Winter of Cagney: Love Me Or Leave Me

On February 7, 2026February 7, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, classic movie impressions, Winter of Cagney9 Comments

I’m watching James Cagney movies this winter.

This week, my pick was Love Me or Leave Me (1955).

This was a hard one to watch because Cagney was such a jerk in it. I started it not knowing a thing about the true story, so I kept hoping he would transform and become a nicer person before the end of the film.

That certainly did not happen, even though the makers of this movie tried to make things seem nice and tied up at the end.

First, an online description:

During the 1920s, a small-time Chicago criminal, Martin Snyder (James Cagney), discovers a beautiful dancer, Ruth Etting (Doris Day), after she’s fired from her job at a nightclub. Under Martin’s management, Ruth works her way to the top of the entertainment industry, eventually becoming a famous jazz singer and Broadway actress. But as Ruth’s popularity grows, Martin’s obsessive and controlling behavior begins to threaten her success and happiness.

This movie was shot in technicolor so don’t let any black and white photos I share here fool you. It was directed by Charles Vidor.

This movie starts with something that was in another movie I just watched this week — men at clubs paying to dance with girls. They were called taxi dancers or dancehall dancers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_dancer

It doesn’t go beyond dancing, that I know of, but I had no idea this was a thing in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s or, well, ever. There were girls who were hired as dancers and were employed by clubs. Men would pay to dance with a woman for a dance or a few or the night.

Lucille Ball apparently did this before she went into acting and it is the job her character has in the movie from 1946. I’ll be sharing about this movie at some point here on the blog.

In this movie, Doris Day is a taxi dancer who is fired after the man who pays to dance with her gets a little too handsy…if you catch my drift.

Cagney sees her firing and her and he’s immediately hooked.

Cagney is playing Martin “Marty” Snyder, a small time Chicago gangster who also dabbled in the entertainment business.

He is definitely physically attracted to Ruth, and at first, all he wants to do is get her a new job at one of his places as a dancer so he can make her one of his girls. He wants to take her to Florida with him. To stay with him. Wink. Wink. Nudge. Nudge.

Ruth doesn’t want to be a dancer or his lover, though. She wants to be a singer, and when she tells him this, he finds a way to make her a singer. One way he does that is by hiring a piano player named Johnny Alderman, who works at his club as her singing coach.

Of course, she and Johnny start to fall in love, but Marty is oblivious to this and keeps finding ways to boost Ruth’s career.

He seems to think that if he does that, she’ll eventually want to thank him and sleep with him. This movie was released in 1955, so none of these things about sleeping with him are said directly, but they are implied.

There are a lot of singing sequences in this movie, but I have to agree with Roger Fristoe who wrote an article for TCM.com, and said the movie isn’t really considered a musical despite the singing. It is, instead, a dramatic biography of Ruth Etting.

Cagney and Doris Day were in a previous musical together in 1950 —The West Point Story.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Doris Day or her singing, and I do NOT know why! There is something about her that just rubs me wrong. My previous impression of her was changed while watching this movie because she really does an amazing job as Ruth in this movie, or at least as far as I know, since I’ve never seen footage of Ruth Etting.

Doris made me feel so horrible for Ruth that I had to look for the real story of her.

It was depressing to find out that her experience with Martin, whose real name was Moe Snyder, was even worse, darker, and more complex than this movie portrayed.

In the movie, there is a culminating event that shows us even more of the true character of Marty and in real life there was one as well. I won’t tell you what happens in the movie but in real life Moe held Ruth, his adult daughter, and Ruth’s boyfriend hostage. Eventually, his daughter was able to get ahold of a gun, shot at the floor in front of her father, and then held the gun on him until the police arrived. It’s a little less dramatic in the movie.

You can read the full account here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Etting

Ruth Etting lived into her 80s and would have been in her 60s when the movie came out. She reportedly said she felt that Doris played her a little harder and tougher than she really was and she said she never worked as a dancehall girl, suggesting the wrote that into the movie simply so they could use one of Etting’s songs, “10 Cents A Dance” in the movie.

“They took a lot of liberties with my life, but I guess they usually do that kind of thing,” Etting said.

There is a violent scene between Doris and Cagney at one point in the movie that was shocking, but, according to Doris, would have been more shocking if they had kept what Doris and Cagney actually filmed.

