Book Journey

Faces On Book Covers… Like Or Dislike?

Published on June 2, 2014June 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Today I was at an author event where the author was discussing his book covers. He actually had some fascinating thoughts on them (more on that in tomorrow’s post) but one thing he mentioned stood out to me. He has a cover with a little girl on a tricycle peddling away so you do not see her face, he said he had her riding away as when you see the face on a cover it gives you an image of what the character looks like and he feels that should be part of the reading experience; to create the character in your mind.

Part of the reading experience should be to create the character in your mind.

Ooh…. I like that.

I have always had a sort of dislike for covers that have a picture of the characters on them. Why? Because that image is now in my head as I read the book. The girl (or boy) on the cover is now who is running through the pages which is fine if it is a move cover as we already have the character defined for us by the big box… but not for the original pre-movie (or no-movie) book.

Ok so above – is my example. To the left, is the book I mentioned from the author today. It is an engaging cover and I like it… I want to know where she is going, or where she has went, or who has taken her…. the only thing that would bother me here is if the girl in the book has long flowing BLOND hair, or if her hair is short, unlike the cover. To the right, is Vampire Academy. Nothing against the book… but this girl on the cover makes me think of an older girl than the protagonist in the book.

There have been books I have read that the character inside the book is NOTHING like the cover picture and I can not even tell you how bat sh** crazy that makes me. I seriously flip from the cover to the page I am reading to the cover again… if the girl (or boy) on the cover is not the one described in the book, then who is she or he?

There is one instance that comes to mind from a few years back where the cover actually caused an all out battle. Seriously… anyone remember LIAR?

LIAR is the story of Micah who is well… a liar. And I will say she is! Or at least the people who made the cover are, because Micah, is an African-American girl… not at all the one in the cover. There is a HUGE story behind this cover and there was a refusal by bloggers to review the book as they were all so upset that the publishing company went with a white girl on the cover. Seriously…. this is a whole other story so Google it someday, but the ending result of this battle was:

Yup. Seriously amazing… and all of this could have been avoided.

I really prefer non-face covers. Give me a lake setting, a boat, abandoned car, a road, a house, even people way in the background so you can not really make them out… you name it… I can pretty much work with it… all of these lead me into the story…

“Who lives there?”

“Where are they going?”

What is going to happen?

What are your thoughts on book covers? Preferences? Do you mind faces on book covers? How do you feel when the cover does not match the story?

Don’t Forget…

Published on June 2, 2014June 6, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)1 Comment

Watch for reviews, interviews, and giveaways throughout June, here at Book Journey.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on June 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 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!

I just landed back in Minnesota late last night. The Book Expo was a lot of fun but I am ready to be back to my regularly scheduled life. 🙂 As you can probably guess with me running around New York all last week that not a lot was posted. I did manage to put some posts up at the Armchair BEA site which I will link as well as what I have completed here:

Live From BEA: Interview with Author Bette Lee Crosby

The Summer Of Letting Go by Gae Polisner (audio)

Life From Bea: From The Expo Floor

Awkward Moments At The Book Expo

Live From BEA The Grudge Keeper by Mara Rockliff and Peachtree Publishing

File Under 13 Suspicious Incidents by Lemony Snicket (fun audio!)

Live From BEA: Kristin Haas and Arbordale Publishing

Oh my gosh! I actually posted a lot. ROCKSTAR! LOL

So what is on deck for this week? So glad you asked!

For My Ears

When Saba Khan’s apartment burns in a mysterious fire, possibly a hate crime, her Chicago high school rallies around her. Her family moves rent-free into a luxury apartment, Saba’s Facebook page explodes, and she starts (secretly) dating a popular boy. Then a quirky piece of art donated to a school fund-raising effort for the Khans is revealed to be an unknown work by famous outsider artist Henry Danger, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Saba’s life turns upside down again. Should Saba’s family have all that money? Or should it go to the students who found the art? Or to the school? And just what caused that fire?

