It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Posted on February 28, 2011 by

96 Comments

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.
 

 I love being a part of this and I hope you do too!  As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment.  You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

   Last weeks winner:

Kristen from Bookworming In The 21st Century

Congratulations!  Please choose an item out of the PRIZE BOX and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

     

Whew!  What a week!  I have been busy and well…. the usual.  😀  Pre posting and planning on the weekend does have its benefits 😉  Here is what this past week looked like:

     

Skipping A Beat by Sarah Pekkanen (Oh sooooooo good!) 

 Author Chat with Sarah Pekkanen – Author Of Skipping a Beat!    SQQQQQUUUEEEEEE 😛 

 

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Bonus Bookies read and food fest…. oh the food!)

The Fifth Servant by Kenneth Wishnia ( A deep read that I wish I would have had more time to dig into)

Water Wars by Cameron Stracher (Hmmmm…. great topic but didnt quite make it for me)

YUMMY The Last Days of A South Side Shorty (True story told in graphic novel style… wow!  This book won a Cybil award)

Certain Women By Madeleine L’Engle (Our Faith ‘n Fiction read)

 

All that – plus I finished another two books and two audios that I have yet to review.  (Driving 3+ hours to the cabin each way this weekend really gave me a little audio time 😀 )

 

As for this week…. looking at my schedule I do not have a lot of evening meetings this week which helps me plan out my reading…. so here is what I will have on the plan:

 

 

The true story of Courtney Miles’ rescue of over 300 people in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. While government officials posed for cameras, a boy from the projects with no driver’s license stepped up and showed what “drive” is all about. LAST BUS OUT tells how Courtney Miles stole a bus, charged past a police roadblock, and argued with a National Guardsman who threatened to lock him in the makeshift jail at the Greyhound Bus Station. Sick with worry about his missing grandmother, he drove his passengers to safety, then went back into the city at midnight to help others. His adventure would ultimately lead to starting his life over on the opposite end of the country, far away from the three women he loves – the mother who abused him, the grandmother who taught him to survive, and the girlfriend who would betray him. LAST BUT OUT chronicles Courtney’s life alone while his mother was repeatedly jailed for selling drugs. At seven he woke up on Christmas Eve with a gun in his face. At thirteen he witnessed the murder of a man three feet in front of him. As a high school junior he lived alone in an empty house without electricity or water. Courted by gangs who knew he was hungry, “Streets”, as he was nicknamed for his solitary life on the streets, lived apart and kept his record clean – until the day he risked his freedom to save his neighbors.

 

 

 A PUPPET IS CROWNED. THE TRUE HEIR REMAINS HIDDEN. A ROGUE’S SECRET COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING.
War has come to Melengar. To save her kingdom, Princess Arista runs a desperate gamble when she defies her brother and hires Royce and Hadrian for a dangerous mission. As the power of the Nyphron Empire grows, so does Royce’s suspicion that the wizard Esrahaddon is using the thieves as pawns in his own game. To find the truth, he must unravel the secret of Hadrian’s past–what he discovers could change the future for all of Elan.

 

I received this series last year and totally dropped the ball on finishing it.  The series is good and with this third book I plan on doing all three reviews together. 




 As the reader is guided through the author’s libraryAhis “Magic Kingdom”Avarious books, manuscripts and mementos become the stimulus for meditations about Christian faith and about the people who have touched his life. We read at length about the folly of writing a novel about Jesus; to do so, the ordained minister writes, “would be to cheapen and somehow dishonor the bond between us.” We see the author’s fatherAwho committed suicide at the age of 38Anot only as a distant figure, alcoholic and adulterous (“the empty place at [the] center” of Buechner’s childhood), but as a charismatic Princeton alumnus who once seemed so full of promise. The memoir’s penultimate chapter is a tribute to the author’s beloved brother, Jamie, who died as Buechner was finishing the bookAhe had called and said he had “incurable cancer of virtually everything and didn’t intend to be around for more than two weeks if he could possibly help it.” Such a momentAa pitch-perfect blend of tenderness and sardonic lyricismAtypifies the poetic intensity of the memoir. Also of note is the second chapter, about Buechner’s friend, the late poet James Merrill, who appears in the author’s dreams: “and it is always goodbye that we are saying again as if to make up for never having had the chance to say it properly.”



