The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie is the first of two books which feature Superintendent Battles and in the autumn my husband picked me up a gorgeous copy of it during a trip to a Barnes and Noble about 90 minutes away.
I had looked at the copy the year before so the gift was exciting and I enjoyed reading it as my third book this year.
Anthony Cade dominated the majority of the story, more so than Battle, and I was fine with that. He was a blast and had all the best lines. For some reason, I kept picturing Cade as Hugh Fraser, who plays Colonel Hastings in the Poirot TV show and movies, as I was reading.
From what I have read about this series, this is also where we Agatha readers meet Bundle – real name Lady Eileen Brent, but I also didn’t feel she dominated much of the story either. I read that she is even more in the second book of this duology, Seven Dials, which was recently released as a mini-series on Netflix. No, I haven’t seen it as I don’t a subscription to Netflix.
Sh was a fun addition who I would have liked to seen more of in the book really. So many Agatha fans seem to love her. This is not a complaint in anyway. Just an observation of a character I liked and wanted more of. I believe I will get that in the second book.
This one features a ton of political intrigue and some call it more of a thriller than a detective/crime fiction book, like many of Agatha’s other books. There is also a bit of romance, though, and I found the romance so sweet and the romantic lines swoon-worthy.
A quick description from the Agatha Christie site: A young drifter finds more than he bargained for when he agrees to deliver a parcel to an English country house. Little did Anthony Cade suspect that a simple errand on behalf of a friend would make him the centerpiece of a murderous international conspiracy.”
Chimneys, by the way, is the name of the house/estate – not an appendage on a roof.
Here are some quotes from the book that I enjoyed:
“Detective stories are mostly bunkum,” said Battle unemotionally. “But they amuse people, he added, as an afterthought. And they’re useful sometimes.”
“In what way?” asked Anthony curiously.
“They encourage the universal idea that police are stupid. When we get an amateur crime such as a murder, that’s very useful indeed.”
***
‘Lord no. It’s the red signal again. When I first saw you—that day in Pont Street, I knew I was up against something that was going to hurt like fun. Your face did that to me—just your face. There’s magic in you from head to foot—some women are like that, but I’ve never known a woman who had so much of it as you have. You’ll marry someone respectable and prosperous, I suppose, and I shall return to my disreputable life, but I’ll kiss you once before I go—I swear I will.’
***
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’ve got a plan. But I’ve got an idea. It’s a very useful thing sometimes, an idea. – Superintendent Battle
***
“You understand well enough, I dare say,” said Anthony, breaking the silence. “You know when a man’s in love with you. I don’t suppose you care a hang for me – or for anyone else – but, by God, I’d like to make you care.”
As for the mystery, I didn’t fully guess the guilty party but was starting to get an idea of who certain people really were toward the end of the book.
Have you read this one? What did you think?
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
If you would like to support my writing (and add to the fund for my daughter’s online art/science classes), you can do so here.
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.
This week’s prompt was: Bookish Discoveries I Made in 2025 (New-to-you authors you discovered, new genres you learned you like, new bookish resources you found, friends you made, local bookshops you found, a book club you joined, etc.)
2025 was the year my husband I discovered a small bookstore in a tiny village about 30 minutes from where we live, which is sad considering we’d lived here for five years before we found it.
The store features mostly used books, some antique books, and a few new ones.
There are books from all kinds of genres, including a large history section.
The cozy mystery/mystery mass paperback section was the most exciting for me because they sell those for $1.50 each. I picked up some Murder, She Wrote books that I have enjoyed so far. The ones by Donald Bain anyhow. Not so sure about the Jon Land ones. I started one and … well, it was rife with odd writing in only the first few pages.
We haven’t been back since the end of summer but I think another trip there is due soon. I am hoping to explore their shelves for Nancy Drew books which they’ve had a collection of the last couple times we’ve been.
2. 2025 was also the year I discovered Storygraph to track the books I’ve read. I track my books in my reading journal but liked the idea of doing it via an app too. I don’t use Goodreads to track because my mom is connected to my Kindle/Goodreads account and reads a lot more than I do. I can’t find the books I’ve read in the mass amount she’s read so I wanted a place I could track my reads.
