Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on October 6, 2013October 6, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

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. While I am no longer offering up the giveaway incentive, I do hope you will still see the value of visiting other participants and seeing what they are reading- be warned though… this meme tends to add to your reading lists

I feel rejuvenated. I think I have done more BOOK reading the past two weeks then I have done in months. In feels great to really dig into a book and actually have time to enjoy it. 😀 I even wrote a couple reviews:

The Returned by Jason Mott ( the reviews are mixed…. see what I thought 😉 )

Ok… I lied. I wrote one review. I really need to catch up. :razz; BUT I did write some fun morning meanderings… about a show I will miss, about the end of the kickball season (yes, kickball!) and my struggle with the book club book.

This week I am still listening to Dr. Sleep (phone) and The Half Blood Prince (car) and reading The City Of Class by Cassandra Clare. As far as whats up next….hmmm….

As a college student he spent 16 days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat. As a father he took his kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him. His grades weren’t good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean’s office for seven days until they finally let him enroll.

Bob Goff has become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the world’s best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world’s most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it’s not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob’s love takes action. Bob believes Love Does.

When Love Does, life gets interesting. Each day turns into a hilarious, whimsical, meaningful chance that makes faith simple and real. Each chapter is a story that forms a book, a life. And this is one life you don’t want to miss.

I picked this up at a conference we went to for work a few months back.

With death only a heartbeat away, Gene and the remaining humans must find a way to survive long enough to escape the hungry predators chasing them through the night. But they’re not the only things following Gene. He’s haunted by Ashley June who he left behind, and his burgeoning feelings for Sissy, the human girl at his side.

Their escape takes them to a refuge of humans living high in the mountains. Gene and his friends think they’re finally safe, but not everything here is as it seems. And before long, Gene must ask himself if the new world they’ve entered is just as evil as the one they left behind. As their enemies close in on them and push Gene and Sissy closer, one thing becomes painfully clear: all they have is each other…if they can stay alive.

The sequel to The Hunt (which I loved!)

I am not sure if I will get to a new audio this week or not. You r turn next! What are you reading? Add your link below where it says click here.

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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!

Morning Meanderings.. A Few Books In My Mail Box!

Published on October 6, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

Good morning!

I am excited to say that I finished the book club book, Giants In the Earth (all 500+ pages!) last night. I feel kind of like a rock star! It started out super slow and I thought this is going to hurt…. but on Friday evening I sat down to really work at it and did not emerge for 5 hours.

Now, my reward is back to what I was reading before I had to move on the book club read, City of Glass by Cassandra Clare.

My summer and book requests did not mix so I had pretty much resisted the offers that were coming in because I honestly knew I did not have time for them. It was sad to see an empty mailbox – free of books day after day but it really was for the best. It is fun now as I have started saying yes again, to see the books come in and I am so excited to actually be able to sit down with a book again.

Here is what showed up this week:

Prey by Andrew Fukuda – I ordered after reading the first one!

Anything That Moves by Dana Goodyear – I am super excited about. I love food memoirs.

Before I Met You by Lisa Jewell – looks good!

Theory Of Remainders – from Winter Goose Publishing

Flo and Wendell – not sure how I got that one but here it is 🙂

SO thats what is new in literature here. I have work to do (again) in the book room… it needs a little TLC, perhaps tonight after I return from my board meeting.

Have a Super Sunday!

Morning Meanderings… The End Of The Season

Published on October 5, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Good morning! How are ya all doing this Saturday? It is cold and damp here in Minnesota. There is still a possibility of snow and I am hoping that is not true. If any of you know the author Sandra Brannan, here is one of the pictures she posted on Facebook from South Dakota yesterday:

Yeah… I am seriously not ready for that. They were hit with a big storm.

Anyhoo… enough of that. This past week our kick ball season came to an end. Yes, yes… kickball…. like in grade school. Big red bouncy ball… we kick it and run (try to run) the bases. Its not always pretty…. it is usually fun.

The group I play with are a mix of friends and we have played for the last 4 years now, possibly more. I missed last year as my schedule was just too full… but I was back this year and it was a lot of fun to be back.

There are about 16 teams and we stitch out each week and play two or three games on Tuesdays.

