Since this weekly feature is called “Sunday Bookends” I decided I would actually start off by talking about what books the children and I are reading. I should mention what my husband is reading but he reads a lot of books and I can’t keep up, plus I would have to put in descriptions of them and what he thinks about them and, well, quite frankly, he can just start his own blog for that. Ha.
So, anyhow, my youngest is 5 and she’s “reading”, or actually having read to her, Beezus and Ramona by Beverly Cleary.
I read the Ramona books when I was anywhere from 9 to 12 so it’s been years since I’ve read the stories. That’s probably why I forgot that this book would actually be better for my son to read because it’s from the perspective of Beezus, the older sister, who is trying to figure out how to deal with her 4-year old younger sister. Instead of my son reading it, though, I’m reading it to my 5-year old who is getting all kinds of ideas from Ramona’s antics. When I start reading a chapter I issue a warning (or two) to Little Miss.
“We don’t do this in real life, okay?” I tell her. Or, “Don’t you ever invite all of your little friends over for a party without asking me, understand?”
She looks at me with wide eyes and says “Okay,” but I can just see her little wheels turning and I now wonder which mischievous activity of Ramona’s she will choose to emulate. I have been reading the book to her at night before bed, but unlike Paddington, she stays wide awake for Ramona, which has meant some later nights for us both. I’ve decided to start our nightly reading earlier now since my hope of her falling asleep while we are reading has now faded.
My 13-year old is finally reading the fifth book in the Harry Potter series. I say finally because it took him a year to finish the fourth book. It didn’t take him a year because he struggles to read. It took him a year because he kept getting distracted by video games, Legos, and building amazing creations in Minecraft. He finished the fourth book over the last month because I assigned it to him for his English class and this week he will be assigned a book report on it. He’s done a nice job with his last two reports, so I’m sure he’ll do fine with this one, as well.
As soon as he finished book number four, he went looking for the next book in his dad’s collection and spent two hours in his room, lost in Hogwarts instead of Youtube. It was heavenly for this book-loving mother.
As for me, I finished Take a Chance on Me, a novella by Becky Wade and really enjoyed it. Her first official book in that series, The Misty River Romance, is coming out in May and is called Stay with Me. While I wait for that book, I found True to You, the first in her Bradford Sisters Romance series. I am enjoying it so far. Her romances are, as Amazon says, “clean and wholesome,” but written well and not cheesy like other romances can be. Don’t look at me like that. My romances aren’t cheesy. Well, maybe they are, but hey, cheesy is a nice distraction some times.
For those who are interested, I’m including the description for True To You from Amazon (It is currently available for free on Kindle Unlimited if you have a membership).
Winner of the 2018 Christy Award Book of the Year
After a devastating heartbreak three years ago, genealogist and historical village owner Nora Bradford has decided that burying her nose in her work and her books is far safer than romance in the here and now.Unlike Nora, former Navy SEAL and Medal of Honor recipient John Lawson is a modern-day man, usually 100 percent focused on the present. But when he’s diagnosed with an inherited condition, he’s forced to dig into the secrets of his past and his adoption as an infant, enlisting Nora to help him uncover the identity of his birth mother.
The more time they spend together, the more this pair of opposites suspects they just might be a perfect match. However, John’s already dating someone and Nora’s not sure she’s ready to trade her crushes on fictional heroes for the risks of a real relationship. Finding the answers they’re seeking will test the limits of their identity, their faith, and their devotion to one another.
As for what I’m watching, I wasted too much time on Granchester and was turned off by how they tried to shove 2020 sensibilities into a show that takes place in the 1950s. I made it into part of Season 2 before I bailed on it. I would have bailed before, but the lead actor’s masculine jawline and cheekbones had me a bit mesmerized.
There were only so many scenes of him drinking his sorrows away with a glass of brandy, a cigarette, and some jazz that I could take. Not only that but this vicar is the most un-vicar like vicar I’ve ever seen. He’s completely ruled by his demons, which is realistic, but I like to watch shows where the main characters learn from his mistakes and this dude never does.