Storygraph does that for me. I enjoy logging on as I progress in a book and marking the progress as I go along. It also helps me keep a list of books I want to read.
I’m not as worried about the other stats it provides at the end of the year. I read to have fun and stats aren’t as important to me as they once were.
3. 2025 was when I discovered P.G. Wodehouse.
I have started with the Jeeves series by Wodehouse and have enjoyed the first two books I read. The dry British humor/sarcasm is perfect to me because it fits my sense of humor. That’s probably I’ve often preferred British shows, sitcoms, and books to American ones.
I’m looking forward to reading more of his books this year.
4. I discovered that my new favorite genre is “gentle vintage fiction.”
I would describe this genre as fiction that takes place in a small village or simple location and is written before the 1970s. They are usually books that are almost about nothing in particular. They detail the everyday lives of the main characters and take the reader on a leisurely walk that doesn’t lead to too much stress or sadness.
I would place the Miss Read books by Miss Read and P.G. Wodehouse books in this category.
I have a list of books in this genre that I hope to read this year, including more by both of those authors.
5. Another new author for me in 2025 was Sharon Mondragon.
I read two of her books in 2025 — Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals and The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady.
I hope to read the sequel to The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady sometime this year.
6. I discovered Murder, She Wrote books by Donald Bain in 2025.
They are actually not bad. The books give a more detailed look at Jessica’s personal life, with a lot of emphasis on her emotions as she solves the murders, and also on her being a widow. In the first book of the series, Gin and Daggers, she remembers her late husband Frank quite a bit, and it’s bittersweet to see her spending time in London in the same hotel she and Frank once stayed in.
Bain also included a lot of history of wherever Jessica was visiting in his books.
I haven’t read any of the books in the series by other authors but I will be trying a couple of them this year while also reading Bain’s books.
The attribution for the books is actually Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain, but…you know…there is no real Jessica Fletcher so Donald really writes them. Other authors took over later because he passed away. line up. I plan to read more of them for fun in 2026.
8. I rediscovered my love for The Chronicles of Narnia in 2025 and decided to re-read the series, which I had not read in 30 years. I read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in 2024, but in 2025 I read The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, Prince Caspian, and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
I will be reading The Silver Chair and The Last Battle this year.
9. In 2025, I discovered more Golden Age Crime Fiction authors such as Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham. I read one by Dorothy Sayers and enjoyed it and hope to read more of her and Allingham this year as well as discover other authors in this era/genre.
10. In 2025, I let go of reading what I thought others would want me to read or suggested I read – unless it was a super good suggestion. I just mean that I worried a lot less about reading what was popular or everyone else was reading and just read whatever I wanted to. If it interested me, then I read it, even if I hated it later. I also stepped out of my comfort zone several times to try a book that looked interesting to me but that I wouldn’t have tried in the past. I definitely plan to do more of this in 2026.
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
If you would like to support my writing (and add to the fund for my daughter’s online art/science classes), you can do so here.
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.
I am currently re-reading The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery and have decided to read the book with my blog readers in the month of February, if you/they so wish.
I will be posting about the book throughout the month and will offer posts where we can discuss the chapters we’ve read and the book as a whole once or twice a week.
I plan to write a bit about the book and why I enjoyed it, as well as a little background on how others feel about the book, to kick things off on February 1.
I’m looking forward to discussing this book, one of my favorites, with all of you!
If you don’t know what the book is about, here is a quick description of the book that is so different than her Anne books:
An unforgettable story of courage and romance. Will Valancy Stirling ever escape her strict family and find true love?
Valancy Stirling is 29, unmarried, and has never been in love. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she finds her only consolation in the “forbidden” books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle–a place where all her dreams come true and she can be who she truly wants to be. After getting shocking news from the doctor, she rebels against her family and discovers a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
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.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
As I am starting this post on Saturday night, we had temps — er – temp of 5. In the morning snow is supposed to start and when it all ends Monday night, we are supposed to have close to 18 inches of snow.
