February 2011 – Page 3

Morning Meanderings… Random Thoughts

Published on February 18, 2011February 18, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

I seen this over at Polishing Mudballs and LOVE this! SO I thought I would try it for this Morning Meandering.

Outside my Window: Over cast skies with a hint of pink shining through…. the snow is melting and there are patches of green among the white…. if this is like past years, it is signs of false spring and we will be hit again a couple more times with big snow falls. I hope not.

I am listening to: Chance getting ready for school.

I am Thinking: I have a couple of author chats to complete and a review. I hope to read a little this morning… and prep packages to mail. I am hoping I can accomplish a lot today and still get reading time as well.

I Am Grateful For: This day off.

I am pondering: The weekend. What should I get done today – what can wait until tomorrow…

I am reading: Olive Kitteridge for Tuesdays bonus book group. I hope to start Black Girl White Girl, and Skipping A Beat over the weekend.

I am photographing: Nothing at the time…

I am listing: “to do’s”

I am creating: something….. the question is, what? 😀

From The Kitchen: Just Al and I tonight so maybe it will be sizzling mushroom covered steaks tonight…

Favorite Thing Of The Week: Justin (College Son) was over last night. We had dinner together and watched a movie before he had to go. AND Brad (Navy son) called last night and I was able to chat with him for a while.

On This Date: I will work on the book a bit and strive to have a well-balanced day

Ok…. onward. Have a super Friday everyone. 😀

Think No Evil by Jonas Beiler

Published on February 17, 2011February 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

In October of 2006 in a quiet Amish community, the unthinkable happened. A gunman entered the school, ordered the boys and teachers outside and then shot the ten remaining girls before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.

As life shattering and shocking as this is…. what shocked even more was the powerful response of forgiveness that the Amish community offered to the murderer and to his family, even bringing the family baskets of food and welcoming them into their home.

In a tragedy just as horrible as the other school shootings across the country, here was something that was hard to understand. Unconditional forgiveness.

I am drawn to true stories… and yes, true stories about crimes. I am amazed at the level of explosive anger that some people can carry and the reasons that push people over the edge. I am just as amazed with the survivors of such violence.

I should have written down what blog I seen this book on last week, but I did not and if it was your blog, please let me know and I will add that to this review. I had not heard of this book until seeing a review on it and I knew I wanted to read it too. While this book is on a subject I have read before (COLUMBINE), it has something else that drew me to it…

the act of forgiveness.

As I read the details that lead up to this horrific tragedy, I could not help but ask if this was my child who was in the school that day – could I have forgiven so fully? Before I even finished typing that question I know in my heart the answer is, no. Yet here are a people so emerged in their faith that even such a crime as this they are able to look past the act and see the bigger picture.

The act itself was horrible. As I read the details of what happened that day my heart broke for the children and families involved. What drives anyone to do something like this? yet we have seen it again and again through the years, terrifying act after terrifying act.

What this book brought to the fore front for me was the amazing faith of the community. I have known a little about the Amish, but this book brought me much closer to understanding how they choose to live and their strong belief in God. Their incredible believe that everything has a purpose and their never wavering faith that it is their duty to forgive is astounding –

and humbling.

I believe strongly in forgiveness, but reading this book put my forgiveness to shame. Immediate and selfless, this community instantly turned to the gunman’s family and offered support and friendship to them… worrying about their well-being instead of their own.

If I say this book is powerful…. it is true but powerful does not seem to be a strong enough word to describe what I have read.

Amazon Rating

I have updated the 2011 WHAT Are You reading map to include Think No Evil

I borrowed this book from my local library

Morning Meandering: Batter Blaster – It’s What’s For Dinner!

Published on February 17, 2011February 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

Good morning…. 😀

I am not really a gimmick girl… the “as seen on tv” doesn’t phase me….I pride myself on passing on crazy packaging or the stunts that are done to make old products more appealing. I say “pshaw” to all that.

Unless…

there is a sale.

(You know there is a story here). My local grocery store had a product called Batter Blast. See exhibit A:

Batter Blast is basically a pancake in a can. You shake it and spray it like cheese whiz into your fry pan and whip up some quick pancakes. Priced out at 2 cans for $5, I took one look and thought, “FUN!” as I plopped two cans into my cart.