Vacationing at a luxurious Tuscan island resort, Nicolas Duhamel is hopeful that the ghosts of his past have finally been put to rest… Now a bestselling author, when he was twenty-four years old, he stumbled upon a troubling secret about his family – a secret that was carefully concealed. In shock, Nicholas embarked on a journey to uncover the truth that took him from the Basque coast to St. Petersburg – but the answers wouldn’t come easily.

In the process of digging into his past, something else happened. Nicolas began writing a novel that was met with phenomenal success, skyrocketing him to literary fame whether he was ready for it or not – and convincing him that he had put his family’s history firmly behind him. But now, years later, Nicolas must reexamine everything he thought he knew, as he learns that, however deeply buried, the secrets of the past always find a way out.

For My Eyes

Not sure what I will be reading yet….

How about you? How was your reading this past week? What is on deck for this week? Please share your Monday What Are You Reading posts below where it says click here:

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File Under 13 Suspicious Incidents by Lemony Snicket

Published on June 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Listening Length: 3 hours and 1 minute
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Hachette Audio

If you are not a member of our secret organization, hello there. This is a blank audiobook which you shouldn’t listen to. ~ as seen on the back of the audio jacket

Lemony Snicket is in the town of Stain’d-by-the-Sea but his stay is not a quiet one. In thirteen separate incidents he is called upon to assist in cracking a mystery. Kidnappings, vandalism, food theft, and even potential ghosts, Lemony, along with the help of the reader, solves each case.

13 Suspicious Incidents is divided into thirteen short stories read by different narrators. Kudos to John Scieszka, Terry Gross, Sarah Vowell, Libba Bray, Ira Glass, Sophie Blackall, Jon Klassen, Chris Kluwe, Holly Black, Sook-Yin Lee, Rachel Maddow, Stephin Merritt, and Wesley Stace.

Each story is a mystery that Lemony files and then moves on to the next case. At the end of the thirteen stories, each story is quickly revisited and explains the solution. What a fun may for a middle grade student to try to solve these mysteries before they hear the answers!

I personally found the stories fun and enjoyed the different narrations. I have to admit… some of the cases had me stumped and I had to wait to the end to figure it out. 🙂

This audio is right around 3 hours long. This would be great for a car ride with kids.

Morning Meanderings… Book Expo HaNgOvEr

Published on June 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning from….. Minnesota! Yes, I am back. I landed in Minneapolis yesterday evening and had a treacherous drive home through the storms and extreme rain. Twice I pulled over because it was raining so hard I could not see the road. There were cars pulled over everywhere. Talk about your EXTREME driving.

Now I sit in the comforts of my own home chilling with my COFFEE and feel up and thinking about my day of catching up on some household things but mostly…. lying low. I am wiped out but not as wiped out as I have been in the past which is nice. My feet do not hurt from all the walking around the expo and the streets of New York however I do think my shoe of choice today will be “flip-flop”. 😀

Sheila DeChantal, Book Journey — As you can see, Sammy is not about to let me get away any time soon. 😉

Also a few books came in while I was away:

Belly Up, MOUSEHEART, and The Search For Wondla are a win from Beth Fish Reads

Here and Again by Nicole R Dickson (audio)

The Collision Battle for Darracia by Michael Phillip Cash

Andi Under Pressure by Amanda Flower

The THREE by Sarah Lotz

Throughout this next week I will be posting Book Expo recaps so stay tuned 🙂 I am also still adding posts to Armchair BEA. This afternoon I plan to be giving Book Journey a bit of a facelift… I came up with some ideas at the expo and am excited to get started. I am not sure all what I will be doing, but my hope is that the final look will be fresh and professional looking. Feel free to peek 😉

Morning Meanderings: Awkward Moments At The Book Expo

Published on May 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Good morning from New York! I have not dropped off the face of the earth, I have just been running from morning to night at the Book Expo in New York.

I have MANY things to share with you once I come home about the expo, the books, the people, the events… but for now… just a funny little story and a couple of pics for Saturday Snapshot. 🙂

So… on Wednesday at the Blogger Convention, author Maureen Johnson was the keynote speaker. At the beginning of her talk she mentions the book 50 Shades Of Gray. Alison from Alison’s Book Marks and I have a joke about that book so I put on Twitter “20 minutes in and already a mention of 50 Shades Of Gray” and tagged Alison. (I did not realize due to poor internet reception that this tweet did not post but went into drafts instead.)