“He attacks me savagely, and the way Cagney played it, believe me, it was savage,” she was quoted as saying in her biography. “He slammed me against the wall, ripped off my dress, my beads flying, and after a tempestuous struggle, in which I tried to fight him off with every realistic ounce of strength I had, he threw me on the bed and raped me. It was a scene that took a lot out of me but it was one of the most fully realized physical scenes I have ever played…it wasn’t until I saw the movie in its release that I became aware that most of the scene had been cut.”

It had been cut because of the censors.

This was a movie that broke Doris out of her normal good-natured, bubbly roles, and the studio did worry that her fans would revolt at the idea of her in anything so gritty.

They didn’t need to worry since the movie earned six Oscar nominations, including a third Best Actor nomination for Cagney.

It ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

Of Doris’ performance, Cagney said in a biography about him that he watched the movie again in 1980, and “Just saw something I hadn’t noticed before. There are no other women to speak of in the cast. Doris is so very much alone, which heightens the effect of the male world upon her. How many nice girls there are, and were, in this business that were just so afflicted by the presence everywhere of intimidating males.’“

My impression of Cagney’s character is that he was a sad man who didn’t know how to get what he wanted without bullying people.

He loved Ruth Etting and was so afraid of losing her that he abused her mentally, emotionally, eventually physically, and sexually.

Ruth went for it because she wanted to be famous, and he was getting her to where she wanted to go.

I found it sad that not only did Ruth have to go through an abusive relationship with a “Marty” but Doris did as well.

According to TCM.com, “A final irony about Love Me or Leave Me is the fact that the relationship between Ruth Etting and Marty Snyder had some disturbing parallels to the relationship between Doris Day and her husband Marty Melcher. Like Snyder, Melcher also controlled Day’s business affairs, made creative decisions for her even though he had no musical experience, and lived through her work. When Melcher died in 1968, Day discovered that he had mismanaged her entire life savings of $20 million dollars, leaving her completely broke.”

While this was a well-acted and written film, I can’t say it is one I would want to watch again because of the tough subject matter. I noticed in this movie, as I have in other Cagney movies, that a lot of Cagney’s acting is done with his eyes and that signature smirk.

Next up in my Winter of Cagney is White Heat. I have heard a lot about this one and am really looking forward to it.

Here is my full revised list for the Winter of Cagney (I had to move some things around when I couldn’t find two of the movies in my original list streaming, and also haven’t yet ordered the rather expensive DVDs):

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Taxi

The Strawberry Blonde

Mister Roberts

The Public Enemy

Love Me or Leave Me

White Heat

Angels With Dirty Faces

The Bride Came C.O.D. (which will move me into my Spring of Bette Davis)

I still hope to watch Man of A Thousand Faces when I order the DVD.

Angels With Dirty Faces

Sources:

https://www.tcm.com/articles/musical/18538/love-me-or-leave-me-1955

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Me_or_Leave_Me_(film)

https://www.dorisdaymagic.com/love-me-or-leave-me.html

If you want to find clips and thoughts about vintage movies and TV, you can visit me on Instagram on my Nostalgically Thinking Account (https://www.instagram.com/nostalgically_thinking/) or on my YouTube account Nostalgically and Bookishly Thinking here: https://www.youtube.com/@nostaglicandbookish

Book review: Come, Tell Me How You Live by Agatha Christie Mallowan

On February 5, 2026February 4, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading, everyday musings5 Comments

I’m surprised more people don’t talk or write about Agatha Christie’s non-fiction books, especially Come, Tell Me How You Live, which reveals so much of her witty sense of humor.

Of course, she only wrote three non-fiction books — this one, her autobiography, and The Grand Tour, a collection of her letters and photographs from her 1922 tour to promote the British empire.

Christie writes this book under her full name of Agatha Christie Mallowen, with Mallowen being the name of her second husband and she’s wrong in her introduction.

I don’t read non-fiction often so I wasn’t sure I would enjoy this one but when the opening pages describe Agatha looking for outfits she can wear on her husband’s archaeological dig in Syria and the clerk lets her know they might not be able to accommodate her larger size, which Agatha handles hilariously, I knew I had to keep going.

As Agatha says in the intro of this book, “This is not a profound book. It will give you no interesting sidelights on archaeology, there will be no beautiful descriptions of scenery, no treating of economic problems, no racial reflections, no history. It is, in fact, small beer — a very little book, full of everyday doings and happenings.”

This book does actually include some beautiful descriptions and a few interesting sidelights on archaeology.