I have a couple audios I am starting as well but this post has been a real “opportunity”.  First my lap top appears to have moved on to greener pastures.  Using my husband’s lap top tp put this post together in Internet Explorer has turned out to be an evening of formating and missing pictures…. and well…..  at this point I am just trying to get it posted.  😀

I am excited to see what you are reading so please remember to link up your “What Are You Reading” post below where it says “click here”.  😀

  

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96 Comments on “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?”

  1. It looks like you’ve got some good books planned for this week. Happy Reading! 🙂

  2. Your week ahead looksgood. Hope your laptop comes back from its greener pastures and posting becomes easy again soon!

    • Thanks Kristen – I think it is done for. 🙂 I had a few things go goofy with it a couple weeks ago and literally “scotch taped” the problem…. 😛

  3. How sad about your laptop! Hope it starts to work or you find a good deal on a new one. :-/ Hope you have a great reading week Sheila!

  4. You had a great reading week last week and looks like you’ll have more reading time this week too. Hope you get your laptop woes sorted out. Will be back to check out your Sarah Pekkanen review. Happy reading Sheila 🙂

  6. I am so jealous that you already read Skipping a Beat…I cannot wait to read it.

    Hope you have a great week!

  8. Oh, my, I worry about having to get another computer at some point…and for a few minutes last week, I couldn’t access my Firefox. I really hate IE! Sorry, did I say that too loud? Well the Internet monsters now eat my Firefox?

    Actually, our Internet service went down for a few hours, and when it came back, I couldn’t access Firefox. But when I restarted the computer, it was there.

    I wish you well on getting another laptop and feeling comfortable.

    When your post wasn’t up early this a.m. when I woke up, I was worried that you were stuck at the cabin….

  9. Sorry your laptop died on you. My computer did that a few months ago so now I have a laptop and hopefully it will last me a few years. I hope you find a good one you like.

    Sounds like you have some really interesting books to read this week. The fantasy looks good. I hadn’t heard of that series. I enjoyed your review of Skipping a Beat. I’ve got a copy on its way to me from interlibrary loan. Hopefully it will arrive this week!

    Have a great week 🙂

    • I have really dropped the ball on the Michael Sullivan series which is crazy becuase it si soooo good. I hope my reviews reflect that 🙂

      OOH – enjoy Skipping A Beat!

  13. I like the look of ‘Last Bus Out’ so i will add it to my GoodReads sounds like a nice gritty story and i look forward to your review.

    Trying to listen to a lecture, read my book and write my What are you reading post! The latter two are far more interesting!

    Have a great day 😀

  14. I am looking forward to Skipping a Beat! Getting a new laptop is bittersweet, especially if you can’t transfer anything from the old. That reminds me I need to get one of those separate back-up thingys! ;o)

    • I need to do that too Nise – I am sure at some point I am going to realize something relaly important I had on that lap top…. for now I feel ok… my prolouge is on there but I wanted to redo that anyway. 🙂

  15. I am not nearly organized enough to know what I’ll finish this week, or usually even what I’ll read next. But I mostly know what I AM reading.

    You have some interesting books lined up.

  16. Are you participating in Amy’s Buechner week, then? Enjoy! And, oh, that Katrina book sounds interesting.

    • I am Hannah! I had that all written up in my post last night and the formatting was just crazy… what I had at the top was on the bottom, my pictures were missing…. I finally gave up and cranked out a quick post this morning.

      Are you doing this too?

