Book Journey

Morning Meanderings… My Blind Date and a winner!

Published on February 4, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Good morning! I feel rather wiped out today. It was a busy day yesterday and perhaps the emotional pull this introvert has while engaging with two fairly large groups all afternoon and evening is taking its energy pull.

Zapped is a good way to describe me right now. 😀

Anyhoo…

the date.

A couple of weeks ago you the awesome readers of Book Journey helped me with “singles ads” for the Blind Date event we were planning. The ideas flew in and it was so much fun to read them and laugh at how witty you all are! 😀

Yesterday we kicked off the Blind Date event at the library. 52 books were put under pretty wraps and given a little singles ad blurb to possibly entice a reader to choose them.

I was in the library during the later afternoon assisting in planning for our Annual Meeting for the Friends group so I was able to witness the activity around the display. I enjoyed going and talking with people who were looking over the books explaining that they checked out a book that appealed to them, read it, fill out the “Rate Your Date” card that is tucked inside and return both. While I was watching about 8 f these books checked out.

I checked out one as well. Although I helped with the cards that went on the book packaging I could not recall but a few of what book they were… I chose one instead that I felt fit me…

Last night, after coming home and feeling wiped out, I left “my date” in the car overnight. 😛 This morning I allowed him/her into the house and opened up the packaging…

Here is my date! I have read Lisa Scottoline before, but not this one. The singles add promising me kooky and uplifting “chick wit” and a glass of wine sold me. We shall see how our date goes….

stay tuned.

When I wrote that original Blind Date post and asked you all to help me with the singles adds for books I also offered up a gift card to one awesome participant. That winner of the $10 Amazon Gift Card is bookebelle0819 – #80 in the comments using random.org. Congrats! I will send that out by email!

Tonight, many of the Bookies Book Club will meet up for appetizers and then off to see the movie Labor Day as a group from our win of books and tickets. We are excited! I love the little extras we are able to do together 😀

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on February 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)44 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!

Second day into February and I feel like I blinked and missed last week! I had big plans for kicking off my half marathon training starting February 1, but instead, I have hardly left the house this weekend other than the grocery store and church. On the bright side, just today I secured two of the four authors I am looking for to be a part of Wine and Words 2014 which feels good! 😀 I will announce them later this week, tomorrow evening I have our Annual Friends Of The Library board meeting and I need to announce to them first.

As far as what was posted… here is what I had:

The In-Between Hours by Barbara Claypole White

The Roses Underneath by C J Yetmen (seriously amazing)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline…. yes again. Stop it. Its amazing. Read my review 😀

My dog sledding experience in Duluth Minnesota (with video of my ride!)

Runners World CookBook – it is not just for runners the food is healthy and tasty!

As for this week, I think I am going to stay low. I have several books (yup..several) going that I have changes up, read a little of something else and now I need to finish them. Yes, they are good… I am just kind of all over the board this past week. However… I will be needing me some audio this week and for that I choose:

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to produce the most notoriously successful game franchises in history – Doom and Quake – until the games they made tore them apart. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry – a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative.

My love for Wil Wheaton’s narration continues….

Recently, The New Yorker published chef Anthony Bourdain’s shocking, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This.” Bourdain spared no one’s appetite in this tell-all about what happens behind the kitchen door.

Now, the author uses the same “take-no-prisoners” attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable audiobook, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From his first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as a dishwasher in a honky-tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown, from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the East Village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain’s tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable.

Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You’ll beg the chef for more, please.

I have listened to him before and he is quick wit, dry, and funny…

That’s it audio goals and a book clean up so hopefully by this time next week I can start fresh 😀 What are you reading this week? What did you read last week? Book lovers want to know! Please add your link to your It’s Monday What Are You Reading 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!

Morning Meanderings… Imitation of Sleestak, The Books and Ask The Bloggers!

Published on February 2, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Sunday already! I feel I have hardly accomplished a thing! I laid pretty low this weekend after such a busy week – staying home and catching up on things around here has been perfect. 🙂

Does anyone remember the old tv show Land Of The Lost? I used to watch it when I was a kid. If you remember the show, you remember Sleestak, creepy slow-moving “Jason Voorhees like” creatures that had webbed hands and feet. Every winter I have this weird thing I do in my house…. I wear socks with sandals (so embarrassing) and every time I think of the Sleestak.

