Category: Book Stuff

Morning Meandering from Honduras

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Good Morning!

This morning I am sitting at my nightstand… coffee close by and looking out the window from my upstairs room in Tegucigalpa Honduras.

We are preparing to go to El Sambrador this afternoon, about a four-hour drive from where we are and we will stay there for two nights checking out area mission fields.  I am supposed to be packing for this but instead I am taking the time to touch base with my book friends.  😀

Since we arrived here Thursday morning we have been to 5 different areas to see what they are doing and what there needs are.  It is a lot to take in as the needs everywhere are so large.  On Friday we stayed over night in Le Esperanza which was about a four-hour drive in another direction.  We are spending a lot of time in a van and when I am not checking out the beautiful scenery I am reading.

More pictures when I am back in the states but in the mean time… here is where I am at this moment.

 

Out my window

 

 

Nearby rooftops

 

I will try to post a meandering here and there as I have time.  Hope everyone is well!

Guest Post: Cole Family Christmas

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

I met Heather at BEA this past May of 2010 and I just thought she was a brilliant book gal!  I loved talking book clubs with her as we are both in a long standing book club and I enjoyed sharing ideas to make our club reviews more involved.

Sheila


I’m so glad Sheila gave me the chance to post at her blog because now I can tell all of you about a wonderful Christmas book you’ve probably never heard of.

The Cole Family Christmas is a children’s book about one Christmas in the real life Cole family, circa 1920. Papa Cole is a miner in the mountains of Kentucky. He and Mama Cole have 9 children, ranging in age from 1-year-old to 18 years old. The family isn’t rich by any stretch of the word but they do have enough, and that’s really all they need.

This particular Christmas Mama and Papa tell the children they can write to Santa and ask for one special thing from the Wish Book (aka the big catalog). However, just a few days before Christmas, a huge snowstorm blows in. Will Papa make it home from his extra shift at the mine? Will Santa be able to make it with their special gifts? And how can the children make amends for breaking one of Mama’s treasured possessions? What will this Christmas be like for the Coles?

I love this book! It is a wonderful tale of family love and it is well worth reading, both for adults and for children.

One thing that makes this book extra special to me is the relationship between the authors. Hazel Cole Kendle is the youngest of the Cole children and the only surviving one as well. Jennifer Liu Bryan is married to Hazel’s grandson. Jennifer wrote the book based on stories Hazel and her siblings told over the years. What a wonderful collaboration between generations!

If you are familiar with my blog (Age 30+ … A Lifetime of Books) you know that I have a great relationship with my grandparents. What you may not know is that I write down all the stories they tell me in the hope that one day I can compile them into an informal book for the rest of the family to enjoy. Knowing what I do about the authors of this book made me love it even more, and inspired me to keep doing what I’m doing with MY grandparents.

I have to add that I loved the illustrations by Jennifer Julich. Not being an artsy person I don’t really know how to describe them except to say that they conveyed the characters in a realistic but still fun way. They are perfect for this book.

To learn more about this wonderful book you can check out The Cole Family Christmas website.

Are there any Christmas books you love that no one else seems to have heard of?  Please share them in the comments!

Stop in and see Heather at Age 30+ A Lifetime Of Books

 

Guest Post: Holidays Happen…. “Weather” We Are Ready or Not

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Reagan is a fellow Minnesotan and has been my roommate for BEA and for the Twin Cities Book Expo.  She’s funny, a teacher…. oh – and she is my roommate for BEA 2011 as well!

Sheila

 

Christmas, and many other winter holidays, in the Midwest is always “hit and miss.” It always arrives of course, but due to the fast-changing weather, traditions are a bit hard to keep.

For instance, for Thanksgiving this year Dan and I were supposed to travel to Northern Minnesota (about a 7 hour drive). On Wednesday school was dismissed early due to freezing rain and poor weather conditions. Northern Minnesota was also blessed with 10 inches of snow on Wednesday night. For obvious reasons, we did not make it to Bemidji for Thanksgiving; if we weren’t battling ice, we’d have been battling snow.
 

