Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on March 2, 2014March 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)54 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!

Another fairly quiet weekend that allowed me a little audio time and a little book time. This week I managed to post:

12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northop

Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Librarian For A Day Experience

Summer-Cation! Join in the on-line fun planned for next Friday!

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

This week I have a few commitments throughout the week and then a weekend get away next weekend that I am rather excited about. 🙂 With that said, here is the plan for the listening and reading this week:

For My Ears:

Winning what you want may cost you everything you love

As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions. One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin. But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.

I just received this one in the mail this past week and it is really catching my attention.

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance. In a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens.

Here an enigmatic band of warriors bear swords of no human metal; a tribe of fierce wildlings carry men off into madness; a cruel young dragon prince barters his sister to win back his throne; and a determined woman undertakes the most treacherous of journeys. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones.

Well, here is the thing. I needed another audio from audible.com. My audio books on my phone have all been listened to. When I haven’t heard of or seen on a blog anything that has really grabbed me… I go to Google. This time I google “Best narrated audio books” and this one comes up on the list. By sheer MASSIVENESS I have shied away from these books although I have been slowly collecting them from the library sales as they intrigue me. SO… we will see.

For My Eyes:

When Lily’s fierce-hearted black “stand-in mother,” Rosaleen, insults three of the town’s most vicious racists, Lily decides they should both escape to Tiburon, South Carolina—a town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. There they are taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters who introduce Lily to a mesmerizing world of bees, honey, and the Black Madonna who presides over their household. This is a remarkable story about divine female power and the transforming power of love—a story that women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.

Yes, there are books that even avid readers like myself miss reading. This is the book club that my book club chose for our March read. Oddly, I think only one or two of us have read it. So… in honor of my friend Amanda who is a bee keeper…. here we go 🙂

Provence, 1970 is about a singular historic moment. In the winter of that year, more or less coincidentally, the iconic culinary figures James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Julia Child, Richard Olney, Simone Beck, and Judith Jones found themselves together in the South of France. They cooked and ate, talked and argued, about the future of food in America, the meaning of taste, and the limits of snobbery. Without quite realizing it, they were shaping today’s tastes and culture, the way we eat now. The conversations among this group were chronicled by M.F.K. Fisher in journals and letters—some of which were later discovered by Luke Barr, her great-nephew. In Provence, 1970, he captures this seminal season, set against a stunning backdrop in cinematic scope—complete with gossip, drama, and contemporary relevance.

Most times, when books arrive to review they go to my review shelf to be picked off at a later date. OCCASIONALLY… a book will not make it to the shelf as I do want it to get lost int he shuffle so it will take an honorary spot on the table in the library and it will wait to be picked up. This is one of those books.

Feels like a solid plan to me. 🙂 I am curious what you are reading this week and what you read this past week. I pick up so many book ideas from all of you! Please add your What Are You Reading post to where it says “click here” below.

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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!

Heartburn by Nora Ephron

Published on March 2, 2014March 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Seven months pregnant and author of several cook books, Rachel Samstat finds herself in a pickle she never thought she would experience. She has just discovered that her husband Mark had fallen in love with someone else. Oh, and not just “any” someone, no, it would have to be a wife of someone both Rachel and Mark knew quite well.

As Rachel tells a friend, “The most unfair thing about this whole business, is that I can’t even date.”

As Rachel’s marriage breaks down, she turns to what she knows, cooking, and her therapy group, and even that proves to be a bit dangerous at times. As Rachel and Mark try to still act as a couple at functions and friends homes, the layout turns into quite a humorous tale.

Heartburn is the first book I have read by Nora Ephron and I felt that it was about time I gave this author a try. Ephron, the creator of When Harry Met Sally, SIlkwood, and Sleepless in Seatle. ANother strange draw for me to Heartburn was the fact that this book was actually based off the true happenings in the break up of Ephron’s real marriage to Carl Bernstein. The book was close enough to hitting home that Carl threatened to sue Ephron. Later, the book was made into a movie staring Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.

Heartburn is a quick funny read, or in my case listen as I tried this one on audio. The way Rachel gets back at Mark is pretty funny yet there are also moments that I wish she would quit giving him control. I will definitely try something else by this author, and if you haven’t done so yourself, I recommend you try her as well. Nora Ephron was definitely a part of the media culture we live in and should not be missed.

