Morning Meanderings… An Audible time of year

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

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Another wintery morning here. 

Huh.

I was kind of hoping I would wake up and it would all be gone.  😛

I was going to write this morning that this time of year I love to listen to audio books, and while that is true.  I realize that I listen to just as much audio now as I do the rest of the year, the only difference is I probably listen to more audio this time of year in the house.  In the spring through fall I take it outside with me while I rake, mow the lawn, work in the flower beds, garden, bike, etc…. Now, I listen to it when I get home from work and I am in the kitchen planning dinner, or working on laundry, cleaning, or playing Candy Crush on Facebook. (Yes yes.. I said it… do not judge.  😛 )

I love having audio cds to take in my car as I tend to travel quite a bit year around, but when it comes to audio I can put on my IPOD or phone, I use Audible.com.  I love it a the audio books are reasonable, when you first sign up your first one is free then you can choose to get one or two a month, any audio you want! 

I think the first year I used Audible I was on the one credit a month plan but by year two I loved audio so much I bumped it up to two. They roll over so you dont lose them.  They also have great sales throughout the year like $4.95 sales where you can choose from hundreds of audio books for that price.  I stock up!

I decided to talk about audio this morning because I love to encourage people to try it.  I was not an audio book listener until about 4 years ago and now I probably double my book count each year because of it. I review a lot of audio here and below listed a few of my favorites if you are looking for good audio.  I know many other book loving audio listeners could add to this list:

The Help by Catherine Stockett

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Into The Wild by John Krakauer

11-22-63 by Stephen King

The White Queen by Philippa Gregory

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green

Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson

One Second After by William Forstchen

A Grown Up Kind Of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson

The Last Original Wife by Dorothy Benton Frank

The Husbands Secret by Liane Moriarty

I could go on and on, but this should get you started…lol

In other crazy awesome news, just this morning I found out I won the KOBO giveaway at Alison’s Book Marks!  I am so excited as I know when she received hers she loved it!  I am very curious about this and will be sure to update once I have it and am using it.  😀

Morning Meanderings… Deadlines

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

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Good morning!  As I sit here this morning well into that first cup of coffee, still in my p.j.s, contemplating this meandering… all I can wrap my head around are deadlines.

Today I have an 800 word article due to a local magazine about my friend Connie and Camp Benedict.  I have a few details to tweak into the story so I reach my “time to go to work” moment I have a wee bit of “come on!  Get ‘er done!”

I need to get registered for the Monster Series races yet this week.  This is a series of runs that you sign up for as a group and there are some cool extras with that deal. This will be my gift for Christmas form my hubby and I am super excited about it as the Monster Series completion is on my bucket list.  Of course… I should have done this a couple weeks ago, therefore now having missed early packet pick up…. egads….  (sorry Belinda but thanks for checking for me!)

With all the “not so awesome” snow we picked up in the storm of the last couple of days… I also need to shovel decks this afternoon when I get home.

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There are bookish things I could talk about… the Library Open House is this Saturday, I set the window for holiday reading last night and hope to build the book tree either this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

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Ok speaking of deadlines… I must get ready for work.  Any “deadlines” hanging over your head this week?    And why do they call them deadlines? When you think about it – its a horrible name. 😀  I prefer…. opportunities for procrastination.  😉

GONE by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

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Say what you will about Patterson, the Michael Bennett series has me waiting anxiously for each book!

~Sheila

Michael Bennett missed New York.  He misses the ability to pick up a hot slice of pizza at any time, day or night.  He misses the hustle and bustle of a fast life, and heck, he even misses the noise.  Yet as he looks around the room at his ten adopted children, grandfather Seamus, and the kids live in nanny Mary Catherine, he knows this is the way it needs to be.

Due to recent events and a mad man still on the loose, Michael and his family have been relocated (compliments of the witness protection program and the FBI) to a rural farm area in California.  It’s big, it’s secluded, and God willing, it is safe.

Now, big name crime guys are being killed off in bizarre and horrifying ways.  What is happening is unthinkable,clearly the work of a mad man and Bennett knows that these crimes reek of Manuel Perrine, the same man who is after Bennett and his family.  A choice needs to be made, does Michael stay on the farm like a sitting duck waiting for Perrine to track him down, or does he go back to work and do what he is best at… getting the bad guy before he gets him?