Ice, Ice, Baby


Traditions in the Midwest, especially when dependent on weather, are hard to keep. When Sheila asked me to write a post about Christmas traditions, I really struggled with ideas. It’s been several years since I’ve had a “planned” Christmas. Last year the weather was so bad across the Dakotas, my family and I were snowed in for three days in Bemidji. The year before that we made it to Watertown, SD, for Christmas Eve but the weather was too bad on Christmas Day to travel further west for Christmas with my Mom’s side.


When you live in the Midwest, you learn not to plan ahead or get too invested in those plans.  🙂
This year Dan works Christmas Eve (the night shift) and on Christmas Day we “plan” to drive to Bismarck, ND (again, about 7 hours) and spend a few days with Dan’s family – weather pending. We will see what happens. 🙂
One thing I have learned: always be prepared with a great book. Last year my book of choice while being snowed in was Courtney Summers’ “Cracked Up to Be.” This year I have a whole list of books needing to be read, but especially Lauren Oliver’s “Delirium” (2/2/11).
Stop by and see Reagan (and occasionally Dan too!) at Miss Remmer’s Reviews

Guest Post: Traditions by Alyce

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Have you met the amazing Alyce?  I remember when I first found Alyce’s blog and I  loved how her sidebar says “Alyce (rhymes with peace)… I think of that whenever  I stop by her blog and it makes me smile.  🙂

Sheila


 

Alyce and her family

The Christmas tradition that stands out the most in my memory from childhood is that of retrieving boxes of ornaments from the attic and decorating the house.  But the first thing that my mom would do prior to decorating was reach into our cabinet and pull out all of our holiday records and stack them up next to the record player.  There was a lot of Christmas music there, and I know that we did listen to most of the records, but the only one that I remember; the one that got the most play time, was the Elvis Christmas album.  I have so many good memories of dancing around the house and putting up decorations with Elvis singing in the background.

Prepping the tree

During those first few years of marriage the memories of Christmases blur together, in part because we always celebrated at our parents’ houses.  When we had our kids, however, we wanted to create our own family traditions and I couldn’t resist incorporating Elvis Christmas tunes into our holiday.  So now, each Christmas when my kids get ready to decorate the tree they are accompanied by “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me” and “If Every Day Was Like Christmas,” among others.  I will be curious to see if those songs will bring back nostalgic memories for them someday when they are older, or if they just melt into the background of Christmas memories.  If there’s one thing I know it’s that nostalgia is different for everyone, and the best we can do is create a lot of fun memories and then wait to see which ones are treasured most by those we love.

I know that making Christmas cookies is a family tradition for many people, but it was not something I remember doing often when I was growing up, so I was excited to make it into a yearly event with my kids.  Every year, at some point during the two-week break from school I get out the cookie press and make dozens of butter cookies.  Most years I buy the boys each a tube of frosting and a large bag of mini-M&Ms to decorate a plate of their own cookies.  Last year though, I discovered that the butter cookies taste even better (at least to me)  if they are made with colored sugar sprinkles  instead of being slathered with frosting and piled high with candy.

Below is the recipe that I like the best for butter cookies (which this recipe calls shortbread cookies).  I think calling them butter cookies makes more sense; after all they are made with a pound of butter!

Shortbread Cookies

1 lb butter
1 cup sifted icing sugar
3 cups sifted flour
½ cup cornstarch

Cream butter, add sugar & gradually add flour & cornstarch sifted together. Whip mixture until fluffy & mixture breaks or looks curdled. Drop by teaspoons or put through cookie press onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 300F until light golden brown (about 20 minutes).

Check out Alyce At Home With Books.

Guest Post: Holiday Tour Of France

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

I found Esme over a year ago when I was blog hopping one day and discovered this book reviewer and food lover.  Her book reviews drew me in and then her food pictures and recipes held me there.  I was like a kid in a candy store and I told her I had to start limiting my visits to her blog because it made me hungry!  Who knew that this original connection with this California blogger would eventually put us together as roommates at BEA.  (Yes, another roommate!)  😀 You are also soon to discover… she is handy with a camera too!

