Classic Movie Impressions: Singing In The Rain

On July 24, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn classic movie impressions, Movie ImpresssionsLeave a comment

I’ve written about a lot of different movies on this blog and what shocks me is that I’ve never written about my favorite movie – Singing in the Rain (1952).

I have to be honest that I am actually nervous to do so because there is so much about this movie that I love, I am truly afraid I will forget to mention something important about it or it’s making or I will mess up a fact.

When I was a kid, we didn’t have cable. We had one black and white TV and an antenna on the back porch that my dad would adjust to help us get four channels — an ABC affiliate, a CBS affiliate, an NBC affiliate, and PBS. Because we only had those four channels, I often found myself watching old movies on PBS. I was fascinated with them, the light and shadow, the framing, the cinematography, and the acting. It all mesmerized me.

The stories seemed richer, more fascinating, deeper somehow, than the shows I would see on primetime or the cartoons on Saturday morning. As I grew older, my options grew, but I still always found myself turning that cable TV back to the classics, usually the black and white movies or a musical. To me, the writers of those old movies knew how to tell stories, not just make a movie for show or for special effects. Those great stories tied in with my love of reading and are probably what made me want to go into journalism (which I did for 14 years) and then write fiction books (which I do just for fun now).

My favorite movie was Singing in the Rain and it’s remained so all these years. I used to dance around the living room saying, “And I can’t stand ‘im!” in Jean Hagen’s high-pitched voice, putting on a show for my family. I would dance around the room like I was on that street dancing in the rain in that iconic dance sequence with Gene Kelly.

I would recite good chunks of the movie whether it was on or not and my mom said I should go into drama. Luckily I was too shy to get into drama because I am pretty sure if I had gone into drama I would have mentally crashed and burned out fast. My introvert self is not cut out for the crazy world of acting.

It wasn’t until my late teens, when my brother bought me a VHS copy of the movie, that I learned the movie was actually shot in Technicolor. I’d always watched it on that old black-and-white TV and now here it was in blazing, beautiful color.

Magnificent.

Singing in the Rain has so much going for it — an amazing story tied into the history of talking films replacing silent films, great songs, great actors with great performances, and amazing dance routines (though I maintain that the 20-minute one with Cyd Charisse is just a bit too long and a bit too much — yet also brilliant.)

For those who don’t know what Singing in the Rain is about — for shame! FOR SHAME!

Oh, I mean, please, let me tell you what it is about.

The movie, which takes place in 1927, has a couple underlying storylines. One is a love story between Gene Kelly’s character Don Lockwood and Debbie Reynold’s character, Kathy Selden.

The other is a historical story about the end of silent films and the beginning of talking films.

That’s the simple description, but there is so much more going on underneath the surface of this comedy/musical.

We start the movie with silent screen swashbuckler star Don Lockwood and his movie partner Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) attending a movie premiere. They are kind of like the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers of their time, only they are silent film stars of Victorian-era romance-adventures.

It is only Don and his friend Cosmo Brown (Donald O’Connor) — the musical accompaniest for the Lockwood and Lamont movies — who speak during the red carpet interview. It seems like the men are keeping Lina from speaking to the interviewer.

Don provides a sanitized version of how he and Cosmo got into show business and how he and Lamont met, with his words not matching up to what we see on our screen. He says that his motto in his career was to always conduct himself with dignity and what we see is him and Cosmo doing crazy vaudeville acts or working as stuntmen when they were first starting out.

We also see how Don and Lina first met and though Don tells the audience at the premiere they had an immediate connection, moviegoers see her sticking her nose up at him when he was a stuntman but changing her tune when the head of the studio announces Don is going to be their next big star.

We go a full 20 or 30 minutes into the movie before we find out why no one would let Lina speak during the red carpet interview. I hate to ruin this for anyone who has not seen the movie but…. I’m going to so you have been warned.

You ready?

Don’t read on if you don’t want to know……

Lina has a very annoying, high pitched voice and says things like, “Why didn’t I get to talk out there. What do you think I am? Dumb or sumthin’…”

The studio executives, Cosmo, and Don do indeed believe, and know, that Lina is dumb. They also know that she thinks she and Don are really couple, when Don wants her to know they are not.

“There’s nothing between us, Lina,” he tells her. “There never has been. Just air.”