Oof ta.  I do love me the Michael Bennett series.  I have praised these books before.  While they do have essence of James Patterson, author Michael Ledwidge must be the difference in these books.  This series follows a great story line… a New York detective, single after losing his wife to cancer, his ten adopted children of various ages, his Pastoral grandfather who lives with them and keeps it real, and the nanny, the sweet Irish gal names Mary Catherine who is the glue that holds it all together.

Gone is another great listen.  I enjoy Patterson’s books on audio immensely as he adds sound effects (gun shots, tires screeching, doors slamming…) that never come off as cheesy, but instead make my heart pound.

I highly recommend these books on audio.

for reviews on the other books in this series:

(Fast listens on audio and highly engaging – I encourage you to give Step On A Crack a try and see if you are not hooked. :D)

Step On A Crack

Run For Your Life

Worst Case

Tick Tock

I, Michael Bennett

Morning Meanderings… Book Lovers Have Book Wishes Too!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

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Good morning!  Happy Wednesday!  We are half way through the week and I am looking forward to the weekend!  Last week was so busy I feel the need to get in a bit of chill time this weekend I hope. 😀

Recently I read a blog post that mentioned how book lovers like us rarely get books for Christmas as no one would dare try to guess what we have and what we don’t and what we want to read and what we do not want to read.  I apologize, I do not recall who’s blog I read this on. I do recall however, how true a statement I thought it was at the time.  Days later, I am still thinking about it.

It is true that I rarely get a book for Christmas or my birthday , or any gift giving scenarios.  And it is true for all the above reasons, people have no idea what book I would like to have.  It is the very reason why I put a wish list on this blog years ago and it remains there today so friends and family could see what I is on my coveted list. 😀

I thought today I would post some of the new items that have hit that wish list…

1bMy new found love for all things Moriarty has brought this little gem into my radar.

1hEver since I first seen this in Shelf Awareness I can not get it out of my head.

2cI love foodie books and memoirs of chefs.  This one looks delightful!

2dI adored Cinder and am looking forward to this one!

2gOk, even though this cover almost seems to scream “self published!” it is not… and it is J K Rowling hiding under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, which makes me curious….

2fAny time a book is said to be “The next Harry Potter”, I am listening.  As of this date, the only series that has even come close IMO is The Mortal Instrument series and even that does not compare to the sheer brilliance of the HP books…. but, I am always looking. 😀

2iIt shocks me as well that I have not read this yet after I have heard such great buzz.  Truth is, I have not picked it up yet!

When it comes to books, I could just go on and on and on, but this is a small grouping of books that are on my radar to read, but at this time do not own.  Christmas… is coming. 😀

Readers, what books would you like to see under the tree this Christmas season?  And even if you do not celebrate Christmas, what books are you hoping and wishing for?

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

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I use Grammarly’s free plagiarism checker online because my teflon coating on this blog does not always prevent others from re-publishing my words. 😛

Alice Love has it all.  She married the cute guy.  She found the home of her dreams.  And now at 29 years old she is and Nick are so excited for the birth of their first child.

Then she wakes up in the hospital and they tell her it is not 1998, but 2008.  That sweet precious baby she couldn’t wait to meet, is now a somewhat snarky ten year old.  Her sister who she has always adored, comes to be by her side but she can feel that their is a distance between them.  And her amazing husband Nick is fighting her for part time custody of the kids.

Uhhhh… What just happened?

Now close to 40 years old, Alice learns that she had taken a nasty fall at the gym.  The gym?  She hates the gym!  The girl (woman?) in the mirror looks tired, and not the easy going Alice she remembered being.  She is told that she does not just have the one child, but three.  Wha….

After my recent adventures with author Liane Moriarty in The Husband’s Secret, I was so impressed with her pace of a book and her subject matter that could come off as serious but thanks to a fun writing style actually comes off as lighter and a little funny at times, I dove right into What Alice Forgot.

What Alice Forgot can be described as brilliant.  It’s a fun concept, if not at all time realistic, it makes up for it in funny, smart moments.  I enjoyed how the story unfolds a little at a time with Alice’s memories of what was, and then the present.  I found it hard to stop listening because I wanted to know what was going to happen when she got her memory back... if she got her memory back…. SHE HAD TO GET HER MEMORY BACK!

