Category: Book Stuff

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)104 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:

Liz of Roving Reads

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

*I have been a little late getting out the last few weeks winners and am doing that today.

I had a pretty sweet week here – my first ever Zumba class (which was hilarious but fun!), continued sessions for my book, a lovely low-key low commitment weekend where I was able to chill out and do a little research as well as veg out and watch several movies on Netflix:  The Cure, The Band Played On, When In Rome, and New In Town.  I know right?  What a total lazy head!  AND yes, I did get some reading in too and feel pretty good about all I managed to accomplish – even the chilling part.  😀

So…. What Did I Read This Week?

Peanut Butter Balls cookie recipe from our Girls Weekend

Snicker Surprise Cookie Recipe from our Girls Weekend

The Boticelli Secret by Marina Fiorato (our Bookies Book Club read for November)

Glass Ornament Decorating **Bonus post**

Cake Boss by Buddy Valastro

Silence by Shusaku Endu (review coming this week)

Shoulder Bags and Shootings by Dorothy Howell (review coming this week)

Hide! by Jeff Foxworthy (review coming this week)

By Fire By Water by Mitchell James Kaplan (review coming this week)

The Last Queen by C W Gortner (review coming soon)

Don’t Sing At The Table by Adriana Trigiani (review coming soon)

I did get some reading done this week but did not get many reviews done.  I hope to catch up on some of that this week.

As for this week – I hope to read:


A Darcy Christmas has three shorter stories within the pages for fans of Austen!  I am excited to read this one!

Christmas Present
by Amanda Grange

A Darcy Christmas
by Sharon Lathan

Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol
by Carolyn Eberhart

 

Cydney Sanders thought she knew God’s plan for her life. She’d marry, have kids, and then snap her body back into shape by doing Tae Bo. But she’s celebrating her fortieth birthday as the maid of honor at her little sister’s wedding…and still single. Now her life is suddenly complicated by the best man. He’s the opposite of what she wants in a husband…and yet, he keeps defying her expectations. Starting with a lavendar rose–symbolizing enchantment–each rose he sends her reflects his growing love for her.

Cydney’s best friend Dana appears to have the perfect marriage–until she discovers her husband’s affair and her world goes into a tailspin. Then there is Phyllis–who is out of hope and out of prayers after asking God for six long years to help her husband find faith. When she runs into an old friend who is the Christian man she longs for, she’s faced with an overwhelming choice.

 

A mosaic of stories that follow the intertwined lives of three girls coming of age. Two young girls from Jewish and Christian families and their elderly widow next door try to find happiness in a seemingly cruel world. In spite of their different cultural and economic backgrounds, Rebecka, Helen, and Adelle all share the delicate and self-conscious journey to womanhood. All three search for love and meaning in a variety of places a charismatic church, a Depression-era orphanage, a moonlit Savannah park, an orthodox Jewish boarding school and end up finding lasting strength in the power of their friendships.

That is my plan as well as a couple I need to finish up on…. And now I want to know what you are planning on reading this week and what was the awesome and not so awesome reads of this past week!  My trigger finger is itching to get to see what you have been reading.  Add your What Are You Reading post to the linky below :D


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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)72 Comments

First off – Happy Halloween or if you are reading this on Monday, November 1…. Happy belated Halloween.  I put up a fun interview late afternoon on Sunday and if you have not checked it out I hope you do as there is a giveaway attached to it.  (See link below)

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:

Sharon from Garden Of Books

 

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

 

This week was kind of funny as all three of the audio I had been listening to for weeks (one in the kitchen, one in the car, and one in my I POD) all finished this week.  It was like an audio rush…. not only to write reviews, but also to pick out three more!  (That’s the fun part!)  😀

Here is what happened in the House of Books this past week:


My interview with the Witch from Snow White (This is the one I mentioned above –  check it out!)


The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (audio review and wow – AMAZING!)

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand (audio review)

The Postcard killers by James Patterson (audio review – not a fav….)