After the premiere, Don and Cosmo are on their way to the after party when Cosmo’s car gets a flat tire. Don is spotted by a bunch of fans who swarm him and begin to demand autographs and souveniers, ripping off part of his tuxedo jacket.

He runs away, through traffic, and ends up jumping into a car being driven by a shocked young woman named Kathy Selden.

Kathy doesn’t recognized Don right away. Instead, she thinks she’s seen his photo on a Most Wanted poster at the post office and begins to scream. She stops and tells a police officer that this man just jumped into her car and the police officer says, “Why you’re Don Lockwood!”

Kathy becomes much more cordial then and asks Don if he’d like her to drop him off somewhere. He says he would like to get changed out of the tuxedo his fans ripped up and the conversation goes along smoothly until Don starts to flirt with Kathy.

She catches on to his schtick pretty fast and then pretends to be unimpressed with him. She’s an actor on the stage, which she claims is much more prestigious than acting on film.

She informs Don that all he is is a shadow up on the screen, not a real person. He just makes faces and doesn’t really speak, which is what she believes acting really is.

Don is, of course, quite offended by her mocking his professionn and when she pulls over to let him out, now safe from the screaming fans, he leans toward her and says she shouldn’t be afraid of him. What can he do to her, after all, he’s but a mere shadow.

I pause in this recap to comment on how brilliant the acting is by both of them in this scene.

I’ve provided a clip here because it’s just so good. The quality of the clip is not good, however. It is all I could find online:

We flash forward to Don at the party with all the other stars and a bunch of other famous people. At the party, the studio owner R.F. Simpson (Millard Mitchell) shows everyone in attendance an example of talking film. Everyone is surprised but doesn’t think that it will ever replace silent films, or if it does it will be years off. R.F. disagrees and later on, after another studio releases the first talking picture, R.F. says that their studio is going to film its first talking film and their biggest stars, Don and Lina, will be the stars.

A second later, when Lina speaks, though, their hearts sink.

Lina can’t speak in the movie. Not with that voice.

This is all very ironic, of course, because in real life, Jean Hagen has a lovely, sultry voice. Her real voice is actually used later in the movie where Kathy is supposedly dubbing Lina’s high voice with a more sultry one. Instead, that more sultry voice is Jean’s actual voice.

I’ve jumped ahead a bit, so let me go back: Cosos gets the brilliant idea for Kathy to dub Lina’s voice so Lina will sound like she looks in the talking movies.

What could go wrong, right?

Umm…wrong. Lina . . . well, you’ll have to watch to see why Lina isn’t a big Kathy Seldon fan and what she does about her lack of love for Kathy.

I can say that one reason Lina doesn’t like Kathy is because of what happened at that after party. After R.F.’s big announcement about talking films, a large cake is pushed into the room and suddenly out pops Kathy Selden, the “more refined” actress, who actually turns out to be a chorus girl.

Don enjoys mocking her over this which prompts her to attempt to throw a pie in his face, which instead hits Lina square in the face.

Kathy is mortified by her behavior and runs from the room with Don behind her. She manages to escape and drive off before he can find her, though, and he spends several weeks trying to track her down after Lina gets her fired from her job.

An article on TCM says many critics and fans call Singing in the Rain the greatest musical ever made and I’d have to say I am one of those fans who feels that way. There is just so much about this musical that is superior to all other musicals.

The songs are amazing, with well-written and witty lyrics.

The acting is amazing.

The dance sequences are amazing.

The comedy is spot on.

The masterful way the writers created characters mocking Hollywood films and actors all while making a Hollywood film with actors is brilliant.

It is also a visual spectacle.

There is so much talent shoved into this one movie that it almost creates sensory overload, but delightful sensory overload. Not the sensory overload that sends you running to a quiet room with your soft blanket and a white noise machine.

The most famous scene from the movie is, of course, Gene’s dancing in the rain in his hat and suit, with an umbrella.

I loved reading the following paragraph on TCM.com about the development and filming of the title song:

“While the film is chock full of musical highlights, Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” number is the genuine showstopper. Regarding his immortal solo number, Kelly later commented, quite graciously and modestly, on what made the scene work so well: “The concept was so simple I shied away from explaining it to the brass at the studio in case I couldn’t make it sound worth doing. The real work for this one was done by the technicians who had to pipe two city blocks on the backlot with overhead sprays, and the poor cameraman who had to shoot through all that water. All I had to do was dance.” The technicians’ efforts are all the more remarkable since there was a severe water shortage in Culver City, California, the day the sequence was shot.”