The Alice she was ten years ago and the Alice she has become collide in ways that can possibly be considered a “do over”.  Alice’s head injury takes her back ten years and when a softer, more easy going Alice is presented to the world through this… really anything is possible.  Right?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have my eye out for other books from this author.  The Hypnotist’s Love Story comes out mid 2014 and you can bet I am watching for that one.

Morning Meanderings… Books To Check Out!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

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Mmmmmmm.  Good morning.  Our area in Minnesota was doused with snow the last 24 hours.  Our first real snow of the season.  We are in a winter storm warning, supposedly 8 inches has fallen so far and they expect a total of up to 14.  😯  Coffee.  Now please.

Because of everything I just mentioned, I skipped the gym this morning and slept in a bonus hour. 

In bookish news, while reading blogs Sunday and Monday of this week I found some particular books/audio that caught my eye/ear. 😀 

2bKathy at Bermuda’s Weblog caught my attention with this audio she recently listened to.

2cBook Riot had a great post on bookish gifts for the Holidays and this snowflake one has me thinking ….

1mJo at Captured On Film posted about this book which really has me interested.  I like memoirs and Sharon has had quite the life.  

1fCarrie at Books and Movies posted about this one in audio.  Now this would probably not be a book I would normally pick up but the raves I have heard, and then Carries review of the audio had me download it yesterday from Audible.com.

That’s what I found in my blogesphere adventures.  In other topics of interest…. what if you forgot the last ten years of your life?  Seriously.  Take a moment and go back 10 years.  Where were you?  What was your life like then?  Now imagine that you woke up this morning and your last clear memory is from 10 years ago.  You think you are ten years younger.  You are surprised at the age of your children, your spouse, and yeah…. you.  Or what if someone who was in your life ten years ago, now was not?

Join me later today when I post the review of What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.  (Totally….. Sqqqquuueeeee worthy).  😛

The Challenges… IF You Choose To Accept Them.

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

It’s that time of year again when I like to start to think about the challenges (reading or otherwise) for the new year.  There’s something about knowing that there is a group of like minded people out there in the world all working towards the same challenge goals.  As I start to see challenges popping up on the blogs it gets my spidey senses tingling and wondering what challenges I will offer here this coming year.

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For the 4th year in a row I bring back the Where Are You Reading Challenge?  I love this one!  Back when I started this challenge in 2011,it seemed a natural challenge to have and seems to go along nicely with my meme, What Are You Reading?

What is the point of the challenge?  To try to read a book that is mainly set in each of the 50 states and bonus books for outside the US.

For  more details and ideas on how to keep track of your books, check the challenge page link here.  To sign up for the challenge, use the link on the challenge page and add your link to your post (if you blog) or just add a comment below if you are not a blogger but wish to join in the challenge.

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This Challenge is new, and one I have been thinking about for a few weeks now.  For myself I have a lot of things I still want to do in my life.  I have to believe I am not alone on this. 😀  Remember the things you had one hoped to do?  Or…. the things that you keep saying “one day, I would like to try that”, or “one day I am going to do that!” 

I think it is easy for us all to get caught up in our every day life and commitments and those “one day” items never come to pass.  The last few years for myself, I have been challenging myself to reach new goals and try new things.  Where once I often said, No, I can’t do that, I have really changed my tune and my response to a, “what if I can?”

Life is too short to not try the things we once hoped to so this challenge is for us to take 2014 as the year that we do take things off that bucket list.  For more information on this challenge as well as some ideas to get the juices flowing for your list, check out the sign up link here.  I think this is going to be a lot of fun, no pressure… just doing things we had always said we would like to. 

Check out the information on this challenge here. 😀

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments

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 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!

Can you even believe it is December? I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!  We did here.  For the first time in 4 years both my boys were home. Brad has been in the Navy for the past 4 years but is now out as of mid October!  😀  On Friday, my College Son Justin went back to Mankato as he had to work and everyone went back to life as usual so my cousin Cheryl and I went to the cabin in Finland Minnesota.  It was a fantastic time hanging out with her!  We just came back this morning where I dropped her off at her car and went to the Library to help with the holiday decorating.  It was fun!

Here is what I posted here last week:

Retrieving My Readers -a post about where I have been and where I am going

Coreyography by Corey Feldman (wow.  This one was good on audio)

Goat Mountain by David Vann (hmmmm…. not what I was expecting)

 

It was a good week, I have a few (ok… maybe more than a few) more book/audio reviews to post this week.  Here is what I am reading and listening to right now:

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Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child.
 

