Month: August 2009

Morning Meandering….

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Wow… seems like it has been quite a few days since I have grabbed Coffee Cup and just had time to a big improvementmeander in the morning.  The craziness of summer… I feel like I am always on the go!

The book I am seeing pop up again and again, even yesterday when I presented the question, What is your favorite read so far this year?

One of the books that has seemed to come up on this list time and again is The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

helpSynopsis

Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step.

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

Sound good?  Check out these reviews from some of my friends around the blogosphere and see what they had to say about this read:

Laura at Laura’s Reviews talks about this book opening her eyes and something about a caramel cake…. caramel cake???  Oh yum!

Alyce at At Home With Books said that this felt like walking right into Jackson, Mississippi in the 1960’s!

Eve at Between the Bookendz (who I had featured last week for another incredible read of hers) says this is one of the best books she has read this year!

Both Laura and Alyce had added this book to my post yesterday as a best read for the first half of the year s as well.  I am more than sold out for this book.  I am hoping to pick it up today and read it hopefully over the upcoming weekend.

Stop by and see Laura, Alyce, and Eve at their beautiful blog spots and read three great reviews on this book!



One Half of the Year Gone… Whats your Favorite read in ’09 to date?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)74 Comments

Best read 2009

My question today is, 6 months in…. what is the best book you have read so far this year?  It doesn’t have to be a new release.  It can be new or old.  If you are a book blogger and have reviewed this book,  please leave a link so we can see your review.  I am looking for name of book, author, and maybe a line or two about the book.

Lets make this fun – I will take responses on this from now until August 16.  Then I will do a random drawing from the comments for a $15 Gift Card to Amazon.

*Book Bloggers:  You can earn a bonus chance to win by linking the book review (Jan – July 09) to this post and add the meme that I have put on this post to your post.  Leave me a comment here with the link.

I have two that I can not choose between….

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfolk Cross

Dragon House by John Shors

The giveaway portion of this post is now closed – the winner was Karoline!

*Winners are chosen by using random.org


It’s Tuesday…. Where Are You?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)Leave a comment

tuesdaywhereareyou

This is hosted by An Adventure in Reading

I am currently in Portand, Oregon with Kay trying hard to get to the bottom of who is sending the letters that are an assault on the church.  We are entering a meeting now with the people who have developed the software that the site is managed from.  While I know Rick is involved with this mess – Kay, who has befriended him… does not.

End of Grace by K Thomas Murphy

Review coming soon!!!

The Lost Dog by Michelle de Kretser – Giveaway!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)51 Comments

This giveaway is closed – winners were announced on September 9.  Thank you!

Once again Valerie at Hachette Book Group has provided me with a great giveaway!  Readers, you have an opportunity here to win one of five copies of this book.   (Thank you Valerie!)

Book Information

Tom Loxley, an Indian-Australian professor, is less concerned with finishing his book on Henry James than with finding his dog, who is lost in the Australian bush.

Joining his daily hunt is Nelly Zhang, an artist whose husband disappeared mysteriously years before Tom met her. Although Nelly helps him search for his beloved pet, Tom isn’t sure if he should trust this new friend.

Tom has preoccupations other than his book and Nelly and his missing dog, mainly concerning his mother, who is suffering from the various indignities of old age. He is constantly drawn from the cerebral to the primitive–by his mother’s infirmities, as well as by Nelly’s attractions. THE LOST DOG makes brilliant use of the conventions of suspense and atmosphere while leading us to see anew the ever-present conflicts between our bodies and our minds, the present and the past, the primal and the civilized.

Ready to play?

How to win…

1.  Leave a comment here with the name of your favorite pet (past/present)

2.  Tweet or blog about this giveaway on a second comment to earn a second chance to win!

3.  Followers of this blog receive an additional chance to win (be sure to let me know)

4.  Post a comment on any other non giveaway review or post I have done and receive 2 bonus chances.

***For fun, email me a picture of your pet and a brief little story about him/her.  I will feature a pet a day on this post with your name and blog link (if you have one) until the giveaway ends.  (If not enough pet pics, the current pic will stay until a new one comes in.  😉

journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

There you have it 🙂  As much or as little as you wish to do!