1aa — Heartburn takes place in Washington DC

Morning Meanderings…. Caffeine Apocalypse #needmycoffeenow

Published on March 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Good morning!

Sunday already! I spent the most part of yesterday working on the Camp Benedict website. What I thought would be a few tweaks, led to more links, etc…. and then when I thought I could work on it more today, found out that it was being shown at a camp benefit show last night and needed to look sharp. *gulp* Back to it, all through dinner, but it is done. 😀

As per my goal, I did not leave the house yesterday which led to my late morning crisis of going to make a second pot of coffee and seeing I did not have enough.

😯

NO coffee…and of course now here I am (since I did not leave the house yesterday) sipping on a cup of green tea and trying to pretend it is the same thing. For the record… it’s not the same thing.

Books last week – had some fun ones come in….

Yes, three audio books! You have no idea how excited that makes me 🙂 I am in need of some great audio! The books also look great, I have some reading to do this afternoon after I get home.

And finally… because I am out of coffee and I think hash tags can be funny (#gettingmycaffeineon, #coffeeless, #showmethegrounds, #jonesingforthebrew, #cupacupa, #headingtostarbucks, #musthavecoffee) I thought I would leave you this funny clip with Jimmy Fallon and Hashtags. 😀

We Interupt This Winter for A Summer Beach Break Event With Prizes!

Published on March 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Everywhere I look in Minnesota there is SNOW SNOW SNOW. We are having wind chill warnings weekly, snow storms, and more school closings this year then I remember in my entire life. 😯 Then I go on-line and read other book reviewers in the same boat – unusual cold temperatures, winds, snow in states that normally do not get snow…

And then here are two things that pushed me over the proverbial edge that came to my attention in the last 24 hours:

1. Our Local Water and Light Company has advised that to prevent pipes from freezing we run a pencil width stream of water in our home faucets from now until (wait for it……) April 15th. APRIL 15th???

2. Minnesota lakes are reporting having 30 – 36 inches of thick ice on them. At this rate we will be ice fishing in June.

Due to all of that… I am calling an emergency Summer-Cation. We need to talk sunshine people!!!! This event will take place next weekend, March 7-9th. I am looking for people to write posts of a great summer experience (sun is not optional… I repeat sun is not optional! 😀 ) While not mandatory, I hope that most of the participants will offer a summery type giveaway…something beach or vacation worthy, preferably bookish as well but doesn’t have to be.

A few ideas to get you thinking of your giveaway would be:

A great summer read

A Beach bag to bring your books along with you

sunglasses, tanning lotion, beach towel….

You get the idea. 😀

If you want to participate please fill out the form below.

Morning Meanderings… Saturday My Favorite Day Of The Week!

Published on March 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

If you read me I think you know I LOVE Saturdays. Quite often they are the day that I have no commitments and I really need a day like that, preferably at least once a week or I get a little boggled. 😀

Today… is a no commitment day.

I have really had no super excitement as of late, the run I was supposed to do last Sunday I did not do because of my injured foot (the ol’ dropping of the treadmill) and our roads here in Central Minnesota were BAD last weekend after yet another snow storm. There was an opportunity to do a Polar Plunge today about 30 miles from here but with the temperatures still dipping below zero, and the people I knew that thought they were going to do it really never decided…. I will wait another year to do that again. 😀

I thought today or Saturday Snapshot, since outside is cold and dreary I would just post a few past fun things that will make me; and maybe you… smile.

**This is the Polar Plunge we did I think three years ago. Notice how I am being drug into the water… EEP!**

**This was a sign at the Color Run Justin and I did on 2013. I thought it was so funny I told him we had to pose by it.**

**About 45 minutes from Brainerd there is an apple orchard and this display is what sits out on the road by their entrance… some photo ops are too good to pass up 🙂**

This (above) pic was taken in August 2011, our ten-year anniversary of our book club. Angie and I are two out three of the original Bookies and we are sitting in the same booth we sat in when we had our very first Bookies meeting in August 2001. Now.. there are too many Bookies to fit into this booth, although it would have been fun to try 😀 Oh and if you are wondering what that first book was that was read by the Bookies it was Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts. Awesome book.

