Welcome to It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, Easter Addition! This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!
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 telling me how many you visited. **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.
Laura from Words From The Tampa Bookworm
This winner will receive a $5 gift card from Amazon, while I straighten out the Reading Cafe this week to update the books i have for giveaway. Trust me…. it will be worth it. Next week I should have some sweet choices. 😀
I am behind on sending packages out and have worked today to get things bundled up to go in the mail tomorrow. Thank you all for your patience! 😀
*** Also be sure to read to the end of this post today – there is a fun bonus giveaway in honor of the holiday!
So anyway, Happy Easter! I hope everyone’s weekend was wonderful. Mine was a much appreciated quiet weekend. After a busy week it was nice to not have much on the agenda for the weekend. I read, I cleaned house, a little audio, and a little company. A perfect combo.
I know last week I mentioned I was still tweaking this look on the blog… but it is starting to grow on me and some positive feedback has allowed me to relax and let it be. Here is what has happened this week:
The Buddha In The Attic by Julie Otsuka
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Lisa See, as I am finding out, is an incredible story teller!)
The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani (Oh yes… it is THAT GOOD!)
Looking for TITANIC Challenges? I posted them here.
Pinterest Interest and the blog (did you know that you can use Pinterest to promote your reviews?)
Lessons From The Outdoors (The things we Minnesotan’s find climbing in the trees! 😯 )
Tea With Hezbollah by Ted Decker (this read inspired some fun cookie baking!)
Wow! Looking back over the week, that’s the best week I have had in awhile! I also wrote a review today for The Girl Who Was On Fire which I will post later this week.
So what’s up for this week?
On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old Realtor, had three goals: sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she’s about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent captive in a remote mountain cabin — which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist — is a second narrative recounting the nightmare that follows her escape: her struggle to piece her shattered life back together, the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor, and the disturbing sense that things are far from over.
Holy crud! I thought I had read this one and realized I had not. I started listening to it on audio yesterday and I am GLUED to it.
Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston’s Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.
But when her brother is suddenly kicked out of Harvard under mysterious circumstances and falls under the sway of a strange young woman, Sibyl turns for help to psychology professor Benton Derby, despite the unspoken tensions of their shared past. As Benton and Sibyl work together to solve a harrowing mystery, their long-simmering spark flares to life, and they realize that there may be something even more magical between them than a medium’s scrying glass.This book hits the shelves on the tenth, and we are currently in Titanic week which is a subject that really touches me.
It is 1946, and city-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm—a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not—charming, handsome, and haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home with the shine of a war hero. But no matter his bravery in defense of his country, he is still considered less than a man in the Jim Crow South. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion.
The men and women of each family relate their versions of events and we are drawn into their lives as they become players in a tragedy on the grandest scale. As Kingsolver says of Hillary Jordan, “Her characters walked straight out of 1940s Mississippi and into the part of my brain where sympathy and anger and love reside, leaving my heart racing. They are with me still.”
I am starting this one if I have time this week, as it is a winner that needs to pass on when I am done.
That’s it. Plenty to read around here. 😀 I will really curious as to what you are reading this week and plan to make my rounds and see so be sure to add your Its Monday What Are You Reading link below where it says “click here” and I as well as others will be over to see what you are reading.
I did mention a bonus didn’t I? 😀 Have you heard of the book Ready Player One? I listened to it on audio at the end of last year and LOVED it, probably one of the best audio I have ever listened to! Anyway, in this story there is a guy who is a multi billionaire and has no family. When he dies, he leaves in his will clues to what he calls a hidden Easter Egg and it hidden within this game world. The finder of this egg wins all he owns.
