Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

You can’t blend in when you were born to stand out.

10-year-old August Pullman is a sweet boy.  He has a loving family and a dog who adores him named Daisy.  But August’s world is a small one.  Born with severe facial deformities he is used to being gasped at when in public places.  Small children point at him and adults quickly scurry away acting as thought there was some emergency “to do: they had forgotten about.  Because of all of this, August has been home schooled.

Until now.

Now as August is about to enter 5th grade his parents think that maybe trying a regular school would be a good idea.  August is not so sure but agrees to give it a try under the safety net that if he wants to quit he can.  As anticipated, most of Augie’s classmates can not get past his face. Augie is called names and noted are left in his locker.  One boy Jack, seems to be a friend, and a girl named Summer (who likes that both of their names are seasons…) but one can never be too sure because peer pressure to agree with everyone else is a strong force in 5th grade.

In an age where bullying amongst kids is strong, can Augie survive the tests and the lessons of being the bigger person?

 


Why did I want to read this book?  WONDER has been on my “”I want to read!” list since last year.  In fact, it was on track to be my first read of 2012 and then at the last second I decided on another book and WONDER was set aside.  Now, October being National Bully Prevention month, I thought I would give it a try to I downloaded it from audible.com to listen to.

Wonder is just that.  A wonder. Narrated in the beginning by August, he tells of his childhood and the start of this school year.  You do not get a clear idea of what his deformities exactly are – August mainly focuses on the reaction of the people around when they see him.  It’s actually heart breaking to hear it from his perspective…

The next part of the book is narrated by August’s sister and then we get into the what August looks like and what that is like from an older sisters perspective.  As you can imagine, at times she is protective… but at other times she is tired of the focus always being on August and what August needs as well as some of the comments made in school.

As the book goes on, the narration changes to August’s new friends in school and what it was like to hang out with August.  The narration changes are actually smart and witty.  It is interesting to hear the “other sides” of what is happening.  

Wonder is a story of triumph over tragedy – it’s about kids acting as kids do, parents trying to hang on and make things right and learning to just be yourself and to heck with the rest.  Wonder is a book that will speak to kids as well as adults.

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)2 Comments

 

 

“I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve. I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.” ―Donald Miller

 

 

Donald Miller knew of God but didn’t really know what to do with God.  While going about college and life he discovered a Jesus different then the one that can be shoved down throats – instead he found Jesus as the one who walks beside him and teaches him about looking at people, life, and situations in new and positive ways. 

While taking off with his new-found faith in a loving God, Miller finds himself fried out on his ministry and falls away.  Yes Jesus continues to show up in the strangest of ways slowly pulling Miller back to Him and creating a passion that is bone deep.

Blue Like Jazz is an honest walk with Donald Miller through his younger years of funny college moments, a crazy hippy movement, relationships, friendships and more.  Attending Reed College in Portland Oregon, known as the least faith-based school around instead cranking out brilliance at an academic level unheard of by most colleges.  As Don struggles through, his thoughts are at times profound and even funny.  Don, like any one of us, is just trying to get it right. 

 

 

 

Why did I want to read this book?  I have read Donald Miller before and enjoyed his laid back style.  I had heard good things about this book and now there is also a movie out that I have also heard is very good. 

Blue Like Jazz is now a movie as well

 

Blue Like Jazz is a book I listened to on audio.  Read by its author, Donald Miller I loved the steady – not preachy or “lecturey” (my word) but instead in a tone of “hey, here’s what happened and here’s what I did with it…”  I actually enjoyed the narrating very much.

Blue Like Jazz was a good audio.  Don’s stories of his college, and the people he hung out with and what they did were truly college actions except Don always was looking for the connections between this life and how it plays into Gods plan for us.  Even when he seems to not be walking in a way that God would find worthy, he still was and that really is the beauty of this book.

Never preachy, Blue Like Jazz reads like any other no fiction novel with the bonus of  this book can make you think.  There are some wonderful moments in Blue Like Jazz, I especially liked his little group of Christians in the school (a rarity) and their plan to come out with a reverse confession booth – I loved this whole section of the book – shoot, I loved the whole book.  There were times I listened to whole chapters again as I loved how Don Miller talks of loving people no matter what and losing this judgey attitude. 

