Book Journey

Morning Meanderings… Book Expo and Armchair BEA

Published on May 23, 2014May 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Good morning! What a week! I have been packing up my office which is moving this weekend to a new home that I will not be working in until June 9th. That kind of blows me away to write that. I guess, in a way – I am already on vacation… well in a way. I am still helping with some packing, and on Sunday I will be in that packed up office helping to direct the movers of what is going and what needs to be done…

Its exciting and exhausting and a little scary to step into this new space but I know it will be amazing.

And Tuesday… in the wee hours of the morning I will drive the 3 hours to Minneapolis to catch my plane at 9:30 am heading to New York for the Book Expo.

SQQQUUEEEE!

If you are unfamiliar with the Book Expo, here is a little taste:

BEA (Book Expo America) is authors and publishing houses and bloggers, and bookish things to do, and open houses, and invites to events, and books….

Did I mention the books?

Its a time when I step out of the reality of my life and walk into this world that is fast paced and CRAZY fun. I will be reporting here on what is happening… and I will be reporting live for Armchair BEA.

I have chatted about this before – but I am going to mention it again. For those who are not attending BEA, the incredible Armchair BEA awaits you. So .. what is Armchair BEA?

Have you ever been in a simulator? Like a car that gives you the feeling that you are on a race track? That is what Armchair BEA is. It gives you a chance to enjoy some of the BEA experience from the comfort of your homes… no plane, house sitter, or even luggage – required. Shoot… you can even stay in your pajamas!

Armchair BEA is free, so make sure you register and join the HUNDREDS of other bloggers and authors who will be participating. There are daily topics, giveaways, but dont listen to me jabber on…. please, go check it out for yourself!

There has been a hard working team behind the scenes that has been chatting and making this an incredible year for Armchair BEA. Myself, and three others are on the on site team:

ON-SITE CORRESPONDENTS

(Coordinator) Florinda (The 3’s Blog: Reading, ‘Riting, & Randomness)
florinda AT 3rsblog DOT com
Twitter: @Florinda_3rs

Amber Ostheimer (Shelf Notes)
shelfnotesblog AT gmail DOT com
Twitter: @shelfnotesblog

Sheila DeChantal (Book Journey)
journeythroughbooks AT gmail DOT com
Twitter: @bookjourney

Sophia (Loving Lit)
Sophia AT lovinglit DOT com
Twitter: @sophiareads

Be sure to watch for our tweets, and we will be posting at the Armchair BEA site giving you a feel of what is happening form New York!

Anyway – that’s more than a morning post…. that’ s a LOT of info for this early but I hope if you are not attending BEA you will take a look at Armchair BEA.

Naked by David Sedaris

Published on May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Naked is David Sedaris’s 2001 take on his life at the time… reminiscing about teachers, camp, his sexuality, family life you name it David probably has covered it.

I started listening to David Sedaris last year with his Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls. His matter of fact humor left me wanting more and I have followed up with a couple more of his books on audio (he narrates them himself which makes them even more fun).

Naked is a short three-hour listen and while it has its moments,

“We were not a hugging people. In terms of emotional comfort it was our belief that no amount of physical contact could match the healing powers of a well made cocktail.”

While I did enjoy David, the addition of his sister in this audio I found to be a harsh contrast as she handled the voices of teachers and I think at times herself to David’s steady rhythmic tone. I have found I enjoy his narration alone much better.

Still… looking for a fun quick laugh…. give it a try. 🙂

Morning Meanderings… Time to Wear Shades! And, Err…Shades.

Published on May 22, 2014May 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Good morning happiest of sun shiny days to you! I have been up for hours and have procrastinated on getting ready for work like you would not believe.

Or…

maybe you would.

Instead of writing this post like I meant to right away this morning… I boiled eggs. I made coffee. I text my husband. I wrote out questions for next weeks panel at BEA, I erased those questions and wrote them again, I sold an air hockey table on a Facebook garage sale site…

and now….

I write.

Yesterday I had a meeting regarding Camp Benedict which will be in Mid June this year. I assisted in laying out the plans of the week and brain stormed some fun things to do to engage our “campers” as this is the 20th year of camp.

When I left the meeting I drove through town to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. As I walked into the grocery store I went to put my sunglasses on top of my head, only to realize I already had a pair of sunglasses on my head.

Oh good grief.

I laughed with the lady who witnessed this, and made some offhand comment about you know you are busy when you are wearing two pairs of sunglasses at the same time. Later, I thought about how odd I must have looked driving through town with a pair of sun glasses on top of my head and another over my eyes….

you know..

you can never have too many pairs of sunglasses.

