Book Stuff – Page 79 – Book Journey

It’s Tuesday, Where Are You?

Published on October 6, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

This is hosted by An Adventure in Reading

I am in Abbeville with George Bailey. Don’t laugh… that really is his name. His mother had a weakness for It’s A Wonderful Life. We are at George’s grandpa’s home… a home that George never thought as an adult that he would spend another night in – or want to. Yet here we are, looking at the old bookcase that used to hold such treasures as Zane Grey’s Stories For Boys, sea tales, a copy of Dale Carnegie and The Robe, a number of Bibles, including one inscribed in German in 1851 by one of Grandpa’s forebears, and more. Now, the old books were gone.

Abbeville by Jack Fuller

Morning Meanderings…

Published on October 6, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

Mornin’. Little groggy… I was up until 12:45 a.m finishing up The Cinderella Society. I kept thinking after the next chapter I would stop… but then no…. and then the next one… and then it came to the point that really – I didn’t have all that more to read and why would I leave such a little bit?

At 12:45 am. I closed the back cover… completely satisfied with the book and my choice to complete it.

Of course now… I am in the office with Coffee Cup and just a wee bit fuzzy. I am going to write the review and it should be up in a couple hours. It is not the longest I stayed up to finish a book. I think a few years back I finished After Anne at about 2 am…. could not – would not put it down until the bitter, heartbreaking end. (That’s another story) 🙂

So readers – whats the longest you have stayed up to complete a book?

100 Mile Challenge

Published on October 5, 2009October 5, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Ok… this is a not so bookish moment…. but hey just like a book girl has to eat, she also has to take care of herself. So when Trish posted about this 100 Mile Challenge Between October 1 and December 31 I felt this was a great incentive to keep me on track going into these colder months.

Here’s the challenge:

Here’s how it works:
In order to complete this Challenge, you will need to “travel” 100 miles from October 1st through December 31st.

Here’s how you calculate your mileage:
*Running or walking 1 mile outside or on a treadmill equals 1 mile.

*15 minutes of other workouts equals 1 mile (elliptical, swimming, weight lifting, workout video, workout classes, etc.).

Click on the button above to go to the page to sign up. Hope you join us!

It’s Monday What Are You Reading?

Published on October 5, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

I have my nose buried deep in Kay Cassidy’s book, The Cinderella Society…. SO GOOD! I am on such a huge YA kick I feel like I should be snapping my gum, twirling my hair and listening to Bon Jovi…. oh – maybe YA don’t do that anymore…LOL Really enjoying the book!

I am pleased to say that last weeks list of Cleopatra’s Daughter (which was an AMAZING READ), Bo’s Cafe (great book and one to make you think…) and VIOLA in Reel Life (Loved this!)… I only have one that still is sticking out of my TBR shelf, partially read and part of my plan to finish the last two weeks…. that’s right, Pride and Prejudice still waits on me.

The big plan for this week…. and for some reason I feel like I am Stella and got my groove back…. (book groove that is)… so I piled them high for this weeks reading plan. They are:

Of course to finish the wonderful The Cinderella Society

I have Extraordinary by John Bevere for tour this week along with a giveaway copy!

Abbeville by Jack Fuller has also waited patiently to be reviewed and I pulled this off the shelf to do just that!

Football is For Lovers I have for a tour next week and I am trying to be more proactive on the tour reads and not waiting until the last minute and then cranking them out just under the wire.

The Financial Lives of Poets is also on tour next week

A Worthy Legacy by Tomi Akinyanmi just came in but is one off my wish list and I want to treat myself to this read.

So that’s the plan. For those of you who are looking at this and saying how can you possibly read that many books in a week?

Well, first it is only a plan and I tend to plan big – but don’t beat myself up if I don’t reach the goal. Sometimes a book I planned to read may be set aside for a different read because that is the beauty of reading… you do get to pick what you enjoy.