So… I was thinking in celebration of Easter, we would have our own hidden Easter egg here! 4 wonderful and gracious participants of this meme have offered to put an Easter Egg I have sent to them at the bottom left side of their posts. the egg looks like this:
As you go and check out the other meme participants, if you find the posts that have the egg:
1. Make sure you leave a comment
2. Make a note of which blog(s) you found the egg on
If you find at least three of the four eggs, email me at journeythroughbooks@gmail by Wednesday at midnight central time. If there is more than one winner I will use random.org to choose a winner and announce this name on Thursday morning here. That person will win a $25 gift card to Amazon (enough to get Ready Player One if they wish, or any other book that catches their eye!)
Link up! Lets get this party started!
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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please also link your post here:
Book Journey 
Woah, you did have a busy week!
This sounds like such a fun challenge. I’m off to find the other Easter Eggs!
Have fun! 😀
It looks like you’re in for some good reading! I like the new look of the blog.
Thank you Kathy, it took me a while but I am liking it now. 🙂
You had a great week! I love the new look of your blog!
Thanks Yvonne 😉
Glad you had such a good week. I like the looks of Still Missing and The House of Velvet. They both sound very good. The egg hunt will be fun! Enjoy your week!
Thanks Martha, the books are good! Enjoy your week too!
Still Missing was a book I was glued to as well…also, her second book Never Knowing is like that.
Loved Mudbound, too.
Enjoy!!
Nice, maybe that is the one I am thinking of… I dont know how I missed this one 😉
Looks like you had a great reading week Sheila, and this weeks selection looks just as exciting! I love the sound of The House of Velvet and Glass. Will look forward to reading your review! 🙂
Thanks Pamela! I am excited to read it. Its been a long time since I have read anything Titanic related.
I’m posting comments with my work email… my gmail account isn’t letting me comment for some reason. 😦
You will LOVE what we had for dessert tonight, a scoop of coffee ice cream with a shot of espresso on top! oh so good.
Hugs from one mom to another who spent the holiday without our children. We did get to video skype, small blessing!
Ugh – bummer about the comments! And yeah, your dessert sounds wonderful! 🙂
Oh nice about Skyping! I keep forgetting about that, I must learn how to do that!
I have Still Missing on my shelf to read. Maybe I will bump it up.
Also looking forward to your thoughts on The House of Velvet and Glass.
Happy Monday!
I am reading The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott and Paris in Love by Eloisa James.
Oh enjoy!
Its awesome on audio and I bet it is in book format too! 🙂
Happy Easter! I saw your post the other day about the critter in your tree but didn’t realize that you were from Minnesota! Me too 😀 I’m from Duluth originally so we had deer families and bears and all manner of things wandering through our backyard all the time, thanks for bringing back fun memories, and Still Missing looks great, I look forward to you finishing and reviewing it!
Thanks fellow Minnesotan 😀
One of my friends has highly recommended Mudbound to me. I’m sure I’ll get to it one day! I also need to get to Still Missing. The Easter egg idea is a good one! I hope everyone has fun with it! Enjoy your week!
Thanks Jen… it was just an idea that I thought might add a little “pizazz” to the post 😛
I picked up Mudbound at out spring library sale for 50 cents. A girl in my book club rated it high.
Hi Sheila, the books you have been reading sound great! I’m going to try to put them on my ipad! (As an aside, I hate to be negative, but is there a chance you could make the pictures on your blog a bit smaller – the blurriness is making my eyes swim! Sorry!) xx
Thanks Wendy 🙂 I think this new layout makes everything look bigger. What blurriness do you mean – the gray background? Or the book pics? The blurriness when you scroll? Just making sure I understand so I can try to fix the right thing. 🙂
Hi again. I just made 22 visits! Whoot!
Go Martha!
I’m about halfway through the 4th Flavia de Luce book. It’s just as wonderful as the first one.
Wow! I am just still amazed their are four and I thought mine was a stand alone read!
I am not the last one to enter on Monday…WOO HOO. :~)
LOL – nope 😉 Its a whole new meme every week! LOL 😛
I’m very much looking forward to The House of Velvet and Glass – I loved Katherine Howe’s first book, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, and I’ve been eagerly awaiting her next one. Somehow, I missed that it was out this week…may have to grab it!