Here it is for your enjoyment (if WordPress lets the link work):

It is just about the best dance sequence I have ever seen in a movie but one can’t forget O’Connor singing and dancing (and participating in some serious slapstick/physical comedy) in “Make ‘Em Laugh” or Reynolds, Kelly, and O’Connor singing “Good Morning.”

This movie pokes fun at swashbuckling films and silent films and Kelly was all in, even though it poked some fun at him as an actor too.

The film was directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donan and Gene also choreographed mos of the dance sequences. Between all that and starring in the film, he must have been absolutely exhausted!

He’d started his career with the movie Cover Girl in 1944, revolutionizing the Hollywood musical with innovative and “free-flowing” dance routines.

After that movie, he earned an Oscar nomination for Anchors Aweigh (1945, with Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson and a cute, little Dean Stockwell. I liked this one.)

It was On The Town from 1949 that really sent his career flying. That movie was the first of three collaborations with Donen.

Debbie Reynolds was only 19 when she first started filming as Kathy Seldon (though I’ve read interviews where she said she was 17 and watched an interview where she said she was 18) and you may have read that there was quite a bit of tension between her and Kelly during filming because Gene was a perfectionist. He was also 39-40 during filming and may have kissed her a bit more passionately than she was ready for, according to an interview she gave with The Pittsburgh Gazette, where she said he “stuck his tongue down my throat.” When she ran off crying, he was much more careful during future takes and kissed her more gently, she said, though he was a bit “pissed about it”.

Some say that Debbie called Gene abusive and she did refer to him in her 2013 memoir, Unsinkable, as a “cruel taskmaster”. Despite writing this, Debbie also remembered how his pushing her helped her to become a better actress later and how the movie shot her into stardom.

“He is a perfectionist and a disciplinarian – the most exciting director I’ve ever worked for,” she said. “And he has a good temper. Every so often he would yell at me and make me cry. But it took a lot of patience for him to work with someone who had never danced before. It’s amazing that I could keep up with him and Donald O’Connor.”

Years later Kelly expressed regret at how hard he pushed her and said he was truly shocked she still spoke to him after all he’d put her through. So clearly, they did still speak to each other even if she thought he was rough on her during filming.

The other day I was looking at the Facebook page of Gene’s last wife (he was married three times, with his final wife being 31 and him being 78 at the time of their marriage in 1990) and she had written about how Jean Hagen was hired for the film.

“Gene told me that the only dispute he had with Producer Arthur Freed and co-director Stanley Donen in casting Singin’ in the Rain was over the role of Lina Lamont,” she wrote. “Freed and Donen did not think that Jean Hagen was glamorous enough to play the part. As Gene said, “Stanley was very strong for a young lady from Fox, who was very pretty and a nice actress. She looked like a movie star, but she didn’t have enough depth to do the role. Arthur Freed had a couple of favorites that he wanted to put in. But they were both thinking of girls that look like movie stars. Beautiful, glamorous girls. Arthur even once mentioned Lana Turner, who just couldn’t have played the role that way.”

Patricia writes that the issue was neither of the men had ever seen Jean Hagen all dressed up and looking beautiful.

Kelly and Jean were friends and he thought she’d be wonderful in the role, according to Patricia.

“He did a test with her and the minute Freed and Done saw it, “they fell right in with it” and “when the first rushes came in on her, we were all mad about her.” Born Jean Shirley Verhagen in Chicago in 1923. She was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Singin’ in the Rain but lost to Gloria Grahame in The Bad and the Beautiful. I have a feeling we can all agree with Gene that Jean Hagen was perfect for the role and, as he said, “she was the glue that held the picture together.”

I could go on and on about this movie and all the background of it, so I guess I’d better stop here and instead link you to a few articles or YouTube videos with more information. I will also leave you with some trivia and quotes from the movie.

Some trivia *wink*:

Despite all of Debbie’s hard work on the “Good Morning” number, Kelly decided that someone should dub her tap sounds, so he went into a dubbing room to dub the sound of her feet as well as his own.

It cost $2.5 million to make the movie, which was $665,000 over budget. The movie earned $7.7 million upon its initial release.