The books! Oh yeah! The books! Now remember, I did not post last Sunday as I was out-of-town – AND I have been at two author events in the past two weeks so some of these I purchased to feed my addiction. 😉

I bought The Vanishing, The Crane Wife, More Than This, Red Moon, The Lace Reader (because Wendy Webb recommended it as it inspired her) and 400 Meals.

If you take those out – the books that came in the house are much more manageable. 😀

And finally, (and this I am pretty excited about!), my friend Stacy who writes over at The Novel Life, started a weekly meme called Ask The Bloggers. Her first one went up today and I was thrilled to be a part of it. She started by asking us “If you go back to just before you started your blog, what advice would you give to your former self?”

Please pop over there today and check it out and give her some comment love! After all, I think we all have thoughts on that question. 😀 I also believe you will recognize some of the other bloggers involved. *waves to Kathy!*

So there is my morning post. I need to get ready for church and this afternoon I have some house keeping to do, gym work, and prep for a couple really fun things coming up tomorrow. 1. Tomorrow I am part of an every other week Movie Night for women at our church where we will watch a movie and then discuss it. Our first one will be The Bucket List. 2.Tomorrow (also as luck would have it) is our Friends Of The Library Annual Meeting where we will go over the roles of the board, give an update on Wine and Words 2014, and announce dates of what is coming up as well as reveal our new logo.

Life….

is never dull. 😀

The Runners World Cookbook edited by Joanna Sayago Golub

Published on February 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

If you have followed my journey, you know that the past year I have “dabbled” in running. I still don’t think I qualify as a runner, but my cousin says that if I am not laying on the couch and I am out moving my body, I am a runner.

Ok… I guess that makes me a runner.

Right before Christmas I treated myself to a purchase just for me. I bought this book. Runner or not, I am always interested in working with whole foods and breaking the habit of the “fast food fix” that tends to occasionally plague my busy lifestyle.

The Runners World Cookbook promotes eating well if you run 10 miles a week or one hundred. (A hundred!) It also encourages “eating the rainbow” a colorful array of fruits and vegetables every day. Mmmmmm

The book starts out with explaining healthy antioxidants, carbs, grains, proteins and fats. Then the book breaks down into chapters:

Breakfast
Snacks and Smoothies
Salads and Dressings
Soups and Stews
Sandwiches, Pizzas, Burgers
Sauces and Pasta
Meat and Poultry
Fish and Seafood
Vegetables
Desserts

The recipes look delicious! They are submitted from runners, marathon winners, Olympians, doctors, test kitchens and more. At the top of each recipe is a little paragraph of when is a good time to eat this (pre – run, after run, recovery…. daily….). It also shares how long to prep, how many servings, and of course nutrition values. I also like that each recipe is labeled : V: Vegetarian, VE: Vegan, GF: Gluten Free, Many of the recipes are also accompanied by a photo which I love to drool over!

I admit, I have not had a chance to cook out of this book yet although I have spent time over several days paging through and making note of the ones I want to try. A few that caught my eye are: Egg and bean burritos with avocado and yogurt lime sauce, banana oat energy bars, spinach bacon sweet potato salad, Asian Noodle Salad with eggs and peanut dressing, Thai Avocado soup, Smoked Salmon and Vegie Wraps, Jerk Shrimp with sweet potato and black beans… I could go on forever 🙂

Tonight, I think we are going to try the Chicken Mango fajita. Seriously, look at that tasty picture. It is labeled as Fast, Recovery and Low Calorie. Since I am planning on running a 5k today to keep up my motivation for the half marathon I signed up for at the end of this month as well as a walk with my dogs in snow shoes- it sounds perfect. 🙂 I think you may see recipes coming out of this book frequently this year 🙂

I am submitting this post as part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking. It is true, I always have more time to make good tasty and healthy dishes on the weekends. 🙂

Morning Meanderings…. A Dog Sledding Book Lover!