Wig Begone by Charles Courtney ( book review -fun read!)


The DUFF by Kody Keplinger (book review)


A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant (audio review)


Left To Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza (review to come this week)


HIDE! by Jeff Foxworthy (review to come this week)


Silence by Shusako Endo (still completing)


This week I am hosting my first special event in my new position so that will take up some of my reading time and this coming weekend I have a girls weekend at our cabin where we are spending the weekend making crafts, baking cookies for Christmas, and watching chick flicks.  YAY!!!  That too will swallow up some reading time so in light of all of that – here is my plan for this week:

I haven’t read Lehane in a long time but loved his writing in Mystic River and Shutter Island (both movies I couldn’t stand but LOVED the books!  I cant wait to try him in the new release!

I have watched this one be raved about all summer from afar….. and now FINALLY I have captured this read for my  I POD and I am starting it today!

Audio for my kitchen CD player and I started this one today as well.  The synopsis of this one is haunting and something I have come to appreciate in Laura Lippman’s writing…. which you are about to see because look below…..

Yup – another Laura Lippman, this one is for my car.  My Lippman phase was not intentional, they both just came into the library for me at the same time so… well, here we go!  😀

You can click on any of the above pictures to take you to more information about the reads.

 

So that is where I am this week.  I can’t wait to see what you are all reading.  It seems like life has been so busy lately I hardly have time to get around and see your posts and if I have missed you recently I apologize, and am hopeful that as my life is getting somewhat back to normal that I will be able to visit all of your posts today.

Please add your link to your Monday What Are You Reading post below and have a super fantastic week!  😀

 

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Interview with The Wicked…. errr… Sorely Misunderstood Witch of Snow White

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Readers, today I am excited and maybe a little nervous to be interviewing the witch from Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs.   I am extremely thankful that she was able to take time to meet with me here today at Book Journey as I know that this is normally a very busy time of year for witches, however she was able to fit us in.  Please give a warm welcome to uhhhh…….  errrrrrrr….. Snow White’s evil Stepmother…. The Witch.

♦     ♦     ♦

 

Welcome!  I usually open up my interviews by asking my guests how they take their coffee.

 

Thank you for asking, but I am really more fond of apple cider.  This time of year I prefer it hot.


Ummmm….. ok.  I think I can handle that.  I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but I do not know your first name.

 

Well that is kind of you to ask.  Most people just refer to me as Wicked Witch or Evil Step Mother and that is a bit degrading.  However, my name was never mentioned in the original story of Snow White or during the film.  In both cases this is really a sore spot with me.  My name is in the script though, and it is Grimhilda.

 

Grimhilda!  Why it is lovely!  Thank you for sharing that.

 

No.  It’s not lovely, it was handed down to me from my great great great great great great great grandmother, Grimhilda, the first, and believe me, she was not any peach. You think I was hard on Snow White?  HA!  That woman would have made us look like sorority sisters.

 

Oh.  Ok.  Well, since you mentioned that some referred to you as the Wicked Witch, I am curious about how you feel about all the attention now given to Elphaba, the true wicked witch from The Wizard Of Oz.  I mean, ever since Gregory Maguire wrote Wicked in 1995, she has received a lot of attention.

 

Oh barf on a cracker!  That really gets my green up!  Everywhere I look it is Elphaba this, Elphaba that!   Yeah poor Elphaba, you would think she was the only one ever born green.  She is like a Lifetime story in the making.   As if the book wasn’t bad enough, then she became the star of a Broadway play.   I saw the play.  What a bunch of fly stew hookey.  I just rolled my eyes.  You know I was there while she was growing up…. there is another side to that witch that you do not even know.  I keep waiting for her and her sob story to appear on Oprah.  Or maybe she will be sipping tea with the ladies of  The View.


I am sorry, I didn’t realize I was bringing up such a sensitive topic. Were you not featured in the book, The Fairest Of  Them All?  It just came out the fall of last year.