The Cinderella Society is sailing right along and I should complete that yet today, Extraordinary has been in the process of reading for a couple weeks now and in this type of book I find that helpful when I can break it down so I only have part of that book left to read. Football Is For Lovers (I know right… I am still not really sure what I signed on to with this one…LOL) and A Worthy Legacy are both smaller books. Which leaves me with Abbeville which I hope to roll into the weekend with, but we will see how it all goes.

Most of my evenings are spent reading. My husband goes to bed around 8:30 or 9 pm as he gets up at 5 am. That gives me on the average about 3 hours to read a night, not including that I do occasionally read early in the a.m., while I am making dinner and usually longer on weekends when we have no big commitments.

What are you reading this week? Pop Over to J Kaye’s blog and be sure to connect there to add your post to the linky so we can all see your list of wonderful books as well!

Happy reading all!

Morning Meanderings…

Published on October 5, 2009October 5, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Where oh where has the nice weather gone?

The days of heavy overcast gray skies are already wearing on me. The current temperature is 42 degrees and I and Coffee Cup are feeling a little rough this morning with the cold and sinus bug that is going around. I really could have just stayed in bed this morning if it was not for having to deliver Chance to school by 8 am.

It is probably a good thing I did have a commitment as now I am up and have already made two appointments into my day – I love making appointments before people are int he office. That way I can give details of what I need and the right person usually calls me back with the right info and a date and time instead of being put on hold and waiting forever to get to the right person who then ponders over a schedule for 10 minutes…. LOL. Yes I even micro manage my time to make appointments. 🙂

Anyway… as I ramble on, has anyone seen this book? Novel Destinations? I think it looks wonderful. I have seen bloggers have opportunities to go to wonderfully bookish sites and I think I wouldn’t even know where to start. For all I know I could have been in areas where great books were written and land marks are just a few steps away and totally unaware…. (oblivious seems harsh right?) I wander my own way.

For the new breed of vacationer who craves meaningful trips and unusual locales, the combination of reading and travel can be a heady mix—especially if you happen to be checking into Hemingway’s favorite hotel in Sun Valley, or strolling about Bath’s Royal Crescent while entertaining fantasies of Lizzie Bennett and her Mr. Darcy! Cue National Geographic’s Novel Destinations—a guide for bibliophiles to more than 500 literary sites across the United States and Europe.

I just love book on books. I have one that lists the top 100 books that I should be reading. Uh yeah… good luck with that when all these new ones keep calling me like shiny new cars….

One I use frequently is The Book Club Companion. This one was a life saver as my book club grew large and I was struggling to figure out how to run a successful meeting. This book gives not only great reads to discuss… but fun themes for the group, recipes to try, questions to ask, what to do if there is no leader.. etc. LOVE this book.

Apparently I am in a very Bookie mood this morning. I need to do some research today on how to run an online book club…. haven’t done that before, but with a group already created (Word Shakers) and a plan to review The Help. I had best get a good grasp on how to do this. Any advice? 🙂

Banned Book Week Winners

Published on October 4, 2009October 21, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

It is time to announce the winners from The Banned Book Week Giveaway! We had 68 comments so I have 6 winners. Thank you everyone for sharing the banned books you have read!

The winners are:

Drum roll please…

Wordlilly

Barbara S

Julie H

Ebony

Hailey Miller

Zia

Congratulations! All winners have been notified by email and have choice out of the prize box!

A Royal Spotlight!

Published on October 4, 2009October 4, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

I am so excited! I logged on this morning to discover that the Spotlight Interview I completed with Amy at Park-Avenue Princess is on her beautiful blog today! Color me *Giddy*!

I love interviewing other book bloggers and hearing their stories and it was fun to share mine with Amy. If you go over and read the Spotlight post I am offering up an Amazon Gift for her to give away – and who doesn’t like gift cards? Amy’s giveaway is open international so everyone click your way over to Park-Avenue Princess.

In honor of this great guest spot that Amy has given me, I too want to offer up a $10 Amazon gift card here as well. To qualify here is what you can do:

1. You must leave a comment on the Spotlight post over at Park Avenue Princess

2. For an additional entry – come back here and comment on one thing you learned about me from the spotlight interview

That’s it! 🙂 This giveaway is open internationally as well and I will end this on the same day that Amy is, on October 30th (mine will end in the morning however as that is the day I leave for Honduras).