I really hope we don’t get as much as they say, though, because the high temp is supposed to be 15 degrees, which I think means this will be a very heavy, wet snow. We live in a rural area so that could mean power outages. We have a woodstove that could keep us warm downstairs but we would have to worry about our pipes freezing since we do not have a generator. I believe that’s something we will need to invest in at some point soon. Our neighbors have generators, which I think they purchased after a tornado hit here on our street about six years ago, wiping out power for several days.
I’m sure many of you, if you are in the Northern and Middle U.S. are facing a similar situation as us. Stay safe out there, everyone.
Since we are going to be snowed in, I have been planning how to get through it all without worrying too much. I plan to watch movies, read books, and sip tea or cocoa.
To keep themselves occupied, Little Miss has been video chatting with her friend and The Boy has been chatting with his friend and playing video games. The Husband has been cleaning the house (he’s much better at that than I am) and reading and doing a little work for the newspaper he is at the editor at.
He expects to be snowed in Monday and will work from home. As long as we have power that is.
Erin (www.crackercrumblife.com) and I held our Crafternoon Zoom call yesterday and it was very nice to chat with people from all over the world. We chat while we craft and if you are interested in taking part, please let me or Erin know. It is just a relaxed time to chat, make new friends, and forget about our troubles. We keep conversations as free of politics or hard stuff as much as we can.
UPDATE:
It is 12:24 P.M. as I am finishing up this post and it is about 10 degrees out (-12 C) and we have about six inches of snow on the ground. The snow is supposed to stop sometime tonight and we are expected to have up to 18 inches of snow when it is all done.
What I/We’ve Been Reading
Just Finished
I didn’t finish anything this weekend.
In Progress
I’ve been reading Miss Read’s Village Diary by Miss Read, The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (a reread), and just started Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien.
I’m enjoying all three. Miss Read’s books are such easygoing, relaxing reads.
Up Soon
I hope to finish Miss Read this week so I can add The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham to my reading line up.
I read the first few pages about a month ago and it intrigued me.
Cat from Cat’s Wire needs to let me know if it is good or not. *wink*
After that I plan to start the February Agatha Christie Read for the Agatha Christie challenge, Mrs. McGinty’s Dead.
What The Family is Reading
Little Miss and I started The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy. We’ve also been listening to Winnie The Pooh on Audible.
The Husband is reading….
What I/We’ve Been Watching
I loved this YouTube video about how to read more classic books.
And this video about how to cut back on buying books you never read.
I watched After The Thin Man, the second movie in The Thin Manseries, yesterday, and earlier in the week I watched episode two of season six of All Creatures Great And Small.
Today I hope to watch another old movie, probably a James Cagney, for my Winter of Cagney.
I’ve had to change my schedule of Cagney movies again because I have found yet another movie that is not streaming anywhere and can’t be found for very cheap on DVD. Two movies now, Man of a Thousand Faces and Angels With Dirty Faces, are going to have to be taken off my list as I figure out how to watch them in the future.
The Husband says these movies are most likely no longer in print and have not been licensed for streaming, hence my challenge in finding them. Man of A Thousand Faces costs $40 most places and is mainly on BluRay and Angels With Dirty Faces (a movie with Cagney and Humphrey Bogart) is on DVD but $19.95. I will probably set the aside for another time and slide two Cagney movies that I can find streaming into my list instead.
David Phelps with Laura Osnes singing a song from The Phantom of the Opera.
Photos From Last Week
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? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
What I like about winter is how, when it snows or is icy outside, I have an excuse to stay at home, drink tea or cocoa, and read books or watch movies.
What I don’t like about winter is that sometimes we get a snowstorm that dumps so much snow on us I can’t get out of my driveway for a week, and I am stuck inside and unable to have the choice to go anywhere if I want to.
Tomorrow we are getting a snowstorm that could dump almost two feet of snow on us.
Today we have temps in the single digits.
Neither situation is good and has our family in lockdown mode.
Luckily, today’s boredom should be helped with a Crafternoon zoom call (those are still a thing we do and if you are ever interested in participating, let me or Erin know), and then a zoom art class for Little Miss.
