course. It is a bit slow getting into but then it really picks up.

This past week I finished two of the three novellas in an Amish romance/Christmas novella collection. I haven’t finished the third yet because the second one, honestly, wasn’t that great to me.

The collection was The Christmas Gathering with authors Shelley Sheppard Gray, Lenora Worth, and Rachel Good.

I’m not usually someone who reads Amish fiction, but that wasn’t the issue with the one novella. It just dragged and dragged and threw in way too many characters for a 12-chapter book.

My plans have changed a little bit on what I am reading next because first, my sister-in-law (brother’s wife) told me about a series and I decided I’d try it. That book is The Sweetness of the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. It is the first in the Flavia De Luce Mysteries.

Also, I had a book on hold on Libby and it became available yesterday. That book is Death Comes to Marlow by Robert Thorogood. It is the second book in The Marlow Murder Club series.

After those books, or while reading them, I’ll be adding A Quilt For Christmas by Melody Carlson, which I picked up from a recent library trip.

Little Miss and I are still reading And Then There Were Five from The Melendy series by Elizabeth Enright. We read that some nights before bed if we aren’t too tired. She is reading the second book in the Harry Potter series as well, but not every day.

The Husband just finished The Bounty Huntersby Elmore Leonard.

What We’ve Been Watching

The past week I watched Transformers One twice. I watched it first with Little Miss and The Boy and then we watched it as a family last night for The Husband’s birthday. The Transformers aren’t really my thing but growing up my friends loved them and I played with them some too so I do know a lot of the characters. Not like The Husband and The Boy do. Sheesh – the tiny little details they know is a little mind-blowing.

They know all the characters and storylines from the original shows and the ones in between, as well as the live action films and the comics.

Last Sunday, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I watched Chocolat during a watch party. That was a lot of fun and I’m looking forward to when we do that again.

I finished reading over and rewriting parts of Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree Friday and it is now in the hands of my editor husband. From there it will be proofed. I’ll be looking for advanced readers for the book. If you are interested, you can sign up to read it before it comes out here.

This week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

This week I finally sat down and listened to another episode of the True Drew Podcast, which talks all about Nancy Drew – the books, the games, etc.

I also listened to a podcast by a homeschooling dad called The Life Without School. That was eye opening and interesting.

So 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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28 thoughts on “Sunday Chat/Sunday Bookends: First snowfall/snowstorm and a variety of books to read”

  1. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: Getting into the Christmas spirit already, – Boondock Ramblings

  4. I am so excited that you are going to read your first Flavia de Luce novel. I am a hard core fan of this series and hope it is the beginning of a beautiful relationship for you too.
    The snow is creeping down the hills. We’ve had flurries, but luckily, nothing has stuck.
    Happy reading this week.

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  5. We got maybe an inch of snow, and it melted off, then that night into the next morning, a dusting. I can’t believe you all got so much! I agree, it’s pretty. I used to love Nancy Drew books. Happy Reading and happy Thanksgiving!

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  8. I read the first in that Alan Bradley series and bought I few more. I have mixed feeling about the first and, therefore, haven’t started the next one. We are getting snow now which looks lovely since I don’t have to drive in it. Come see my week <a href=”https://inside-dog.blogspot.com/2024/11/its-monday-what-are-you-reading_068286893.html”>here</a>. Happy reading!

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  9. I wish I had been able to join you for the watch party last week, but my dad wanted to get up to East Texas early. I thank you for hosting the Comfy Cozy Cinema this fall! Very fun.

    It was my brother-in-law who suggested Flavia De Luce Mysteries for me. I will be curious to see what you think.

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  12. I still have a lingering cough, but I’ve had a respiratory virus and bronchitis. I finished the antibiotic yesterday. It’s that annoying dry cough that lingers-it needs to go away.

    I had a spinal injection with sedation on Nov 6. I had a follow-up appointment, and the injection is considered a success because I have less pain. The most I can hope for is 50% less pain.

    This week will be busy. Today I am going to clean the house. Straighten up well. Remove unnecessary stuff. I will work on this today and tomorrow. Wednesday is food prep day. Thursday is the big Thanksgiving meal. We plan to eat in the early afternoon. I am expecting nine. It is our kids and grandkids who will be with us.

    I watched all three of the Godfather movies over the weekend. Great acting. Sad.

    I am currently reading: Forgive by Timothy Keller, A City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge, and The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings by Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski.

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  14. I enjoyed the early Flavia de Luce books but it has been a while since I read one. I keep on thinking I should get back to them eventually!

    I can’t imagine having to deal with that kind of snow.

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  15. Wow, that snowstorm really was weird. It’s kinda like when tornadoes hit. They can take out an entire street and skip one house. Hopefully, the ash trees will be cleaned up soon, or are they on private property? I do love that heavy wet snow the most on pine trees, but I hate shoveling it as well as what it does to trees that are weak. We had some birch trees that would be bent all the way to the ground. I was always afraid they would snap. Unfortunately, the people who bought that house cut them all down. It’s strange, but I just have this feeling I will return to that house, and it will be like I never left. I know that’s not going to happen, but I still miss that house to this day.

    We are watching The Fall of the House of Usher which is based upon the short stories of Edgar Allen Poe. I am pretty sure I have a book of anthologies here that includes most, if not all of them. I’m still reading an Emily Henry book that I’m pretty sure I know how it ends. But, I’m kinda hoping it doesn’t even as I hope it does! I’ve been working on the ol’ blog and started writing my mini-retreat for our church that’s happening in March. I need to get busy because I not only write the retreat, I write the booklet and everything else that goes along with it.

    Have a wonderful week, Lisa!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  17. I can’t imagine dealing with all that snow and the consequences of it just yet. I’m glad it’s just some inconveniences and everyone is safe.

    Please keep going in The Christmas Gathering. I didn’t care for the second story either. The last story is the best one.

    We’ve been watching Ghost, Abbot Elementary, Elizabeth, and my favorite – Silo.

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  21. I have a book I just picked up at the library called The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati, and bought two books for ,50 cents from the library. One is Johanna Lindsey Man of my dreams (My Nana loved this author) and the other book was A life in letters by Margo Howard. Both are hardback books.
    I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie from years ago, it was on YouTube, about a soldier and letter he received. I don’t watch a lot of television though and it is hard finding movies now but occasionally I find one on Amazon Prime (with commercials) occasionally I will go and watch Doc Martin episodes.
    Since my stalking cousin found my blog site after years of being anonymous…I don’t write updates like I used to. It’s creepy knowing she is there reading everything I write, can’t be as open as I used to. I am still in the process of writing a new blog site but for now I am just keeping it to small platforms that she knows nothing about. She was always like that even when we were little. Always copying me, stirring things up behind backs about me…I finally had to go No Contact when it was just too much when my own children were starting to suffer from the other children in the family…bullying etc….so there is that.
    You and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to see some snow photos. They are always so pretty. God bless you and yours.

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