That was over a week ago and they have been in my frig ever since.

Last night was a typical Wednesday of getting home around 5 pm and have to be on the move by 6:30…. my window for anything I need to get done including supper, is a small one. Al was not going to be home for supper so it was just Chance and I and I was not really hungry so I gave him two options… on our way to town we swing by and grab him a Little Caesar’s Pizza – $5 at the drive thru, or I could make the Batter Blast with a side of turkey bacon.

Batter Blast won… hands down. I heated up the pan, read the instructions and pressed out a pancake… first attempt, the pancake was too thin and burned easily. Batch #2 was better but my pan was still too hot and I was having trouble turning them fast enough… by batch three, Chance was involved and along with pressing out the letter “C” ’cause that was what we wanted to do, we also make a couple nice batches of pancakes.

Over all thoughts:

Me: Meh. It was cool but actually was hard to press the button and really it’s not like it takes all that much work to whip up a batch of fresh pancakes. It’s also cheaper to make them from scratch.

Chance: Loved it. He thought they tasted good and it was fun to squeeze out the shapes.

COFFEE CUP and I are up and preparing for a busy day. I am leaving for the cities at 10 am for training and will not be home until 5:30 or 6 tonight. Then College Son Justin is supposed to be over for super and we are thinking about taking in a movie… I would like to see Just Go With It.

I really dislike my days being so FULL. I am the type of person who needs to unwind and have a little quiet time. When that is hard to come by…. I start to feel tense. I have a class Friday morning and I meet with Connie 11 – 1 tomorrow to continue recording her story. After that…. I am home and chilling for what I hope to be, most of the weekend. 😀

Right now…. I miss books. I need a good uninterrupted reading session.

I will leave you with this question… have you ever bought an as seen on tv item? What was it? How did it work out for you and most importantly….. where is it now? 😀

When We Were Strangers by Pamela Schoenewaldt

Published on February 16, 2011February 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

It is the late 19th century and Irma Vitale of the age of 16 sits with her dieing mother. Her mother warns Irma never to leave their mountain village as doing so will doom her to die among strangers. Fast forward a few years and Irma finds she must go against her mother’s last wishes to avoid the advances of her father. Taking only her a small dowry and the sewing skills she has learned, she boards a boat crossing the ocean to a world that is foreign to her. Irma dreams that her sewing will take to places where she will be able to be a seamstress and make beautiful dresses with her skills. Some will take advantage of this immigrant girl, while others will become what true friendship is all about as Irma learns to pick herself up and move forward as she travels parts of the United States.

The Immigrants Sculptor Luis Sanguino (b. 1934) celebrates the diversity of New York City and the struggle of immigrants in this heroic-sized bronze figural group. The piece was donated by Samuel Rudin (1896–1975), who commissioned the sculpture in the early 1970s, intending it to be installed near Castle Clinton as a memorial to his parents, who, as it is noted on the plinth, emigrated to the United States in the late-19th century. Although Rudin died in 1975, Rudin’s family took up the campaign to install the sculpture at the park, and it eventually was dedicated on May 4, 1983.

This is just the kind of book I get giddy about reviewing. When a story pulls you in with its breathtaking descriptions of the time, the place, the people, the food…

I thought about how hard is it is for even people like myself in the US to move away from our roots to another state, and as I think about that I can not even imagine what it would have felt like for Irma, a plain, poor girl, from a small village to have the courage to take up her things and move to a world she did not know anything about.

Irma’s story was a mix of emotions and I followed her all the way through them all. As she traveled I was delighted to read about the interesting characters she met, Lula, the African American cook was so well described that I felt I would know her if I passed her on the street, then Molly an Irish maid and Sofia an Italian nurse left colorful descriptions in my mind of how different these women’s backgrounds all were.

This is not a sweet easy fluffy read. Irma’s travels are sprinkled with hard ships and hard decisions from the time she is on the boat to her new life as she travels from Cleavland, to Chicago, and then finally to San Francisco. There is even quite a graphic scene of violence that made me catch my breath. While fiction, I can imagine that what is described in this book is not too far from what some of the immigrants did endure in search of a better life. These thoughts, break my heart.