 

That book?  Oh please!  I was so misquoted I don’t even want to talk about it.


Lets move on.  Uhhh….. I must say your hair looks quite lovely and not at all the way I remember it from the book or the movie.  What is your secret?

 

I just added these highlights yesterday for this interview.  I mean breaks like this don’t come around often for me.  No one really talks about me anymore, so I need to take full advantage when I can.  I do use a little apple sauce when I wash it.


What would you like to say to everyone, Grimhilda?

 

I just want people to know that I am still around.  Sure I don’t star on Broadway, but I do exist.  I have a little cottage that I live in year around on Nantucket.  The sea air really does wonders for my skin.

 

Well I do not want to keep you, this is Halloween after all and I am sure you probably have a lot going on.

 

No, not really.  I just don’t get into it like I did when I was younger and able to mess with Snow White’s head.  Actually tonight I am making a huge bowl of popcorn and plan to watch the first season of LOST.  Sawyer really gets the heart pumping.


Well, that’s just awkward.  Ok, I think I should wrap this interview up, but it is tradition that I ask each person…. errr….. witch, I interview to share with me a little known fact about themselves.

 

Well – that’s just easy as pretty much everything about me is little known because I have not been the star of my own book.  Hmmmmphhh.  I speak fluent Spanish.   I belong to a Book Club that has been meeting monthly for 280 years.  We are called The Coven and we are currently reading The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.   I also play the accordion and I am working on my first novel, ‘It Ain’t Easy Being Green’.


 

Thank you for sharing your time with us today Grimhilda.  I wish you all the best in your future and I look forward to your book!

 

Readers, in the spirit of Halloween I would like to offer a lovely copy of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs by Cynthia Rylant, an author I just recently read and enjoyed.  I will also toss in a Halloween treat.


To enter simply leave a comment here on this interview.  If you would like to ask Grimhilda a question, I believe I can get her to stop back in and respond.  This giveaway will stay open until Thursday November 4th.  USA and Canada addresses only please.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (Trick or Treat reviews)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Thank you to Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness

who told me at BEA in May of this year

that this was a must read.

 

You may have heard of her as HeLa, and in some instances as started by the Minneapolis Tribune, Helen Lake.  She was Henrietta Lacks, a poor southern African-American farmer.  She lived a simple life, married her cousin and had several beautiful children.  At the age of 31 she was diagnosed with cervical cancer and the doctors of the “colored ward” of John Hopkins Hospital in the 1950’s, took samples of her cells as they did with all patients, for testing.  Henrietta’s cells were different.  They continues to grow in culture, the first cells to ever do that.  They were marked as HeLa, as it was custom to take the first letter of the patients first name as well as the first letter of the last name to identify the cells.  Nobody at that time knew how big a deal this sample was.

Henrietta died from her cancer on October 4th, 1951, now 60 years later, her cells continue to live all over the country.  These cells became vital in developing the Polio vaccination, discovering some of the secrets of cancer, AIDS research, in vitro fertilization, cloning, gene mapping and as such has saved countless lives. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings.

 

Henrietta’s family did not know about the cells for nearly 20 years after Henrietta’s death.  No one had ever told them about the tissue sample taken or the amazing results from the tissue that had now been bought and sold all over the world.  All of us have somehow benefited from these cells either by a vaccination or a pill we have taken.  The cells have now made billions of dollars for the drugs industry and Henrietta’s family never seen a dime.

 

Henrietta and her husband David "Day" Lacks

 

Trick or Treat?  Treat!

You may read the first paragraph about this book and think that Halloween is the perfect time to review this book.  Even as I wrote it I thought wow, this sounds like something right out of a horror movie…. living cells, never dying…. growing and growing all over the world. Yet, this is not fiction.  Henrietta did really live and is really the woman who changed science as we know it.  She never lived to know her contributions to the world, but as her family says, she would  be happy to know that her dying helped others to live.

