Category: Book Stuff

Morning Meanderings… When The Song Gets Stuck In Your Head

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Good morning.

So… this weekend Al and I went to see Limitless.

Errrr…

again.

😛

I know?  Addict right?

I really loved this movie and I don’t know if it is because all winter long it felt like I was starving for a good movie at the theater and none were to be found, or if it was – as I believe…. that awesome.

For whatever reason… I have one of the songs stuck in my heard from the movie.  Whats funny is it took me three days to find it….

In the movie they do not play the whole song – only the upbeat “Ba dah dah dah dah”…. hummed it, sang it, danced to it, Googled it

could not find the title of the song….

GAH.

Then yesterday – determined…. I searched and had to listen to each song in the movie to get it.  And found it.  I wasn’t a big fan of the whole song… but it is growing on me and now has entered my IPOD nano (Podette) to be used when I work out.

Funny how that happens…

Don’t laugh.  It’s stuck… stuck in my head.

Have an awesome day – when I have time… I plan on reviewing the movie.  😀

Minnesota and Surrounding Area Blogger Get Togethers

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

I am working on putting together a group of bloggers in the area that would be interested in being notified when there are opportunities to connect as a group.  Last year a group of us went to the Twin Cities Book festival and really had a great time.  It was a lot of fun meeting fellow book bloggers and hanging out together.

Below you will find a form to fill out to let me know if you are interested in being notified when such book group opportunities come up.  Some ideas for get togethers may be:

Book Festivals

Summer Meet Up

A Fall Book Blogger retreat Weekend

As part of the group you would be welcome to submit suggestions if you hear of anything coming up that may be of interest to the book bloggers in the area.

Go to the Form here

Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

Lizzie, Reenie, Sweet, and Mawu are four slave women who meet when their owners vacation at the same resort in Ohio.  Each of these women have a story and each of these women are mistresses to their master… in some cases willingly.  While at this resort they see the first time free blacks and Mawu leads the group as she talks about escape and freedom.

Reenie and Sweet are on board with the dreams of running to their freedom but Lizzie feels she really loves her master Drayle, and she believes he loves her as well… after all they do have two children together.

In the end, as they spend their third and final summer together in Ohio, the women have a decision to make….

but will it be one of freedom?


This was a fascinating read.  Initially when my book club chose this for our March read I was nervous that it may be like The Help.  I loved The Help, but do not like it when books (or movies for that fact) build off what another pulls off successfully.

I did not have to worry – Wench is a book all in its own.  I was able to learn much through the sto ri es of t he women, and enjoyed each of their takes on their lives and their worth – from mild-mannered Lizzie who felt she was the rightful wife of her master if not legally by heart then, to wild Mawu whose master is cruel and violent and Mawu feels she would rather die trying to escape than continue living in this manner.

I really felt uneducated going into this read as I knew that in some cases the masters of these black women would force them into sex … but I guess I did not realize it was so common.  The complexity of the women’s relationships with their masters as well as in their friendships with each other made for a fascinating read.  In the end I came to appreciate a lot more what these women went through in a time that no one stood up for them….  this book is a read of heartbreak and in a way – triumph as well.

Fabulous fabulous fabulous read.

Amazon Rating


The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include Wench


 

 

 

 

I received this book for review

 


Bookies review:

Our book club had a wonderful discussion about this book.  We discussed in great detail the different lives each of the four main women had with their masters and with their friendship as well.  The discussion was quite detailed and I enjoyed how deep we dived into the subject of slavery and especially into the relationship of Drayle and Lizzie.

I love it when our group does the little extras and Angie (By Book Or By Crook) had taken the time to find and print out for us the use of the popular songs of slaves.  Follow The Drinking Gourd – the video above, is one of those songs.  It was interesting to hear the words, that were not written down as the songs contained codes of where they would meet when they escaped – and were used by Harriet Tubman when she helped slaves escape

.

The resort, Tawawa House, mentioned in the book, does exist and on Dolen Perkins-Valdez’ website you can read about the history of this resort.  As the masters who took their slaves to the resorts and left their wives at home, this was truly a case of what happens in Tawawa House – stays in Tawawa House.

