Sunday Bookends: I think I’ll stop tracking how many books I read and just…gasp! Read!

/ 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. Feel free to link your posts about

Before I get too far into this post, I want to mention that today is my husband’s birthday and my brother and sister-in-law’s anniversary.

Happy birthday to The Husband and happy anniversary to Butthead and Kim. Er….Bryan and Kim.

I have to say that I feel a bit bad telling this next story, considering it is my husband’s birthday, but I am going to do so anyhow because he’s a good sport. And please know that this story is shared in good humor, not as an actual complaint – since you can’t hear my tone which would be one tinged with laughter.

Last night he picked me up from my parents where I had been visiting them after he dropped me off. He suggested I sit in the back with our dog who tries to push her way into the middle console and bump against his arm while he’s trying to drive if there isn’t someone in the backseat with her.

I did so and when we got home, after dark mind you, my husband asked the dog if she was going to exit through the front door or would wait for me to move so she could exit through the back door. The dog stayed sitting next to me, so The Husband closed the door and walked into the house.

I thought he was going to go turn the outside light on and come back to help me with my bags, but instead when the dog and I got out of the car I found out we were totally alone in the driveway and backyard.

We’ve been married for 23-years and the man didn’t even open the door for me. Gasp! I was certain he would look out the back door to see if I was coming but after a few minutes, Zooma the Wonder Dog and I were still outside in the cold. I went inside and said, “Hey! Thanks a lot for leaving me!”

 I found The Husband staring at The Avengers movie with the kids.

“I could have been eaten by a bear!” I told him.

“You wouldn’t have been eaten by a bear,” he insisted. “We’re located in a fairly safe neighborhood with a fairly well lit driveway. You were fine.”

For the record, we live on the end of a street at the far end of a tiny town, surrounded by the woods, and a couple of months ago Zooma the Wonder Dog had a stand off with a black bear in our backyard ­– a few hundred feet from where I was standing (alone and in semi-darkness).

“I just read a story about a black bear chasing a boy into a Dollar General in Pennsylvania!” I told him.

“What part of Pennsylvania?” he asked.

“Pittsburgh area but we still have bears around here you know!”

Chivalry is dead, ya’ll. Dead.

Something else that is also dead is my desire to worry about the number of books I am reading each year.

In 2026 I am simply going to read whatever I want and take as long as I want to read the books I choose. It isn’t that I worry about how many books I’ve read in a year too often anyhow, but sometimes I do find myself feeling bad I’m not reading more, usually because I am comparing myself to other bloggers or readers on social media.

It’s really silly to compare ourselves to others, especially at my age, but luckily it is a very brief comparison when I do so.

This year, I chose books I wanted to read, not books others said I should read, and I hope to do the same next year. I still want to list the books I read in my reading journal because I enjoy doing that and looking back at them at the end of the year, partially so I can recommend them (or not) to others, but I think next  year I’ll simply list and not number. Or maybe I’ll just stop overthinking it? That might work too. *wink*

Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea.  This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.

We will also be hosting Comfy Cozy Christmas starting the day after Thanksgiving! As Erin said on her blog, “Anything holiday related – any December holiday – at all that strikes your fancy and you write about, please think about sharing on our linky.”

Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link-party.

I finished The Whispering Statue last week. It’s a Nancy Drew mystery and it had a lot of plot issues, but yet, it was also an interesting mystery, or had interesting aspects.

I am still reading Rebecca by Daphne De Maurier — a few chapters a week.

I added The Tale of Hilltop Farm by Susan Wittig Albert to break up the drama of Rebecca.

Here is a quick description of the book from online: “The author of Peter Rabbit and other tales, Beatrix Potter is still, after a century, beloved by children and adults worldwide. In this first Cottage Tale, Albert introduces Beatrix, an animal lover and Good Samaritan with a knack for solving mysteries. With help from her entourage of talking animal friends, Beatrix sets out to win over the human hearts of Sawrey, where she’s just bought an old farm–and plans to stay.”

Up soon I plan to read an Agatha Christie book but I haven’t decided which one yet.

I have been watching mostly old shows again but also movies with the kids who are making their way through the Marvel movies. This would be a first time for Little Miss (11) and many times for The Boy (19).

This past week it was The Avengers and Iron Man 3. I hate Iron Man 3 so I tried to do other things while it was on. It was like watching a train wreck. It is the worst of the series for the Iron Man part. We just skipped the second Thor movie (The Dark World) because it is also horrible.

I also started a Bob Hope movie called I’ll Take Sweden. Frankie Avalon is also in it and it’s ridiculous. I had to go to bed before I could finish it.

And I watched a couple of YouTubers this week, including The Cottage Fairy who has been gone for a long time after having a baby but put up a new video this week.

On the blog I shared:

I’ve been listening to The Jack Benny Show at night before bed.

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. You can copy my blog graphic to your computer if you want to participate in my link party or you can join the other awesome link ups below.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

This post is linked up with The Sunday Post at  Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, The Sunday Salon with Deb at Readerbuzz, and Book Date: It’s Monday! What are you reading hosted by Kathyrn at The Book Date. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Reading Reality.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

Discover more from Boondock Ramblings

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

24 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: I think I’ll stop tracking how many books I read and just…gasp! Read!”