The art class is with Cornell in Ithaca, NY, and was suggested by my sister-in-law who is also attending.
Crafternoon is where a bunch of bloggers hang out on Zoom and chat while doing crafts.
At our vet appointment a couple of weeks ago the vet estimated his age around nine months which means he really is a kitten/child and he shows it a lot.
My cats are going stir crazy with all the cold weather we have been getting and keeping them inside a few more days is not going to be fun. The youngest is especially crazy lately.
He likes to chase our feet and toes for one, but yesterday, after The Husband and The Boy brought in the groceries, he got into the meats before I could get them put up (I was on the phone with my mom). He gnawed the plastic off a beef roast and then gnawed part of the roast as well. While we were putting that up, he stuck his head in another bag and tired to eat some raw chicken. Yes, we do feed him.
I was hoping that the temperature would rise when the snowstorm came in and I could let him back outside to get some of his energy out, but it appears that our high temps during the storm will be 15. That means Little Miss won’t be able to go out and play in the snow like she usually does.
This could definitely mean downed power lines and power outages in this rural area with a lot of trees, which does have me on edge. I am more on edge for my parents than us since we have the benefit of a woodstove to help with heat and they don’t.
But I’ve been working on not focusing on “what ifs” so I will try my best not to worry about all those things for now.
Thursday, the kids and I headed to my parents’ house to help clean up a bit and do some things before they and we get snowed in.
The Boy helped my dad get his generator ready, and I cleaned the kitchen and vacuumed the living room floor.
The Boy also took Zooma the Wonder Dog for a long walk in the cold temps, but at least it was 34 that day verses the 1 degree it was here this morning. It’s 5 now. It’s supposed to get to only 8 today. Three degree warm up! Whoot!
It’s so cold out there that last night our back porch was snapping and cracking and going off like a gunshot. I wonder if it will explode like the trees might out west. I guess we will find out.
I am preparing a list of movies today that I want to watch during this winter storm event which could last through Tuesday or longer for me, since my driveway is so steep.
They will most likely be classic movies – before 1970.
Making the list is The Public Enemy with James Cagney from 1931 because I can’t find Angels with Dirty Faces streaming anywhere (even YouTube!) and that was the next movie in my James Cagney line up. I really should have double checked if these movies were streaming before I chose them. You think I’d learn but I never do. I will have to adjust my list yet again.
I also plan to rewatch After the Thin Man.
I hope to be able to watch a John Wayne film too. Or some sort of Western. I’ve been itching for one.
I’m sure there will be some Cagney & Lacey and Murder, She Wrote watched as well.
Maybe even an episode of The Rockford Files since The Husband will be home from work part of the time.
How is the weather where you are? Gross and nasty or fairly pleasant? I always hesitate to ask this because there is always some Southern California resident who is like, “I just went for a walk in my shorts and flip flops and now I’m having a mimosa on the veranda,” and I want to throat punch them (not really!) but I’ll take even that today. I can live vicariously through you. Ha! Seriously, if you live somewhere warm – like Australia or New Zealand or something – feel free to tell me because I actually love knowing there are other parts of the world that are nice and warm when I am cold and trying to light the fire in the woodstove.
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
If you would like to support my writing (and add to the fund for my daughter’s online art/science classes), you can do so here.
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.
This winter I am watching James Cagney movies for a “Winter of Cagney” marathon through the months of January and February.
Up this week is Mister Roberts, a 1955 film that couldn’t see to figure out its’ identity. I was told it was supposed to be a comedy/drama ,but I felt a lot of it was more of a drama with a few comedic moments tossed in.
I also wasn’t bowled over by Cagney’s presence in this one. He seemed more like a caricature of himself or his previous characters and that may be because of the fraught relationship he and much of the cast had with the director, John Ford. More on that later.
Just because I wasn’t overly impressed with the movie, doesn’t mean I hated it or it was all bad. Not at all. In fact, it had some nice messages along the way and it was mildly entertaining. It simply wasn’t my favorite Cagney movie of the few I have watched so far.