Remember US only entrants and no PO box numbers please.  Be sure I have a way to connect with you if you are one of the winners.  All winners will be emailed and have 72 hours to respond with mailing

info.  Giveaway will end on Aug. 31

Have fun!

Thank you Rebecca for sending your picture of Taz!

T A Z !
T A Z !

This is Taz (or Tazmon Dickens). He is currently 4 months old and a long haired Chihuahua. He is full of fun, loves to chase tennis balls and is trained to potty on command, sit,
wait, come, and forgets all of the above when he is “Busy” with
something that has caught his attention. He has brought many smiles and
kisses to my husband and I.
Rebecca


The Blue Star by Tony Earley – Giveaway!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

This giveaway is closed and winners were announced on September 9, 2009  Thank you!  🙂

Valerie from Hachette Book Group Giveaway has generously hooked me up with 5 of these books to give away!  I know, I am excited too!  😉


//

Book Information

Seven years ago, readers everywhere fell in love with Jim Glass, the precocious ten-year-old at the heart of Tony Earley’s bestseller Jim the Boy. Now a teenager, Jim returns in another tender and wise story of young love on the eve of World War Two.

Jim Glass has fallen in love, as only a teenage boy can fall in love, with his classmate Chrissie Steppe. Unfortunately, Chrissie is Bucky Bucklaw’s girlfriend, and Bucky has joined the Navy on the eve of war. Jim vows to win Chrissie’s heart in his absence, but the war makes high school less than a safe haven, and gives a young man’s emotions a grown man’s gravity.

With the uncanny insight into the well-intentioned heart that made Jim the Boy a favorite novel for thousands of readers, Tony Earley has fashioned another nuanced and unforgettable portrait of America in another time–making it again even realer than our own day.

So how can you my ever faithful readers receive a chance (or two, or three) to win one of these beautiful books?  I am so glad you asked!

How to win…

1.  Leave a comment here with a favorite coming of age (first love) type story that you have enjoyed.

2.  Tweet or blog about this giveaway on a second comment to earn a second chance to win!

3.  Followers of this blog receive an additional chance to win (be sure to let me know)

4.  Post a comment on any other non giveaway review or post I have done and receive 2 bonus chances.

There you have it 🙂  As much or as little as you wish to do!

Remember US only entrants and no PO box numbers please.  Be sure I have a way to connect with you if you are one of the winners.  All winners will be emailed and have 72 hours to respond with mailing info.  Giveaway will end on Aug. 31

Have fun!

Back To The Manger by Margaret Ann Philbrick

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

This book was more – way more, than I had originally thought…. I handled each page with loving care as the words lifted from the pages and into my heart.  ~  Sheila

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Christine (left) w/ Singing River Publications
Christine (left) w/ Singing River Publications

A couple weekends ago I had mentioned that my friends and I went to Ely, Minnesota and experienced the Blueberry Festival.  While exploring the great food and booths, I met Christine Moroni from Singing River Publications.  She had a booth at the festival displaying many of the books they published and while browsing, she and I struck up a conversation about books and blogging.

Christine handed me this book, Back To The Manger before we parted ways and I thanked her and told her I would read and review it.  That brings us to this moment.

Throughout Inga’s childhood, visiting an historic Neapolitan nativity scene each Christmas was a time-honored family tradition.  One year when Inga takes her own children to see it, she discovers that the creche is missing.  Inga takes up the quest to find this Christmas treasure and restore a bit of holiday magic to the heart of the Christmas season.

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As I read this lovely book it actually brought tears to my eyes. Beautifully illustrated, I felt it read like it was a true story.  I actually got goosebumps when I turned to the last page, the Note to Reader page, and discovered it was indeed a true story…

The Neapolitan creche described in this story was created in Naples, Italy during the 1700’s.  The nativity set was developed by a number of master craftsmen, each of whom specialized in a particular artistic piece of the display.

In 1920, Kate Raferty, founder of The Little Traveler, purchased one of these nativity scenes.  It was shipped overseas and for many decades, the creche was dispalyed on a bed of fine gold satin and fresh green moss at The Little Traveler.