A book I do not think I can stress enough how much I recommend. A literary treat that will leave you feeling satisfied. This book would make for a fantastic book club discussion and you can bet that this will be the title I bring to our next Bookies meeting as my suggestion for our April read.

Amazon Rating

I have updated the WHERE Are You reading Map to include When We Were Strangers (where oh where to put the map peg!)

I read this book as part of the TLC Book Tours

Morning Meanderings… Can Someone Invent A Book Tracker?

Published on February 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Good morning! COFFEE CUP says good morning too… we have been up….

a while. 🙂

Yesterday I was working on my interview/chat questions for Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan, author of A Tiger In The Kitchen. I reviewed and adored her book this last weekend and she has agreed to chat with me about her life, her writing, and her book.

Uh yeah….

about the book.

Here is a little background info…. when I finish a book it goes one of two directions. If it was an ok read but probably not one I would ever refer to or read again, it goes to my giveaway closet, a closet in the book room that has all the books that go into the prize box for my giveaways. If it is a book I really enjoyed and will be referring to again, it goes on my book shelves.

There was a time I knew where everything on my shelves were. If a friend came over and said, “Hey (they say that a lot), do you have the book _____________________ by ___________________. If I did, I could take them right to it.

This is no longer the case. Somewhere since Saturday I placed my treasured book A Tiger In The Kitchen on the book shelf and when I went to refer to it today…. I was lost in the sea of book titles flashing before my eyes, and I came out empty-handed.

So if there was such a thing as a book tracker, (work with me here…. this is a bazillion dollar idea) I could go in the reading room and command it “Find Tiger In The Kitchen” and like a Geiger counter it would beep in the direction of the book and seriously, who couldn’t use such a time-saving device?

Ok… in the mean time.. my search continues….

the good news, there will be an author chat with Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan and that is pretty exciting!

I am off – awesome review coming up today (yes – a gush worthy book!) and I am pretty much missing in action until this evening. Work, work out, dinner and then Chance to Student Group and I have a class every Wednesday evening. I will land at home about 8:30 pm tonight.

Testimony by Anita Shreve

Published on February 15, 2011February 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

Avery Academy is a private school for the privileged. Holding its standards high, the school is shaken to its core foundations when a sex tape starts circulating involving three members of the basketball team and a freshman girl. The scandal revolves around one night of poor choices that seems to grow tentacles as it spreads through the school, the homes, the families and lives – much like a disease – infecting all those involved.

As each chapter unfolds a different character speaks – from the boys involved, to the girl, the parents, head master, and the investigator. What slowly comes to the surface is a deep revealing of what is buried deepest within our souls, the darkness that slowly can devour even the strongest of people.

I listened to this on audio and fair warning – the beginning is harsh. Harsh is actually too light of a word. The beginning was… graphic. I was listening to this in my kitchen and immediately turned the volume down as the words rushed out of the speakers, bringing me right into the core of the story line.. the actions of the night that changed so many lives forever.

As each narrator took on a characters voice – from one of the students involved, to the headmaster, to the parents… I started to feel this story shed its layers like an onion… each layer bringing me closer to the center of an underlying truth…

While the events that bring this book to be called Testimony work their way through the characters I am fascinated with the way each chapter overlaps with the last – building the mix of those involved so carefully that you never lose the point. Anita Shreve’s unique telling of a hideous crime is only the tip of the iceberg as families are destroyed in the aftermath. A less talented author would not have been able to pull off such a tale, but Anita Shreve does this in a near flawless way.

I enjoyed the different narrators taking on the characters, it really added to the story as each character shared their side of the story. My only regret is that I felt some of the story lines could have went deeper – I never felt I fully understood the girls story from that night, as she seemed to remain more surface than the boys telling of what happened.

Over all a deeply moving story that demonstrated how one night can change lives forever, lives that you never thought would be even be touched by another persons choices. I applaud Anita Shreve for taking on such a topic and leaving me in the end –

breathless.

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Testimony

I borrowed this from my local Library

suggested by my friend Angie (By Book or By Crook)

Here is a link to Angies review

Morning Meanderings… The Chunky Conversation and Time Management

Published on February 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Good morning!