Anyhoo…. flash forward to yesterday morning and Alison and I are at the Children’s breakfast which was AMAZING with moderator, Jason Segel. (Yes! That Jason Segel!) I put on Twitter that I am at the Children’s Breakfast at the book expo. Then Twitter pops up on my phone and says

“you have drafts to send would you like to send them now?”

I click yes… and before I know it, following my “I am at the Children’s Breakfast at the book Expo” tweet is…

“20 minutes in and already a mention of 50 Shades Of Gray”

Right????

LOL

Anyhoo… today is my last day at the expo. I am heading that way in about an hour to wrap up a few things but for my Saturday Snapshot post I thought I would send a couple of pics your way…. also, please see my posts at Armchair BEA where I have interviewed a couple of authors and publishing houses. 😀

zombie, New York, Book Expo, BookJourney, Sheila DeChantal — Outside… across form our hotel? Should I be worried? Is there where watching The Walking Dead pays off?

Harper Collins, Book Journey, Book Expo, Sheila DeChantal, Adriana Trigiani, Dorothy Benotn Frank, Stephanie Evanovich — The Harper Collins Blogger Party… from the left: Dorothy Benton Frank, me, Adriana Trigiani, and Stephanie Evanovich. Made my night!

New York, Book Expo, Book Journey, Sheila DeChantal — Walking back to our hotel – with (center) Alison from Alison’s Book Marks and (right) Candace from Beth Fish Reads

Catch you back in Minnesota!

LIVE! From New York! Day 1 Travel Day Woes

Published on May 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Hello from NEW YORK! Egads Tuesday was A LONG TRAVEL DAY. I left my home in Brainerd at 4:11 am and was at the hotel in New York at 6:45 pm. GAH. We had a bonus two hour lay over in Chicago due to poor weather.

My dinner consisted of a chicken black bean burrito that I grabbed from Laguardia airport before I caught my cab. I want to complain about it but it was actually good…LOL and I am in New York so the “tude” needs to go away. 🙂

Anyhoo…. this morning I am on my way to the Book Blogger Convention where I will hang out and chat it up with other BOOK LOVERS and listen to the speakers, and take noted for posts when I get home and posts for Armchair BEA…. and then, I get to speak on the last panel of the day….

Engaging Your Readers: Take Your Writing to the Next Level

This all-intensive writing workshop will discuss how to create meaningful and engaging content outside of the classic book review and will take a closer look at ways to format and edit your blog posts.

Takeaways:

How to captivate your readers with clever blog posts and improve your writing style
New ways to format your review and best practices for editing
Using social media such as Storify and Instagram as source material for blog posts

Mandy Boles
Moderator

Nicole Bonina
Linus’s Blanket

Sheila DeChantal
Book Journey

Jason Baker
Mediander LLC

Watch Twitter for updates today from myself as well as many BEA attendees at #BEA14… this is about the only time of year that I really tweet. 😀

Morning Meanderings… Go Time! BEA!

Published on May 27, 2014May 27, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Good morning! I am currently sitting at the Minneapolis airport with COFFEE and hanging out for the next hour before my flight leaves for Chicago… then off to New York. Kim from Sophisticated Dorkiness will be in this same airport , leaving about 30 minutes after me this morning.

Lets recap my morning so far:

1. up at 3:30 am. An ungodly hour in case you have never seen it. 😀

2. Ready and car loaded I pull out of driveway by 4:11 am

3. Drive in hard rain most of the way to the cities which makes for TENSE driving conditions when it is pitch black out. Listening to the audio Delicious by Ruth Reichl and that made it pleasant. 🙂

4. Park in airport parking but have trouble at the ticket station for parking and it does not give me a ticket…. go into parking lot ticket free, hoping my credit card swipe took care of all other “things that make me go STRESS” 😉

5. check bag. Pretty much hitch free.