Eventually the nativity set fell in a state of despair and was stored in the basement of a shop on River Lane, next to Fox River.  For many years it was considered to be lost, until the late 1960’s when Mr. Merritt King, a historian, found the bed and figures.  The building that was storing them was up for demolition and Mr. King was sent to the basement to be sure the electricity was off.  “It was a miracle that they were still intact and not chewed by mice and rats,” he said.

Geneva History Center
Geneva History Center

Mr. King brought them home, dried them and then contacted The Little Traveler.  In 1971 the set was returned to The Little Traveler and remained there until 1989 where they were donated to The Geneva History Center with the goal of complete restoration.  The partially restored creche is now displayed from Thanksgiving to New Years Day in their museum at 113 South Third Street, Geneva, Illinois.  The restoration is ongoing.

This is a wonderful childrens book that unlike many of the stories that are read to our children, this one carries the gift of historical facts.   I would love to see this Nativity Scene at the museum and what a great gift to read to your children and then be able to show them the story… come to life.


The Geneva History Center:  639-232-4961 or http://www.genevahistorycenter.org

Authors Website

Publishers website

This book was given to me by the publisher

A “G” rating



Sunday….errr…. Monday Week in Review

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

What a week!  You ever have one of those weeks where you think you didn’t do all that much until you

Ely MN
Ely MN... Outhouse on side of the road

look back over it.  Well, this is mine.  🙂  I just had a crazy busy week but reviewing my blog posts from the last 7 days, I actually did a lot more than I thought I did.  Actually, in the blogesphere, I had a pretty great week:

  • I also presented the question during the Monday Mind Games as to what people look for in a good book blog and loved the great answers!
  • My first ever Blog Tour took place on Tuesday as I hopped on the bus and traveled a while with Kim Smith and her short sweet read of A Will to Love.
  • On The Tuesday Where Are You post I was battling in England alongside Pope Joan and loving it…. still am – absolutely everyone look up this book!!!
  • Wednesday, Coffee Cup and I Morning Meandered over and met Monique and the Mango Rains (love this title!) at Julie’s Jewel’s My Favorite Things
  • On Wednesday I closed my reading on Pope Joan and literally sat in silence for about 30 minutes reviewing it all in my head and now sure how to put those worlds on paper.  I did.  GREAT READ.
  • On Wednesday I also had a Morning Meandering Confession as to how I can get lost in the blogesphere just reading great reviews and chatting it up with amazing bloggers.
  • I also posted my Guest Blogger/Author Interview on Thurday with the amazing Rachel Stolzan and we discussed her new book, The Sign for Drowning.  Excellent time with Rachel!
  • Friday was also my second Blog Tour (yup – two this week!) for Tricia Goyer’s book Blue Like Play Dough.  A fun read I really enjoyed.
  • Friday afternoon I offered up the weekly Freebie Friday which really was “free bee” as the book currently up for grabs is The Secret Life of Bees.  (you have until this Friday to enter!!!)
  • On Saturday I took part in my first Faith in Fiction Saturday meme and enjoyed a great discussion on diversity in Christian Fiction.
  • Sunday I posted the giveaway for Tales of Pruit Almus, this looks like a great read – true story, about a place for homeless children.  Cant wait to sink into this one and I have one to giveaway as well!  (Love the comments that are coming in – some made me tear up a little!)
  • Early Sunday I posted my review for Suzanne’s Diary For Nicholas.  A total random read….  hmmmm…. I bet this qualifies for my random reading Challenge!  🙂  Anyway – great read…. quick read.
  • Then I finished out what looks like a busy week by posting about my book shelves, following a discussion going around about how our books that we choose (read or unread) say something about who we are.

Here are the books that came in throughout the week:

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Top right are the two giveaway books for The Sign For Drowning – this giveaway is going on currently!

Stand The Storm, and The Accountants Story all all books I won as well as the cute little orangish one in the front that came all the way from Scotland!

Also on the right the pink and white checkered one is A Better View of Paradise which is a blog tour for later this week by Randy Sue Coburn

The Enclave and Off World are new TBR’s from Bethany – my first review books  from them.