😀

Ok – I need to get ready for work. I have nothing really bookish to report other than I am buried in glorious audio and I am not complaining. I have not been reading much, but I am in prep mode for the book expo which I will share more on perhaps tomorrow morning between the coffee and the eggs…..

Quick…. tell me, what are you reading today?

Morning Meanderings… Expo On My Mind

Published on May 20, 2014May 20, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning. Or I guess afternoon, or evening.. depending on where you are and when you read this. 🙂

For me… it is blurry eyes, longing for a second cup of coffee morning.

I think…

sometimes I think too much.

It is Tuesday. A week from today I will board a plane heading for New York to hang out with my roommate Candace (Beth Fish Reads), and see some amazing bookish friends, Alison (Alison’s Book Marks), Kathy (Bermuda Onion) and Julie (Booking Mama) – just to name a few…. there are so many more I am excited to see! Honestly, seeing these book relationships are half the fun of the expo.

But…

before next Tuesday I will pack up my office and prep it to move this weekend to a new office that I will come back to after the expo.

Yup. Life is crazy like that. 😛

SO back to the expo…

Last night I was sorting through invites and lining up and synchronizing my schedule for once I am there. I am not that person that has it all planned out as to which publishing house I want to be at and what time… no… I kind of wish I was, but I also just like the freedom of wandering around.

A couple of fun things happening..

I will be helping out with on site Armchair BEA – which means I will be sending in video and posts to the Armchair BEA site to go up for those participating. I hope to have some fun things happening with that. 🙂 If you are not signed up to participate in Armchair BEA and not attending the New York BEA, I highly recommend you do sign up…. it is going to be fun… and there are prizes. 😀

I am speaking on one of the panels at the Blogger Convention on bringing your writing to the next level. EEP. That one will be exciting!

So anyhoo…. that’s what is happening here. I need to pack my office…. and pack my suitcase.

Life…

is never dull.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (Smoking Good!)

Published on May 19, 2014May 19, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Tall, blond Cadance Sinclair Eastman is the apple of her grandfather Harris’ eye as the oldest granddaughter. The Sinclair family come from money and each summer the Aunts (Cadance’s mother and her two sisters) gather with their children off a private Island in Massachusetts owned by Harris. The children, or really teens (all around 15) fondly refer to themselves as “The Liars” and consist of Cadance, Johnny, Mirren, and Gat, who is a friend of the family.

During that 15th summer, Cadance finds she has a crush of Gat; and really – he on her as well. It is a summer of new love until an accident leave Cadance with a concussion and no memory as to what happened. She misses the next summer at the Island but returns her 17th year still knowing little of what happened. Her cousins had not responded to her emails over the past year, and even Gat seems to have been avoiding her; no one wanting to tell her the details of what happened those two summers ago as her doctor has said it was best if she remembered on her own.

As Cadance slowly begins to remember snippets of what happened she starts to piece together a horrible truth.

We Are Liars blew me out of the water. And shoot…. I didn’t even know I was in water! This is a book of friendships and first love. I enjoyed the imagery of these four friends hanging out on an island together each summer, reconnecting, swimming, having fun, and largely having the place to themselves except for meals with the adults and the occasional chores.

Cadance was a likable protagonist; even after her injury as her messed up mind tried to put it all back together I rooted for her… wanting to know just as much as the next person what had happened and why all the secrecy!

There are few books that truly shock me, but We Are Liars sent me shooting high above the ground and then spiraling down at break neck speed. I read somewhere that this was a book to read in one sitting. I listened to this on audio from start to finish, not wanting to stop.

A book full of tiny pebbles of clues that after all was said in done I was all “Whoa…” and “oh that makes sense” and “nicely played” as well. 🙂

I highly recommend this book – fantastic on audio and I imagine the book would play out just as well.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on May 18, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Hey there! Welcome to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading!

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. Fair warning… this meme tends to add to your reading list!

May is just flying by already! I am just trying to take it one day at a time again with a huge work week ahead of me, an office move and the Book Expo starting next week! EEP!

Here is what was posted here this week:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Moloka’i by Alan Brennert – Bookies Review

Creativity INC. Overcoming Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way Of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull

Weekend Cooking – Hawaiian Style!

Guilty Please Reading – what is yours? (W/giveaway!)

I have 3 reviews to write so I am still managing to read! YAY!!! Here is what I plan to listen to and read this week.

For My Ears

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

For My Eyes

Four simultaneous plane crashes. Three child survivors. A religious fanatic who insists the three are harbingers of the apocalypse. What if he’s right?