*Yawn … stretch*

Yeah… is seems early as I type this at 6:20 a.m. and it is really dark out yet, but the hustle of my day will start in about 30 minutes as I get read y for work.

Over the weekend we were having a great conversation here about the BIG BOOKS, and then as if on some sort of cosmic cue this arrives in my mailbox on Monday:

yes…. I think this came in from Shelf Awareness and I don’t recall it looking this ummm…. errrr…. HUGE on-line. I think I was thinking, this is somewhat of a classic and I have never read it…. and now here it is. Bigger than ever.

On time management I took part of Sunday to prepare this weeks meals ahead of time. Since Chance came to stay with us I feel like I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to dinner. I work weekdays, then I hit the gym with a friend from 3:30 – 4:30 or 5… THEN I come home and many times have a small window before I have a meeting or a class, or Chance has something going on so we need to be out of the house by 6 or 6:30. It has got to the point that we are eating pizza , subs, and chicken at least once a week – takeout -yes TAKEOUT! Not good for any of us….

SO… thanks to the Make Ahead Meals cookbook I reviewed last year as well as a few recipes I picked off the weekend Cooking from Beth Fish Reads, on Sunday within a three-hour window I made:

This is the base for Taco Pie. This part you can freeze and when ready to eat, thaw and then add in a corn muffin mix with milk and butter and eggs that goes over the top. TASTY! We had this last night.

Shredded beef for sandwiches – so yummy! This is already packaged for the freezer, pull out the day you plan to serve it, thaw and heat up for a quick meal with raw vegies on the side.

Shephards Pie… ready and froze – a great meal that the guts like because it contains both meat and potatoes.

Not pictured:

BBQ Bacon Pepper Jack chicken

Tuna Fettuchini * not prepped yet

Hamburgers and sweat potato fries *not prepped yet

Manicotti

Lasagna

And on a final note for this morning – LINKY was a bear yesterday for the Monday What Are You reading meme. The site was going through an upgrade and unfortunately it hit on the day that I use it the most and caused the list of participants to not be able to be accessed for most of the day. I believe it is working now and if you still need to add your post please do so – I have hardly had time myself to visit so that will happen over the next few days.

Final final note… I have to get back into my training – Birthday week did a number on my eating habits…… back to the gym and back to setting my goals…. spring will be here before we know it! 😀

A Note From An Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker

Published on February 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

It has been two years since the tragic accident that has left Brian Weller’s wife in a coma and their three-year old son dead. Brian was an author thrillers but finds that he can no more write anything than he can take away the terrors of the past two years. The grief and despair is overpowering.

Then one morning an email arrives from a long-lost acquaintance, Joanna Richman. The note brings up emotions that Brian no longer thought he possessed, and he arranges a book signing in the Boston area to connect with her again. He is unsure where this reunion will lead, but knows he must take the chance to see if his heart will love again.

Know this. I am not a reader of romance. I just don’t particularity enjoy the genre. That’s just me. However – occasionally a book comes along that might close in on this genre and I will read it because of other connections to the book. In this case, that connection is the author.

Bill Walker first was introduced to me when I picked up his book Titanic 2012. Know this. I LOVE all things Titanic. I have watched endless movies and read many books on the subject. The ship and the story fascinate me. The tragedy is beyond belief. When I read Bill Walker’s take on a new Titanic, it was like visiting an old friend. I enjoyed the book very much. Of course when Bill wrote A Note From An Old Acquaintance, I had to give it a read.

This book covers that age-old question, what would you do if that person you loved in the past popped into your world today? What if there were no obstacles?

Bill once again worked a story into my heart. This book is not only a romance story – it also has plenty of suspense. Bill Walker is masterful at description and emotion and I love well-developed characters which I found here as Bill breathed life through his pen into both Brian and Joanna.

In flashbacks, you see the life of the young Brain and Joanna and as you learn more about them and their past, you really start to piece together this incredible love through the years. Yes this love has its own obstacles…. and one would be Joanna’s husband. (This part is really the only part of the book I did not enjoy – as it is handled lightly and I am calling it what it is – infidelity).

Overall, I am pleased I had the opportunity to read this book.