The movie was based on the Broadway play which was based on a novel by Thomas Heggen.
Heggen and Joshua Logan wrote the stage play, which debuted in 1948 and was very successful with Henry Fonda in the role of Mister Roberts, which he also played in the movie.
This was a movie where Cagney was a secondary character with Fonda as the main star.
William Powell and Jack Lemon rounded out the cast.
This movie takes place toward the end of World War II on a United States Navy cargo ship called the Reluctant that is stationed in the backwater areas of the Pacific Ocean. The ship is affectionately and not-so-affectionately also called The Bucket by the crew.
The ship has not seen any military or war action and this is infuriating to the executive officer/cargo chief, Lieutenant (junior grade) Douglas A. “Doug” Roberts (Henry Fonda).
He spends most of his time trying to shield the depressed crew from the unpopular and task master captain, Lieutenant Commander Morton, played by Cagney while also filing transfers to get him off the ship and into the war.
He hates the idea that he and the men of the ship are sitting in the middle of the ocean, not seeing any action while Morton simply shouts orders and waters his ridiculous palm tree that he keeps in a small pot on a balcony near his office. Morton refers the transfers to higher ups because regulations require him to but he always advises the transfer requests to be ignored so they are.
Ensign Frank Thurlowe Pulver spends most of his time on ship hiding in his bunk to avoid the captain but repeatedly says he will one day light a fire cracker “under the old man’s bunk” to get back at him for always being mean to the crew. Instead of ever doing anything bold, though, Pulver wilts under Morton’s shouts.
William Powell appears in his last feature film as the doctor on board the ship and spends much of his time dealing with crew members who make up illnesses so they don’t have to keep working under Morton’s rule.
Roberts feels the men need some rest and relaxation and leave but Morton always refuses to give it to them.
Roberts finally finds a way to get orders for some R&R time behind Morton’s back, but when Morton finds out what’s going on he’s furious and tells Roberts the only way they can have the leave is if Roberts agrees to stop filing transfer requests and starts doing everything Morton tells him to.
The idea behind this one is a good one, but I wasn’t really feeling Cagney in the role. It almost felt like he was relegated to this secondary part, even though some critics praised his portrayal of the mentally-off captain.
One thing that probably didn’t help this movie was the fact that the director, John Ford, started the filming out with aggression and was replaced halfway through due to an argument with Fonda where Ford punched Fonda in the face, as well as emergency gallbladder surgery for Ford.
Ford’s tension with the actors may be why there was so much underlying tension throughout the movie.
Ford couldn’t even get along with Cagney, and let him know they probably wouldn’t get along right from the beginning.
Director John Ford
When Ford met Cagney at the airport, the director told the actor they would probably “tangle asses.” Cagney said he was shocked by the comment.
“I would have kicked his brains out,” Cagney said later. “He was so g******* mean to everybody. He was truly a nasty old man.”
The next day, Cagney was slightly late on set, and Ford was furious. Cagney allegedly interrupted Ford’s ranting by saying, “When I started this picture, you said that we would tangle asses before this was over. I’m ready now – are you?”
Ford reportedly walked away and he and Cagney had no further issues. Good thing too since Cagney had once been a champion boxer in the Bronx before becoming an actor.
Ford was replaced by Mervyn Leroy.
Joshua Logan also helped to direct, bringing his experience of having directed the original production on Broadway, but was uncredited in the film.
I was not overly impressed with Lemmon in this movie, so I was really shocked to read that he won a best supporting actor Oscar for his role.
According to the Warner Bros Fandom site, Lemmon and Cagney became close friends during filming.
“During the production of the film, Lemmon began a long-term friendship with Cagney which continued until Cagney’s death in 1986,” an article on the site reads. “Prior to his appearance in his first film, years before Mister Roberts, he started in live television. In one particular performance, Lemmon decided to play his character differently. He decided to play the character left-handed, which was opposite to his own way of movement. With much practice, he pulled off the performance without anyone noticing the change. This change even fooled Lemmon’s wife at the time. A few years went by and Lemmon met Cagney on their way to Midway Island to film Mister Roberts. They introduced themselves, and Cagney chimed in, “Are you still fooling people into believing you’re left handed?” They had a great laugh and a strong friendship was born.”