The world is stunned when four commuter planes crash within hours of each other on different continents. Facing global panic, officials are under pressure to find the causes. With terrorist attacks and environmental factors ruled out, there doesn’t appear to be a correlation between the crashes, except that in three of the four air disasters a child survivor is found in the wreckage.

Dubbed ‘The Three’ by the international press, the children all exhibit disturbing behavioural problems, presumably caused by the horror they lived through and the unrelenting press attention. This attention becomes more than just intrusive when a rapture cult led by a charismatic evangelical minister insists that the survivors are three of the four harbingers of the apocalypse. The Three are forced to go into hiding, but as the children’s behaviour becomes increasingly disturbing, even their guardians begin to question their miraculous survival…

I hope to get through more, but that is what I am working on. How about you? What books and audio have you spent time with this past week.. or coming up this week? Please add your It’s Monday What Are You Reading Link below where it says click here.

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For those of you that read mainly middle grade and children’s books, be sure to also link to the younger version of It’s Monday by using the link below!

Guilty Pleasure Reading …. What’s Yours? You know you have one! (W/giveaway)

Published on May 18, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)123 Comments

You know the books… the ones you are drawn to but even you are not always exactly sure why. It may be a long-term addiction… or it could be fairly new… but either a genre, a topic, or certain type of book draws you to it time and again.

We may not even care to admit that we like to read them. In fact… we may overreact if caught reading them or if someone speaks against them…

Relax. Sheila says relax. 😉 I have them too. Mine fall under the category of books that may be defined as dorky…. but I really have found that I like reading about companies…. corporations… and the people behind them. I mean I loved the move Social Network (about Facebook). And I loved reading about Steve Jobs, The Makers of the game Doom, Straight Flush (about the college kids who brought the online poker industry to an all time high, and most recently Creativity Inc about the success of Pixar.

I think I am drawn to the creative thinking process. I am so amazed at the brilliant people who come up with things like the IPOD, creating video games, developing winning strategies. I guess what they all have in common is success. And if I am honest… I am drawn to it.

On the darker side… I also like to read the occasional true crime.

What does that say about me? I am not sure I want to know….

What is your guilty pleasure read? Craft books, how to books, vampires, dystopian, harlequin romances, books about animals….. Oh my! Share 🙂

For fun…. (I like fun!) leave a comment with your answer and I will enter you into a giveaway for a $15 Amazon gift card to purchase one of your guilty pleasure books of your choice. I will email the winner the gift card on Friday of this week.

I can not wait to hear what your guilty pleasure reads are 🙂

Morning Meanderings…Books, Sun, BEA, and Sunday!

Published on May 18, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Happy Sunday! It looks like it will be a BEAUTIFUL day here in central Minnesota. Oh…. did I inadvertently mention BEA?

I know… I know… I have used this before for the Book Expo Of America (BEA) but… it’s “punny”. I have too. 😉

The book expo will put me in New York a week from Tuesday and I am super excited! This will be my 5th year attending. It is always exciting to meet up with some of the other book bloggers, authors, and publishing houses. As usual I feel utterly disorganized.. I have not even started planning out my week…

I will talk more about the Expo as the week goes on…

In bookish news… here is what entered my home this week:

The Girls At The Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine

Shovel Ready by Adam Sternbergh

Think Like A Freak by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

The Secret Hum Of A Daisy by Tracy Holczer

Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta

Season Of The Dragon Fly by Sarah Creech (2 copies)

Don’t Try To Find Me by Holly Brown

This is two weeks worth of books as last weekend we were at College Sons graduation. Looks like I have some good reading ahead… and quite possible in the sun this afternoon!

What are you doing with your Sunday? Any books today?

Weekend Cooking – Literacy and Food

Published on May 17, 2014May 17, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

The bookies Book Club read and review Moloka’i by Alan Brennert this past week. ,One of things I love about reading for book club is the opportunity to make something I probably never would have tried. Miloka’i based in the late 1800’s Hawaii. I made two things for this review, Sweet Potato Casserole and Poi.

For this weeks Weekend Cooking I will post both recipes.

Sweet Potato Casserole

4-5 large sweet potatoes halved

4-5 bananas peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch slices

16 oz. crushed pineapple in own juice

1 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 Tablespoon cold butter

2 tsp. salt

1 cup pineapple juice (saved off the crushed pineapple)

1 tsp. Lemon Juice

2 Tablespoons honey

Heat over to 350 degrees. lightly butter bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside.