  1. The number of books I read per year ebbs and flows. More during the pandemic, less now that I am doing more out in the world, more after a surgery, etc. Be happy to get out and about while it’s easy, and don’t worry about beating a “record”, etc. Be happy to read and don’t worry about keeping statistics and comparing them.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  2. Pingback: Sunday Bookends: It’s A Wonderful Life Radio Play and a Beatrix Potter-based cozy mystery series | Boondock Ramblings

  3. Good for you regarding the reading. I hate comparison-itis. Would you believe, I get snarky comments about the large number of books I read, do I read them properly, how do I do it, but in a snarky way. Grrrr. My husband once knocked me out with a whirlygig washing line (the ones that stand in a hole in your garden and go round with the wind). He didn’t mean to. But I did have to go to his parents’ for lunch afterwards with a concussion!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I like to tease my husband for reading a lot of books but I know why he does and how he is able to so I’m never serious about it. I think it’s wonderful when people are able to read so much! We are all different and have different ways to fill our free time and some do it by reading more.

      And that accident sounds awful! I think I would have stayed home after that! Forget lunch with the inlaws! Ha!

      Like

      Reply

  5. I enjoyed the “left in the car to fend for myself” slice of life. Yikes I couldn’t imagine facing a bear in the backyard! It’s nice to read without any “pressure” from anyone or anything. I do aim for a number but I set it low and then if I exceed then I push the goal on. But I do think its important to read what draws us, not what others say we should.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I hope I never do face one but we did have one on our porch one night and I was almost face to face with him as I opened the door to call for our cat. I do hope that I never actually face one out there!

      And that’s how I did it this year. I am not sure I am even going to hit my low goal! Ha!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  7. I like chivalry too … so I hope it’s not too dead dead. Enjoying your reading next year without tracking is a good idea. I might eventually get there as well. Then it’s easier to read whatever whenever … no matter large or small. Happy Thanksgiving week.

    Like

    Reply

  8. Happy birthday to the husband!! And that story cracks me up. Billy would definitely do the same. Lolol.

    And I think you should just read and make yourself happy, however that looks! Reading is a fun hobby and escape and should not be stressful. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  10. Husband *SIGH*

    I admit I feel a bit disappointed in myself when I don’t reach a reading goal Ive set for myself, but I don’t judge anyone else’s successes or failures. A challenge isn’t a competition, it’s personal motivation, at least the way I see it.

    Wishing you a great reading week, and no bears!

    Like

    Reply

  11. Can I just say that sounds exactly like something my husband would do with the exception he’d leave both me and the dog in the car? And, yes, you do have bears…I saw the proof! Anyway, happy birthday to him and happy anniversary to your brother and his wife.

    Now, as for reading, I have been doing the same as you…comparing myself to other bloggers and worrying about not meeting my Goodreads goal. I mean, are there Goodreads police who will come knocking at my door because I didn’t even come close? I think not! So, I don’t think I’m even going to set a goal for next year. I do read whatever I want and am currently reading Goblin Mode (I think that’s the name…I don’t pay a lot of attention to that detail). I started reading it, thinking there would be some kind of quiz to tell me what kind of goblin I am. So far, no quiz! So far, I don’t think I’m a goblin. But, it’s a fun little book, and I will finish it. I have several books on hold on Libby. Now that construction is over at our library, I’m planning to go get “real” books. I just love the smell of a library though ours is new and doesn’t have that really good library smell yet. Have a wonderful, bear-less week, Lisa!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  13. I enjoyed your thought provoking post. You’ve given me food for thought as I begin planning posts for 2026. Sometimes I’m so busy keeping track of statistics that I don’t have time to journal, which I prefer. Your honesty and transparency have got me thinking and even feeling a bit liberated! Thank you!

    Like

    Reply

  14. That’s totally something the ex could have done. Sometimes people just don’t think. Happy Birthday to your husband, anyway! 😉

    I think you should read the way it works for you. Write it down, don’t, count, don’t. In my post for end of November I added that we could overthink this to a point where we start counting pages or assign different values to books depending on how “light” or “difficult” they are. I get the comparing, though, I have always done it in jewelry making and it’s a hard habit to break.
    But you do and don’t worry about what others do. Just enjoy! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  15. I hope you will tell your sweet husband, Bears are very real, sir. I saw that video of that black bear. at your house.

    I love to see how many books I read even though some very snooty people might say I cheat like a dog to jack up my numbers, reading lots and lots of picture books and short novellas and itsy-bitsy nonfiction books. Full disclosure: I also start reading books in December that I will actually finish on Jan. 1 so I can start the new year strong.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • I know! Right? He was picking on me on a little, though I really do think he doesn’t believe a bear will show up in our backyard again.

      I’ve had fun teasing him about it but backed off a little for today since it is his birthday. 😉

      You will have to do what I am doing then and not worry what those snooty people think. Last year I read a lot of middle grade books and Nancy Drew books…all very short. This year I read a couple that were longer and I DNF’d quite a few when I just couldn’t push through them.

      Like

      Reply

  16. Holy cow! The 🐻 story was exactly what my husband would do! We’ve been married twenty years and nothing surprises me anymore!

    Happy reading and enjoy your Sunday! Hopefully it includes a piece of birthday cake!

    Like

    Reply

I love when people leave a comment so we can connect and I can meet new readers!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.