Rebecca Skloot dialogues an amazing trip from her first hearing about HeLa and becoming fascinated about knowing more about the woman behind the cells.  As her fascination grows she takes her credit cards and student loans to fund her desire to learn more and in doing so meets the amazing family of Henrietta, including building a strong friendship with Henrietta’s daughter, Deborah.

Henrietta as a child

I find as time goes on I become more and more engaged in reading memoirs and non fiction.  I have developed a strong thirst for knowledge.  I started listening to this on audio about a month ago and as the book progressed I started asking people I knew if they had ever heard of Henrietta Lacks.

Nobody had.

I am so thankful I had the opportunity to experience this read and I would highly recommend it others.  The writing is engaging, I never found it to lull, and it left me with a strong knowledge of cells as well as Henrietta Lacks.  HBO is planning to make a movie about Henrietta Lacks and her cells.  I for one will be anxious to see it.

Amazon Review

 

Book Journey has updated the 2010 reading map to include The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Cover Story:  Very appropriate.  This is the picture of Henrietta Lacks that was found in text books and magazine articles

In May of this year, Henrietta's once unmarked grave received a headstone provided by Morehouse School Of Medicine
Related Articles

I purchased this audio at audible.com

Morning Meanderings…. Halloween is in the air

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

I am feeling good.  We were considering going to the cabin this weekend, just Al and I, but the weather is fairly decent, the premature snow has melted and instead he is going to chop wood and I am going to pick up our lawn furniture and chillax at home.

I am hoping to get some reading done, maybe a movie with Chance on Saturday afternoon and Sunday I have a fun evening planned and a little something special planned for here as well.

On a fun note, I was interviewed over at the wonderful Trish’s blog, Hey Lady! Watcha Reading? about my beloved book club.  Thanks Trish!  😀

In the meantime, let’s have some fun with Jib Jab:  (I hope this link works well… I tried for the longest time to figure out how to get the video to post on here.)

A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

Pete is thirteen the year the Preacher Man comes to town.  He attends church and finds that while he is filled with God’s love, this is not the beliefs of his family or friends.    His parents do not share nor encourage their son’s convictions.   His best friend Rufus, is a confirmed atheist, and Pete loves how things have to be so black and white for Rufus.  If Rufus can not see it, then it is not real.

When the Preacher Man comes to town, Pete is overwhelmed with the emotions he brings out in him.   Pete feels this is God’s call in his life and he will do whatever the Preacher Man asks.  Even leave everything he has ever known and loved…

I first read about this book on Maw Books blog.  I liked the sound of it, and the soft feel to the review of a young boys struggles with faith and with friends, as well as God’s calling.

I listened to this on audio and loved the drawl of narrator Keith Nobbs, who gave me a beautiful picture of what Pete would look like at thirteen, as well as his small town, and his best friend.  The audio is quick and a little over two hours long, which was perfect for my drive back to Brainerd this weekend from Duluth Minnesota.

Pete is a likable character.  I liked his open heart, his fear of Hell, and his convictions to learn and experience all he can through the church he attends.   The lesson in the book that Pete deals with is a true lesson in faith, and what direction it comes from.  While there is a part in the book that Pete looks closely at his friendship with Rufus, Pete eventually comes through this admirably and I breathed a sigh of relief.

A Fine White Dust is a Newbery Honor books from 1987 and written for young adults.  It is a small sweet read of a young man’s faith, and I enjoyed it very much.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Map to include A Fine White Dust

While in North Carolina, be sure to check out the Coffee House Mystery site… well shoot – you don’t even need to be in North Carolina for this awesome experience!

Cover Story:  Yes!  Love it, it is so fitting to the read.