Agatha started writing this book before World War 2 and finished it afterward, sending it out into the world to be published.

As I mentioned already, the book begins with Agatha looking for traveling clothes. Her humor immediately kicks in.

“Shopping for a hot climate in autumn or winter presents certain difficulties. One’s last year’s summer clothes, which one has optimistically hoped will “do”, do not “do” now the time has come. For one thing, they appear to be (like the depressing annotations in furniture removers’ lists) “Bruised, Scratched, and Marked.” (And also Shrunk, Faded, and Peculiar!). For another — alas, alas that one has to say it! — they are too tight everywhere.

So, to the shops and the stores and:

“Of course, Modom, we are not being asked for that kind of thing now! We have some very charming little suits here — O.S. in the darker colors.”

I’m guessing O.S. means oversized because Agatha then writes: “Oh, loathsome O.S. How humiliating to be O.S.! How even more humiliating to be recognized at once as O.S.!”

If I have done my math right, Agatha would have been around 45 at the time this trip was taken.

She and her husband, Max, traveled to Syria and Iraq. Max was an archaeologist and Agatha actually met him on an archaeologist dig in 1930, years after divorcing her cheating first husband, Colonel Archibald Christie.

What’s so fun about this book is how Agatha writes about different she and Max approach situations in life, with her being a bit more high strung and him being laid back and acting like everything will turn out all right. Agatha was about 15 years older that Max, I might add, which I did not realize while I was reading the book. I read that while I was researching for the review. No wonder he seemed so aloof and laid back. He was still young and a bit naïve in some ways.

In addition to sharing details of her marriage, Agatha also writes about the quirky men who travel with her and her husband.

I would not be surprised if some of the people they worked with or met along their travels popped up in Agatha’s mysteries.

Mac, her husband’s architect assistant, gets the bulk of the secondary character playback throughout the book and it is hilarious. His full name was Robin Maccartney.

Mac is extremely serious, a perfectionist, and also lacks any sense of humor.

Agatha and Max traveled off and on between 1935 and 1936, with stays in Syria long enough that they had a house remodeled for them to stay in. Mac, an architect by trade, has been designing blueprints for Agatha’s bathroom.

“I ask Mac that evening at dinner what is fist architectural job as been.

“This is my first bit of practical work,” he replies. “—your lavatory!”

He sighs gloomily, and I feel very sympathetic. It will not, I fear, look well in Mac’s memoirs when he comes to write them.

The budding dreams of a young architect should not find their first expression in a mud-brick lavatory for his patron’s wife!”

Agatha shares some of her most savage lines in the book when she is writing about Mac, who almost seems uptight and perfect to be human at times.

It isn’t until he can’t light a gas lamp that he has a meltdown which Agatha says reveals his humanity.

“I steal a glance at him when another five minutes have gone by. He is getting warm. He is also looking not nearly so superior. Scientific principal or no scientific principal the petrol lamp is holding out on him. He lies on the floor and wrestles with the thing. Presently he begins to swear… A feeling that is almost affection sweeps ove me. After all, our Mac is human. He is defeated by a petrol lamp!”

Agatha writes that from that point on, Mac is one of them, someone who can easily get frustrated and swear about it.

Agatha did take her typewriter and some manuscripts with her and writes about working on a book while there. One of their friends, Louis Osman, an architect and member of the archaeological team, who was affectionately nicknamed “Bumps” by the group, and who Agatha simply calls “B” in her book, came into her office one day to chat, but she wants him to leave because she’s in the middle of writing a murder scene.

“He goes into the drawing office and talks to Mac, but, meeting with no response, he comes sadly into the office, where I am busy on the typewriter getting down to the gory details of a murder.

‘Oh,’ says B. “you’re busy?”

I say, ‘Yes,’ shortly.

“Writing?” asks B.

‘Yes’ (more shortly).

‘I thought, perhaps,’ says B wistfully. ‘I might bring the labels and the objects in here. I shouldn’t be disturbing you should I?’

I have to be firm. I explain clearly that it is quite impossible for me to get on with my dead body if a live body is moving, breathing and in all probability talking, in the near vicinity!

Poor B goes sadly away, condemned to work in loneliness and silence. I feel convinced that, if B ever writes a book, he will do so most easily with a wireless and a gramophone turned on close at hand and a few conversations going on in the same room!”