**Most of the team… we were missing a couple subs (missed Paula, Andy! 😦 ) and a few regulars – Greg, Dawn and Jon.**

**My friend Amy and me. Amy is also in the Bookies book cub which just goes to show you… us readers do more than read. 🙂**

These are my pics for this weeks Saturday snapshot sponsored, hosted, supported by: West Metro Mommy Reads. Stop over and check out what other people are posting pics of this week and feel free to write your own post as well. 😀

Today I plan to go to St Cloud (about an hour away) and look at their costume shop. I need a few things for book club this week and I have a Monster Dash coming up October 26th that I want to see what would be good fun running wear.

Hope you all have a great Saturday!

The Returned by Jason Mott (I felt much was left unsaid)

Published on October 4, 2013October 4, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

“I use Grammarly’s plagiarism checker because my super powered Blogerific Ninja Team Raphael and Biff, that scan the blogesphere for all things copied are not always as quick and efficient as I would like them to be. (Especially Biff, but do not say anything to him as he is HIGHLY sensitive.) 😛

Imagine… if someone you loved who has passed away – someone you had mourned for, grieved over and made deals with God about how much you miss them and only if they could return to you…

imagine…

if they did.

Harold and Louise Hardgrave had lived decades of this kind of loss and pain. In 1966, at the age of eight their only son Jacob had drowned at his own birthday party. As life tends to go on, even when we sludge through it… that is what the Hardgrave’s did… forming for themselves a life without Jacob and doing their best to move on.

And then one day, there he is. Jacob, at their door, looking just as he did at the age of 8.

And not just Jacob. All over the word that reports had been coming in for weeks that people who had passed on had suddenly arrived back at their homes, back in their loved ones lives… and no one can explain why. Is this the sign of the world coming to an end? Or the return of Christ? Or is it something darker…. something difficult to fathom when standing before you is the one that you have prayed for…. hoped for….

In a new and confused world, even Harold and Louise have trouble seeing eye to eye on how they feel about Jacob’s return. Louise is hook line and sinker ready to throw herself back into the role of nurturing mother and takes Jacob at face value. Harold however has reservations that this really is his son. He may look like him, walk like him, and talk like him… but he was there when his son had died. Life zapped away in a blink of an eye does nor return like that.

Does it?

Wow. Even before I started reading this book I had heard the scuttle around the edges of the internet of the mixed emotions this book was bringing out. That just made me more curious.

The Returned really is a fascinating topic for a book. As the book opened with Jacob at the door of his parents who have aged and stooped over the years yet here was their precious little boy looking as fresh and wonderful as he did before he left them I knew I wanted to know more.

The Return does very well at describing the emotions both accepting and abrasive as those who have passed on return to their homes and families rejoice. I even enjoyed the dynamics of what issues this would cause our world if this really did happen… for instance, The Returned had huge appetites. Always hungry they needed to be fed. And for that matter housed, and cared for. Suddenly as people keep returning, you can see where the once dead could soon out number the living. And, The Returned did not always turn up where their families were, some had no families… others had no desire to return to the family and friends they had so choose to go elsewhere…. etc…. fascinating stuff really.

What The Return (in my opinion) does not do well at, is coming full circle. The whole book I am waiting to see what is bringing the returned back from the graves. In the danger of causing a spoiler, but I feel a necessary one… it is never made clear, which to me made the book feel as though it was not fully thought out.

As readers, or at least I can speak for myself and say as a reader I want to read great books. Even when an idea, such as The Returned is a new topic (which I love it when that happens!), I still want to be intellectually stimulated and not just smile and read on for the sake of reading something that entertains my mind. I want to feel “WOW” when I come out of the last page. Unfortunately, as much as I can say I enjoyed the idea of The Returned and parts of the book, it did not have the full idea thought out therefore, leaving me wanting more.

My final thoughts, I did enjoy the book. I dont mean to come off as harsh in this review, just real. It is enjoyable and if thats what you are looking for, I would recommend it. If you like answers to questions that come up in your fictional reading however, you may feel a bit disappointed.

In other news, I heard that this book is being considered for TV. I would tune in to see what they do with it.

Morning Meanderings… Cold Weather and Giants have hit Minnesota

Published on October 4, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning! After the last few days I am so glad that we had the week we did for our canoe and camping trip last week! Temperatures have dipped to 30 in the mornings and the last few afternoons as the ones coming through the weekend have, and are calling for rain.