So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over — she’s getting divorced, , she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…

After listening to The Husband’s Secret by this same author and enjoying it, I was more than curious about this one.  About half way though I am really enjoying it!

 

 

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Lady Catherine, the Earl, and the Real Downton Abbey, a transporting companion piece to the New York Times bestseller Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey, tells the story of Catherine Wendell, the beautiful and spirited American woman who married Lady Almina’s son, the man who would become the 6th Earl of Carnarvon. The couple presided over Highclere Castle, the grand estate that serves as the setting for the hit PBS show. Following the First World War, many of the great houses of England faded as their owners fortunes declined in the new political and social world of the 1920s and 1930s. As war loomed, Highclere’s survival as the family home of the Carnarvons was again in the balance—as was peace between the nations of Europe.
    Using copious materials—including diaries and scrapbooks—from the castle’s archives, the current Countess of Carnarvon brings alive a very modern story in a beautiful and fabled setting, paying particular attention to the staff who provide Highclere Castle with continuity between generations.

I just started this one this weekend at the cabin and have not got far but think it is going to be interesting!

 

 

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Now the anchor of The O’Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly two thousand years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God. Killing Jesus will take readers inside Jesus’s life, recounting the seismic political and historical events that made his death inevitable – and changed the world forever.

I was not sure I was going to read this one.  I have listened to Killing Lincoln and Killing Kennedy but this one…. yet a friend told me it was really interesting so in I go. 😀

 

Not sure what the next book will be but whatever it is… I am looking forward to it.  I also am excited to see what you are reading as we kick off the next 4 weeks of holiday craziness of parties, gift giving, time limitations, family and friends.. and boy… I sure hope there is room for books too. 😀

On a sadder note.. my heart goes out to the loss of Paul Walker, one of the stars of the Fast and Furious movies who died in a horrible car crash yesterday. 

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Please add your link to your What Are You Reading post where it says “click here” .  I would love to see what you are reading and so would others!  😀

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

 

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

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Morning Meanderings… Thanksgiving

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates the day of the turkey!  😀  This morning I have one turkey in the oven, another will go in later after the pies.  I am on my way in mere minutes to the Baxter Turkey Run, with my friends Amy and Laura and my son Justin.  Its crazy I know… long johns and running pants… a hat and two pairs of gloves but it will be great 😀

Later this morning both boys will be over and we will bake and play board games, snack on meats and cheeses and dips and watch movies.  We will eat turkey and stuffing and salad and bread and no doubt way too much of everything. Its low key, low maintenance and I love it.

To you and yours this holiday weekend.  May we all remember all we have to be thankful for.  Be safe and know you are loved. 🙂

Goat Mountain by David Vann

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

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It is early 1978, North Carolina.  An 11 year old boy, his father, grandfather, and a family friend are arriving at the families remote hunting property for a weekend of male pondering around the deer hunting season.  For the boy, this is his first year that he is allowed to hunt with the men.  He is ecstatic to be counted as one of them.  This is his year.

Then…

A poacher is seen on the property in the distance.  And the boy, even unknown to himself as to why, yet filled with the adrenaline of a hunt to begin aims his rifle and shoots. 

The poacher falls.

And the world for this group of hunters explodes into a whole new unknown world of accusations, fear, family loyalty, untrust, and for the boy….

A friend of mine had read Goat Mountain.  Her thoughts on this book brought it to my attention because it was different than anything I had read before.  So I found this one on audio and here are my thoughts.

Goat Mountain is a beautiful listen.  Yet it is also terrifying and disturbing.  As the events unravel over a weekends hunting trip, a fathers anguish, a grandfathers harsh words, the friends panic, but most disturbing – the young boys lack of…

remorse

feeling

emotion

Where this book may have been a win, I found it confusing that this story is being told by the boy many years later, although we are never given a glimpse of what happened between the accident weekend and the current time of the book.  Goat Mountain is about a hunting weekend, and I felt that if it was going to be about an event that happened years prior, it should have had something to bond the incident to the current time.  Perhaps to others this makes perfect sense, but when it ended it felt to me to be unfinished. 

I wish it would have left me with a better feeling but instead I felt as disjointed as the book came to be.