Month: May 2013

Morning Meanderings… Game Of Game Of Thrones (hillarious!)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Good morning!  Game of Thrones is one of those book series I want to (I wanna I wanna!!!) try but now 752 books into the series… ok currently 5 of 7 books are released but you get what I mean… with so many books still on t he shelf to read its hard to look at these mammoth size reads and say, “sure… that’s a weekends worth of reading.”  😛

Has it stopped me from purchasing them if I find them at a good price?  No, because someday I hope to read them much like another long-standing huge booked series and of course Gone With The Wind.  (Yes…. I know… I have yet to read Gone With The Wind…. I should be banished to a tropical island with only that book … and possibly a cabana boy…. and maybe an unlimited supply of diet Dr Pepper and Twizzlers…. but that’s it.  No more until it is read!

Ok… I am clearly off point here… Game Of Thrones.  Have you read these books?  If so are they awesome?  If not so you plan too?  Shall we make a pact that we all set aside a time period to read the first book?

Enough rambling… I came across this funny little video about Game Of Thrones and  it’s worth it for you to refill your cup of coffee and/or grab another slice of toast and watch…

Have a super start to your day!

Return To Sullivan Island by Dorothy Benton Frank

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

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Dorothy Benton Frank does it again with another southern flavored title that makes you want to pull up a chair and join this family at the dinner table.  ~ Sheila

Beth Hayes, inspiring writer (want to be) is a little annoyed.  She finds that she will be putting her own plans of starting her life outside of college aside to instead house sit the family home.  It seemed like everyone else was moving on with their lives, following their dreams, while she was put on pause. 

Yet, there is something about being on Sullivan Island that sucks you into a slower pace that Beth soon realizes, is not all bad.  And being in the family home brings along many surprises of relatives and quirky personalities as well as the surprise of developer max Mitchell.  Well, Mitchell is not so much of an intrusion as an annoyance as Beth has no plan no time and no interest in him whatsoever….

or so she thinks….

 

 

 

There is something about Dorothy Benton Frank’s books that make you want to settle in somewhere cozy with an extra-large glass of ice tea and let the characters take you along for the ride.  I’ve discovered this in past readings of her books, and I found it again in Return To Sullivan Island.  While I am the first to admit I am not the biggest fan of multi-character reads as I struggle keeping them all separate, I found that this cast of characters was quirky enough each in their own way that I did not struggle with the interchanges.  In fact, I enjoyed them. 

With a little bit of a ghost story mixed in (oops… did I say too much?  😉 ) for good measure, Return To Sullivan Island makes for good sit-on-your-deck or grab-a-chair-and-head-for-the-beach reading.  Just an overall light and enjoyable book.

Thank you to TLC book tours for letting me Return To Sullivan Island

TLC Book Tours

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)43 Comments

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Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  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.

Under the new and hopefully improved 2013 guidelines, the winner each week will receive a $5 Amazon gift card.  This past weeks winner is:

 

Earl from Chronicles of A Childrens Book Writer!

 

I am super pumped!  I just came off a HIGHLY productive weekend and that always makes me feel good.  Saturday I tackled College Sons bedroom packing up all the papers and posters and goodies he left when he went to college 4 years ago and then proceeded to redo the room with its own full makeover, painting, etc…. in with that I mixed in serving at church from 3:30 – 6:30 on Saturday and 9 – 11 on Sunday, a benefit Saturday evening followed by a concert, and today I spoke this afternoon to a group of people about the camp I work with, grocery shopped, shampooed the downstairs carpet…. and listened to audio 😀

 

So what actually was posted this week?

BEA:  Book Blogger Connection form.  With a little prodding (and poking!) a few book bloggers encouraged me tos et up a BEA connections form for those of us going tp the book expo at the end of this month.  This form is so those going can know who else if going and maybe plan a dinner together one night as a group.  Everyone who signs up will get a copy of the connections spreadsheet.  If you, or some book blogger you know is going to go to BEA please direct them to this form. 😀

 

Requiem by Laurel Oliver (Its not often that the third book in a trilogy trumps the first two… but I think it just happened!)

 

The Raven Boys by Maggie Steifvater (wow.  Maggie does it again but in a whole different way)

 

I did ok this week and I have been cruising on the audio I have going now believing I will finish all three this week and start new ones, as well as the book I am reading.  The plan for this week is:

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AFTER FOUR HARROWING YEARS ON THE WESTERN Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

Sounds good right?

 

 

 

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When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.

I have been listening to this one this weekend and holy smokes it is good!

 

 

 

There will be more audio but I am tired and running late on this post so this is what it is. 😀  How about you, what are you reading this week?  Please add your link below where it says click here:

 

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

 

And for those of you who read mainly YA or Middle grade books, feel free to also link up the younger version of # IMWAYR as well

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The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

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Raven Boys was so different than what I had expected… different good.  This is a different writing for Maggie Stiefvater, a more complex and engaging writing.

~Sheila

At sixteen, Blue knows her life is different than others her age.  For starters, her family are psychics.  This alone would be enough to make her stand out – and she is told that her presence in a room helps her family see into others lives more clearly although Blue sees nothing.

Until one day while Blue and her mother are waiting in the graveyard to see the spirits of those who will die in the next twelve months.  And this time, Blue sees something.  At first it is a flicker in the air, nothing you could put a shape too… but then.. she could.  It is a boy and his name in Gansey and now Blue knows he will die within the year….