I wouldn’t really say I would skip this movie when watching Cagney movies, but, for me, I’ve seen better.
This was his last movie with Warner Bros, which is the studio where he’d spent most of his career.
A bit of trivia or facts about the film:
Henry Fonda was not the first choice for the role of Mister Roberts, even though he had played the role on Broadway. The producers felt that he had been away from film for too long (eight years) and wouldn’t be a box office draw, but also that he was too old for the role. The character was supposed to be in his 20s but Fonda was 55 at the time of the film.
Spencer Tracy turned down the role of Morton.
Ford used his Navy connections to find one of the old cargo scows to use for the story’s setting and boat; cast and crew were all sent to Midway Island for exterior shooting.
Though Ford apologized to Fonda for swinging at him, Fonda never looked at his former friend the same way again and they never worked together again.
The movie was 1955’s third highest box office hit.
The next year Ford made what many consider his greatest movie, The Searchers.
The movie was remade for TV in 1984 with Kevin Bacon as Mister Roberts
Up next week I am watching Angels With Dirty Faces, one of Cagney’s early movies with Humphrey Bogart.
If you would like to follow along with my Winter of Cagney and watch some of the movies yourself, here is my schedule for the winter:
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
If you would like to support my writing (and add to the fund for my daughter’s online art/science classes), you can do so here.
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.
Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.Please feel free to post new blog posts or old ones you want to bring attention to again.
Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.
I don’t know what the weather is going to be like for you this weekend, but on Saturday our high is going to be 8 and our low -2. Yuck! Then on Sunday, we are getting a snowstorm that could bring anywhere from 2 to 13 inches. Who even knows at this point.
All I know is that I am glad I don’t live in Buffalo. I am convinced that that city is the portal to hell with all the snow they get each year! With Washington D.C. being the other portal for … um…. other reasons.
Let’s get on with this week’s link party before I get myself into trouble. *wink*
Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:
Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!
Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblingsshares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.
Cat from Cat’s Wire is a bookworm, movie fan, crazy cat lady, armed with beads, cabs, wire and a very jumpy brain which loves to go down rabbit holes!
Rena from Fine, Whatever writes about style, midlife, and the “fine whatever” moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she’s been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.
We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!
WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!
I’m proud to be Gen X. My parents are older, born in 1942, making them from the Silent Generation, whereas most of my peers have Boomer parents.
I’ve been blogging since about 2005, when there were free little scrapbooky online journals. Those posts are long gone now. This site began on Blogger and I migrated to WordPress in 2012. I’m not a techie, but I manage everything myself. I don’t have an assistant. I like to be in control.
I spent a couple years of almost no sleep, spending way too much money we didn’t have on a blog that makes next to nothing. It wasn’t worth it.
I’m more balanced now. I blog a few times a week about parenting, homeschooling, recipes, our travels, and sometimes military life.
Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!
And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:
This link party is for blog posts only. All other links will be deleted.
Please link only blog posts you created yourself.
Please link directly to the URL of your post and not the main address of your blog.
Please do not add links to videos, sales ads, or social media links such as YouTube videos or Shorts, Instagram or Facebook Reels, TikTok videos, or any other “social media” based content.
But do visit other blogs and give the gift of a comment.
Notice: By linking with Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot, you assert that content and photos are your own property. And you give us permission to share said content if your post or blog is showcased.
We welcome unlimited, family friendly content! This can include opinion pieces, recipes, travel recaps, fashion ideas, crafts, thrifting, lifestyle, book reviews or discussions, photography, art, and so much more! Thank you for joining us!
I declared I was not finishing a Jan Karon book for the first time ever a couple of weekends ago when I was more than halfway through My Beloved, the 15th book in the Mitford series.
The book was released in October, a little over a decade after the last one was written, and my husband purchased it for me for my birthday. I was so excited to read it but let my mom read it first.