Hi Crystal , I did not pick up that was the same author! I have not read the Deliverance Dane one but heard from a friend it was good.
Hi again, it’s just the big bookcovers that are blurry. And maybe the blue and orange rss icons. And the Charles Eliot quote. Sorry I’m being so fussy! xx
That’s ok Wendy, I appreciate the feedback. I wonder if anyone else sees it that way, I havent heard anything and I dont see it.
Have you tried making your screen print smaller ( hold down the ctrl button – lower left of your keyboard, and at the same time click the – sign on the far right of your keyboard and click once). A little trick I learned recently 😀 You will see the – sign right above the + sign. You can do this for any screen. Not sure if that is what’s happening but when I clicked the + just now and tried everything was too big and slightly blurry.
I hope that helps 😀
Busy, busy week! I’ve done my 10+ comments and found 3 eggs! Off to email you! 🙂
Nice! Thanks 😀
What a fun idea, this Easter Egg hunt. I’ll have a go.
Hope you’ll be enjoying Mudbound. I thought it was great. Have a good week!
Thanks – I think it looks really good 😀
Wow you had a busy week and looks like Pinterest is getting a real work out lol. (I did a post too, will have to check yours.) OMG I listened to Still Missing on audio … it was so intense!! Will have to check out your review of The Shoemaker’s Wife too.
Have another wonderful week Sheila and happy reading 🙂
Right about Still Missing, I started it in my kitchen on Saturday and I was shocked how much I took to it right away. Seems like I have had a bit of a struggle lately with audio 😀
Oh forgot to mention your Easter Egg Hunt … looks like fun!
Thanks – Ready Player One inspired! 😀
Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a great weekend. My Monday post is up – I only finished one novel, but I did buy a lot of books, both brand new and used. 🙂
I’m back – I visited 12 blogs for an entry to the It’s Monday contest. It’s taken me half the night…but I did it! 🙂
LOL Mardel – NICE! The giveaways next week should be a nice selection. I will be going through a bunch of books that I have sat on the shelf but have yet to add to the giveaways! 😀
Mudbound’s an amazing book – I loved it! I want to read her second novel soon, When she Woke. It’s dystopian fiction based loosely on The Scarlet Letter. Very different from Mudbound but it sounds interesting.
I have When She Woke – I have not had time to read it yet but it always catched my eye! 😀
I have Still Missing on my tbr list – maybe I’ll get it for my trip up to NH in 2 weeks – I need some good audios for that trip. I still need to figure out how to get audios on my ipod – right now I either listen in the car or use my radio with a cd player.
The Easter Egg hunt sounds like a fun way to start the week!
Kristin do you use I Tunes at all? I download audio from audible .com which downloads to ITunes, if you have not tried Audible I highly recommend it… I think you first one if free, no contract ever. Go check it out! I love it and have used it for two years now.
YOu read some great books this past week and Still Missing is fantastic! I purchased Mudbound on audible.com and look forward when I finally get to listen to that one! Have a great week!
LOL, I was just talking up audible.com above. 😀
What a fantastic looking bunch of books – def. going to check some of these out. Cool giveaway too! Sounds like fun! Thanks for choosing me to be the winner this week (or thanks to random.org!!) What a wonderful birthday present to me! lol
AHHHH!!! Birthday too??? AWESOME! Happy Birthday! 😀
I know you are glued to Still Missing! Mudbound is very good as well. The Katherine Howe book looks good too! Have a great week. I am off to PT or I would go on an Easter Egg hunt. It will have to wait ;(
I am excited about the books this week Nise, I am in a book mood! 😀
I read Still Missing right after I listened to Room. I loved Still Missing. I bet it is really good as an audio book.
Funny Donna, I though of room as a started to listen to this.