6. Talk to people in security line, a group of them are going on a tour…. kind of cool.

7. Find gate and look at it.

8. Stroll to nearest Caribou Coffee and “Sheila is here”

So……

BEA! It seems so long ago when Candace and I were chatting back in December about going and rooming together. I believe she said she is taking a train today. How cool is that?

I was digging around looking at some old videos I made recently I found this one I made after returning from the book expo in 2011:

It still cracks me up and yes it is a little embarrassing that I did that… but really is sums up the excitement. If you listen closely you can hear me pause towards the end where I am trying hard not to laugh. I hope the neighbors didn’t think I was nuts. 😀

So today’s agenda is pretty much just get there. I land around 4:11 pm, then I need to make my way to our hotel which if all goes well I hope to be there by 5 – 5:30. I have no plan for tonight so I may catch dinner, a show – or I may just stay in and prep for Wednesday which is a HUGE day.

I will be making posts as I can here, but definitely watch for my posts at Armchair BEA where I will be reporting on events at the expo as well as interviews with publishers, authors, and hopefully a few bloggers.

Yesterday at Armchair BEA they kicked off with an introduction meme and I was too crazy busy to participate but let me give you a small version now:

My name is Sheila and I have been blogging here at Book Journey for 5 years on June 9th. I love many genres of books so this blog has been a fun outlet for sharing my diverse tastes with fellow readers. One of the BEST things about writing reviews and bookish posts is that I get to connect with ALL OF YOU. Some of you I have had the pleasure of meeting thanks to the Book Expo.

I will be at the Expo this week, but as mentioned above I will be chatting about it here, and on Armchair BEA. You can still register to be a part of the arm chair…. I highly recommend it 😀

Most of you know me from my pic above, but since my hair has been cut since that pic – I will give you this one I took yesterday so those attending the expo hopefully recognize me and will say hi. Seriously, say hi – it would be awesome to meet you in person and I am really tunnel visioned while at the expo so feel free to trip me to get my attention.

See you on the BLOG! 😀

The Summer Of Letting Go by Gae Polisner

Published on May 26, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Summer has arrived and 15-year-old Francesca “Frankie” Schell has no big plans. Four years ago while on the beach with her family, Francesca’s little brother Simon drowned while Francesca was supposed to be watching him. Even now, Francesca’s mother is distant towards her and her father seems to be spending a little too much time at the single ladies house across the street. Francesca’s best friend is always busy with her super cute boyfriend Bradley who Francesca wishes was her own.

With her home life a mess, Francesca goes to the local country club where she meets a darling 4-year-old boy named ironically Frankie and has a striking resemblance to Simon. As more and more coincidences starts to come up, Francesca starts to wonder if there is such a thing as reincarnation or if this is some sort of cosmic alignment trying to help Francesca to move forward from the tragedy that has held her in place for so long.

The Summer Of Letting Go is an engaging summer read that brings you right into the world that Francesca lives in. A powerful read of loss and moving on from the perspective of a teenage girl who not only has lived the pain of loss first hand, but also sees how if affects others around her.

I was surprised how engaged I became in this book. Well written, I had at least two moments where I caught my breath.. Gae Polisner does a fine job of bringing you right to that teenage level of “emotion amplified” and I didn’t want the book to end.

If you do audio, I recommend listening to this one. The narration of Tara Sands was excellent. Tara handled the different characters flawlessly.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on May 25, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

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

Crazy busy week with our office moving. We finalized that today. Here is what I did post this week:

We Were Liars by E Lockhart

Book Expo and Armchair BEA

Naked by David Sedaris

Not Lost Forever by Caramina Salcido

The Here And Now by Ann Brashares

what Constitutes A SPOILER? (chime in on this one!)

Since I am leaving for the book expo on Tuesday morning it will be hard for me to plan a schedule of what I will be reading. I have audio I will listen to on my way to the airport and I will take my e reader and one book but I have not decided what yet 🙂

So this week I would love to know, if you are not going to the expo, are you checking out Armchair BEA (I hope you are!) and of course, what are you reading? Add your link to your what are you reading post below where it says click here:

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