Sheila

Hello, I am Esme from Chocolate and Croissants.  It is an honor for me to be guest posting at Book Journey.  Today I am going to take you to one of my favorite places France, as we tour the Christmas markets.  I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

This time of the year, Christmas markets can be found along the French-German border.  Given the tumultuous history this area has experienced changing hands between the French and the Germans the food is a beautiful mixture of both French and German cuisine. While each market enjoys it’s own potpourri of decorations, vendors and food, the baked goods reflect the history of the area.

A few years ago, I took the TGV train from Paris to Strasbourg.  Strasbourg home to the printing press was my gateway to a world of epicurean delights and Christmas treasures.


The largest market in Strasbourg could be found in the main square.  All the buildings were decorated with Christmas tinsel and holiday cheer.

From Strasbourg I had a rental car and drove through the French countryside visiting little villages.

These Christmas loaves are full of dried fruit, nuts and a healthy dose of liquor.  Each village had baked Christmas goods different from other villages.  By the time I left, my bags were packed with cakes and cookies to bring back home with me.

Of course, everyone should enjoy a chocolate Santa.

Of course, one must try marrons glace (glazed chestnuts).  Did I? No, I must confess I do not like chestnuts, but I think I really missed out.

Joyeaux Noel and Merry Christmas and be good you never know where Santa may be.


Stop in and bring your appetite at Chocolates and Croissants!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)72 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 (using Random.Org) was:

TBA (I did not have time to pick yet)

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

 

It has been a whirlwind of a week.  Chance has been staying with us since last Sunday and I have been prepping all week to get ready to go to Honduras this Wednesday.  In a nut shell (and that term is perfect) I have been running in several different directions this week and unfortunately reading didn’t always get on the agenda.


Here is my week in review:


Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows A Movie Adventure (Have you seen it?  Have you seen it?)


Don’t Sing At The Table… Life Lessons From My Grandmother by Adriana Trigiani (Book review – OH WOW!)


The GaMeS BiBlE by Leigh Anderson (Hey board gamers and card players – this is a “must have” book!


Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman (an audio review that is totally SSQQQUUUUEEEE worthy!)


Coffee and Fate by RJ Erbacher (a review of a book that still is making me wonder….)

The Secret Is Out… It Is I Who Has The Invisibility Cloak (my real tale of a recent shopping experience)

This week I have finally picked the three books that will go on the plane with me and the two audio books on my IPOD:

From the author of the bestselling The Good Women of China comes the uplifting story of three sisters who, like so many migrant workers in today’s China, leave their peasant community to seek their fortune in the big city.The Li sisters don’t have much education, but one thing has been drummed into them: their mother is a failure because she hasn’t managed to produce a son, and they themselves only merit a number as a name. Women, their father tells them, are like chopsticks: utilitarian and easily broken. Men, on the other hand, are the strong rafters that hold up the roof of a house. Yet when circumstances lead the sisters to seek work in distant Nanjing, the shocking new urban environment opens their eyes. While Three contributes to the success of a small fast-food restaurant, Five and Six learn new talents at a health spa and a bookshop/tearoom. And when the money they earn starts arriving back at the village, their father is forced to recognise that daughters are not so dispensable after all.

In 1967, not long after the Six Day War, three young Arabs ventured into the town of Ramla, in Jewish Israel. They were on a pilgrimage to see their separate childhood homes, from which their families had been driven out nearly twenty years before during the Israeli war for independence. Only one was welcomed: Bashir Al-Khayri was greeted at the door by a young woman named Dalia.

This act of kindness in the face of years of animosity and warfare is the starting point for a remarkable true story of two families, one Arab, one Jewish; an unlikely friendship that encompasses the entire modern history of Israelis and Palestinians and that holds in its framework a hope for true peace and reconciliation for the region.