Donald O’Connor invited his brother to help him rehearse the stunt of running up the wall in Make ‘Em Laugh with a rope. O’Connor was smoking four packs of cigarettes day back thn and went to bed for a week after completing the scene. Sadly, an accident deleted all of his hard work and he had to reshoot the entire scene again later.

Cyd Charisse, who plays Gene Kelly’s dancing partner in the “Broadway Ballet” number, studied ballet in Los Angeles with Adolph Bolm and Bronislawa Nijinska. She danced with Ballets Russes under the name of Siderova. After World War II she was hired by Arthur Freed to be the resident ballet dancer at MGM.

From TCM: “The comical bit that Donald O’Connor does in the “Make ’em Laugh” sequence, where he pushes and pulls on his face to make absurd faces, is known as “gurning.”

Gene Kelly had a 103 degree fever when he shot the Singing in the Rain dance sequence.

Debbie Reynolds’ voice was dubbed by Betty Royce for the scenes where Reynolds’ character dubs Lina Lamont’s singing and speaking voice. In addition, in the scene where Kathy Selden is dubbing Lina Lamont, Hagen is actually dubbing Reynolds dubbing Hagen on screen for just one line.

Some hilarious quotes from the movie:

Lina: Oh Donny! You couldn’t kiss me like that and not mean it just a teensy bit!
Don: Meet the greatest actor in the world! I’d rather kiss a tarantula.
Lina: You don’t mean that.
Don: I don’t— Hey Joe, get me a tarantula.

Lina: Gee, this wig weighs a ton! What dope’d wear a thing like this?
Roscoe: Everybody used to wear them, Lina.
Lina: Well, then everybody was a dope.

Cosmo: Talking pictures, that means I’m out of a job. At last I can start suffering and write that symphony.
Simpson: You’re not out of a job, we’re putting you in as head of our new music department.
Cosmo: Oh, thanks, R.F.! At last I can stop suffering and write that symphony.

Lina: Why, I make more money than – than – than Calvin Coolidge, put together!

Lina: “People”? I ain’t “people.” I am a – “a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firmament.”

Lina: If we bring a little joy into your humdrum lives, it makes us feel as if our hard work ain’t been in vain for nothing.

[A dancer watching Lina Lamont in “The Royal Rascal”] Flapper: She’s so refined. I think I’ll kill myself.

Lockwood: What’s the matter with that girl? Can’t she take a gentle hint?
Cosmo: Well haven’t ya heard? She’s irresistible. She told me so herself.

Cosmo Brown: Lina. She can’t act, she can’t sing, she can’t dance. A triple threat.

Lina Lamont: What’s wrong with the way I talk? What’s the big idea? Am I dumb or something?

Trailer:

Sources:

https://www.tcm.com/articles/afi-top-100/404767/singin-in-the-rain-1952

Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds on Good Morning America talking about working together in 1986: https://youtu.be/hjHcGL_D5eY?si=eRyxk30EOANrg9wn

Patricia Ward Kelly talking about the dubbing in Singing in the Rain: https://youtu.be/pG6iCVFDlRc?si=Qs0KIU70_pmLKMdZ

Debbie Reynolds and Donald O’Connor talking about Singing in the Rain with TCM:

More trivia about Singing in the Rain:

https://www.tcm.com/articles/71662/trivia-singin-in-the-rain-1952

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot July 24

On July 23, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam1 Comment

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.

Hope you are all having a good week.

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 Ramblings shares 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!

This week we are spotlighting: Old New Green Redo

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Joanne shared about the concept of “unschooling” and what it meant to her family

Erin told us about her Frog and Toad Summer

Debbie Dabble dabbled in a painting project

Pam shared with us how God can whisper to the pain in our lives through the Holy Spirit

I loved Melynda’s list of healthy snacks we can eat

I love Kathy’s tropical-themed shorts and top

Important things to know about the link-up:

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!

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube and Facebook.

Sunday Bookends: Not a big reading week but Charley got me through

On July 19, 2026July 18, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon13 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing.

Last week was a miserable week healthwise and in other ways, and I’m glad it is behind me.

What I/We’ve Been Reading

Just Finished

I didn’t finish any books this past week.

