Sunday Bookends: Taking social media breaks, finally finished with Return of the King, O’Hara gets a DNF

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon

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.

I mentioned in my Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot post on Thursday that I am pulling back from social media. This is something I’ve been trying to do for months because I know it will help  my mental health.

I stay on social media (Instagram) because I have fun sharing old movie clips or posts about books but it has started to really consume me and take away from more productive things I could be doing.

It is interesting that the same weekend I deleted Instagram from my phone (not forever but for a few days at least), YouTube suggested a video about scrolling less and experiencing life more.

If you are also trying to break the social media addiction (and I am happy for those of you who don’t have one!), here is a video with some ideas on what to do instead.

You can catch up on what I’ve been up to lately in yesterday’s Saturday Afternoon Chat.

What I/We’ve Been Reading

Just Finished

I finally finished Return of the King by Tolkien. I don’t want to talk about it. The last several chapters were like torture. The book just would not end. Still, I loved the trilogy overall, the friendships, the way the ring was destroyed which was not how people make it out to be, the good writing.

But I felt like the last five or six chapters were a slog.

I’m ready for lighter fare now.

I tossed the Maureen O’Hara book aside. I have thoughts on that one – oh do I. I plan to write a separate review because I got through enough of it that I can write one.

Maureen says in the beginning she waited 70-some years to get revenge on people and boy did she – I think she made up half of what she wrote just to do that.

And she also made sure she came out looking like quite the victim and yet also the savior through most of it.

 I’ll explain my issues with the book further in a future post, but rest assured, I wasn’t the only one who got the same impression.

In Progress

I am reading Crooked House by Agatha Christie and A Damsel in Distress by P.G. Wodehouse.

Up Soon

I will be reading Heidi in April. I also hope to read Thrush Green by Miss Read, Nancy Drew and The Mysterious Letter, and Murder, She Wrote: Aloha Betrayal.

What The Family is Reading

Litte Miss and I are almost done with The Singing Tree.

What I/We’ve Been Watching

Eternally Yours (a 1939 movie with David Niven and Loretta Young), The Mirror Cracked (awful movie from the 1970s based on an Agatha Christie book), and the British Sitcom Two’s Company.

What I’ve Been Writing

This week on the blog I shared:

What I/We’ve Been Listening To

Little Miss and I are listening to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. I read this to her last year but we are enjoying listening to it again.

I have started listening to The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

Recent Blog Posts I Enjoyed

Reading Through The Hardy Boys by Pages Unbound

Tea Time Kitchen Talk by The Farm Wife Reads

The Double Turn 1956 by Cross Examining Crime.

The Miracle Before Our Eyes by Grace Filled Moments

Some Housekeeping

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.

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.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing?

This post is linked up with The Sunday Post at  Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer,  Deb at with Deb at Readerbuzz, and Book Date: It’s Monday! What are you reading hosted by Kathyrn at The Book Date. Sunday Bookends with Boondock Ramblings and 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.

If you enjoy the kind of content on my blog and all that goes into it, you can support my writing for $2.99 a month or a single donation. Learn more here: https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/

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31 thoughts on “Sunday Bookends: Taking social media breaks, finally finished with Return of the King, O’Hara gets a DNF”

  1. Pingback: Tea Time 002: Odds & Ends – the Farm Wife Reads

  4. Lisa, thank you for allowing us to drop in on your weekly bookends. Today, my #2 brother is undergoing hip replacement surgery, and I am hoping he’ll appreciate the outcome. My Dad has gone through two replacements with each hip. I am enjoying my reading about a baseball great from my hometown of Billings, Montana. My revised posting schedule is allowing more freedom to read comments and other blogs.

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      1. The book is written by a retired Billings journalist who worked for many years as a sports writer. He adds a welcome dose of hometown memories to go with the life and playing career of Baltimore Orioles pitcher Dave McNally.

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  5. I’ve been wanting to read Heidi for years so I hope you enjoy it :) I have also been trying to use social media less and I decided to block myself from using it for certain hours, especially at night and first thing in the morning and it’s been helpful :)

    I kind of want to do a Lord of the Rings Reread but I recently reread The Hobbit and really disliked it so I’m worried I might hate it too now.

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  6. What a great catch up. I have pulled back from social media over the last few years and it is better for my mental health. Oh wow! Good on you for reading Return of the King. I know the movie is about 3 hours long so can just imagine how long the book is.

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  7. marsha57's avatar marsha57

    I read the trilogy back in the 70s, saw the movies when they came out, and vow to never read nor watch either again. It wasn’t that the stories were bad. It was more they were just too long! How many orcs have to die to get the point across, right? I am reading…The Middle Moffat! I really did enjoy The Moffats. But, did I miss something? What happened to the father? I am reading it on my Libby so it’s hard to go back. Anyway, I really do like Jane…she reminds me of me when I was her age. But, now you have me curious about Maureen O’Hara!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  8. I have taken IG off my ipad. Not deleted the account, sometimes I like to see family photos on it but have forgone it for now. I loved all the Heidi books growing up, I still have a very old copy from childhood Heidi Grows Up. It had to get a new cover as it went through the family after me.

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  9. Kathy Martin's avatar Kathy Martin

    Interesting assortment of books. I don’t do much on social media. While I have an Instagram account, I’ve never posted there. I do spend a lot of time on Facebook which is where I do my doom scrolling. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  13. Joanne's avatar Joanne

    My son has been vary slowly making his way through the LOTR trilogy and has complained that some areas/chapters are such long slogs. I’ve never had an interest to read it myself though. But it is quite an amazing feat to have lasted so long and still be so popular.

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  16. I put a note on my FB account yesterday that I’m stepping away from it. For several years, I’ve tried only going there to offer birthday greetings, but I find that my attention is caught by little videos and I tend to linger over these. When I was staying at my son’s little cabin, I had limited Internet, so I didn’t go there at all, and I found I felt much happier. We will see how long I can stay away!

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