On the bright side, this will plant me in the house to work on reading our Classic read for Book club on Tuesday, Giants In The Earth.

Basically it is about a family that moves from Minnesota in the 1870’s to South Dakota. The book talks of this Norwegian families trials as they try to make a new home for themselves. Per Hansa (oh yes the names are hard) is the man who believes his future is ahead of him and all things will pan out. His wife, Beret wishes they could go back to the comforts of what they had.

Lets just say I am struggling with this read. I pick it up and long to read something else. I need this weekend to get a good feel for the book and for our review on Tuesday. On the bright side, I believe the review will save this one. We are going to have our meeting in an 1800’s cabin with no electricity that one of our Bookies owns. We will have kerosene lamps, and rumors of a potato bar for our dinner as they ate a lot ( A LOT) of potatoes.

This afternoon I am going to go look for some “prairie wear” for the meeting and see if someone can make me a bonnet.

SO thats all happening here. I have some things to do this morning and then off I go. 😀 Hopefully I will get a review up this afternoon. That’s the plan anyway.

Have you ever read (attempted) this book? Are there other classics you have read that you struggled through?

Morning Meanderings: Its Heartbreaking Really… and makes me a tad bit crabby ;)

Published on October 3, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning. 🙂 Long term readers of Book Journey know that I am a HUGE Gilmore Girls fan. I own every season and watch them all usually once a year. You can imagine my excitement when last fall I hear about a show called Bunheads claiming to have the same quick whit and charm and even in a couple cases the same characters ( Liza Weil (Paris!), Kelly Bishop (Emily!), and Sean Gunn (Kirk!) just to name a few.

Of course at first I was skeptical of a show about a ballet school and a former exotic dancer turned good girl… but I was quick to see the show had value and in short time I became a fan…

and I loved the dancing…

And now I know its not coming back replaced by the other “dance shows” that I do not watch.. and I am sad. Buggers. I guess back to the books…. reading (still) City of Glass – book 3 in the Mortal Instrument series but I must put it down and get into Giants Of The Earth which is our book club pick due on Tuesday. Eep! At least I have a low key weekend. 🙂

Any shows that you loved that didnt make the ratings cut or (as in the case of Bunheads) were pitted against other highly watched shows and a decision was made against them?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on September 29, 2013September 29, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)64 Comments

First off – I did write last weeks post! I did! From that Little Cafe in Ely Minnesota – I wrote it and I scheduled it to go live on Sunday late afternoon…. and…. crickets. 😦 I dont know why it didnt go , but clearly it did not.

Along with last weeks post (yeah yeah… the one that wasn’t but was) I had planned a giveaway $10 Amazon Gift card…sort of a “while I am away” plan. Since no one knew about the giveaway because the post was like a bad stick of dynamite and never went off…. I would like to extend that to this week instead – AND to be entered leave a comment here and for a BONUS point, leave a comment on my adventure post I put up earlier today… my one post this week:

Home. Pictures. Update.

As for this week I do have a few things going on (YES!):

To save her mother’s life, Clary must travel to the City of Glass, the ancestral home of the Shadowhunters—never mind that entering the city without permission is against the Law, and breaking the Law could mean death. To make things worse, she learns that Jace does not want her there, and Simon has been thrown in prison by the Shadowhunters, who are deeply suspicious of a vampire who can withstand sunlight.As Clary uncovers more about her family’s past, she finds an ally in mysterious Shadowhunter Sebastian. With Valentine mustering the full force of his power to destroy all Shadowhunters forever, their only chance to defeat him is to fight alongside their eternal enemies. But can Downworlders and Shadowhunters put aside their hatred to work together? While Jace realizes exactly how much he’s willing to risk for Clary, can she harness her newfound powers to help save the Glass City—whatever the cost?

I whipped through the second book while in the boundary waters and now have dived into this book #3. The Mortal Instrument series is giving me a good Harry Potterish fix 🙂

This one, needs no introduction. 🙂 This was my “comfort listen” while I drove the 5 hours to Ely this last week and then 5 hours home I enjoyed a good listen to an awesome favorite series. A little bonus, it is on the banned book list and of last week was banned book week.

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

I am fascinated with the premise of this book… bringing back the little boy from The Shining all of these years later is BRILLIANT. I started listening to this one today. So excited!!!