I can’t wait to see the movie and have it rented now from Netflix waiting for me 😉

 

Fun fact:  The book has been made into a movie by director Steve Taylor.   On his blog on September 16, 2010, Donald Miller stated that despite a strong screenplay, a stellar cast, and rave reviews, the project was put on hold indefinitely due to lack of funding. Two fans created a site called “Save Blue Like Jazz”where they urged fans to help raise money to fund the movie through a website called Kickstarter. This campaign raised over $340,000, more than doubling the original goal of $125,000 by October 25, 2010.
 

from wikepedia

I purchased my copy of Blue Like Jazz from a local sale

Morning Meanderings… Hobbit Book Club

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

 

Good morning!  Wednesday!  already!  WOW!

I usually feel these days like I am behind – behind on reviews, reading, and occasionally life as well.  Today would be a fine example of that.  As I was looking through some old emails that I had yet to open (*sigh*) I found an interesting link to an online Hobbit Book Club.  As you more than likely know, The Hobbit is coming out as a movie.  What you may not know is that I LOVE all things Tolkien.  SOOOOOO…. I have to look into this deeper.

If you click on the link, you will see I am already behind.  If you know me, you know I am going to try to catch up anyway… 😀  My posting of this today is to make sure you 1.  know about the read-a-long and 2.  see if anyone else is doing this already, or would care to chase after it like me… with me. 

 

 

I leave you with these questions…

Have you read The Hobbit before?

Are you interested in reading it now – pre-movie?

And most importantly…

Is that Dumbledore in the movie trailer? 

Morning Meanderings… When A Passion Catches FIRE

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Tuesday!  It is drizzly here in Minnesota this morning.  I am up early serving for IHN and now sitting down to write a quick post before I go to work. 

Yesterday I spoke in a nearby town to a group of 40 retired teachers about Banned Books.  I know right?  SO how did that happen?

A woman who is on the Friends Of The Library board “witnessed” my passion for banned books a few weeks ago and asked me if I would speak to this group.  I said yes and it sounded like a really good idea at the time…

until when I was driving their yesterday and thought, I wonder if some of these teachers will be teachers I had as a student?  AND…. I wondered if they would think that grown up Sheila is kind of a “rebel with a cause”talking about banned books....

 

When I arrived I was thrilled to see 4 of the teachers were teachers I once had.  And they remembered me which always amazes me because throughout my life time I probably had about 40 teachers and they have about 1,000 students throughout their career….  

AND talking about banned books was actually fun.  I brought some of my own, had pictures of the ones I did not own and went from the current champions of banned: Hunger Games, Harry Potter, SPEAK, to the surprises:  LORAX, The Dictionary, Lord Of The Rings, and of course the classics…  It was actually a lot of fun and there were questions afterwards – a great question was,

“Do you think an author may sometimes try to be a bit controversial to hit the banned books list, after all… ban a book the kids want to read it more…”

 

While I can not speak for the authors, I figured in most cases no…. but who knows really…. 😛

 

When I was done speaking I was given a gift, a banned book bracelet (SSSQQQUUUEEE!) I have always wanted one!  It really was a good time.

In other news, I noticed that The Twelve by Justin Cronin is now available for purchase.  Serious SSSQQQUUUEEEE worthy.  If you have not read The Passage (click for my review)– oh my… you MUST.  And when you are done, be sure and give The Twelve a try.  I have yet to read my copy of The Twelve and that is really insane since The Twelve was the one book I wanted most when I went to BEA in June and I have now had it on my shelf all these months. 

 

SO off to work.  I plan to be back later with a review.  Have an awesome day!!!!

Have you read The Passage or Justin Cronin?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

 

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

Last weeks winner: Joy from Joys Book Blog!!!

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!   :D

 

What a busy and great week!  I am sitting here EXHAUSTED but in a good way.  I just returned Sunday afternoon from a craft weekend on the North shore.  We crafted, we watched movies – it was a good time!  I did manage to read a bit too:

 

A Wilderness Of Error by Errol Morris (True Crime)

 

 

The Wizard Of Oz by Frank Baum – a Bookies review and some fun dress up pics!

 

Telestrations – a fun new board game!

 

 

Titanic’s Last Secret’s by Brad Matsen

 

You’ve Been Warned by James Patterson

 

 

Not too bad a week and here is what is happening this week:

 

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them-not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all-family money, good looks, devoted friends-but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys.

 

 

 

Stalin’s Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.

But in this society, millions do live in fear . . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty-owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time-sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.