This is the full Bookies book club (missing one in this picture – Susan) as of last February. It’s not often that we all make it so this was a great time to take a photo-op and show off the goodies that Author Sandra Brannan had sent us in a “Care Package” for our review of In The Belly Of Jonah.

There is my Saturday Snapshot for this week. 😀 Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday, I have some reading to do and house stuff and unless Al and I hit a movie later today I think I may just stay in. 😀

Morning Meanderings…. Ladies Night Out Recap

Published on February 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

Good morning! Happy HAPPY Friday!

My ladies night excursion last night was fun! Myself and three of my friends went around to local business and had our cards punched and did everything from shooting hoops, to trying a room key at a hotel to see if we won a suite for a weekend, to hula hooping. 😛 At the stops we received samples, coupons, and tasty treats.

GNO (Girls Night Out) is a fun event that happens twice a year in Brainerd, once in February and once in October… you may remember the October one… they encourage us to dress up:

This event is actually a brilliant way to get women to go out and learn about the businesses in our community. We are given a list of places to go to get the punch on our card. AT these businesses we may need to answer questions about the business to enter to win something (they always make it easy to find the answers), or you may play a game like mini golf… at one of the stops last night they were giving massages…. NICE! Not only do we learn about the businesses in our community, we have a great time with our friends!

Each stamp on our card earns up a ticket at the end of the night. The tickets go into a big drawing box and then winners are announced on the radio at 8:15 am the following morning. If they announce your ticket # you have two minutes to call in or they draw another #. This morning they gave away a spa package, a pair of diamond earrings, a $500 cash prize, and a $10000 cash prize. They said about 240 women participated last night which is down from over 450 in the fall, but we are still battling cold awful weather here. The $1000 winner did not call within two minutes this morning so they drew another #. It’s exciting and fun!

None of the girls in my group won but you can be sure we will try again in the fall. 😀

Today I have a meeting about the camp applications for this years Camp Benedict, a camp that I am on the Board of. I also need to work out, write a review, work on Wine and Words brochures, work on Friends Of the Library brochures, run a few errands in town, purchase my BEA plane ticket, finish laundry, plan dinner… it’s going to be a great day 😀

Morning Meanderings… New Window at The Library

Published on February 27, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning! Here I am at the end of my work week after today and feeling pretty good. 😀 Yes, this is another morning meandering about the library. Really…. there has been quite the library theme this week.

You may have seen this fun picture floating around Facebook:

We decided to mimic this (sort of) for our March window. So yesterday I worked on this:

We went with green because of ST Patrick’s Day and of course because maybe someday hopefully we will see Spring. It was a lot of fun to pick out the books off my shelf that are green. 😀

Tonight is the Spring (ha ha – but true) Girls Night Out. Our City does a little cool Stars Hollowish (yes yes Gilmore Girls reference) thing where starting at 3 pm today women are given a list of businesses to visit around the area. At each stop you received a ticket, as well as drawings, appetizers, occasionally beverages. At the end of the night, by 8 pm we all have to meet at a specific store and turn all of tickets into a BIG box that will be shook up and in the morning on the radio they will draw for the big prizes… sometimes a spa package, or diamond earrings….

It has been so cold and windy that I would rather stay home… however, I also think that if I can just stick it out, maybe the competition will not be as steep this time. 😛

Is that wrong? 😯

Anyhoo… that’s my day.

Morning Meanderings… Librarian For A Day Experience

Published on February 26, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning! Happy Wednesday 😀

Yesterday afternoon I was able to go into the Library and learn about working the Reference Desk. This is part of a program called “Librarian For A Day” where Library Board members and Friends Board Members are invited to come in and see what it is like to work the library. It’s an amazing idea and really gives you a feel for what is really happening at the library.

My designated area yesterday was the Reference Desk. I was able to work with Laurel (who is awesome!) as she explained to me all the Reference Desk does. First off, we were surrounded by people with questions. I found this interesting as we have the computers set up for people to look up book titles and availability – they can find book locations from there and reserve them if they are not available at this time – However people really seem to like to talk to a person with their requests, which was pretty great. We assisted with checking on book availability, book titles, books by topic… From the Reference Desk we could see if perhaps we did not have the book but another library in our system did and we could reserve it for the person to be sent to our library.