The Thirteen Days of Halloween is for a fun 31 day blog tour taking place in October – one tour spot per day… watch for that one it sounds like spooky fun!

The rest of the books are the copies for Sarah Lindberg’s Giveway coming up later this month.  if you have not checked out my interview with her I would recommend it.  Not only is she a wonderful author, but also a personal friend of mine and we will be hearing more from her in the future!

That’s my week!  In between all the book stuff I put out payroll, had a family reunion at my home and a Sundae Sunday event where I helped serve ice cream to about 60 people.  Today I meet with a young man (seriously – he is 14!) by the name of Brian who I am going to help set up a blog and get him going on YA Reviews.  Brian is years ahead in his reading and writing skills and his parents are encouraging him to do this.  If anyone has any advice for me – I would appreciate it.  I am looking for connections to YA reads that are age appropriate as well as a way to conenct him to a couple ARC’s.

Thanks everyone for stopping in and hanging with me this morning!  I hope you come back througout the week as I have a lot of fun book related stuff coming up! ~  Sheila

About the Book Shelves….

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Anyone who knows me at all knows one of my favorite topics is books.  I think I am hard wired that way because that has pretty much been true all my life (in 2nd grade I won the class Bookworm award).

I read an interesting post at KyusiReader this weekend.  Here is what he has to say,

“I’m a firm believer that the books you have are a reflection of your personality. Never mind that you don’t get to read them, just the fact that you bought them and keep them in your bookshelf say a lot about who you are (or who you want to be).”    ~KyusiReader

Hmmmm…. so like a palm reading…. this would be a book shelf reading?  😉

Well – basically what this has amounted to is fellow book bloggers showing their book shelves and I think that is pretty awesome!  So far I have seen the “not so” shelves at J Kaye’s Book Blog, and the book shelves at For The Love of All That is Written.

So here is my reading space and the books that dwell within.  Come on in everyone!  You all are welcome and you know the coffee is on!

this oneSo come on in!  The reading is fine!  First let me explain this great space I have in my home for reading that I fondly call the Reading Room.  Up until late last summer we had our business office in our home.  This is actually the house I grew up in and once Al and I moved here after the passing of my parents, we remodeled what once was two bedrooms (one of them was mine) into the office.

Last summer, Al moved the office out to the business that is also on our property.  As I stood in this large empty space I thought what ever will I do with this room now?  Then it hit me like a ton of books (literally!) – this would be where I could gather the books I had everywhere, all in one space.  This is where I could read.

(I probably said something after that thought like “Yippy!!!!)


room focus 2And here it is… my favorite place to be.  This room calms me.  When I am not running around or working, you can find me here.

room focus 1

This is the other side of the Reading Room.


Reading room 2Maybe more to the point, I should say that when I am in this room you will find me here.  Feet up, laptop on my lap, notebook to my left, books to my right.


Newbie File

This fun little file unit I found at Wal-Mart.  The drawers are deep and made of a sturdy cloth.  This is where I keep all the books that come in during the current week.  On Sundays I pull them out and take their picture for my Week In Review post.  Then they are filed to the TBR shelves.


book rack side view

This great book gadget was a find in St Cloud, Minnesota.  I believe it was meant for magazines, of course I use it for my current reading and next in line to be read books.

odds and end books

These are odds and end books… a mix of everything

Shelf 1

Many of the books kept here are from this Summers Library sale.  Most of these are not yet read.

Christian Fiction

This is my Christian/Christian Fiction reads.  The “keepers”.  Most of these books when I am done reading I donate to our church library.

001

These are the shelves that hold most of what I have read with a mix of a few yet to be read.  Many of these are just books I love and I may never get to read them again, but I am happy just to share the house with them and the memories of reading them.

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More of the same as above right.  Some people collect angels or figurines… I collect books.  Lots of big (and small) beautiful books.

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…and yet more of the same category.

↓ Close ups here ↓

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3

4

5

6

7

1

2

Probably more than you ever needed (or wanted) to know about my passion for books yet you get me going and I have trouble hitting the breaks on this topic.