  20. Looks like I wished to hard for your computer! I’m so so sorry! And then to have to use Internet Explorer?! Ugh. Hopefully something gets working for you soon, or at least hopefully you get to read some good books in the meantime. 😉

    Have a fabulous reading week!

  22. I’ve only read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle – I kind of forget that she wrote other books, too. I hope you enjoyed Certain Women.

  25. I am unfamiliar with your titles for this week so I eagerly await your thoughts. Have a lovely week Sheila.

  26. Last Bus Out sounds good. I’m looking forward to your review.

    Sorry to hear of your computer troubles!

  28. doing a restart to see if Mr. Linky will cooperate. Sorry you have had computer issues. This one may be lying in the front yard soon, will not throw it through the window, too cold for that, but may throw it out t he front door!!!!

    • I thought about tossing mine last night Lori – then I thought, what if it can be fixed. I doubt it though… I took it in a couple weeks ago to our local computer shop and they said there was nothing they could do…

  30. Last Bus Out looks really good – but you always have good books on your list 🙂 Sorry to hear about the laptop – such a pain having to replace it (said from experience). Hope you can recover any documents you need from it.

  33. Linky opened great in Mozilla not so in Google.

    Visited 12 and now must go take care of my sick little grandson. He just wants to snuggle!

    HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

  34. Pingback: It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? | Joy's Book Blog

  37. Last Bus Out sounds really good! I’ll have to add that to my tiny (but growing!) list of nonfiction to read. Good luck with the computer situation! That must be incredibly frustrating. Enjoy your books!

  38. Oh, my gosh, Last Bus Out sounds so amazing!! Wow, what a story. Can’t wait to hear what you think.

    I am always so impressed by how many books you read and how many reviews you write each week, Sheila. How do you do it? I always seem to have a backlog of reviews waiting to do.

    Oh, did I ever tell you how much I love your new graphic for Mondays? Well, I do. That’s another thing I don’t know how to do, but I am very impressed by your graphics!

    Sue

    • I try to write my reviews at night Sue – seems like that is when I have the most time these days. 🙂 With the audios they really give me a boost for reviews as I usually finish at least one a week and occasionally I have weeks where all three finish which is fun.

      Thanks about the new MOnday Meme – I relaly like it too 🙂

  39. I’m reading Wench. I’ve been wanting to read it since it came out, but finally buckled down and got it from the library. This has been a really good book so far!

    • I accomplished more sorting in to catogories or chapter info Shirley… it was productive and it was nice just to have that be the only thing to focus on. 🙂

  42. Hi Sheila – I am always interested that you have such different books to read. Isn’t it fun. 🙂

  43. I love that cover for Last Bus Out! I have to check it! Have a great week, Sheila!

  45. I’m not usually into non-fiction, or biographies, but I really want to read The Last Bus Out. A Hero. That’s what that kid is. A straight up hero. Hope he gets where he wants to go in life.

  46. Oh i feel for you having your laptop give up the ghost like that. It happened to me a year ago December and I went without for a month until I got my netbook and my files remained trapped on the laptop another several weeks until a computer doctor removed its hard drive and turned it into an external drive that plugs into my netbook via USB.

    Last Bus Out and the Buechner memoir both excite me but neither are in our library system yet. I was following the story of the kid who stole a school bus to rescue Katrina victims on the news both tv and web the week it happened.

    And Buechner has been one of the few contemporary religious thinkers I’ve been able to connect with in the last 18 years. While I was on the library site I requested his The Clown in the Belfry which is a series of essays on the theme of faith in literature which I’ve checked out several times but never finished.

    • This will be a first for Buechner for me but I am really enjoying once again stretching my reading into new authors and this has already been a great year for that 🙂

  47. You read quite a few books! #Whew! I must get into audio books soon! I’ll put some on the iPod and see how it goes.

  49. I went through and visited a lot of pages, but I stopped counting after ten. Now my TBR list is a bit alarming.

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