She wanted to tell me about it but decided to wait to see what I thought.
Last week, after pushing through the first half of the book due to my loyalty to Jan, I gave up and tossed the book onto the floor.
I snapped out a quick complaint on my Instagram stories. Then I went to Goodreads to see if I was alone. I wasn’t but I was in the minority.
I don’t like to criticize books because I write fiction and my books are not award winning in the least. Also, books can be subjective. Every reader has different tastes.
So what I’m going to say in this post about My Beloved is simply my feelings about a book I was looking forward to and was mostly disappointed with.
First, the description from Goodreads:
As snow blankets the quaint town of Mitford, Father Tim pens a list of Christmas gifts for his loved ones. But what present could possibly come close to relaying the depth of his affection for his wife, Cynthia? After all, she has changed his life—made him laugh more, feel more, love more than he ever imagined possible.
He decides to write a personal love letter to his beloved, but soon after he finishes, he discovers that it has gone missing. In ways extraordinary and unexpected, the letter makes its way into the hands of each of the townsfolk—the Kavanaugh family, Esther Cunningham, Miss Pringle, Puny, and others—bringing healing, hope, and a touch of Christmas magic to the people who need it most.
Filled with Jan Karon’s signature blend of humor and warmth, My Beloved invites old and new readers alike back to the cozy world of Mitford, where love and community shine brightest during the holiday season. Because sometimes, the greatest miracles come in the most unexpected packages.
Now, back to my thoughts:
After I tossed the book to the floor, I picked it back up. I tried again. I must have misunderstood some of what I thought was awkward or weird.
Maybe things flowed better than I thought but — no! There it was – one character who is supposed to be a Christian saying, “Jesus,” he said. “I’m sorry. I—”
And he wasn’t talking to Jesus so all I could read it as was a swear word.
Even if it wasn’t meant that way, the rest of the book was all over the place.
Flowery, clipped paragraphs made so much of the book vague and unclear. I guess we were supposed to read between the lines on many topics and storylines that weren’t really storylines but little excerpts about people.
There were too many of these excerpt storylines, which there often is in a Mitford book, but this was beyond ridiculous. The main storyline got lost in the shuffle so bad that part way through I wondered if we’d ever hear about it again.
We did read about it again eventually but the contents of this letter Father Tim writes for his wife and loses was never revealed to us, which made the book feel a tiny bit pointless. On the other hand, I suppose the idea was to show the letter was too personal and intimate to be revealed.
There were little excerpts from the points of views of 19 people in this book, by the way. There are no chapters in the book. Instead, every page few pages or every other page there is a name at the top of the page and then their “perspective” which was often a list of dialogue written like an author who is getting the conversation on the page but plans to go back later and give the reader some idea of who was saying what.
Only no one went back to fix any of the dialogue so all we got was a stream of conversations back and forth with no attributions, which made it very confusing and convoluted.
There were so many tidbits of stories about characters we love but so many of them weren’t really expounded on our wrapped up.
I was shocked how many good reviews there are for this book on Goodreads. I think people are blinded by their love for Jan and the series and all Jan has gone through the last few years with the death of her daughter and brother. I really do understand that. I almost fell into that too. At times there were glimpses of the old Mitford within these pages that made me pause and say, “Maybe it’s not that bad.” There were beautifully written sentences or sections.
But then Buck Leeper says the Lord’s name in vain, Jessie Barlow tells her brother Dooley, “I think I’m gay…” and then that subject is never broached again, and Father Tim lets loose and says things so out of character for him I was floored. And Pauline, the mother of the Barlow children had gotten clean, sober, and much better in past books. Now here we were more than halfway through the book without time to seriously elaborate on her storyline and Jan is taking her back to the beginning and making her to be a total crazy person who never changed.
Did the woman forget that she’d already addressed Pauline’s changes in past books?
I feel like editors did not look over this book despite Jan thanking them at the end of the book.
So much of this book was left open ended and some readers hope that means there will be another book.
I certainly hope there isn’t another one if it is anything like this one.
I do, however, recommend all of the ones before this one.
If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.
On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.
I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.
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.