And of course, when the Bookies meet – we do like to go all foodie on the theme and the girls out did themselves with the delightful treats we had for this review.   Grits, corn bread, stuffed potatoes, a stew, rice and beans with Louisiana hot sauce, sour dough bread, strawberry shortcake, chocolate cake, cinnamon applesauce, a Feta and Craisin spinach salad with poppy seed dressing…. Oh man….


It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)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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Author Chat with Sarah Pekkanen (Author of Skipping A Beat)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)41 Comments

 

 

This is an exciting chat for me today as this is the first time I have had the honor of interviewing an author – twice.  Last year Sarah Pekkanen and I chatted about her book Opposite Of Me.  I am beyond thrilled today to have her back to talk about her book that hit the shelves today:  Skipping A Beat.

Sarah is one busy lady so I will not keep her waiting with a bunch of chit-chat… please welcome an incredible author, Sarah Pekkanen.

 

Sarah Pekkanen

 

First off…. wow!  A second book was released today!   I am so excited for you!  What does that feel like?

Sarah:  It feels amazing. I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was a young girl, and walking into bookstores and seeing my name on the cover of a book is an indescribable feeling. I just grin from ear to ear and lurk around, wondering if anyone will buy it when I’m there (yes, I’m a bookstore stalker)!

 

 



I just finished Skipping a Beat on Saturday evening and I was up until 1:00 am crying and feeling… wonderful if that makes sense.  When you sent this book off to the publisher, what did that moment feel like for you?  really I want to know… did you bawl like a baby too?

Sarah:  Thank you! I’m so glad Skipping a Beat touched you this deeply. It’s what I was hoping for when I wrote it. I go through that same tumble of intense emotions when I write. And when I send off the final version of the book, it’s with a mixed sense of elation and sadness and reflectiveness. It’s bittersweet, really, because the process of writing a book can be so tough and intense, yet you miss it so deeply when it’s over.



Sarah I have now read both your books and found that you have a gift for creating characters that feel so real that I would know them if the were three-dimensional and walking down the street.  Could you share with me how these characters come to be that you can write them so well?
Sarah:  Wow, another amazing compliment – you are making my day! I tend to be a visual person, so I “see” my characters, if that makes sense. I can picture what they look like and their mannerisms. It’s one part of the process, at least, that comes easily for me.


The main character in Skipping A Beat, Julia and Michael,  have extended family issues on both sides…. what was your reasoning for building this into the story line?
Sarah:  I really wanted to show how our families shape who we become as adults, and how we can hold on to the good in that, while releasing the bad parts. I think we carry with us the lingering shadows of our families and our awareness of that can really help us make authentic choices that are good for us, rather than reflexive reactions to situations.



Often I hear about authors writing the story without knowing the outcome until it flows out of them later in the writing.  Without giving anything away – when you started writing Skipping A Beat, did you know how it would end or did the ending come as you wrote?

Sarah:  I did know the ending – some twists during the middle of the book surprised me, but I felt all along that it needed to end this way. I plotted out this book fairly loosely, with plenty of room for inspiration, but the broad outline of the book remained just as I’d originally planned it.



What are your hopes that readers take away from this book?

Sarah:  It’s a simple message, but one I think we can never hear enough: Love is the most important thing in this world.

 

 

 


That is a great take away message.  What is next for you?

Sarah:  This will be a very happily busy week. Skipping a Beat comes out today, and I’m doing a signing tonight at my local Barnes & Noble. Then I’m heading to New York to meet with my publisher and do a book signing in the city! And while I’m at my publisher’s office, we’ll be talking about my third book, which I need to turn in by May 1. It’s the story of three very different women who become roommates in New York.

 

 

 


Oh!  I can not wait for the third book it sounds wonderful!   So, for purely selfish reasons I have to ask, will you be at BEA this May?

 

 

Sarah:  Yes – and I so hope to see you there! I’m also hoping to go to the Book Blogger Convention because I’ve gotten to know quite a few book bloggers, like you, and it’s wonderful to meet up in person. You guys are great to hang out with!