Amazon Rating

My 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include A Note From An Old Acquaintance

I received my book from the author, Bill Walker

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on February 13, 2011February 13, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)127 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:

Joy’s Book Blog

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

AND

The winner of the One Year Anniversary $20 Amazon card goes to:

Coffee And A Book Chick!

I used Random.org to choose the winner of this gift card – adding in all participants from last week as well as an additional vote for participants who left a comment

What a super week I just had – maybe not so much for my reading, every night seemed like I had something going on – something good, I had a few dinners out with friends this past week for my birthday (thus the extra gym time coming up this week…) and just overall BUSINESS that kept me from the books I had hoped to finish. However – I did have a few things lined up from reviews I had yet to post:

Unspeakable Journey by Rinda Hahn (an amazing audio journey!)

If I Stay by Gayle Forman (Bookies book club read for February)

Berg Fest – join in this author read a long with me!

Author Chat With Rinda Hahn ( chatting it up with the author of Unspeakable Journey!)

A Tiger In The Kitchen by Cheryl Lu-Lein Tan (oh this is a treat of a book! All about Food and Family!)

Excuse me, DO I look FAT In This Book? (hah… I am not explaining this one!)

I have a few yet to post and a few ready to be finished this week and thing (THINK) that I will be able to make progress. 😀 Perhaps…. hope is a better word. 😛

This is what is on my list for this week:

Late in the summer of 1877, a flock of purple-and-white hoopoes suddenly appears over the town of Constanta on the Black Sea, and Eleonora Cohen is ushered into the world by a mysterious pair of Tartar midwives who arrive just minutes before her birth. “They had read the signs, they said: a sea of horses, a conference of birds, the North Star in alignment with the moon. It was a prophecy that their last king had given on his deathwatch.” But joy is mixed with tragedy, for Eleonora’s mother dies soon after the birth.

Raised by her doting father, Yakob, a carpet merchant, and her stern, resentful stepmother, Ruxandra, Eleonora spends her early years daydreaming and doing housework—until the moment she teaches herself to read, and her father recognizes that she is an extraordinarily gifted child, a prodigy.

When Yakob sets off by boat for Stamboul on business, eight-year-old Eleonora, unable to bear the separation, stows away in one of his trunks. On the shores of the Bosporus, in the house of her father’s business partner, Moncef Bey, a new life awaits. Books, backgammon, beautiful dresses and shoes, markets swarming with color and life—the imperial capital overflows with elegance, and mystery. For in the narrow streets of Stamboul—a city at the crossroads of the world—intrigue and gossip are currency, and people are not always what they seem. Eleonora’s tutor, an American minister and educator, may be a spy. The kindly though elusive Moncef Bey has a past history of secret societies and political maneuvering. And what is to be made of the eccentric, charming Sultan Abdulhamid II himself, beleaguered by friend and foe alike as his unwieldy, multiethnic empire crumbles?

I am reading this one for a tour – AND I have two so expect a giveaway! 😀

Thirteen linked tales from Strout (Abide with Me, etc.) present a heart-wrenching, penetrating portrait of ordinary coastal Mainers living lives of quiet grief intermingled with flashes of human connection. The opening Pharmacy focuses on terse, dry junior high-school teacher Olive Kitteridge and her gregarious pharmacist husband, Henry, both of whom have survived the loss of a psychologically damaged parent, and both of whom suffer painful attractions to co-workers. Their son, Christopher, takes center stage in A Little Burst, which describes his wedding in humorous, somewhat disturbing detail, and in Security, where Olive, in her 70s, visits Christopher and his family in New York. Strout’s fiction showcases her ability to reveal through familiar details—the mother-of-the-groom’s wedding dress, a grandmother’s disapproving observations of how her grandchildren are raised—the seeds of tragedy. Themes of suicide, depression, bad communication, aging and love, run through these stories, none more vivid or touching than Incoming Tide, where Olive chats with former student Kevin Coulson as they watch waitress Patty Howe by the seashore, all three struggling with their own misgivings about life.

