Sunday Post 139

Hi everyone!

Through Monday, I am linking with the following: 

Reading Reality, who hosts Stacking the Shelves

Readerbuzz, who hosts Sunday Salon

Caffeinated Reviewer, who hosts Sunday Post

The Book Date, who hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Happy June! I wish you the kind of month you wish to have!

I wish for cooler weather. Mother Nature has wasted no time giving us not just a taste, but a few full course meals of summer temps. We've had a few days of comfortable temps, but now the 90s are upon us for daytime highs. We had a heavy rainstorm a little while ago, but it didn't last long. Overall, we have not had much rain. But because of the too-hot-for-me temps, hibernation season is in full swing. Hello A/C!

I had a weird week. It was mostly filled with mundane, sometimes stressful tasks. One of those tasks was fixing the printer. It stopped working all of sudden. After two phone calls, one of which lasted over an hour, it is finally up and running again. I did not get any blogging or puzzling done. I did do some reading and television viewing, though. 

On Friday, I wasn't feeling my best. I slept a lot, but I also watched the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. I learned that date, June 5th, was his actual day off in the movie. It was determined because of a real baseball game that was on television in one of the scenes. The game took place in 1985 even though the movie was released in 1986.  There's your useless trivia for the week, if you didn't already know.

I do have some questions about the movie:

1. In one scene, there's a newspaper headline about Ferris being sick. How was that article printed on the same day everyone started rallying for him?

2. How did I not realize until now how self-centered Ferris was? He sort of apologized for it later, but for most of the movie, he was so mean to his best friend who really was sick.

3. How did Cameron have the energy to do everything they did if he was so sick?

4. What happened to the money that was raised for Ferris? I hope he donated it to charity.

Despite all of this and all of the strong language that to me is stronger than a PG-13 rating, I like this movie a lot. It has such a free-spirited vibe and I think it aged better than some other movies from that era. I may or may not have started singing along to Twist and Shout. Fiona may or may not have given me a funny look when I did that. (She was sitting on my lap.)

IN THE BOOKS

RECENTLY FINISHED

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I finished an ARC of Pour Choices (Mixology Lounge Mystery 2), by Adrian Andover. I loved it! Adrian knows how to craft a mystery. This is a strong follow-up to Whiskey Business. I'm planning to post my full review next week. The book releases at the end of June.

IN PROGRESS

I read Spring Week 11 in The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, written by Margaret Renkl and illustrated by Billy Renkl. We are already into June! I love looking at all the details in the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, along with reading the content.

I'm listening to Wedding Cake Murder (Hannah Swensen 19), written by Joanne Fluke and narrated by Suzanne Toren. Unfortunately, the mystery in this one is pretty weak, almost non-existent. But I love the characters and the series is near and dear to my heart, so I will see it through. I'm excited to finally pick it up again.

UP NEXT

My next read, which I will begin this weekend, is Witches, Walkie-Talkies, and Warnings (Bewitcher's Beach Paranormal Cozy Mystery 6), by Emily Fluke. (I think there's a misprint in the title of the book. I believe it should be "Walkie" not "Walkies".) This is an ARC, but I did not receive it until the day before it was released. This is the second to last book in the series.

ON THE SCREEN

• The Way Home - I watched episode 7 and I'm still feeling the same way.  We didn't get as many answers as I hoped we would. I still think I'd enjoy this season a lot more if I didn't know the entire series is ending after just three more episodes. It's going to be tough to wrap it all up and not make it feel rushed. I'm really hoping another network picks it up. Right now it airs on The Hallmark Channel and is streaming on Hallmark+, but the first three seasons are also streaming on Netflix.
• The Brady Bunch - I finished season 3 and I started season 4. The Bradys are home safe from Hawaii and the new school year has just begun. Phew! What a crazy trip! Do they ever travel and not have something really bad happen to them? I think they need to stay home!
• Murder, She Wrote - I'm enjoying season 5, but I do wish there were more Cabot Cove episodes.
• Ferris Bueller's Day Off - I won't repeat what I've already said above.
• True Justice: An Eye for An Eye - I watched this twice because I thought some of it was confusing. After I fully grasped what was happening, I enjoyed it. It wasn't the best mystery, but it was fun and I do hope the series continues.
• Haunted Harmony Mysteries: Key to the Castle - This was another one I had to watch twice to fully understand it. But again, I enjoyed it. This is based on the book series by Alexia Gordon, which I have not yet read.