Agatha also tells about the women of the middle east and how they want to get to know her and learn more about her. I was surprised to learn in this section that Agatha had had a series of miscarriages over the years, which may be one reason she and Archie only had one daughter.

There are some parts of the book I found a tiny bit slow but so much of it was so fascinating that I didn’t mind a little bit of slowness

I really enjoyed Agatha’s recollections and her thoughts about the faith of the people compared to the faith of the people in England.

I also found it interesting to read her views on public education, which would probably surprise people today.

After sharing about watching some of the village children play and experiencing every day life she wrote:

“I think to myself how happy they look, and what a pleasant life it is like the fairy stories of old, wandering about over the hills herding cattle, sometimes sitting and singing. At this time of day, the so-called fortunate children in European lands are setting out for the crowded classroom, going in and out of the soft air, sitting on benches or at desks, toiling over letters of the alphabet, listening to a teacher, writing with cramped fingers. I wonder to myself whether, one day a hundred years or so ahead, we shall say in shocked accents: ‘In those days they actually made poor little children go to school, sitting inside buildings at desks for hours a day! Isn’t it terrible to think off! Little children!’”

Have you ever read this one or any of Agatha’s non-fiction books?

Read The Blue Castle with me in February

On January 26, 2026January 27, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Supporters8 Comments

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.

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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.

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You’ve consumed enough. God wants you to start creating now.

On January 24, 2026January 22, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings6 Comments

This video hit me hard…. maybe it will hit some of you hard too.

Winter of Cagney: Mister Roberts

On January 23, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Movie Impresssions, Winter of Cagney10 Comments

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.

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:

Yankee Doodle Dandy

Taxi

The Strawberry Blonde

Mister Roberts

Angels With Dirty Faces

Public Enemy

Love Me or Leave Me

White Heat

Man of A Thousand Faces

Bonus: The Seven Little Foys

Sources:

Website: https://warnerbros.fandom.com/wiki/Mister_Roberts_(1955_film)

Website: https://www.tcm.com/articles/72472/mister-roberts-1955

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.

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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.

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On January 12, 2026January 20, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musingsLeave a comment

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Saturday Evening Chat: Small things that make me happy

On January 10, 2026January 10, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea14 Comments

The world is absolutely insane right now, I think many of us can agree on that.

Yesterday, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs wrote about combating all the stress from national/world event by focusing on some small things that make her happy and I thought that today I would copy her.

First, I have to agree with Erin wrote about enjoying oranges lately. My parents’ neighbors gave them some oranges called Cara oranges the other week. They are pink inside and so delicious. We picked some up from Aldi for ourselves and now opening one is like having a moment of respite in the middle of a crazy day.

*This is not my photo…I didn’t have any of the oranges left to take a photo of! Ha!*

I love the smell of them, but I’ve always loved the smell of citrus things. I have an essential oil called Energy and it is full of citrus essential oils — lemon, orange, etc. It’s such a mood booster for me when I sniff it. Sadly, I haven’t been able to find my bottle, so I’ll have to get another one soon.

Another small thing that is making me happy these days is reading Miss Read’s Village School by Miss Read.

It’s an easy-going book about a teacher in a small school in a small village in England. There are quirky characters and interesting storylines throughout, with most of the chapters set up as their own little stories, but with the same characters.

Reading it helps me feel like I can escape the craziness of my life and the world right now, if only for a half an hour or so. I read and I step from Little Town, Pa. to Faircare, England.

Another small thing that is making me happy is finding Cagney & Lacey on Amazon Prime and starting to watch it for the first time.

For those who aren’t familiar, it’s a show about two women cops that use to air on CBS back in the 1980s.

The main characters are Christine Cagney (Meg Foster for the first six episodes and then Sharon Gless) and Mary Beth Lacey (Tyne Daly). The show is surprisingly pretty good, though there are some cheesy 80s moments. It’s similar to Murder, She Wrote in that it is good and addictive but sometimes it must be made a bit of (affectionate) fun of.

I’m also finding happiness in the journal The Husband gave me for Christmas. It’s a journal in the front with an agenda in the back. It has a pretty front cover and nice lined pages inside with a place to write the date as the month, day, and year.

I am using it to get back into personal, daily or at least weekly journaling. I hope to record the good as much as the bad because when I was younger, I recorded mostly the bad, which made me look either super depressed or super cranky all of the time.

If I don’t write a full entry, I am trying to at least list three things I am thankful for. Let’s see how long that lasts.