Published on February 1, 2014February 1, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

Hey all! Happy Saturday! I have been up for a couple of hours with the best intentions to write this post. Then… I decide to make coffee. And I am out of the pods that make the regular coffee. And then I decide to list the Tassimo coffee pot on the Facebook garage sale sight which means to bring my old coffee pot back upstairs and take pictures of the Tassimo. (Nothing wrong with the coffee pot just that locally I can not find the pods for it and I am tired of ordering 20+ dollars worth of coffee pods on line… borderline crazy I think 😉 ) I upload the pictures and describe the coffee pot. THEN…. I go on the House Party site and sign up for another house party offer…. then I go on Facebook (you can almost hear the suction noise as I get caught up there…. I chat with a local author… talk with her about Wine and Words… send her the information and then my mind says “Ooh! I should update the Wine and Words website!” Then I send out emails to last years authors asking them if they will shoot me a quick email regarding their experience last year with Wine and Words so I can add their thoughts to the website… in the mean time someone tells me they are interested in the coffee pot…

😯

And…. I am back to this post.

Last weekend I had the awesome sauce opportunity to take a long-term goal off my bucket list. I went with a group of friends into Duluth Minnesota and we went dog sledding! YUP! Dog sledding!

We went to a fairly new place called Endurance Kennels. It was a blast! At first I felt a little sad for the dogs… last Saturday was COLD – I believe it was 6 below zero when we ventured out. Yet once the dogs were hooked up to the sled you could see that they loved this. A couple of them were jumping straight up in the air they were so ready to go!

My friend Belinda petting one of the dogs.

Belinda and Sheila – Sheila was the birthday girl and we were celebrating!

It was an awesome experience! Here’s my tips if you go:

1. Dress Warm – the speed of the sled creates wind and the dogs kick up snow as they go.

2. Snowmobile goggles would be a good idea – at the very least sun glasses. I had sun glasses on but they quickly fogged up and I could not see through them.

Thanks to Saturday Snapshot for giving me an opportunity to show my pictures of a fun event!

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Published on January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

In he year 2044 the earth as we have known it is no more. Now a world of mostly poverty and destruction, people find it is better to spend their time inside a virtual world called the Oasis, created by a genius named James Halliday who has a mad fondness of all thing’s 80’s (ie… arcade games, music, movies, restaurants…) The Oasis is a large virtual world that encompasses many worlds within and to access beyond the first world, real money is used. In the Oasis, you can create an Avatar (an icon or figure representing a particular person in computer games, Internet forums, etc.), to represent you. An Avatar can assume any type of body and look as well as an alias name.

Wade Watts is a teenage student who spends as much time as possible in the Oasis. Here he is more than the overweight slightly acne faced teen… in the Oasis he is Parzival, a taller, leaner, handsomer version of himself. As Wade lives in a very impoverish state, he spends most of his time on the free parts of the Oasis.

When it is announced that the mega billionaire Halliday has passed away and left an elaborate game plan in his will with hints and clues to the ultimate prize – all of his billions of riches and the ownership of the Oasis; the world goes wild. Thousands upon thousands of people are trying to figure out the clues that will lead them to the keys that open up more clues….

and five years go by with no one any closer to the treasure than when it was announced.

Many of the treasure hunters – “gunters” as they are called, have fallen away believing that perhaps this was just the last craziness of a sick old man and nothing more. And then….

Wade figures out the first clue.

Suddenly the news is filled with the mysterious Avatar “Parzival”. Wade’s true identity becomes even more important to keep secret as the hunt inside the Oasis is back up in full force. Not all of those involved are part of the friendly competition. A large corporation called IOI wants the Oasis and all the treasures for themselves and they will stop at nothing to get what they want. Now Wade, and a handful of fellow Avatars that he would like to call friends, are playing for their lives.

Ready Player One?

Yes that is a long synopsis. Yet as I thought about this, this is how I would describe the book to a friend. There is nothing here that gives anything away… not by a long shot. This book is so full of fun twists and turns and awesome (AWESOME!) 80’s references you will not want to stop once you are started.

You do not need to be a gamer to love this book. While I do love games and am an 80’s girl… I was not big into the arcade scene. Let me say that you do need to be to appreciate the book and the dystopian feel to it.

Did I mention that I love this book?

Long time readers of Book Journey may be scratching their head thinking they have heard me RAVE about this book before. You would be right. In December of 2011 I listened to this book on audio and reviewed it then as well. To this day, it is still one of the best audio books I have ever listened to. Narrator Wil Wheaton could read the back of a cereal box to me and I would be all like “Go Wil, read about the red dye #5 again!” Yes, he is that great. In fact – earlier today I was looking for other books narrated by him just so I could listen to him again. I would like him to be the voice on my Garmin, the sound of my alarm…. you get the picture. 😉

Two years later, I still love this book. I chose to listen to it again recently when I went the 3 1/3 hours to our cabin in a car alone. I love being alone in a car for road trips so I can listen to audio. It was just as incredible as the first time.