 

I borrowed this audio from my local library

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:

Alleluialu from  Bookend Crossing

 

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

 

I just got home about an hour ago from being at our cabin this weekend.  We never get there enough!  I was hoping it would be more reading time than it was, but instead my friend Wendy and I talked a lot (A LOT)  and watched many episodes of Season One Gilmore Girls which was pretty cool too.  😀

So, looking back on a very crazy busy week of training a new office manager and regular life commitments, here is what happened at Book Journey:

 

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman (audio review, my first Lippman and oh yeah – there will be more!)

Alice’s tea Cup by Haley Fox and Lauren Fox (super awesome book with recipes for a tea and scones, and other melt in your mouth treats!)

What would your name have been? (I am curious to know if you had been born the opposite sex, what your name was planned to be)

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss (A late banned book review)

What is it with me and Jayne Eyre? Yes, I admit to my constant battle with this woman.  😛

Sylvia – Movie Review. The book The Bell Jar left me wanting to know more about Sylvia Plath and this movie fed that need to understand this woman more.

I did get some reading done this weekend and have a few exciting review to write this week on books and audio I think many of you will enjoy!

As for this weeks plan, here is what I will be reading:

 

This is our November book club read and I am curious about this one.  Set in renaissance Italy in 1482, it is the story of a prostitute who steals a small portrait from a painter and opens up a whole lot of trouble she was not looking for.  When people close to her start dying she flees with the one man she can trust, Brother Guido who has been trying to convert her.

 


 

For the love of Adriana Trigiani, look what popped into my mailbox recently?  This book will be released tot he public on November 9th and I want to be sure my review is ready to roll.  I will also be chatting with Adriana about this book, and her upcoming books to movies (SSSSQQQUUUEEEEEE!!!)

 

I want to list more but I have a few I want to finish this week from recent weeks so I am going to refrain.  Seriously though, I had an amazing reading week so make sure you watch this weeks reviews because I can not wait to share them with you!  😀

In the meantime, I hope you are going to let me know what you have been reading this past week and what you plan to read this coming week.  I love seeing what is on your agenda!  Please add you link below:

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Sylvia (The movie based on Sylvia Plath – The Bell Jar)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

I recently watched the movie Sylvia, the story of the turmoil life that was Sylvia Plath’s.  Having recently read The Bell Jar for book club I found myself fascinated with the woman behind the words.

The movie is mainly about Plath’s life at the point that Ted Hughes (eventual husband) comes into her life.  The start of their time together is much like a fairy tale of fun romance from meeting each other, to Ted tossing small rocks at her window at night.  It appears to be the start of something beautiful.  However, soon Sylvia finds herself struggling to write the poems she is known for and becomes more and more consumed with her husbands doings.

I really enjoyed seeing this side of the Sylvia Plath story.  No, enjoyed doesn’t sound right…. I really appreciated being able to see this side of the story.  Having read The Bell Jar and knowing the little bit that I knew about Sylvia and her life, this really pieced things together between the strange passion of the book, and the flame that burned inside Sylvia herself.

When I went on-line I was fascinated to see how many books are out centered around either Sylvia’s writing, or her life as well as her husband Ted’s.


Ariel’s Gift:  Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and The Story Of The Birthday Letters

Birthday Letters: Poems by Ted Hughes

The unabridged Journal of Sylvia Plath

The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Letters Home:  Correspondence by Sylvia Plath

Crossing The Water by Sylvia Plath

On February 11th, 1963, Sylvia Plath committed suicide.  She was found dead in her kitchen having inhaled gas from her oven.

A year later Ted Hughes oversaw the publication of her last manuscript of poems.  The collection, ‘Ariel’ became one of the most celebrated and widely read books of poetry of the 20th century,and made Sylvia an icon for generations of readers.

In 1998, Ted Hughes broke a thirty year silence about Sylvia with the publication of ‘Birthday Letters’, a series of poems telling the story of their relationship.  He died of cancer a few weeks later.

Overall I would say this is a wonderful companion to The Bell Jar.