A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated.

Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal-a murderer-is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he’s ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it’s a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer-much less a serial killer-is in their midst. Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won’t admit even exists.

 

 

 

 

At first my eyes wouldn’t make sense of the letters. Finally, they unscrambled. Loving a Larger Woman, said the headline, by Bruce Guberman. Bruce Guberman had been my boyfriend for just over three years, until we’d decided to take a break three months ago. And the larger woman, I could only assume, was me.

Cannie Shapiro never wanted to be famous. The smart, sharp, plus-sized pop culture reporter was perfectly content writing about other people’s lives on the pages of the Philadelphia Examiner. But the day she opens up a national women’s magazine to find out that her ex-boyfriend has been chronicling their ex-sex life is the day her life changes forever.

Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world, Bruce has written. And Cannie — who never knew that Bruce saw her as a “larger woman,” or thought that loving her was an act of courage — is plunged into misery, and into the most amazing year of her life.

 

 

 

 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

 

 

 

Thats the week.  How about you?  Add you Its Monday What Are You Reading link to where it says click here below.

 

Powered by Linky Tools

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

 

 

and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

You’ve Been Warned by James Patterson & Howard Roughan

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

 

Kristin Burns is working on her photography career and not doing too badly.  By day she is a nanny for two kids she adores, and working on getting the man she hopes to spend the rest of her life with… there are just a few kinks to work out.  Like… his wife.  But really, isn’t all fair in love and war and the wife, really is a piece of work…. really.

The Kristin starts having crazy nightmares every night.  They seem so real… and they involve 4 body bags coming out of a hotel.  As if the nightmare itself isn’t bad enough, Kristin starts seeing things throughout her daily life that make her think the nightmare may be coming true.  But who is going to believe that?  Is she going crazy?  Are the secrets within her reach, maybe through the lens of her camera?

 

 

 

I have enjoyed some of Patterson’s work in the past.  He has a couple of series that I follow and this one sounded like it could be good.  Kristin’s story I felt was a bit hard to follow.  Choppy at best.  First her morals are obviously a little off base as she justifies the affair she is having.  The random nightmares connecting with her day-to-day life are interesting enough to hold me to the read, wanting to know what is happening and why. 

Mostly – I enjoyed the story line of her life with friends and even the kids and yes, even the guy…. but the nightmare twists felt forced and odd and when it was all over I was not left with a big “AHA” moment but a “Wha?”

So in the end I would rate this one an “Eh”

 

 

Morning Meanderings… A Recap Of Last Weekends Bike Ride

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

 

Happy Saturday ya all – 😀  I am currently up North – yes further north than my home in central Minnesota at our cabin for a girls crafting weekend.  Lap top – has stayed home this time as I do not have internet there anyway so this is a pre-scheduled post that I am hoping (fingers crossed!) will appear magically on my blog on Saturday morning. 😀

 

For today’s Saturday Snapshop over at Alyce’s At Home With Books, I thought I would share some pics and thoughts from the Mankato Ramble from last weekend. 

I drove to Mankato Minnesota on Saturday late afternoon as the drive is almost 4 hours.  Hello audio books!  😀  I stayed the first night at my friend Diane’s house as my College Son was out-of-town.  Can you believe it – I come to his town and he is not home?  LOL  He was actually in Duluth and was getting back early Sunday. 

On Sunday morning in 25 degree weather (uh… yeah) we went to the bike ride.  I rode with my friends Diane, Sheila, Belinda, and Jason – and a new friend, Josh.

The ride was good but cold – really cold for the first couple of hours.  I was almost caving to do the shorter 36 mile ride instead of the 44 mile ride.  Thankfully my friends stayed strong and we completed the ride as planned.  Here are some pics from that event:

Jason and I, pre-ride

 

One of the pit stops

 

Guess I should have posted this one first 🙂

I am not usually a big cookie fan but something about the cookies on this ride…. oatmeal chocolate chip…. MMMMMMMM

 

Diane and Josh took the shorter ride so at the end, this is who I finished with: L: Belinda, Sheila, Me, and Jason

 

We had a great time.  I then spend Sunday with College son Justin.  We went out to dinner and then to the movie Pitch Perfect which was funny and good!  I stayed over night with Justin and then drove home Monday morning.  A great weekend! 

Check out more pictures of what people are up to at Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots!