In Progress

I am slow reading Stillmeadow Daybrook by Gladys Taber. Since each chapter is a month, I plan to read a chapter a month for the rest of 2026 and into 2027. I’m also reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

I put The Rose and The Yew Tree by Mary Westmacott (Agatha Christie’s pseudonym for her romantic suspense books) aside for now because, I will be very frank, the book was not very interesting and was pretty depressing. I know the murder mysteries that she usually wrote aren’t always happy, but the people in this book are just not likable and are miserable all of the time.

I do sort of want to know what happens so I will probably pick it back up this week.

I had some stress this week so I didn’t get as much reading as I wanted done but I am still enjoying Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. This is the only book I’ve read by Steinbeck other than Of Mice and Men. It was a much-needed distraction from all the weather issues, my health issues, and some older parent-related stress.

I started Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie to get my Agatha read in for July for the Christie Reading Challenge and am enjoying it much more than the Westmacott.

Up Soon

I am in the mood for a Nancy Drew book so I will be finding one to read soon. I also have an original Hardy Boys book I want to read.

What The Family is Reading

The Husband is reading Valor by Amanda Yanul.

Little Miss and I did not really read together at all this week. We were just hot, miserable, and had cabin fever/

New arrivals to my bookshelf

No new arrivals this week.

What I/We’ve Been Watching

This past week I watched a few episodes of As Time Goes By, an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, a few episodes of Murder, She Wrote, and an old movie called The Reluctant Debutante with Rex Harrison, some other lady, and Angela Lansbury (it was weird).

What I’ve Been Writing

Last week on the blog I shared:

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot July 17th!

Ten books I want to read by New To Me Authors

What I/We’ve Been Listening To

I am listening to The Maine Mutiny by Donald Baine on Audible when I drive somewhere, which means I haven’t listened to it a ton lately. I am hoping to listen more this week when I do housework.

Some Housekeeping

Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs), Cat (Cat’s Wire) and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.

Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night, but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link party.

Now It’s Your Turn

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

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

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot July 17th!

On July 16, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam8 Comments

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

We’ve had one day of a heatwave and two days … going into three….of bad air quality from Canada’s wildfires — though not as bad as Michigan’s levels have been (worst in the world today!) Looking forward to some of that getting better here soon and hopefully the fires themselves being put out for the benefit of the people who live there.

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares 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!

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!

This week we are spotlighting: Sonata Home Design

A little about Sonata Home designHi, I’m Missy, and I believe decorating a home isn’t about following trends…it’s about composition and courage! Courage to embrace yourself!

After more than 35 years as a music teacher, I now teach a symphonic approach to home design. I help you compose rooms filled with color, harmony, and joy using the very same principles I spent decades teaching in the choir room.

That’s the heart of Sonata Home Design.

In music, a sonata is built with intention. There’s structure, contrast, emotion, and flow. Homes work the same way.

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

Jeanne shared beautiful drawings of poppies and paintings

Paula shared big joys in small spaces with us

God’s Growing Garden told Christians how to perservere

Amy visited Charleston and showed us around

Important things to know about the link-up:

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.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube and Facebook.

Ten books I want to read by New To Me Authors

On July 14, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading, top-ten-tuesday12 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

If you are new to my blog, I just wanted to share with you that I co-host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea (no, you don’t have to drink tea to participate) with Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and Cat (Cat’s Wire). You can find a link to it at the top of the page. The link party is for all book-related posts from reviews and recommendations to …well, anything related to books at all. Including Top Ten Tuesday, if you want to link your top ten there too!

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is: Books I Want to Read by New to Me Authors (Share books from your to-read list that are written by authors you’ve never read before.)

A couple of months ago, I could have written this list with a bit more ease, but I have since read at least one book by many of the “new-to-me” authors on the suggested author’s list I’ve made in my reading journal.

I had to dig a little bit to pull out these ten books by authors I haven’t read, yet, but it was worth it because it reminded me of the books I want to read.

Also, when I write “new-to-me” authors, it doesn’t mean I have never heard of these authors. It simply means I have yet to read a book by them.

Winter Solstice by Rosamund Pilcher

I follow a Booktuber who often talks about Rosamund Pilcher and her books do sound good (maybe a bit depressing) so I am going to eventually get to her books.

Arabella by Georgette Heyer

That’s right. I have never read a Heyer book. Keep in mind that the main genre I read from is mystery.