That’s where I am spending my time this week. How about you? What are you reading and listening too? Please add your link below where it says “click here” to link up your own What Are You Reading post.

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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!

Home. Pictures. Updates.

Published on September 29, 2013September 29, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Well its not quite morning anymore – but for some reason when I made this button I put “morning meanderings” on it so I am just going with it.

As of this post I have been off the blog for 9 days. Let me start with, if you follow me, you know I was out on the Boundary Waters on the North Shore which is about as crazy uncivilized as it gets as there is no electricity, no cell phone coverage – no communications to the outside world at all.

And I loved it.

😛

I heard a little grumbling about the “It’s Monday, What Are You Reading” post not being up and I can not explain that as I prepped it and scheduled it and it did not go live. That should not happen again as I have a new plan in place, more on that later.

Anyhoo – back to the wilderness, which was what I really wanted to talk about this morning… errr…. afternoon. We arrived in Ely Minnesota at a friend of a friends cabin last Saturday for a nice stay over before we hit the lakes. On Sunday morning we packed up our gear and we were off.

5 girls… this isnt even all of it. We each had a large pack, a day pack and then two large “Kitchen” nags.

We rowed and portaged that first day for around 7 hours. My friend Belinda has this super cool Garmin watch (I want one I want one!) that tracked our progress and then she was able to put it on line so we could all see it. I am so impressed! Did I mention I want one? 😛

In case you are wondering what portaging is or what it looks like, let this newbie share with you. Portaging is taking the canoes (on our head and shoulders) across a sometimes hilly, rocky, bushy trail from one lake to reach another. This could not be done in one trip so we would take the canoes and a few packs over, sharing in the canoe carrying duties as it is a one person job, and then go back for the rest of the packs. The one portage was 1.5 miles long… so we would head over with the canoes and bags, then walk back and get the rest – all in all for us it was a 4.5 mile portage.

“This is Sheila sporting the new for 2013 “wilderness portage look”, notice the large pack to carry all the necessities for camping on the boundary waters life, a trendy and practical life jacket, bandana so you can not see the flattened down camping hair, and oars as that is how we row.” 😉

We arrived deep into the boundary waters on a lake called Cummings where we set up camp.

By the time we arrived that first day we were losing daylight fast so we quickly set up camp, gathered fire wood, and prepped our dinner of yummy small potatoes in olive oil and salt and pepper, green beans and brats.

The next couple of days we stayed in this spot – reading and relaxing, sunning and playing games.

22a — Selfie pick on day two.. I was trying to capture my mood which I am happy to say stayed the same pretty much the whole time.

What I read… Egads Cassandra Claire – you and the Mortal Instruments have caught me with your movie and now I am in the “City Of __________” web. This is book two that was a wonderful read in the warm sun and I have since completed it and moved on to book three.

My camping peeps (from the left) Belinda, Sheila (yes, another Sheila!), Jacquie, and Melissa. We were playing National Part Yahtzee which was a lot of fun!

After a couple of days we decided to switch it up and try another camp site. I was sorry to see my favorite rock go, where I would sit and read and journal in the mornings… to Crab Lake we went.

Off we went in search of land… errr…. a campsite.

And find a new spot we did! Check out my new lake shore property! And .. there was another rock for me to read and journal…. perhaps even a better rock 😉

And then all to quickly, it was time to head back in to civilization. I found it hard to believe that I had been away from home for almost a week. It all went so quickly. We really had a blast. I learned that it is really ok to get away from all the noise, the “to do’s” and just BE. To hang out and read a book was beyond awesome. I napped in the sun… I read, I played games, and I enjoyed canoeing very much.

So, now life is quiet for a couple weeks. I have reviews to write and things to catch up on – as for this blog, you should be seeing me more frequently. For more pictures of the trip, check out my Facebook page at Sheila DeChantal.

Continuing To Beat The Band

Published on September 21, 2013September 21, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Ok… Ok… I am SUPER LATE today. I am up north in our cabin area and the little cafe that used to offer me great internet while I enjoyed their oatmeal no longer offers internet and perhaps I jinked it when I ordered an omelet instead of the usual but its too late to take back that order (although I wish I could). 😛 SO now, I am in Ely Minnesota where I will be meeting up with the group I will be spending the next 7 days with in the wilderness by canoe and tent, and no, I have not been hiding this “camping girl side of me” from you… quite honestly this is new and I am not sure if “Camping Girl” is in but hey…. let’s find out. 😀

Here is the post I would have put up this morning if I could have:

My whole point of coming into the little café this morning in Silver Bay this morning was to use the internet and set up the final day for banned book week and prep the Sunday post for the Monday What Are You Reading. OK, OK, and people watch… but seriously that is all.