Seriously – I am not the only one raving about this book. If you have read this, please rave with me. If you have not… please grab this one on audio and treat yourself to something AMAZING!

Rumors have it that the movie rights to Ready Player One have been sold.

(And now I am going to go and read my original review which I have not allowed myself to do until I wrote this one 😉 )

*Update: Upon reading my original review I found that I had made two predictions in that review… both have come true. 😀

1aa — Ready Player One is set in Oklahoma

Morning Meanderings… Reading Thoughts and Author Search Continues

Published on January 31, 2014January 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Good morning! Happy Friday! If I could… I would roll in this day. On the carpet…. like a dog. 😀 I have had a whirlwind week of being gone last weekend and coming home on Sunday for ten minutes before I dropped off the dog, picked up a book and headed another direction for a work retreat that brought me to Tuesday afternoon where I went home, showered, and left with my friend Amy to an author event in the cities.

*whew*

Wednesday I was tired, and Thursday I started to recover but yes… today – being a non work day… oh yeah 😀 I have a couple fun commitments this afternoon but for the most part…. January 31st is mine.

Coming our of January I am fairly pleased with how my reading month went to kick off 2014. I read:

Then Again by Diane Keaton (audio)

The Broken Path by Cami Checketts (audio)

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberley McCreight

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Big Girl Panties by Stephanie Evanovich

Flowers In The Attic by V C Andrews

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audio)

I have a few reviews to write yet,but over all I am pleased with the month considering I have hardly read a thing this past week. You can see my WHERE are you reading page here, and my map (Which I love!!!) here.

How is your reading this first month into the year?

I am also still looking for the authors for Wine and Words this year. I am securing two Minnesota authors but would also like two from outside Minnesota. If you have any suggestions of who would make a great speaker for this August 22nd event that will have 200 people in attendance to hear them and purchase books, please email me at journey through books @gmail.com.

The Roses Underneath by C. F. Yetmen

Published on January 30, 2014January 30, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

In 1945 a war-torn Germany struggles to get a foot hold on some sort of stability. Anna Klein and her six-year-old daughter Amalia are among those struggling as well. Separated from her husband for their own safety, Anna finds herself working for the US Army’s Monuments Men as they search for art and other stolen treasures. When it is discovered that Anna speaks English, she is recruited as a translator for American Captain Henry Cooper, a laid back man who likes opportunities to bend the rules. When a mysterious stash of art is found, secrets are created causing Anna to question where the truth really does lie and look closely at the secrets she herself keeps….

The Roses Underneath is one of those books that you want to read slowly and cherish as one would a favorite candy. Savoring each word as it dissolves into the next. Reading this book caused me to slow down and really take it all in, which is not always the case in my reading style. I often find myself reading fast paced books that flow with activity and crackle with adrenaline. I was pleased when I started this read and found that this was a book that I needed to take my time with.

I am careful when I choose to read a book that involves war. I tend to become so engrossed in the heaviness of the subject that I usually choose to pass on these books. Yet there was something that called to me about The Roses Underneath that caused me to take a chance on it and I am glad I did. Anna was a protagonist that I found myself hoping for things to turn out well.

I enjoyed this book, even if it did make me slow down and well… smell the roses. 🙂

Morning Meanderings… What Would Patrick Ness Do?

Published on January 30, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Whirlwind week already and I am finally getting a chance to chat with you! Weekend away, start of the week out of town for work, and then…. what I want to tell you about today… the Patrick Ness event in ST Paul Minnesota at Magers and Quinns book store.

To bring you up to speed, Patrick Ness is the author of the Chaos Walking Series, the first book being The Knife Of Never Letting Go, which I read in fall of 2011 and flew through the following two books in the series.

SOOOO GOOD!

When I read that Ness was coming to Minnesota I could not believe it. Currently living in London, his only Minnesota stop on his tour for his new book, The Crane’s Wife , was the day after the books release date, this past Tuesday. Honestly – I really did not even know what the book was about. This for me… was all about Ness.