You had a great week!!!!
Beautiful Monday here, the porch swing is calling but it is still a little chilly. So here I am at this darn computer, lol!!
Have a great week!!
It is really cold here today Lori! I had to work and FROZE! 😛
An Easter Egg Hunt! Sheila, you have the most fun ideas!
Thanks Joy… it was one of those things I thought of out and about over the weekend and had to write it down so I didnt forget by the time I got home 😀
I love the audio of Still Missing! House of Velvet and Glass is one that I recently received but probably won’t be reading it for awhile. I’m also glad you enjoy Lisa See so much…she is definitely one of my favorites!
Still MIssing has my going “OH!” a lot 😉
Ready Player One is my ‘must own’ book for the past month. I think kids will love it! What a great idea to use it as an inspiration for an egg hunt.
Oh yes – it was so fantastic! 😀
And thanks, if not for the awesome people who participate in this meme, I could not pull crazy ideas off like this.
I agree about Lisa See, but I do not want to hear that Pinterest is a good way of promoting reviews, I have done so well at keeping away from this diversion so far! 😦
Cover your eyes! 😀 I was like you and then…… got sucked in. 😯
TRAPPED
You are naughty tempting me 🙂
Its only fair…. people tempted me. 😛
I don’t think Katherine Howe’s book is out here for a while, but I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I really enjoyed her last one.
It releases tomorrow 😀
Hey – thx for stoppin’ by to visit!!! 😀
I’m glad your weekend was quiet. Mine was quite the opposite, but not unexpectedly so. No… this time I had a bit of notice before the in-laws dropped in, which is so nice since they keep their house so clean it’s empty whereas I have 5 others helping me leave messy trails. And as much as I LOVE drop-in visitors, especially related sorts, it’s nice to scramble madly a few minutes before conceding that nothing will really make my house EMPTY while while we’re still in it. I compensated with an abundance of chocolate, so I don’t think they noticed the mess (much)
LOL – I used to get worked up if my house wasnt perfectly clean and dusted and then realized, I live here… I love it. I have a life 😀 LOL Hope you had a great weekend!
Sheila, I was so obsessed with finding that fourth egg (which I haven’t found yet!), that I visited all 103 blogs listed….I’ll be back to visit more.
hmmmm…. I seen all four…. let me check 🙂
Wow, you have some great posts from last week! I was traveling and offline – looks like I have some catching up to do!
You will love Mudbound – it is SO good!
And I am dying to read Ready Player One – I have read some wonderful reviews of it.
Enjoy your books this week!
Sue
I guess the new blog look made me chatty Sue 😉 Your whole family will enjoy Ready Player One!
What a great week you had! I’m dying to read Adriana Trigiani’s new book, it looks/sounds wonderful! And what a fun Easter challenge! Happy Easter!
I’m a bit late today with my post, but better late then never right? 🙂
Exactly Danielle 🙂 Always glad to have you participate!
Still Missing sounds good…I have to be careful with my mystery/thriller reading though. I don’t want to be sitting up at night worrying about what could happen…lol
Yes, this coulnd definately be one that makes you lock your doors 😀
Still Missing was a wonderful read. Thanks for the chance of winning as well!
Of course 😀 I love just chatting and connecting around books 😀
Ooh, great books coming up this week. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts!
thanks 🙂
While hopping about hunting for Easter eggs, I managed to leave behind ten comments this week. It’s been awhile since I accomplished that! What a great way to start the week.
Way to go Joy! 😀
All three of the books you have lined up for the week intrigue me.
cool new look!
I find myself with a flood of review copies which has never happened to me before.
Thanks Joy 🙂
I had to go out and get the Katherine Howe book yesterday. I loved her first book, and plan to read this as soon as I finish A Clash of Kings. I also have Mudbound sitting on my Nook waiting for me. It sounds very interesting.
I’ve made 20 visits/comments, but not doing the egg hutn