Another small thing that is making me happy is warming up my rice pack in this cold weather (which is starting to return), sticking it under my blanket near my feet and either writing, reading, or watching something.

I’ve already shared that sometimes I then pull my blanket over my laptop and head and create a makeshift heated dome/tent for myself.

It’s very cozy and feels like shutting out the world in a small way.

My neighbors have not taken all their Christmas lights and displays down yet and I love looking out my window and seeing them. They started taking them down today but I told the wife I’d love if they at least leave the ones up on their front porch (they’re white and blue) to perk up the darkness of January and February.

I could probably list a few small things that are making me happy, but I think I’ll save those for another day because I have a feeling I am going to need to make my world smaller again to feel less overwhelmed.

My favorite reads from 2025

On January 6, 2026January 6, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading, everyday musings, top-ten-tuesday38 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today, I’m sharing my favorite reads from 2025. I did not read as many books as I had hoped I would, but it was a year where I branched out a little bit.

Because I didn’t read as many books this past year as the year before, I don’t have as many favorite reads but I do have a few.

These are in no particular order.

Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals by Sharon Mondragon

I had never read any books by this author and just found this cozy mystery a lot of fun. I loved the characters and the story too.

Description:

Something is brewing in Raeburne’s Ferry, Georgia—and it’s not sweet tea.

In a small town where gossip flows, bedridden Mary Ruth McCready reigns supreme, doling out wisdom and meddling in everyone’s business with a fervor that would make a matchmaker blush. When her best friend has her world rocked by a scandalous revelation from her dying husband, Mary Ruth kicks into high gear, commandeering the help of her favorite granddaughter, Sarah Elizabeth, in tracking down the truth. Finding clues in funeral condolence cards and decades-old gossip dredged up at the Blue Moon Beauty Emporium, the two stir up trouble faster than you can say “pecan pie.”

But just when things are starting to look up, a blast from the past waltzes in with an outrageous claim. But as Grandma Ruth always says when things get tough, “God is too big.” With him, nothing is impossible—even bringing long-held secrets to light. Grandma Ruth and Sarah just might have to ruffle a whole mess of feathers to do it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

I had never read this before but had seen the TV movie. I didn’t think I would enjoy this but ended up loving it and want to read the sequels.

Description: The Scarlet Pimpernel is Baroness Orczy’s classic adventure novel about Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy Englishman who has a secret identity as a daring rescuer of aristocrats from the French Revolution. Orczy’s thrilling tale of heroism and romance is a timeless classic that has captivated readers for over a century. Set in 1792, The Scarlet Pimpernel follows Sir Percy as he outwits the forces of the French Revolution to save innocent lives. With a colorful cast of characters and an exciting plot, Orczy’s classic novel is an unforgettable reading experience that will leave you wanting more.

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

I probably read this years ago, when I was like 10, but I didn’t remember any of it so it was a lot of fun to follow along this magical story and find out what happened. This was technically the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Description:

Narnia . . . a land frozen in eternal winter . . . a country waiting to be set free

Witness the creation of a magical land in The Magician’s Nephew, the first title in C. S. Lewis’s classic fantasy series, which has captivated readers of all ages for over seventy five years

On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan’s song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.

This is a stand-alone novel, but if you want to journey back to Narnia, read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

This one was out of my comfort zone. I don’t usually read fantasy, but I read The Fellowship of the Ring last year and ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. This upcoming year I am reading the last book in the trilogy, Return of the King.

Description:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

This was my first Wodehouse and it was so much fun. I love Bertie and Jeeves and all the other characters around them.

Description:

Upon their first appearance in 1915, Bertie Wooster and his highly competent valet Jeeves were destined to become Wodehouse’s most famous duo. The hilarious stories that feature the charmingly foppish Bertie and his equally lightheaded friends being rescued from tedious social obligations, annoying relatives, scrapes with the law, and romantic problems by the quiet interventions of Jeeves are among Wodehouse’s best-loved tales.

But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

I really love Bettie from the Bettie Bryant Mysteries and this second installment in the series didn’t change my mind.

Description:

After years of slinging lattes, Betti Bryant is taking ownership of her life. She doesn’t need new friends or book club invitations to distract her from finding her way forward. And the unresolved situation with a guy she kissed a few weeks ago might as well stay unresolved.

But there’s one distraction she is not prepared for: finding a murder victim on her way to work one frigid December morning.

