Books burgers and brews

Morning Meanderings… Closet Gamer, Limping Dog, and a Book Event

Published on February 19, 2018 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Hmmmm…. I am feeling an update coming on for my Meandering photo… needs…. something.

SO… checking in here as I don’t read as fast as I once did. Correction… I probably read as fast as I ever did… its the time thingy to do it that is slowing me down. Life is crazy self inflicted busy in good ways so not complaining. And books still happen in book clubish ways and the occasional sneaking one in.

So today I ramble a bit. Because I have a little time having to skip the gym because I am taking Mater to the vet this morning… more on that soon….

Gamer. I am sure I have mentioned it here before… my love for games. ALL GAMES. Board games, team games, strategic games and yes… video games. And this weekend I bought an XBOX S.

Yes. Its true. I love strategy games. So I bought a few games and played…

AND then Mater…. the Beagle Basset Hound hurt his foot somehow. He has limped the last couple of days and last night I see one of his toenails was bleeding so I skipped the gym today and will be taking him in to the vet here shortly.

And last… but probably what you really want to hear about, Books, Burgers, and Brews is tonight and we have a full house of 65 RSVPS. We will be discussing the book The Nightingale by Kristen Hannah.

This GIGANTO book surprised me with the interest. Coming in at 570 pages, I figured this group would be smaller. I was wrong. For a while we had a wait list on this one as we had filled our space and more people wanted in. Wow…. magic book? Great discussion? Probably all of the above. 🙂 Should be a fun evening and I will post about it after.

So that’s my current sitch. I am reading The Thirteenth Tale for next weekends Books and Beans discussion. Another book I have always wanted to read – has been on my shelf FOR-EV-AH and now I am excited to read.

Ok. That’s it… I’m off.. to the vet… and then to a lunch… and then to prep for tonight.

What Are You Reading that is AWESOME?

Morning Meanderings… Thirteen Reasons Why will be the discussion of the week

Published on June 18, 2017 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

OMG you all… check it out.

Three days in a row…. crazy stuff. 😉

Its been raining off and on in Central Minnesota for days now it seems… I woke up to a very wet deck and lawn… but the air feels like it is going to get HOT today…
Tomorrow evening is the June Books, Burgers and Brews discussion for June. We are discussing Thirteen Reasons Why, the book over the Netflix series of course. Although I have been watching the Netflix series (started episode 11 last night) as well as I am sure I will have some in attendance who have read the book and watched the series, and probably some who have just watched the series. While this will be a different discussion, I think it will be an important one.

I reviewed Thirteen Reasons Why in February of 2010. I thought the book was very well done and hard to put down…so much in fact that six days later I interviewed author Jay Asher about the book. Who knew seven years later this title would be known to many due to the Netflix series and apparently much negativity towards the series as they are saying it is glamorizing suicide. I talked with a friend of mine who is a School Principal lately and he said this is true, letter have gone home to parents regarding this… one girl has gone even as far as to make the tapes….

My point in discussing this book tomorrow evening is most importantly, I am telling people do not judge the book by the series. While I am finishing the book today to refresh myself on it as it has been seven years, I never once though it glamorized suicide. Here I go again… preaching book over movie/TV.

Tomorrow also kicks off the Annual Children’s Book Sale for the Friends of the Brainerd Public Library. We sell all the Children’s books for 25 cents each and there are some BEAUTIFUL books. It is not about making money on this sale. It is about putting good books in little ones hands. I will be helping with the set up of the sale and may be there for the first hour but then will need to head over and set up for Books, Burgers, and Brews….

Yeah – tomorrow will be bookish… but in good ways. 🙂

Have you read Thirteen Reasons Why? If so what did you think? If you have watched the series what are your thoughts on that?

The Nest by Cynthia-DAprix-Sweeney (book and audio)

Published on June 17, 2017 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

The Nest was read by book club The Bookies in May as well as was the May Books Burgers and Brews choice. I listened to this on audio….

`Sheila

The Plumb family has their share of dysfunction with a capital “D”. The adult Plum siblings struggle with many things including one another, so for the most part they just keep apart. This is all fine and well until the oldest brother Leo gets himself in a little trouble with a waitress and a car accident that leaves the family loaded in bills… bills that are paid with the nest egg that had been set aside for the Plumb children to each have a fair share once the youngest turns 40…

Each of the Plumb siblings have been waiting and banking at that money for different reasons… some had big plans… others have already spend it just waiting for the money to be released to cover what they have done…

As the Plumbs scramble to figure our what to do they come face to face with many realities and hard facts as well as coming together in ways they had not done since they were children.

My book club The Bookies reviewed this in May. There were mixed thoughts on the book but wonderful discussion on siblings and the dynamics of relationships as you grow and have your own families. It was also interesting to discuss the nest egg, as what do we expect in todays day and age and how has that changed in modern-day compared to many years ago.