ON THE BLOG

• Sunday Post - 05/30 - Weekly Recap

Have a great week!

Sunday Post 138

Hi everyone!

Through Monday, I am linking with the following: 

Reading Reality, who hosts Stacking the Shelves

Readerbuzz, who hosts Sunday Salon

Caffeinated Reviewer, who hosts Sunday Post

The Book Date, who hosts It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Here we are at the end of May. As usual, the year is flying by.

We started out the week with high humidity, but after some rain mid-week, we've had very comfortable temps with highs in the 70s and much lower humidity. It looks like it will remain this way through the middle of next week. Then I think we'll turn on the oven again. I'll enjoy the coolness while I can.

I had a few appointments and meetings last week, most of which were virtual. I got a good amount of reading done each day (which for me is about an hour each day), I watched some television, and I worked on the puzzle. I won't post a picture today because I only made a small amount of progress. But small progress is still progress and I'm still determined to finish it. 

I have a new goal, which is going to sound greedy, but I'm putting it out into the universe anyway. I want to win another Goodreads giveaway. I have entered a total of 126 giveaways and I have won one book. That was Come Shell or High Water, by Molly McRae, in the summer of 2024. 

When I looked at my list of giveaway entries today, I realized that although I posted my review back then, it was still marked as "Want to Read" and I never clicked on "Received my Copy". I'm hoping now that I've updated that, it will increase my odds of winning another giveaway. (Although for some reason, in my list of entries, it still has it as "Want to Read".  That seems to be unfixable. Maybe I'll contact them and ask if they can correct it.

I'm also going to make it a point to be more active in the few Goodreads groups I belong to. I was pretty active in one of the groups the year that I won and I have read that doing so does increase your odds of winning. I recently entered another giveaway and that one is still open. Fingers and toes crossed.

IN THE BOOKS

RECENTLY FINISHED

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I finished Between a Roquefort and A Hard Place (Grilled Cheese Mystery 7), by Linda Reilly, and I loved it! You can read some excerpts here and my full review here.

IN PROGRESS

I read Spring Week 10 in The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year, written by Margaret Renkl and illustrated by Billy Renkl. There were two main takeaways: 1) Leave nature alone and let it do its thing. 2) Often it's better to not have all the answers. Both are great lessons, but that last one especially resonates with me. Thank you for the reminder.

I'm about halfway through an ARC of Pour Choices (Mixology Lounge Mystery 2), by Adrian Andover. I'm loving it! I expect to finish it in the coming week, which will soon be followed by my review. If you enjoyed the first one, Whiskey Business, I recommend reading this one. It will be released at the end of June.

UP NEXT

I have some thoughts on what I want to listen to next, but I haven't quite decided. Stay tuned!

ON THE SCREEN

• The Way Home - I watched episode 6 and we didn't get as many answers as I hoped we would. I think I'd enjoy this season a lot more if I didn't know the entire series is ending after just four more episodes. It's going to be tough to wrap it all up and not make it feel rushed.
• The Brady Bunch - I enjoyed watching a few more episodes in season 3, but I haven't listened to any podcast episodes of The Real Brady Bros for season 3 yet. I have just a few more episodes to watch in this season.
• Murder, She Wrote - I watched a couple more episodes in season 5. Although the episode titled "Coal Miner's Slaughter" isn't set in Cabot Cove, it is set in a small town and I loved that.

I didn't watch any Hallmark movies last week!! I'm planning to watch at least two this coming week. I did watch a few cozy mystery YouTube Videos, as well as interviews with Barry Williams ("Greg" from The Brady Bunch) and Susan Olsen ("Cindy").

ON THE BLOG

• Sunday Post - 05/23 - Weekly Recap
• Book Review - 05/26 - Between a Roquefort and a Hard Place, by Linda Reilly
• Movie Review - 05/28 - Best Served Cold: A Hannah Swensen Mystery
• Friday Features - 05/29 - Bookish response, excerpts, Feline Friday, nature pic
• Puzzle - 05/30 - Lakeside Cottage

Have a great week!