Touch Not the Cat by Mary Stewart

I started this, I did not like it. I think it was the mood I was in. I’m going to try again.

Give Me One Summer by Emilie Loring

This one just looked good to me.

The Innkeeper of Ivy Hill by Julie Klassen

I’ve been wanting to read her for awhile, but not sure her “regency” genre is really my thing.

A Man Lay Dead by Ngaio Marsh

This is a Golden Age mystery author that I have not yet read anything from, but want to.

Foster by Claire Keegan

This one just popped up on a Booktuber’s video and I though it sounded good. I don’t know anything about it or the author.

Lending A Paw by Laurie Cass

Laurie is a cozy mystery writer and I keep saying I am going to read the book by her that my husband purchased for me a few years ago, but I want to read the first book in the series, this one, first.

The Queen and I by Susan Townsend

This book about an alternative reality where the monarch from England is forced to leave the palace and become like common people.

The Corner Shop by Elizabeth Cadell

I just heard about this one today as I was writing this and trying to jog my memory of authors I want to read and this one popped up. I’ve heard of her before and the books sound good.

Have you read any of these books or authors? What did you think of them?

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.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month : https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/

Sunday Bookends: overstimulated brain, injury prone, and older books on my lists

On July 12, 2026July 13, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon28 Comments

It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing.

Do you ever get over stimulated when you are on social media? It isn’t that something or anything is negative, but it is just … too much?

I was there this past week, and I had to shut it down.

There are some fun posts and some cool things that I was seeing, but it was just too much. It was like mental overload. Some of it was definitely negative. I find that social media is an outlet for people to complain and run others down.

But even when I was on positive accounts or was scrolling through people talking about their favorite books or movies, I just felt like my brain was overloaded. This happens to me from time to time, but seems to be happening more and more lately. What I had to do was mute social media for a few days or at least part of the day and watch some movies, do some junk journaling, anything that didn’t require a lot of noise, a lot of images, and any kind of scrolling, which tends to make me have vertigo anyhow.

Tomorrow is my husband’s and my 24^th wedding anniversary. I’m hoping to make it without getting injured again. Right now, I have a bruise on my arm from the cat when she dug her claw into my arm while I was trying to give her her medicine, a scratch on the back of my foot from when I dropped a knife last night, and my chronic neck issues. The Husband isn’t feeling too great either. Maybe we can just sit in the house with ice and heated rice packs on our shoulders, knees, and everything in between and have some dinner and watch a movie. Ha!

What I/We’ve Been Reading

Just Finished

Last week I finished Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson and really enjoyed it. I shared a review of it here.

In Progress

I am slow reading Stillmeadow Daybrook by Gladys Taber. Since each chapter is a month, I plan to read a chapter a month for the rest of 2026 and into 2027. I’m also reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

I am also currently reading The Rose and the Yew Tree by Mary Westcott (Agatha Christie) for the Christie Reading Challenge and Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck

Up Soon

Books I have lined up for the remainder of the summer include: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Murder, She Wrote: Slaying in Savannah, By the Pricking of My Thumbs, and Mystery Mile.

What The Family is Reading

Little Miss and I have been goofing off and not reading from Heidi but I think we will finish it this week.

The Husband is reading The Land of Lost Things by John Connelly.

New arrivals to my bookshelf

My new arrival this week was Travels with Charley, which I bought new because I had an old copy that smelled funny and the new copy was on sale. It smelled amazing, by the way.

What I/We’ve Been Watching

I watched two episodes of Sons of Liberty from the History Channel that ran in 2015. Interesting but not where you go for historical accuracy.

A hot, young Assassin’s Creed look-alike Samuel Adams about the same as John Hancock instead of ten years his senior like in reality? Hmmm…. Okay…Dr. Joseph Warren having some sexy time with General Gage’s wife? Good Lord. Who wrote this? The staff writers at TMZ??

Yeah … it was a nice reimagining (lie) and sensationalized poppycock as General Gage might have said.

I also watched The Apartment with Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacClain, Mr. Blandings Builds a Dream House, and Andy Hardy Meets A Debutante.

What I’ve Been Writing

This week I worked on Gladwynn Grant Goes Back to School.