Faith N Fiction Saturday

Published on October 3, 2009October 3, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

My Friend Amy has this wonderful weekly meme that just recently came back into play after a little time off due to life business. I can so relate to that! 🙂 So today I anxiously head over to Amy’s Blog to see what question she will post for us to ponder over today and she asks this:

Today’s Question

We mostly talk about Christian fiction during Faith’n’Fiction Saturday but I’m curious if you have ever read fiction of other faiths. I am not aware of a lot of fiction of other faiths like I am about Christian fiction, so this is a good time to chime in with anything you’ve read! If you are of another faith, maybe you can chime in and tell us about some options.

Honestly… I had to think on this one… have I read a fiction read on other faiths? I checked my book shelves and found that I had:

Kabul Beauty School (ISLAM) but it is non fiction

Reading Lolita in Tehran (ISLAM) also non fiction

I looked on line and was surprised that I did not really find any fiction reads in other faiths other than a few that were written for children. Perhaps I was looking in the wrong areas?

GAH! I think I am coming up empty. If any of you have read any faith and fiction reads that are not based on the Christina Faith, please stop over to My Friend Amy’s and add your link and/or your comments.

Morning Meandering…

Published on October 3, 2009October 3, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Listen.

Hear that?

Mmmm hmmm. Silence. Glorious silence.

Chance stayed at a buddies home last night, Al got up early to go to an auction. I am in the house alone except for Coffee Cup who never has to much to say anyway. 😉

These moments lately are far too few and far between in our household. I am usually up and running around by this time, taking Chance to school, or going into the office… but not today. Today I am looking at the books I had wanted to read this week and I am thrilled to say that I am on the last few pages of the last one out of this group, VIOLA In Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani. I am enjoying this read and earlier this week over at Book Club Girl’s we had a live chat with this author.

Listen to this first paragraph:

I’m marooned. Abandoned. Left to rot in boarding school in the dust bowl of Indiana like the potato we found in the cupboard in our Kitchen in Brooklyn after months of searching for it. It was only when the entire kitchen began to smell like a root cellar from Pilgrim days that we figured out why – and when we finally found the poatato it was soft, rotten. and breeding itself with white barnacles with totally disgusting green tips.

Don’t you just love that? By the time I finished those words I could clearly smell the potato that had seen better days and the description of the white barnacles… very visual. I cant wait to review this book.

My plan today is to complete the book, clean the house a bit, maybe depending on when Chance gets home – maybe take in a movie this afternoon and tonight Al and I have a retirement party to go to for a guy he used to work with at UPS.

Current status for me? I am up but stil in the p.j.’s… and may stay that way for at least another hour… 🙂 Coffee Cup and I are on our 2nd cup, the weather is cool and the sky is overcast. Perfect reading weather.

Read on my friends! Enjoy your Saturday wherever you may be!

Morning Meanderings….

Published on October 2, 2009October 2, 2009 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

7 a.m. here in Minnesota and it is DARK. Spooky dark. The change in the seasons happened quickly and we went from a couple weeks of really beautiful 80 degree weather to the now wake up to 40 degrees and top out your day at 53 degrees. Yup… to me, that’s the downside of where I live.

However – the cold weather does keep me inside a lot more and my reading time does increase. Get a good major snow storm and I can have my own personal snow day and cuddle in a thick soft blanket surrounded by a couple great reads and a never ending pot of coffee, tea, or cocoa.

And fall also brings out the game board addict in me. I love board games. In fact we have a whole double wide closet dedicated to board games. Balderdash and Beyond Balderdash, Scruples, Cribbage, Pictionary, puzzles, Blurt, I think currently we have about 5 different versions of monopoly (Vikings monopoly, Disney monopoly, millennium monopoly, Star Wars monopoly…) and more.

Yesterday I was reading on a bookish website (I know… how different for me!) and discovered this little gem:

I know, right? How super cool is that? Bookopoly is available at Amazon. They also had banned book bracelets and Literati Challenge for the wordies out there!