In a middle-class neighborhood of Iran’s sprawling capital city, 17-year-old Pasha Shahed spends the summer of 1973 on his rooftop with his best friend Ahmed, joking around one minute and asking burning questions about life the next. He also hides a secret love for his beautiful neighbor Zari, who has been betrothed since birth to another man. But the bliss of Pasha and Zari’s stolen time together is shattered when Pasha unwittingly acts as a beacon for the Shah’s secret police. The violent consequences awaken him to the reality of living under a powerful despot, and lead Zari to make a shocking choice…

 

A young woman appears in a small NC town. She makes one friend, a woman who lives nearby, but other than that, she keeps to herself. Soon, however, a series of events pulls her into the circle of a local merchant, a widower with two children, and against her better judgment, she finds herself drawn to him and letting down her carefully constructed guard.

For this women has a secret, a secret that has forced her to hide her identity, run as far away as she can from home, and escape a past that still haunts and terrifies her.

It is inevitable that her past will catch up with her-in the form of an abusive husband who refuses to let her go. But what remains unknown is whether she will allow herself to love and trust again, and to what extent her husband will go to ensure that she’ll have a future…but only if it includes him…

Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them-in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul-they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman’s love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.

I hope in the next ten days to accomplish getting through all of these between the plane time and hopefully some down time between our travels.

There will be a It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading? Next week – I am pre-setting the post.  AND I hope you will stop by after Wednesday and check out the wonderful bloggers who have shared a Christmas story with you as well as a book recommendation.

I am excited to see what you are reading!  Please add your post to the LINKY below where it says click here.


Powered by Linky Tools

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

Morning Meanderings…. Chilly Weather Cancels Turkey Bowl

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good Morning everyone on this Thanksgiving Morning.  I was up and out of bed at 7 a.m. (insert Rocky theme here)

turkey bowl at the Franklin football field.  He layers up… and then I make him layer up again (it is 1 degree below zero this morning.)  double layered I put on my snow boots hop into the pre-warmed Durango and drive to the football field.

We are greeted by Lynfield (organizer and mastermind behind this odd tradition of snow football) who informs us that the turkey bowl has been canceled due to the cold weather.

“DOH!”

No worries…. we live about 3 miles from the field so its not like we traveled for hours to the event.

So back home we go…. as my hubby plows out the driveway I do my Thanksgiving dinner check list (I have to do this as I am notorious for remembering a dinner item I forgot to put on the table about half way through the meal….) .

Today I am making one of my favorite salads, its quick, easy and delicious.

Broccoli/Cauliflower Salad

chop up equal bite size pieces of cauliflower and broccoli

cut in half both red and green seedless grapes

cook up and cut in little pieces several slices of turkey bacon (optional)

Put all in large salad bowl

add light miracle whip and sugar to taste (I use Splenda)

Mix well – refrigerate until ready to eat


Today, be thankful for the people who make up your life….they are part of your life book, leaving their mark on your heart in so many different ways.  They may be with you for a lifetime… or for a season… but they are all part of your story.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  May your day be filled with heart joy!

 

 

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)68 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 (using Random.Org) was:

Laurel!!!

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

Lots of reading completed this week as I could squeeze it in but really need to catch u on my reviews this week and my goal is to a book review a day.

Here is this week in review


Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (audio review)  Not my favorite Lippman but I have not given up!

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (book review) LOVED this book about a food critic!

Book Blogger LOVE and a Pistachio Thumbprint cookie recipe


I have read none of what I said I would last week, because Tuesday I thought about it and decided it was INSANE to be reading all these other books on the week the theaters release Deathly Hallows .  SO…. I tossed my book list out and instead I have been re-reading The Deathly Hallows.  (Seen the movie Sunday afternoon – review coming up later on Monday!)

This Weeks Reading Plan

I leave for Honduras in 9 days so I am going to try to keep my plan real….

 

I met author Selene Castrovilla in New York in May and I am so excited to read her book!

Just a few months ago Jesse was junior class president, a star baseball player, the newspaper editor, and the crush of every girl at Midland Prep in Manhattan. Now he is fighting a rare cancer with only a 4 percent survival rate. When Samantha, his best friend and next-door neighbor for the last 15 years, turns her compassion for Jesse into a relationship, the teens fight the unknown with their growing love. Sam’s wavering voice, at times mature beyond her years and other times still needing her mother’s comfort, gives readers insight into both Jesse’s burden of dying and her own story of being the one left behind.