This book was liked, but not loved – finding in some cases that each siblings story line at times felt choppy or unfinished as characters were introduced and then gone.
From the audio book perspective, I enjoyed Mia Barrows narration very much and feel that may have given me a better experience over those who read the book, although I do agree there were story lines I would have liked to have known more about.

As I mentioned, Books, Burgers and Brews also discussed this book. Prairie Bay once again outdid themselves on a great menu to go along with our book discussion. This discussion with around 27 people was much the same as The Bookies. The book was liked, and there was much to discuss, but no one loved it.

As per tradition, Laurel and I always drink the drink special. So here’s to you Leo. Or here’s to you Plumb family….

How about you? Have you read this book? Do you agree with this assessment or did you have a different take away?

Books, Burgers,and Brews: The Circle by Dave Eggers

Published on April 11, 2017April 11, 2017 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

I am a gazillion posts behind and I have so much to share! Books Burgers and Brews has been going strong since October… this was the idea of having a Book Club in a public venue and Friends of the Brainerd Public Library hosting this free event. The vision was to bring non readers to books… while that is not exactly what has happened (it has been more people who can not find a book club, writers, other book club people…) it is still connecting people to books and really – isn’t that all I ever want?
~Sheila

The Circle made for a great discussion book. The futuristic synopsis around a company (The Circle) that puts social media at the forefront… where secrets are considered lies and transparency in all things has value.

Our group that night was the largest yet. We had 37 people at Prairie Bay and a good variety of ages… people that had grown up with social media of some sort being a part of their life, those who came by it later in life and those that have heard of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc… but not really engaged or understood the draw.

What fascinates me about such a book is that I tend to lose how I truly feel about the book (I believe, I liked it). Having lead book club discussions for so many years, I tend to focus on how the book will be for discussing and that is what excited me here. Over all, those in this room did not love the book… but they loved the discussion it brought out.

What is the dangers of social media?
What is too much information?
When are secrets a good thing?
If we are all 100% transparent, what is lost? When do we just become desensitized to everything?
Is what is described in the book what is happening in our world today?
If so, is there a way to stop it? Does the majority of the population want to?

As always, Prairie Bay created a wonderful Literary Menu for us…. The Eye In The Pie and The Three Wise Men Melt both sounded so good… I ordered them both… I was right they were delicious.

And… as has become tradition… the drink special is one that Laurel and I always have to try. This time there was two… the white wine that is mentioned in the book that Mae drinks… and a local beer that uses social media for promotions.

Once again… well played Prairie Bay.

Stay tuned.. later today I will post my review of the book The Circle.

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There Were Books… There Were Burgers… And There Were Brews (and Potato Vodka Too!)

Published on October 20, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

A few days back I shared with you the plans for a new event in our area, Books, Burgers, and Brews. Our kick off event was this past Monday and I spent much of the day prepping the details and at the same time fretting about the details….

What is it about new things that makes me a mess of butterflies in my tummy? I went over…. will they show up? Will they talk? Will they find the layout fresh, fun, and engaging….. will they find ME fresh, fun and engaging? Will I be able to fill up two hours or will we end early? Will they leave wanting to come again?

I need not have worried. We had 21 attendees for this debut event. I had a sign up sheet for those who wished to be notified of upcoming book selections and they almost all signed up.

Let me give you a little visual…

We used power point so everyone could follow along easily with the format and the questions. I showed a 15 minute interview with the author Andy Weir while everyone ordered their food and drinks and chatted. Oh and speaking of the food and drinks…

Our venue, Prairie Bay, made this awesome menu to go with our book discussion. SO MUCH FUN! I loved the Potato Farm and brought that home for Al.

One of the tasty burgers… the Potato Farm.

NASA water was a fun prop.

Some of the group who attended Books, Burgers, and Brews.

Suggestions for future reads or attendees could write down their own ideas.

The overall night was a lot of fun. We had a great discussion, and one guy who really did not like how the book was in journal entries and felt he did not need all the math and science info…. this different opinion than most of the other attendees was also fun as it added to the discussion. A friend of mine in the group who really enjoys science fiction reads found that The Martian was overly light to be considered Science Fiction, where others in the room found it to be heavy on the science side. In the end, I asked the group if they had the opportunity to write a three sentence synopsis on the back of the book what would it say. I challenged the guy who did not like the book to come up with one and he did… of course for the life of me I can not find his synopsis but it did have something to do with…

“The Martian… all of the suspense and magical appeal of Harry Potter at Hogwarts with the addition of shit potato’s.”

Anyhoo… something like that – but it was funny – and really, isn’t that what makes a great discussion is the difference in opinions and how we all see things a bit differently when we read?

I would wrap this one up as a success. It was good to see the group engaged in the discussion. I think everyone spoke up at one point. They enjoyed the food… and the little extras we put together. At the end people thanked us for doing this and that is really what is was meant to be…. another way for The Friends of the Brainerd Public Library to reach into the community and build value in what we do and in what our local library can provide.

Next months selection – by vote of our attendees….