My experience of the cold pancake and not so great omelet could have been overlooked – but the fact that they no longer have internet (I know… WHO does that???) was quite disappointing as now I am left with a plate full of food I really do not want and no way to get my blog work done before I head into the wilderness.

My plan “B” is to type this up in word (as I am doing now) and hoping when I get to Ely later today I will be able to pop into a little café or something and finish this – connect the banned posts and set up the What Are You Reading.

So here I am typing away but soon to be done… I am going back to our cabin to watch Monty Pythons Meaning Of Life because I feel that is an appropriate start to a weeklong canoe and camping trip in the wilderness with a group of girls – some I know, some I do not… and feeling anxious and excited and concerned that I will have no connections to the outside world and thrilled that I will have no connection to the outside world. J Hope that makes sense…

I will be journaling the experience because of this blows (lol) this will be a one time deal and I need to remember that I did that once. If it rocks… or even semi rocks… I will be totally up to doing it again and feel like I can do all things… from tying up a blog post in a little no-internet café to traveling to Honduras, to reading books, to biking 150 miles, to enjoying plays and Vikings games…. Well… you get the point… I also need to remember that a trip where there is no internet and no cell phone coverage and the fact that I can do that 5 hours form my own front door is something kind of awesome as there are many parts of this world where “getting away from it all” requires a plane ticket and a guide.

Ok but I still need to talk about the BANNED! Yes this is the final day of our banned book week celebration here – but my challenge to you is that starting tomorrow is the real official Banned Book Week and I am hoping you have found through the links I have posted this week a great books to give a try to. Here are the final posts for the week:

Bex at An Armchair By The Sea writes an amazing post on the ridiculous reasons we ban books. Seriously, do not miss what she wrote! She is also having a giveaway you will not want to miss.

Jon at Rogue Scholar gets me… he really gets me. 😀 His review of Hunger Games and the crazy banning reasons around is fabulous. Go Jon Go!!!! Jon is also offering a giveaway so get over there! 😀

My buddy Laurel at An Interior Journey has given her post to Perks Of Being a Wallflower. Please stop over and read her thoughts on this one.

And thats the week 😀 Thank you everyone so much for all your banned book week support!

As for what I am listening to on audio during the driving part of this trip is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince… because the two audio books I have been listening to lately for review have been DNF for various reasons I will explain at another time… and my camping trip book of choice is the second book in the City Of Bones series as after seeing the movie… I am back in on this deal J

Later awesome book lovers!

Morning Meanderings… Banned Aid!

Published on September 20, 2013September 20, 2013 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Good morning. Crazy day already. I came home at 1:30 am after seeing Wicked in the theater in the cities. Now I am staring at a table full of things to pack (or not) and for the life of me can not find my digital camera that has been in the same place for years. GAH. I leave this afternoon for our cabin and then off to Ely tomorrow to join the rest of the group to go on our canoe and camping trip. I feel….

disorganized. 😯

Ok – enough of that for now though… lets talk banned books because we are around the corner and hitting the finish line of the event today and tomorrow. Today….

After seeing Wicked last night (banned book by the way!), I was thrilled to see that Erin from Quixotic Magpie wrote a post with a witch theme, The Witch Of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. I loved the post and the crazy reasons this book was banned. Erin is also doing a giveaway!

Tracy at Uncharted Parent talks about book banning and The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian. She has some good thoughts about banning.

Florinda (love her!!!!) at the 3 R’s Blog shares her thoughts on censorship. Well worth the read.

Suey at It’s All About The Books writes on the book Thirteen Reasons Why ( a book I really enjoyed!)

Julia at Diary of A Book Nerd posted a great review of Looking For Alaska and has a giveaway going too! 😀

I hope you check out these great posts today and I really hope that as this weekend is approaching fast that you pick up a banned book from the list and dig in to something good!

I will posts pics of Wicked in the morning. I have a lot to get moving on this morning. 😀 Have a great day!