Suspicion falls on Betti’s roommate, Callista, who happens to be holding a baseball bat over the victim’s body when the police drive up. Almost totally sure Callista is innocent, Betti buys a new notebook, digs out her scrapbooking supplies, and makes the cutest murder board ever.

Now, on top of holding down a job (or two) and figuring out her entire future, she’s committed to finding the real killer before any more lives are ruined—including her own.

Every Living Thing by James Herriot

I’ve enjoyed all the James Herriot books but this one has been my favorite so far.

Description:

Every Living Thing: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World’s Most Beloved Animal Doctor brings back familiar friends (including old favorites such as Tricki Woo) and introduces new ones, including Herriot’s children Rosie and Jimmy and the marvelously eccentric vet Calum Buchanan.

This book marks a perfect opportunity for existing fans of Herriot’s work to reacquaint themselves with his writing, and for those who’ve never read him to see what generations of animal lovers have already discovered: James Herriot is that rarest of creatures, a genuine master storyteller.

Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley

This was my first Philip Gulley book and I really enjoyed it and all the quirky characters and downhome feel of it. I literally laughed and cried while reading it.

Description:

In this acclaimed inaugural volume in the Harmony series, master American storyteller Philip Gulley draws us into the charming world of minister Sam Gardner in his first year back in his hometown, capturing the essence of small-town life with humor and wisdom.

Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down by Dave Barry

This was a collection of Dave Barry’s columns and it had me laughing so hard during some really difficult changes in my life this year.

Description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry is a pretty amiable guy. But lately, he’s been getting a little worked up. What could make a mild-mannered man of words so hot under the collar? Well, a lot of things–like bad public art, Internet millionaires, SUVs, Regis Philbin . . . and even bigger problems, like

• The slower-than-deceased-livestock left-lane drivers who apparently believe that the right lane is sacred and must never come in direct contact with tires
• The parent-misery quotient of last-minute school science fair projects
• Day trading and other careers that never require you to take off your bathrobe
• The plague of the low-flow toilets, which is so bad that even in Miami, where you can buy drugs just by opening your front door and yelling “Hey! I want some crack,” you can’t even sell your first born to get a normal-flushing toilet

Dave Barry is not taking any of this sitting down. He’s going to stand up for the rights of all Americans against ridiculously named specialty “–chino” coffees and the IRS. Just as soon as he gets the darn toilet flushed.

Christy by Catherine Marshall

This one is on this list but there was a lot about it that bothered me. There were deaths that seemed unnecessary to me and some odd theological stances but at the same time it had me thinking long after I read it and the story overall was fascinating and kept me turning the pages.

Description:

Come, Tell Me How To Live by Agatha Christie Mallowen

This was a fascinating non-fiction book by Agatha Christie that showcased her humor, her dedication to supporting her husband, and her emotional and physical strength in traveling to a foreign country.

Description:

Over the course of her long, prolific career, Agatha Christie gave the world a wealth of ingenious whodunits and page-turning locked-room mysteries featuring Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and a host of other unforgettable characters. She also gave us Come, Tell Me How You Live, a charming, fascinating, and wonderfully witty nonfiction account of her days on an archaeological dig in Syria with her husband, renowned archeologist Max Mallowan.

Something completely different from arguably the best-selling author of all time, Come, Tell Me How You Live is an evocative journey to the fascinating Middle East of the 1930s that is sure to delight Dame Agatha’s millions of fans, as well as aficionados of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody mysteries and eager armchair travelers everywhere.

Honorable Mentions:

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

This was my first read of the year this year and it was a favorite because of the humor in it. I would have liked a bit more Miss Marple in it but when she was in it, she was entertaining and fun.

Description:

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits a clever trap to catch a ruthless killer.

Other books I enjoyed this year:

Rebecca by Daphne De Mauier

Peg and Rose Solve A Murder by Laurie Berenson

Killer in the Kitchen: A Murder She Wrote Mystery by Donald Bain

The Case of the Careless Kitten by Erle Stanley Gardner

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

Have you read any of these? What were some of your favorite reads in 2025?

Favorite movies I watched in 2025

On January 5, 2026January 5, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings8 Comments

This past year I watched 84 movies, some long and some short, the majority of them made before 1960.

At the end of this post, I’ll list them all, but for now, here are my favorites from the bunch. I did not include any movies that were rewatches for me in my favorites list, but I did include rewatches in the overall list.