I rented the movie Sylvia through Netflix

I’d Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Eliza Benedict has a good life.  She has a loving adoring husband.  She is a mom of two children, Isobel (Iso) who is every bit the thirteen year old girl she should be, and eight year old Albie.  Life is good and as it should be…

Right?

But Eliza has long-held on to a deep dark secret in her past and it is about to arrive on her door step in letter format.  The letter is from Walter Bowman, a man on death row for the rape and murder of one girl, and who is also the man who had kidnapped  Eliza for six weeks and raped her at the age of 15.

What could he possibly want and why is he pushing his way into Eliza’s wonderful life now after all this time?

“Dear Elizabeth,
I’m sure this is a shock, although that’s not my intention, to shock you. Up until a few weeks ago, I never thought I would have any communication with you at all and accepted that as fair. That’s how it’s been for more than twenty years now. But it’s hard to ignore signs when they are right there in front of your face, and there was your photo in Washingtonian magazine, not the usual thing I read, but you’d be surprised by my choice of reading material these days. Of course, you are older, a woman now. You’ve been a woman for a while, obviously. Still, I’d know you anywhere.”

So…. what if your past did come back to get you?

I listened to this book on audio and really enjoyed the narrator, Linda Emond (who also narrates in Lippman’s The What The Dead Know and Life Sentences).

The audio/book flashes back and forth to Eliza’s younger life at fifteen (then she was Elizabeth) and back to her current life and age of Thirty-eight.  The story line is fantastic…. what do you do if you are the reason a man is on death row?  What do you do if many years later he is reaching out in the last hours of his life saying he is wanting to apologize for the wrong he has done?  And is that truly all he wants?

This was the type of read you didn’t want to stop, but instead I wanted to rush through to the ending to find out what was going to happen.  What decisions would Eliza make for herself?  For her family?  What does Walter really hope to get out of contacting Eliza and is he truly a changed man?

Fast paced, well written.  I definitely plan to read more from this author.

Amazon Rating

Book Journey’s 2010 Reading map has been updated to include I’d Know You Anywhere

When in Maryland, you should stop in to Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse

Cover Story:  It does draw me in.  When I seen this cover I wanted to know who the girl was and who was after her.


I received my copy of this audio from audible.com

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)86 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:

RAnn from This That And The Other Thing

 

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

 

 

I knew a week like this was bound to happen.  Between my busy schedule and battling this cold and fever I accomplished very little in the reading department.  Very little.

Here is my week:

SPEAK the movie (review)

Noah’s Castle by John Rowe Townsend (book review)

Loving My Book Club and a meeting in “Classic Hats”

Are You In A Book Club?  Why or why not?

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (book review and Bookies Book Club Review)

Pics with Area Bloggers

Pictures With Minnesota Authors (Twin Cities Books Festival)

The Changing World Of Publication:  Getting Books To Readers (this was what took up all my weekend time, the Twin Cities Book Festival – but sooooooo worth it. 😛

 

Ok… I guess looking at that it does look like I was active.  It didn’t feel like it, but two reviews, a movie review and a bookish topic isn’t bad with being gone all weekend.  😀

 

I have a lot of reviews to write yet.  This week I am keeping it light so I can catch up on some of last weeks reading goals.  Coming off of the festival I am going with a book that was given to me for review, and one that was a blogger recommendation.

 

This book was given to me for review from author Carl Brookins at the Twin Cities Book Festival.  Carl currently has 9 books out and I am interested to see what this author, who is a member of the Minnesota Crime Wave, has to say.

 

 

I was reading My Friend Amy’s Faith in Fiction post this past weekend and she mentioned this book that I had never heard of.   When I mentioned that in a comment on her post she replied saying it was one of her favorite books.  On my way home today I stopped at Barnes and Noble in St. Cloud and they had a copy which is now… my copy.  🙂

I am ready for a little down time with a cup (or two) of tea and seeing what you are reading!  This is one of my favorite things to do each week.  Add your What Are You Reading post to the Linky where it says CLICK HERE and we all can visit the posts!

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