 

 

 


You are too sweet!  Since I interviewed you before and have already asked for a little known fact, my new question for you is – what fictional character(s) would you like to hang out with and why?

 

 

Sarah:  It’s been a long few weeks – I’m getting over the flu and am a bit run down – so I’m up for a bit of fun. I think for a good girls’ night out, you can’t beat Bridget Jones!

 

 



Thanks so much Sarah for chatting it up with me and best wishes with the new book!  I am still gushing about it!

 

 

Sarah:  Thank you Sheila! It’s always good to talk to you and hope to see you again soon!   xoxo

Readers:  Please take time to check out Sarah at her website:  sarahpekkanen.com

You can also find her on Facebook and on Twitter

* Be sure to check out my giveaway today for a copy of Skipping A Beat!

Book Trailers: Pro? Con? Why or Why Not?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)72 Comments

 

This is a post that has been in my head for a while and I never see anyone addressing this subject so maybe it is just me…. but I am going to get on my little soap box anyway and see what conversation can be started around this topic.

 

I am curious if readers enjoy watching book trailers.  Book trailers are used to promote book much like movie trailers promote movies.  On the pro side, I have heard that the book trailer can motivate reluctant readers to decide to read a book. It is said that librarians and teachers give a shout out that they love them…

So why don’t I?

 

Lets start with Movie Trailers.  I love them.  If I hear about a movie I think I would like to see I actively seek out the movie trailer.  What I see on the movie trailer is what I will see on the big screen…  the actors, the action, the dialogue…  Nothing changes from the trailer to the movie.


However, a book to me is a world hidden within the pages.  There is a reason this blog is called Book Jour n e y.  Books are journeys… tickets to other countries, to other worlds, forward and backward in time and space.  Within the world of a book that the author has developed – I still hold a little creative license with it.  While the characters may be well described, we still all get a chance to create him or her in our mind.  I love it when the author breathes life into the characters.  We as readers develop the character in our mind as the author gives us details, height, age, hair color, attitude.. the same goes for the development of the space in which this character lives – home, town, state, country…

When I see a book trailer, the trailer puts images in my mind that I carry throughout the book.  Now I have an idea of what the character looks like or the place he/she lives because of what I have seen in the trailer.  That image has now overridden what I would have hoped to discover for myself within the book.

Last fall I read a book I enjoyed very much.  After reading and reviewing the book I came across a book trailer for that same book and thought I would give it a viewing.  When they brought out the male character, he was nothing like the description of the man in the book.  He looked too young to be who I had just read about, and he was shorter than the book had described…. and suddenly this was now the character that over shadowed the one I had envisioned.


Yes, you could say, “But Sheila…. wouldn’t that happen anyway if the book becomes a movie?”

Absolutely – that could happen.  I don’t have all the answers here… I an just chatting.  😛

 

I personally discover books I want to read by reading reviews, stalking my favorite authors online, book sites, and from book lovers I know personally in my day to day life.  If someone gushes about a book… that interests me.

I am not saying book trailers are bad, I am just curious what other readers think of them.  I can see where they may help the reluctant reader to pick up a book but do you think that a visual book trailer is more powerful than a friends raving?

As readers, what do you think?  Do you enjoy seeing a book trailer?  Does it motivate you to want to read the book?  Has a book trailer ever turned you off from a book?

I would be curious to hear from authors too…. do book trailers enhance sales?  What advice would you say is a must if you are going to provide a book trailer for your book?

 

(*Please do not mention specific trailers in a negative way, however feel free to use  positive examples – this post is not to bash book trailers but to gather thoughts about them in general.  I am offering my thoughts here and am not aiming at any trailers personally.  I am basing this post as more conversational, and I am open to your opinions on this topic.)  😀

 

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

Published on 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.


Do you avoid larger book?  Do you have any chunksters waiting on your shelves that you need to make the commitment to start reading?  Care to join me with your own chunkster?  If so, let me know what BIG BOOK awaits you.