This is for a bonus review the end of this month with my book club for a “food review”

Since their mother’s death, six years ago, 12-year-old Sadie Kane has lived in London with her maternal grandparents while her older brother, 14-year-old Carter, has traveled the world with their father, a renowned African American Egyptologist. In London on Christmas Eve for a rare evening together, Carter and Sadie accompany their dad to the British Museum, where he blows up the Rosetta Stone in summoning an Egyptian god. Unleashed, the vengeful god overpowers and entombs him, but Sadie and Carter escape. Initially determined to rescue their father, their mission expands to include understanding their hidden magical powers as the descendants of the pharaohs and taking on the ancient forces bent on destroying mankind. The first-person narrative shifts between Carter and Sadie, giving the novel an intriguing dual perspective made more complex by their biracial heritage and the tension between the siblings, who barely know each other at the story’s beginning.

I started listening to this in the car with Chance during our St Cloud road trip this weekend. I am really enjoying it!

Henry VIII’s challenge to the church’s power with his desire to divorce his queen and marry Anne Boleyn set off a tidal wave of religious, political and societal turmoil that reverberated throughout 16th-century Europe. Mantel boldly attempts to capture the sweeping internecine machinations of the times from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, the lowborn man who became one of Henry’s closest advisers. Cromwell’s actual beginnings are historically ambiguous, and Mantel admirably fills in the blanks, portraying Cromwell as an oft-beaten son who fled his father’s home, fought for the French, studied law and was fluent in French, Latin and Italian. Mixing fiction with fact, Mantel captures the atmosphere of the times and brings to life the important players: Henry VIII; his wife, Katherine of Aragon; the bewitching Boleyn sisters; and the difficult Thomas More, who opposes the king.

This one I am starting as my plan to try to get through some of the chunksters in my home – I am giving myself two months to complete this.

So that I think is a big enough plan for this week! I am ready to see what your week was like last week and what your plan is for this next one! Be sure to click on the linky below where it says “click here”! 😀

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Please note – Linky is going through an upgrade and the following is the message off their website. Please either link in your comment or please stop back in the morning to add your link to the Linky if it does not work for you. So sorry about the inconvenience. 😀

System Upgrade about 99%DONE:

Thanks so much for your help and patience while I moved Linky Tools to a faster and more powerful server. Issues I’m aware of and working on:

I’ve gotten a couple of emails about things not showing, but they are showing on my end… this is most likely because the “Internet post office” (DNS) is still updating… it takes 24-48 hours (usually much less) for the entire Internet to update with a new address (it’s still “www.linkytools.com” but the technical address of where the site resides has changed)… anything “missing” because of DNS should clear up in the next few hours, and definitely by morning

Excuse me, but do I look FAT in this book?

Published on February 13, 2011February 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)111 Comments

This morning as I was checking what was being posted at some of the blogs I frequent, I caught a post of Amanda’s from The Zen Leaf that made me stop and think about my reading habits. Amanda (who if you do not pop in and check out her posts – you should…. she is a fun to read blogger and reads some pretty amazing books!) was talking about the pace she reads and brought up some interesting points that started me thinking about my own reading habits.

I tend to read books between the 200 – 375 page range. I admit as much as I am drawn to the look of the large chunkster books (I like big books and I will not lie!) I like them on my shelf – and rarely take the time to read them.

WHY?

Honestly – because the 200-375 page book can be read in a few days. That keeps my moving because I always seem to have other books waiting in the wings that I just can not wait to get to. Ridiculous reasoning? Probably… but that is the way my reading habits have turned to. I want to gush about books, but as Amanda pointed out, the book that can be read in a few hours, can probably be forgotten just as quickly. Can a book touch your very soul within the page count I prefer? Absolutely…. but the large books of my past that I have invested the time into reading over a week or more… can also make a huge impact on me. (Harry Potter of course are the first that come to mind that I still treasure and these books average around 700 pages each.)

My point today – is that I went and looked at the chunksters that currently grace my shelves unread. The only reason I have not read them is because I know they will require an investment of time from me. I think it is time I put on my big girl pants and rise to the challenge of the larger book.

Looking at these books, the page count is not out of control – these average right around the 550 mark.

As of this week, I plan to break into one of these big boys…. I am not sure which one yet, but I would like to commit to a chunkster and take my time with it, allowing myself two months to get it finished if I need to.