If anyone else out there chooses to feature their shelves and reading space(s), please leave a link to your post below so others can stop and see the shelves that hold your reading treasures!   Take time to check out the original post at KyusiReader as well as any of the other links here to great book shelves and spaces!

As always, from one reader to another – Happy Reading!  🙂

Suzanne’s Diary For Nicholas by James Patterson

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments
When I started this book I had a full schedule and had no intentions of reading more than a few pages while taking a quick break…. 3 hours later with tears in my eyes I closed the last page with a satisfied sigh. ~ Sheila

diary forSuzanne’s Diary for Nicholas begins with an introduction to Katie Wilkerson. She works for a publishing house and lives in New York City. The love of her life is poet/house painter Matt Harrison. The couple is about to celebrate the publication of Matt’s book and the beginning of their lives together.

At least, that’s what Katie thought. She’s stunned when Matt abruptly terminates the relationship and heads home for Cape Cod, taking several painful secrets with him. His explanation is contained in a personal diary that he gives Katie to read.

Matt’s wife, Suzanne, is the author of the journal, which was originally written for the couple’s son. Katie knows she has to read the diary to find an explanation for Matt’s actions, but she must come to grips with what she’s afraid she’ll discover.
The first letter:

Dear Nicholas, my little prince

As I write this very first entry, you are two weeks old. But I want to start by telling you about some things that happened before you were born. I want to start before the beginning, so to speak.

This is for your eyes only, Nick.

This is what happened to Nicholas, Suzanne and Matt.


Now let the record show I am not a sappy love story reader.  This book was purchased at a book sale and the cover of  the book with a sandy  beach just said to me, “Summer Read”.  So I sat down to see what James had to say.

I was so impressed with the book and how James Patterson writes from the perspective of Kate and then from Suzanne as she writes to Nicholas.  The book is touching, gripping, and at the end … lets just say  I think I left a little piece of my heart with this book.

I loved the lightness of the read.  It was refreshing to read a book that really gave the male character,  Matt, a softer side than most of the men I read of.  This book is like no other Patterson I have read, it just flowed differently and the words ran smoother than some of the sharpness most of Patterson’s other work has.  On Friday afternoon  between doing projects around the yard, I started – and finished this book.

Fantastic for a beach read or sitting on your deck with a large ice tea in your super cool sunglasses.  😉
My rating?  Two Kleenex’s Up
This book is from my personal library
I would rate this book PG

Tales of Pruit Almus by Robert Belenky – Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

tales of pruit

This giveaway is closed – congratulations winner!  🙂

I am so excited to have received a review copy of this book + one to give away.  I probably will not get to this read until closer to the end of August but in the mean time didn’t want to hold off on this great book and a chance for you to won a copy of this.

Thirteen-year-old Serogia was thrown out of his house by his drunken mother after his father died. Eleven-year-old Anya doesn’t have many friends and is always sad; when she looks in the mirror she sees an ugly girl. Her ten-year-old sister Sashinka is shy, tough and fun loving. Their only living relative is their drunken father.

These are just three of the children who were living at Priut Almus, a children’s shelter in St. Petersburg, Russia, when author Robert Belenky began his visits in 1998. He returned many times during the next ten years. In Tales of Priut Almus he presents his interviews with children and staff as he participates in this humane and innovative shelter unusual in that it focused on preparing children to create and live in a democracy. Finally, we meet Almus’ founding director, enigmatic man of the theater, Mikhail Markarievich, who provided the courageous vision.

This looks like a wonderful read and I cant wait to dig into myself.  Once read I will post my review, in the mean time. enter here to receive a copy for yourself! Here’s How….

1.  Comment here with what you would name a Children’s Shelter if it was your job to name it

2.  Earn an additional entry by blogging or tweeting about this giveaway (leave link to that here on a separate comment

3.  Earn a 3rd chance to win by becoming a follower of this blog (leave this info hre if you are on a separate comment)

US entrants only please and no PO boxes.  Giveaway will end on September 4 and winner will be emailed and announced here.  ** Be sure you have left an email for me to be able to contact you.

Thanks everyone for your comments!  have fun!  🙂