My friend Amy (crazy adventure friend and book club cohort) joined me, having also read and loved the Chaos Walking series. We arrived early as we expected there would be quite the crowd, purchased our Crane’s Wife books at the book store and asked the nice book store guy if we would hold two spots once they set the chairs up, for the Brainerd girls who drove two hours to the event. He said he would… and we went down the block to my favorite Thai restaurant.

When we came back, sure enough, two seats were saved for us right up front. RIGHT UP FRONT. Like, Patrick could have spit on us close. 😀

When he came out to talk he was funny, although admitting he wasn’t feeling well and therefore was requesting that someone out of the audience come up and read him the questions for his time with us…. and so…

Amy did. 😛

The first question on the page was, “So Patrick, tell us a little about yourself?”

He was fun and interesting. He talked about his books, and then her read a bit out of The Crane Wife, explaining that it stemmed from a story his teacher used to tell to the class when he was 5. He said he loved that teacher. He wanted her to be his mom and his wife…. at 5 years old, he felt they could work out the age difference somehow.

When Patrick read from the Crane Wife, although he denied it, his voice was perfect for narration. I fell in love with the story – through him… and suddenly couldn’t wait to read it. He has a personal story within the book that he shared with us…a childhood happening that he tied into the read. Again… I wanted to read the book more that ever.

Patrick talked about his YA books, which included the Chaos Walking series *sigh* and a book he released last fall, More Than This. He says each book he writes has a theme song that he listens to over and over again during the writing process. I found that fascinating.

I wish I would have taken notes, but early on in his talk I was uploading that first picture of Amy to Facebook and he called me out of the crowd …ok, not the crowd as I was sitting about 18 inches away from him and asked if I was playing Candy Crush. Oops! Embarrassing! I put my phone away which is what I take notes on too… 😀

Patrick had some advice for want to be writers:

If you think you have a good idea, wait. If it is good… things will be added on to it to make it grow in your mind.
Write something you want to read. Do not write for the masses thinking you will create the next vampire story, or dystopian war story because that is what is popular… you have to LOVE it. You will never make it through the writing if you do not love the story yourself.
Be original. No one knew that they wanted a Harry Potter, until we had him. No one knew we wanted Twilight or a Hunger Games.

If you ever have the opportunity to see Patrick Ness in person, please do. If I could have him come for Wine and Words this fall I would, but the man’s schedule is crazy busy. Absolutely if you have the chance to pick up the Chaos Walking series – do it. I love these books. There is a little buzz saying they will be movies and oooohhhhhh I hope so. 😀

I found this one Amazon under his description of himself and loved it:

Things you didn’t know about Patrick Ness
1. I have a tattoo of a rhinoceros.
2. I have run two marathons.
3. I am a certified scuba diver.
4. I wrote a radio comedy about vampires.
5. I have never been to New York City but…
6. I have been to Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo.
7. I was accepted into film school but turned it down to study writing.
8. I was a goth as a teenager (well, as much of a goth as you could be in Tacoma, Washington and still have to go to church every Sunday).
9. I am no longer a goth.
10. Under no circumstances will I eat onions.

So in answer to my Patrick Ness question this morning, what would Patrick do? he would write… he would run… he would keep it fun and keep it real.

The In Between Hours by Barbara Claypole White

Published on January 29, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

When bestselling author Will Shepard’s young son is killed in a tragic car accident, Will is left with a tremendous amount of grief that he can not seem to get out from under. As Will’s aging father memory fades, Will uses his talent of writing to rewrite the truth. Amazingly enough, the fictional version of Will’s life brings relief that he never expected.

Hannah Linden rents a cottage next to where Will and his dad lives. Hannah comes with her own cross to bear as she deals with her grown sons struggles. As a holistic veterinarian and healer, she uses her gifts to try to bring peace to Will and his dad’s lives, finding her own solace in putting her energies into someone else.

The In Between Hours is one of those books that just makes me feel warm inside. I liked reading this book and perhaps, for a while, feeling like I too lived in the neighborhood and seen everything play our first hand as I watched Will, and his dad, and Hannah.

I am especially impressed on what an additional layer to the book Will’s dad brought to the read. While the book could have worked with the focus being on Will and Hannah, Will’s dad made me smile… he brings the icing on the cake, or in this case – the filling to an already engaging read.

I enjoyed The In Between Hours and will think about this one for quite a while.