I know that I am supposed to recognize these are flawed human beings who are growing and learning but the main character seemed to repeat the same mistakes over and over with little to no revelation on his part. And I also questioned that he was a vicar but practiced very little of the Bible. In fact, he was almost never conducting the duty of a vicar at all, yet he never got fired.
As for what I was doing this past week, we’ve been packing, cleaning out and all-out panicking about our move in less than three weeks. One day at a time, though. We know it will all work out eventually.
My husband’s car is in the shop and will be there for a long time, based on the price for the repairs, so the kids and I have been pretty much marooned at home. This would drive most people crazy, but as an introvert, I don’t mind having an excuse not to go out into public and deal with – shudder – other people. It has also been made easier by the fact it’s been super rainy and cold this past week. When it warms up and we are stuck without a car to go to the playground, I might start to freak out a little bit. Luckily my husband is home from work early most evenings.
I added three chapters of A New Beginning to blog this week, not wanting to leave my devoted readers on a cliffhanger until next week. I’m also giving copies of the manuscript to friends and family to ask them to proof it and hopefully catch typos so I can publish it on Kindle sometime in April. You can find links to those chapters HERE or at the link at the top of the page under A New Beginning.
So, how are all of you? What have you been reading, watching and doing? Let me know in the comments and if you want to jump onto Sunday Bookends each week, feel free to do so and leave me a link so I can read your weekly review as well.
I’m sure I’ll share more snow photos later this week.
With my eyes a little better I’m back to reading a little more and have added The Misadventured Summer of Tumbleweed Thompson by Glen McCarthy, an independently published book for middle school-aged children, to my reading list (again). It is so creatively written and I tried reading it to my daughter since I’m much better at Southern accents than British ones, but she rejected it and asked for Paddington again for her nighttime reading. In case you are interested in finding out a little bit more about the book, here is the blurb on Amazon: For Eugene Appleton, the summer of 1876 in Rattlesnake Junction, Colorado promises to be just as sleepy as the ones before, his only excitement provided by the pulse-pounding Dead-Eye Dan adventure novels he devours. But Eugene’s life takes an unexpected turn with the arrival of Tumbleweed Thompson, a gangly, red-haired boy who spins yarns about whaling voyages in the Atlantic and hidden stashes of gunpowder. Drawn into Tumbleweed’s orbit, Eugene soon finds himself chasing smugglers, firing rifles, and competing for the attention of the lovely Charlotte Scoggins.”
After seeing a preview for Wild Rose at one of the only movies I saw in the theater this year (Brittany Runs a Marathon, which was pretty good, but not my favorite.), I was interested to see it when it popped up on Amazon. The movie is about a young Scottish woman who wants to become a country singer in Nashville but lets her temper and her propensity for alcohol to get in her way. Her other issue is that she is a young, single mother with two children. The movie opens with her being released from jail and returning home where her mother has been raising her children for the last year.
The documentary follows the journey of a couple who starts a diverse farm in a fairly deserted area of California. Under the guidance of a consultant, they not only plant diverse crops but also begin raising various livestock, including sheep and chickens and one fat, pregnant pig. The couple started the farm to give their rescue dog a place to roam and soon learn their family dream will cost them a lot of pain, emotionally, physically and financially. There is a lot of bad (coyotes come to visit; there are other unexpected challenges) but there is also a lot of good (a booming egg business for one).
I like the predictability of the Cat Who books. I don’t always know who committed the crime but I know what the pattern will be to solve it. Qwill’s mustache is going to quiver and hum, alerting him to something that has gone amiss, but he’s still going to walk himself right into something questionable and his cat KoKo is going to help solve the crime with his uncanny ability to feel (and signal Qwill) when something is off. Also, a few women will fall all over the retired crime reporter and he will return some of that affection but he’s going to back away from the woman, choosing instead the comfort of the reserved librarian Polly Duncan from the small town of Pickax.