Blue is told…

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve, Blue. Either you’re his true love…or you killed him.”

And days later when this same boy arrives at Blue’s door step for a reading… Blue knows she is in deep.  Warned by her family to stay away from Gansey and his friends known as the Raven Boys, Blue does what any sixteen year old girl would do when confronted with an ultimatum and a chance to hang out with some interesting boys… she starts sneaking around and helping then with their mission… to locate a line of energy that could connect them to a Welsh King, Glendover…

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Maggie with a few other Scholastic ROCK STARS last year in New York at the Scholastic gathering during BEA.

I admit that Raven Boys wasn’t what I thought it would be.  I have read Maggie Steifvater before with her Shiver series and enjoyed them finding then very YA, very Twilight like… good fun easy reads.  So when I put myself into Raven Boys I was surprised to find something deeper and more involved than I had bargained for.

Maggie Steifvater takes her writing to a whole new level in Raven Boys.  It is more detailed than her past writings that I have read, it is a meatier read and it took me a while to wrap my head around it.  Yet once I did, I couldn’t stop. 

The character of Blue takes on an interesting twist as she brings a little something to the party that most can not.  With her abilities through her psychic family… she is an asset on the Raven Boys Team.  But for me, the Raven Boys themselves trump Blue 100 fold.  They are well developed… the story line as they figure out clues to a past they are unsure of id truly impressive.  As I followed along I kept having these, “What the!” and “Oh…. awesome!” moments. 

There are many story lines that are left open and hearing this is a 4 book series (the second coming out this fall) I imagine that the teasers of this book… opening doors that we do not yet get to walk through, will lure this reader for sure, on to the next book… and probably the next after that. 🙂

I listened to this book on audio and narrator Will Patton did a wonderful job with the cast of characters he was working with. 

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Morning Meanderings… We Have To Move On Despite The Weather

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

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Good morning!  Happy Saturday to you. 😀

You have probably heard by now some rumblings of Minnesota’s never ending winter.  It is May and parts of Minnesota had another 11 inches dumped on them the last couple of days.  Thankfully, this time it wasn’t Brainerd.  No instead we are getting the cold… the wet… averaging around 40 degrees for the day, high 20’s in the morning.  It is cold.. wet.. frustrating and getting very old – even to the snow lovers (which… for the record… I am not one of).

Yet – this last Monday it was nice out.  It was in the high 70’s and dry.  My friend Amy and I decided it was long past due that we got the bikes out on the trail.  I agreed….

I had warned her that in past March/ early April’s that I had been on the trail in occasional spots you could run into some snow.  The areas where the trail was protected by tree cover and the sun took a little longer in those areas to melt away the last memories of snow. 

Our goal was from Brainerd to Nisswa…. 32 miles round trip. 

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This is my friend Amy. About mile 8 we seen that we were in for some :EXTREME BIKING”. Still, we decided to go on.

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… ummmm yeah. There were parts of the path that we could not bike. We had to get off and walk the bikes.

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Yup…. going through it.

And we did!  We biked/walked the 16 miles to Nisswa and then bike/walked it back.  It took up about 45 minutes longer than when we usually do that ride but it was fun and I love having a die-hard friend that not once said, “let’s forget it and turn back.”

I am posting these pictures today for Saturday Snapshot hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.  Stop over and see what other people are posting – and feel free to add your own as well. 😀

I had mentioned yesterday that I was going to the cabin but a friend asked me to check the weather in that area.  Up by Duluth it was all snow and rain yesterday and today I did not want to deal with it.  Instead I started working on College sons bedroom which has been sitting for the past couple of years and I am now making it into an office.  Perhaps… that will be next weeks pictures. 😛  Tonight we have a benefit and a concert.  Should be fun.

Listening to audio today – Raven Boys is coming to an end and deciding what to start listening to next…

What are you doing this Saturday?

Morning Meanderings… A Little Adventure

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

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Good morning!  It s May in Minnesota and while I still have a random glob of snow in my yard here and there… for the most part it is gone (oh but be sure and stop and see tomorrows Saturday Snapshot pics!)

Today I am going to go garage saling… yes those die-hard Minnesotan’s know it is May and even though it is a tepid 27 degrees out there (not kidding.. just checked), I am going to put on my hoodie, jeans, and tennis shoes and head out for adventures!  😛  I have a list of about 10 sales I want to pop in and check out… last year I hardly went at all but this year I have some ideas of what I am looking for so off I go!

I think this will be a fun month.  Yesterday was College sons 23rd birthday (I know…. how can he be 23???)  While I did not get to see him as he is in Mankato, he will be here next week for a few days and I will be going out to lunch with him next Friday!  Love that!  I have not seen him since my birthday in February.  Next weekend Mothers Day, third weekend bike ride – 4th weekend heading to New York for BEA.

This afternoon I am heading to the cabin for a one day overnight.  I have not been there since January so just heading up to check on things as my weekends are filling up fast and I will not make it back there until mid June when a few friends and I are going up for a weekend adventure.

Am I reading?  Yes.  While We were watching Downton Abbey is fun and I should finish it tonight.  🙂

Also… if you know fellow book bloggers who are going to BEA this year,please let them know about the form to fill out to connect with other book bloggers attending.  So far we have over 20 bloggers signed up!