The Reference desk is also the area where the new books that are to be shelved come in. This is interesting because our branch does not bar code the books, they go to a larger division of us that bar codes our purchases before they come to us. We then need to check them into the system. ( notice how I am saying we 😛 )

Laurel was able to show me how to check in a couple new books. We (there it is again) put wide clear shipping tape on the spines of paperbacks when they come to help reinforce them from wear. That is interesting! They also receive a red removable tape that says New! to let people know that this is a new book at the library. If a new book comes in and has holds on it, it then goes to the shelf for the hold if it is our Library, or into a bin to be sent to another library if the hold is there. Pick up and delivery to the other libraries in our group happens 4 times a week. In this case, the book that was just checked in was 12 Years A Slave, and that book had a hold on it for the Wadena Library so off we ( ahhh the “we” again!) went to drop it in the tote going to Wadena. As pick up was in the morning, Laurel said that this book would be in Wadena tomorrow for the person who requested it.

The lady who works at the reference desk does all the book ordering for the library by looking through magazines of what is popular and what is coming. What a fun job that would be!

I was only there a short time but it was worth it and I can not wait to do it again!

Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Published on February 25, 2014February 25, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

West Hall, Vermont has, like many small towns, urban legends. The towns most notorious story is one a woman named Sarah Harrison Shea who in the early 1900’s was found in a bloody heap, dead, just months after her own young daughter Gertie had tragically died. Through the years, in the woods that were a part of West Hall, other mysterious deaths and disappearances had taken place, only adding fuel to the legend. The truth of what had happened to Sarah was never discovered but the elaborate stories were ones told around camp fires and during moonless nights….

Now, over 100 years later, 19-year-old Ruthie lives with her mother Alice and her little sister Fawn in the very farmhouse that once belonged to the infamous Sarah. One morning the girls wake to find their mother Alice missing with no sign of where she may have gone. As Ruthie explores her mother’s room for clues she finds part of a diary under the floor boards that says it is the secret diary of Sarah Harrison Shea. As Ruthie begins to read the diary she finds it is filled with stories of people called sleepers, those brought back to life from the dead. Sarah not only believed it was possible, she explained how she did it for her daughter Gertie, and… even more alarming, how to bring anyone back to life.

Sheila’s observation: Have we learned nothing from Stephen King’s Pet Cemetery? Bringing people back from the dead is never a good idea…

The Winter People brought up reminiscence of The Returned, and yes, Pet Cemetery. How often have we thought if we only had a second chance with someone who had passed away unexpectedly and/or far too young? How far would one go to bring that person back if they could? AND time after time in our literature we have discovered…. they never come back the way they were. (Walking Dead anyone? Just not a great time…. 😛 )

This opening description might make you think this book is dark, but actually it is not so much dark as it is just a very interesting tale that travels back and forth seamlessly between Sarah’s time of 1908 , and Ruthie’s life of current time. As you read, Sarah’s story as told through her diary entries and see her life move forward as Ruthie, reading the diary all these years later follows the book back in time to hopefully find a connection to her mother’s disappearance.

Beautifully narrated by Cassandra Campbell and Kathe Mazur. I found Winter People to be a familiar tale, but told in a different way that was unique and that made it a decent read.

1aa — Winter People fills the Vermont slot in this challenge

Morning Meanderings: Librarian For A Day

Published on February 25, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Not going to lie… I am kind of excited 😀

Our Library offers an occasional opportunity to City Board Members and Friends Board Members to get a real taste of what it is like to work at the library. These LUCKY people will work behind the circulation desk assisting in checking out books, answering questions about library cards, and talking books. AND if they choose, they will also have an opportunity to work at the reference desk, researching questions that come up about books.

EGADS, does that not sound like fun? 😛

My shift starts today at 2 pm. Do you have any idea how long I have wanted to be behind that counter? I mean…. ummmm…. yeah, it might be great.

😳

If you are in the area stop in and see me 🙂

As for the rest of my day – I am home tonight, starting my running training program late afternoon and then moving on to a book this evening. Should be a wonderful day. 😀