On the blog I shared:

Recent Blog Posts I Enjoyed

250 Years of Independence!

Some Housekeeping

Now It’s Your Turn

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

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

If you would like to be the first to get news about my books or just have access to special posts for supporters, you can do so here for $2.99 a month https://lisahoweler.com/support-my-writing/

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot July 10

On July 9, 2026July 10, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Weekend Traffic Jam10 Comments

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

More than a month ago I seemed to update this space each week about the ongoing health saga of my three cats. If you are really desperate to know all about that you can do a search for past Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot posts, but to simplify, the drama all started when our youngest cat was sprayed by a skunk and got an eye infection. From there he developed a virus but seemed to bounce back. That virus jumped to the “middle child” who got so sick I thought she was going to die. A vet visit helped some but it took her a long time to get back to normal. The day she started to perk up, our 10-year-old-cat got sick and went downhill fast. We set up an appointment for the vet but made the mistake of letting her lay under a bush outside. She promptly disappeared and was gone for three days and four nights.

When she came back, we thought she was recovering, but she was not. Off to the vet. She was treated and I tried to be patient for her to recover like the other cats.

She started to recover some but had lost maybe 10 pounds (this was a very fat cat before all this). A couple of weeks ago, I started to think she wasn’t going to recover and called the vet again.

Friday, she was back at the vet and they discovered her liver was in bad shape — maybe from the effects of the virus and barely eating for a month or more.

She is now on four different medications and seems to be perking up some, but is more than half the size she was when this all started and definitely not the energetic cat with attitude she once was. We are glad to see some improvement, though, and are hopeful the medicine will heal the liver issue. The vet was very hopeful too.

Now, let’s introduce our current hosts for the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot:

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares 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!

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!

This week we are spotlighting: Crafts Alamode

A little about Linda:

I am the crafter extraordinaire (on this blog anyway). I live with my husband, my son, David, and 3 or 4 nights a week our granddaughter while my daughter works – in a cozy cape cod style house in Connecticut. We have four kids, two girls adopted from Korea and two ordinary sons. Ha ha I like to decorate my house with all of the things I sew, paint, and craft. When I’m not coming up with all of these great crafty, decorating ideas, I like taking care of my grandkids. I like my grandkids… a LOT.

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up!

And now some posts that were highlights for me this past week:

The Apple Street Cottage made oven skirts

Katherine Eldridge showed us her plaid dress for the Fourth!

Shelbee celebrated Canada Day with her patriotic outfit

I Do Declaire shared some beautiful buttery outfits

God’s Growing Garden had fun watching her cat watch a squirrel outside

Thrifting wonderland created a Welcoming Summer Vignette for Her Entrance

Important things to know about the link-up:

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.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube and Facebook.

Book recommendation: Miss Buncle’s Book by D.E. Stevenson

On July 9, 2026July 9, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn book reviews, books and reading10 Comments

It was either someone on Instagram or a YouTube channel which talks about books that told me about D.E. Stevenson and especially Miss Buncle, and I am forever grateful for whomever that was.

I wish I could remember the first one who mentioned it, but I do remember Jenn’s Reading Room talking about the first book in the series, and then I saw at least one other person talking about it.

I am going to credit Jen’s Reading Room with giving me the idea to find a copy of the book and read it, though.

It was almost impossible to find a used copy of this book, which was originally published in 1936, and, at first, I couldn’t find it anywhere in a digital format to borrow it. I do not usually buy books I haven’t read yet, just to be sure I do like it before I put it on my shelf, but when I saw this one was on sale in paperback, I ordered it.

I am not sorry I did that.

Miss Buncle’s Book is about a woman named Barbara Buncle who lives in a small English village and writes a fictionalized version of the people and their lives in a book called Disturber of the Peace. She uses the real-life situations of people she knows because she says she has no imagination to think up stories on her own.

She shops publishers for the book, hoping to make some extra money in hard times and is shocked and unprepared when the book is not only published but becomes a quick bestseller.

When people in her little village get ahold of the book, word quickly begins to spread that many of the characters resemble people in the village, even though the names have been changed.

The humor in this book is top-notch, and the characters are super lovable, even the characters we’re not supposed to like.

The book is also so creatively done because it’s almost as if D.E. Stevenson is writing about herself while writing about Miss Buncle. She writes about the writing process and how people receive her books and how Miss Buncle feels about people reading here book. At one point Miss Buncle is writing a book about writing a book, like D.E. Stevenson was. So we had Stevenson writing a book about Miss Buncle writing a book about her character Elizabeth Wade writing a book. Yes, it’s just as crazy as it sounds, but so well done.