Morning Meanderings… The New Classics?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning!  I am buzzing around this morning coffee cup in hand making sure I have everything I need for the day.  I have work, gym, make dinner at home, book club at 6:30 pm.  Book Club!  I LOVE book club!


According to a list  found on Entertainment Weekly’s website – they have posted a list called the “New Classics”.  The best reads from 1983 to 2008.  I have went through and “white lighted” the ones I have read.


1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)


There are many on this list I want to read:  Beloved, The Things They Carried, The Handmaids Tale, The House On Mango Street, and A Prayer For Owen Meany to name a few.  It would be interesting to post this list again in a year and see if I have made any progress.


I am curious – which of these have you read?  Are there books missing from this list, and if so which?  Are there books that do not belong on this list?


*On a completely random note – thank you to everyone who visited yesterday and helped celebrate the one year anniversary of Monday What Are You Reading?  A fun fact – J Kaye gifted this meme to me on February 8th 2010.  That day was the biggest day I ever had on this blog.  Yesterday, February 7, 2011, that record was broken.

Help! Seriously – I have lost my identitiy!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

I could really use your help.

Recently I have noticed when I comment on certain blogs my fabulous Gravatar has taken a hike….. gone … vamoose…. in its place… is…

well….

its pretty shameful but it is….

this:

I Know right?

Blank face.

Blank face?  Where did you come from?  What have you done with that wonderful little Gravatar?

I have only a few clues and I am asking for the expertise of all of you to maybe help me solve this mystery and return me to my original Gravatar state…

here is what I know…

It is happens on both WordPress.org and on Blogger – but not all….

I have went into the Gravatar sight and I pop up just fine under the correct email and everything so there is nothing to change there.

Now…


and this may have nothing to do with nothing but as I am clueless right now I will grasp at anything….

I am a contributor on the Banned Books Blog and noticed today that when I am on a Blogger blog and click on me and it takes me to the cute Blogger profile page – this blog, Book Journey does not show up.  The Banned Books Blog does instead and that is not my blog…. I am a team member of it, that is all.

The only place Book Journey shows up is on the webpage link which brings you here.

So – like I said – this may have nothing to do with anything, but I can not find a way to add my WordPress blog to the Blogger profile… and maybe… it doesn’t work like that…

and maybe…

this has nothing to do with my missing Gravatar.

SO – people of the blogesphere, I bow low before you and request any help, advice, and chocolate (oh come on – that’s a good thing!) that you are able to share with me.  I would love to fix this annoying little glitch but have no idea where to begin….  😀

What’s Your Reading Story?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)66 Comments

I often think back to my childhood and where my love of books came from.  I didn’t have a parent who I recall sitting and reading with me night after night, nor in later years did either of my parents read books.  Yet, I had found a love of reading at a young age.

In 2nd grade I won the “Bookworm” award.  It was a bookworm magnet that I displayed proudly in my locker.  It was true… I was the librarians best customer.. devouring books as fast as I could check them out.  Everywhere I went I had a book in my hand.

Little has changed…

As I think back on my history of reading, I think part of my start was I was an only child for the first seven years of my life.  Both my parents worked full-time jobs and those characters became my friends… maybe even for a while, my siblings. I could have adventuress with Nancy Drew… solve the mysteries alongside the Hardy Boys… and eventually move on to anything written by Judy Blume.

As I grew, my reading habits hardly wavered… in high school it was all Danielle Steel (how I wished we had more YA then!) and by the time I had kids I had moved into mysteries and enjoyed Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben.

In 2001… I started the Bookies book club to increase my reading pallet, and increase it was exactly what it did.  I read authors I had never heard of…. genres I had never tried before…

and…

the more I read…

the more I wanted to.

I know throughout certain times of my life, during certain hardships… books were my escape.  I know myself well enough to know that occasionally – that still can be true.  Yet for the most part… I am just a reader.  A person who truly enjoys a good story.

♥What is your story?♥

Did you come from a family of readers?  Do you have memories of being read to as a child?  Or did you find your way into the pages by some other way?