Place the potatoes into a pan of water that covers the potatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook 15 to 20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Drain and let steam dry until you are able to touch, then peal the skin off the potatoes, rough chop and place in the 9 x 13 pan.

Dot with the cold butter over the potatoes.

Sprinkle the salt over the potatoes.

Arrange the bananas over the potatoes.

Sprinkle evenly with the brown sugar and cinnamon combo.

Top with crushed pineapple.

Whisk together the pineapple juice, lemon juice, and honey until honey is dissolved. Pour over the top of casserole.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

*This was pretty tasty. The banana’s seemed odd but actually complimented the dish. I thought it would be extremely sweet but it was not over the top. I would make this again for a unique potluck dish. ~Sheila

Poi

You asked for the recipe… I am giving it but there is really not much to it. 🙂

2 pounds Taro Root (surprisingly I found this at my local grocery store)

water

Bring taro root to a boil in 2 quarts of water. Cook for about 40 minutes. Drain, cool, and peal the root. Rough chop taro into a bowl. Blend in blender with 1 cup of water until smooth. (There are more traditional ways to do this that involve a grass skirt, a smooth rock and a hollowed out piece of wood but I went “new school” and “got ‘er done”!) 🙂

A couple things about Poi. There is one finger, two finger, and three finger poi. This is because traditionally you scoop it up with your fingers. The thicker the poi, the less fingers used. I am happy to say, I made a one finger poi:

Poi tasted like bland potatoes. I was surprised when looking on line I could not find any variations of this recipe to jazz it up a bit. I would have liked to have made three cheese poi, or fully loaded poi with garlic and sour cream and bacon… just saying 😉

And finally why is my poi white when traditionally it is purple? I have no idea. I was disappointing as I was looking forward to the bright purple I seen in pictures. I Googled this question but came up with no answers.

Literacy Events and Plenty Of Cake

Published on May 17, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Happy Saturday! Really! The sun is shining in central Minnesota and I think I will actually be able to mow today which I LOVE! (Mowing = audio time) 😀

If you read my morning post yesterday I listed some bookish things I was doing with my day. My friend Gail and I went to help out a struggling lending library that was lacking books. It was a fun little road trip with coffee and scones (thanks Gail!) The owner had put out an s.o.s. on Facebook and he said the post received over 4,000 hits! Our community passed the word and he said books had been coming in. Between Gail and I, I believe we brought them another 40-50 books.

1aaa — **The books I gave to the lending library**

20130910_163823 — **This is on the side of the lending library that sits outside Zaiser’s in NIsswa.**

Then yesterday afternoon The Friends Of The Brainerd Public Library were part of a Literacy Award for our Community College where the author Jon Hassler, once taught. Jon wrote many books from adult fiction and non fiction to children’s stories. He is most known for Staggerford, which was also Jon’s first book, about a week in the life of a teacher in a fictional small town in Minnesota. His books have been said to be filled with a lot of action or major happenings, but more like the Mittford series by Jan Karon or the Debbie MaComber series.

20130910_174722 — **The friends handled the reception of the event with trays of goodies and cake and coffee**

This is the 5th Literary Landmark for Minnesota – YAY! The others are:

Boyhood home of Sinclair Lewis, Sauk Centre, Minn. Harry Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) spent his formative years in this home. He was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright who became the first writer from the United States to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. His works are known for their insightful and critical views of American society and capitalist values, as well as for their strong characterizations of working women. Partners: Minnesota Association of Library Friends, Sinclair Lewis Foundation. Dedicated July 16, 2013.
Betsy’s House, Mankato, Minn. The childhood home of Maud Hart Lovelace was dedicated along with the childhood home of her best friend, Frances “Bick” Kenney. Lovelace’s series of Betsy-Tacy books was based on her and Bick’s adventures growing up in Mankato. Dedicated May 20, 2010. Partner: Betsy-Tacy Society.
Tacy’s House, Mankato, Minn. The childhood home of Frances “Bick” Kenney was dedicated along with the childhood home of her best friend, Maud Hart Lovelace. Lovelace’s series of Betsy-Tacy books was based on her and Bick’s adventures growing up in Mankato. Dedicated May 20, 2010. Partner: Betsy-Tacy Society.
481 Laurel Avenue, the birthplace on September 24, 1896 of novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is internationally renowned for such works as The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and This Side of Paradise. Saint Paul, MN. Dedicated September 24, 2004. Partner: The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library

*as seen on the United For Libraries page, Literary Landmarks by State.

It was awesome to be a part of this event. I was there along with a few hard-working Friends of Our Library – Gail, Laura, and Jolene from our Library in Brainerd.