 

I met author Rhonda Hayes at BEA in New York in May as well, and can’t wait to read this delightful looking read!

Fifth-grader Abbie Adams is a witch in a family of witches. When her father, who is trying to find a cure for Witch Flu, brings home a kitten, she realizes that there is something strange about it. It turns out that the cat is Thomas Edison. Her parents do everything they can to make him comfortable while they try to find the right spells to break the curse and get him safely back to his own era before history is changed forever. Abbie is a likable character, and readers should relate to her. She loves her little brother (even when she has to clean up his magical messes), is nervous about her first school play, and wishes she didn’t have to keep secrets from her non witch friend.


 

Oh!  You have no idea how excited I was to get this one in my mailbox for review!  Seriously I have been drooling over this when I seen it on other blogs!

A volunteer for a French relief organization, Elsa Murphy, a young nurse, has left her tragic life behind in Boston in the hopes of finding a purpose by providing aid and medical care in Afghanistan. Living without running water and on rationed kerosene, the one comfort from home Elsa allows herself is lipstick, which helps her retain her identity behind the veil she wears. Elsa’s work engenders two relationships that will change her life: a friendship with Parween, a young, strong-willed Afghani widow whose hatred of the Taliban is born out of unimaginable loss, and a romance with Mike, a handsome, brave U.S. soldier with flashing blue eyes. Though the Taliban have largely been driven out by the soldiers, Elsa learns they are still very much a presence.

 

I think with the Thanksgiving weekend this list is pretty doable…. we do not have a lot going on during the holiday.  College son will be home on Thursday for the day but has to go back to Mankato to work the weekend.  Chance will be staying with us but he is super easy, so I anticipate a weekend of movies and board games… and of course a few books to!  😀

 

Now for my favorite part…. checking out what you are reading!  Last week I found five books by reading all your posts and four of those five are currently in my home thanks to my library!  Please add your link to your post below where it says “click here”.

Powered by Linky Tools

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

Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (audio review)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Writer Cassandra Fallows achieved critical and commercial success with an account of her Baltimore childhood growing up in the 1960s and a follow-up dealing with her adult marriages and affairs. The merely modest success of her debut novel leads her back to nonfiction and the possibility of a book about grade school classmate Calliope Jenkins. Accused of murdering her infant son, Jenkins spent seven years in prison steadfastly declining to answer any questions about the disappearance and presumed death of her son. Fallows (white) tries to reconnect with three former classmate friends (black) to compare memories of Jenkins and research her story. In the process, she discovers the gulf (partially racial) that separates her memories of events from theirs. Fallows’s pursuit of Jenkins’s story becomes a rich, complex journey from self-deception to self-discovery.


What really captures my attention in Lippman’s books is that most of them are based on true stories. This particular one is in reference to the disappearance of a Baltimore woman’s son. The woman chose not to make a statement and in doing so spent seven years in jail for contempt of court.

I of course enjoyed the storyline of the main character Cassandra as she was an author.  Bookish characters always fascinate me and automatically seem to have an “in” with me.   I liked the idea that Cassandra wanted to write about a childhood friend acquaintance and was doing research to find out about Callie’s reason for going to jail rather than answer questions about her son.

What ensues seems to me like a long drawn out maze of happenings as Cassandra visits old friends and finds out that if they even know she is a writer, they are so not impressed. Somewhere along all of this I lost touch with the book and waited anxiously to see where it was all going and when would it get there.  In the end, I just didn’t like Cassandra very much.

I have read and enjoyed Laura Lippman before and know that many things could have contributed to my eventual lack of interest in this one, including the fact that I listened to it in my car on audio.  While I am a huge advocate for audio, I am well aware that at times audio is not the way to go as you can miss key points in a story that if reading, I would have back tracked through the pages to figure out what I missed.

I have heard wonderful things about Laura’s book, ‘What The Dead Know’ so I believe that will be my next Lippman adventure!

Amazon Rating

 

Book Journey’s 2010 reading map has been updated to include Life Sentences

Cover Story:  Hmmmm….. I guess I am not fond of it and do not see where it captures the heart of the story

I borrowed this audio from my local library