One thing I love about the book is how Stevenson writes her as someone who is pretty much over having to act a certain way and be “proper.”

“’How nice for you — and for her of course,’ exclaimed Barbara. She had lived for so long among these people and had suffered so many afternoon teas that she was able to say the expected thing without thinking about it at all. You simply put a penny in the machine, and the expected thing came out at once, all done up and a neat little packet, and suitably labeled. The machine worked without any effort on Barbara‘s part. It even worked when the real Barbara was absent, and only the shell, dressed in its shabby garments, remained sitting upright upon chair. The real Barbara often flew away like that, and took refuge from the darkness and boredom of Silverstream in the scintillating atmosphere of Copperfield.

I also love how Stevenson writes about authors and how they work.

“Dorcas went away. She was beginning to get used to living in the house with an author. It was not comfortable, she found, and it was distinctly trying to the temper. Dorcas often thought with regret of the good old days when the dividends had come in punctually, and Miss Barbara had been an ordinary, human being; taking her meals at regular hours, going up to bed as the clock struck 11, and coming down for breakfast in the morning when the clock struck nine.

Authors! said Dorcas to herself with scornful, emphasis. authors, indeed! Well, I’ll never read a book again, but what I think of the people who has had to put up with the author. I know that. Preparing meals and beating the gong and going back half an hour later to find nobody’s ever been near them and the mutton fat frozen salad in the dish and the soup stone cold and then ringing bells all hours for coffee and “make it strong!” Dorcas make it strong!” and then writing half the night and lying in bed half the day with people towing up to their bedrooms with trays. Authors, poof!”

Miss Buncle having to deal with reviews that can be bad, while also helping her book sales, is also hilarious. At one point, Mr. Abbott tells her that her reviews are being very helpful to the sale of the book.

“Helpful!” she says. “Some of them said I was immoral and perverted!”

Her publisher is delighted.

“I know it was simply marvelous”, replied Mr. Abbott holding out his cigarette and watching the smoke curl upward with appreciation. “It really was marvelous. In my wildest and most optimistic moments I scarcely dared to hope that they would misread you to that extent.”

The publisher really doesn’t care if people misunderstand Barbara’s book as long as he’s making the sales, of course. But Mr. Abbott becomes an important part of Barbara’s life, and you’ll have to read the book to find out why.

After I finished this book I felt a sense of sadness and loss because I enjoyed opening it each day for a couple of weeks.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are looking for something light, fun, and don’t mind a little bit of the “old style” of writing from the 1930s.

Top Ten Books with the word secret in the title

On July 7, 2026 By Lisa R. HowelerIn books and reading, top-ten-tuesday20 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is: Top Ten Tuesday July 7

Book Titles That Include the Word “[insert word of your choice here]” (Pick a word and share ten book titles that include that word!) I chose the word “secret.”

This is a list of books I have read, want to read, would very likely, or possibly, read.

I should note that I could make this entire list out of just Nancy Drew titles alone, since a ton of the books in that series have secret in the title, but I decided to give some variety to the list and instead have three Agatha Christie titles. Ha!

|| The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett Hodgson (have read) ||

|| The Secret of the Old Clock by Carolyn Keene (a Nancy Drew Mystery. Have read) ||

|| The Secret Adversary (Tommy and Tuppence Mysteries, #1) by Agatha Christie (haven’t read but sure I will at some point) ||

|| The Secret, Book & Scone Society (Secret, Book, & Scone Society, #1) by Ellery Adams (haven’t read but will probably soon) ||

|| The Secret of Chimneys (Superintendent Battle, #1) by Agatha Christie (have read and enjoyed) ||

|| The Codebreaker’s Secret by Sara Ackerman (haven’t read but it looks good) ||

|| Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells (haven’t read but probably will eventually) ||

|| The Secret Life of Walter Mitty James Thurber (haven’t read but it interests me because I’ve seen one of the movie adaptations) ||

|| The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (never read it, think I’ve heard of it. Probably will read some day.) ||

|| The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden (I don’t know anything about it but it popped up when I was searching for books with the word secret in the title and it looks good.) ||

Have you read any of these? Let me know in the comments, especially for the ones I have not read yet.

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.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.