Titanics Last Secret’s by Brad Matsen

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

In August of 2005, 93 years after Titanic had sunk and become the worlds biggest ship disaster – a discovery about the ship is revealed.  A team that had been diving found previously undiscovered wreckage of the ship that led to the conclusion that Titanic’s bow had not rose up in the air as the famous movie scene dictated – but instead had broken in half while the ship was horizontal. 

How is it that all these years later that this could be true?  With all the eye witnesses from the life boats, how was this one fact told incorrectly or pushed so far from what really happened?

I have always been fascinated with all things Titanic.  The tragedy is monumental and to this day I struggle wrapping my heard around the sheer magnetism of the senseless loss of life.  I have read many books on the subject feeling almost as though I had put myself on the ship, trying to escape Titanic and hoping for another outcome….  when I seen this audio I knew I had to listen to it.

What Brad Matsens research for this book covers is why the Titanic sunk so quickly, when in all rights it should have been fine to float until the rescue boats came… instead, the time between the iceberg hitting the boat and the sinking of this great ship was two hours and forty minutes.  That’s enough to give my chills.  What is pointed out in this telling is that the Titanic and in fact other large ships like her, were not built sound enough – too large for the building skills of the time.

The book while  starting out in modern-day, travels back to the original building of the ship from the three famous men who were the creation and ultimately the fate of Titanic, Lord Pirrie, Bruce Ismay, and Thomas Andrews, all through the discussion of the lifeboats and how ugly they were on the ship so really why not cut them to the bare minimum?

You also get a retelling of what happened that night and perhaps most interesting for me, what happened in the days and weeks after the ship sank as far as the trials and the holding of the ships crewman who survived for questioning. 

Those of you who are interested in Titanic like me will find this an informative and thought-provoking read – a definite addition to my Titanic resources.

Morning Meanderings… Banned Book Week Winners and a fun box of formal dresses!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

 

Good morning and I mean good morning as I am writing this at 3:30 am.  This was not the plan but I woke up at 2:50 am when hubby went to go move equipment and now I am WIDE AWAKE.  😛 
Last week was the fantastic Banned Book Week event and I am still excited from all the participants.  I have BUNCHES of winners to announce and here they are:

 

The winner of the PREP post $10 Amazon gift card is….  Belle from Book Belle!

 

The winner of the copy of The Giver is Shannon from I Run Teach Read!

 

The Chocolate Wars post CHOCOLATE giveaway (which was comments on my post and on Florinda’s  goes to Jennifer from The Relentless Reader!

 

The Blog Participant drawing of a $20 Amazon gift card that was for everyone who signed up and offered a post during banned book week goes to…. Gina from Book Dragon’s Lair!

 

And finally – I had mentioned that all comments go into a LARGE Banned Book drawing for my banned book week posts as well as commenting on the other posts I linked for banned book week.  That prize package looks like this:

And the winner is:

Crys from Book Em!!!!

 

*All winners were chosen using random.org

 

And one more fun thing. 

 

Gina from Book Dragon’s Lair sent me a little package last week… she knows that every July my book club dresses in formal wear for our annual “Queen Event”.  She sent me two gorgeous dresses for any of the eighteen girls in book club to choose to wear if they would like.  How cool is that!  Here are the dresses:

Just another thing I love about the book blogging community!  Thank you Gina they are beautiful!

So this morning I leave for our cabin for a crafting weekend.  I am really looking forward to a couple of days of chilling out.  Next week we serve for IHN (homeless in our community) so it will be a bit of a busy week and a little down time is just what I am looking forward to.  Posts and reviews are prepped to go up while I am away so continue to stop in and see whats happening and what I have been reading 😀

Telestrations~ A Fun Board Game!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

When I was offered to review the game Telestrations I was THRILLED…. if you don’t know this about me – you are about to, I am a HUGE GAMER!  I LOVE board games and have a whole huge closet dedicated to just board games! 

I took Telestrations with me last weekend to Mankato where I was staying with friends and I was hoping they would want to play so I could write my review of the game – and of course see if we enjoyed it. 

You can have up to eight players, we had four.  We were each given a little booklet that uses a dry erase marker, a marker, and a card.  Someone rolls the dice and you all look at that number on your card and write that word as your secret word on page one.  Lets say, as in the example I am going to show you here, your word was “Scuba Diver”.

So on page two you would draw a picture of your word:

Now you flip to the next page and pass the whole booklet to the person to your left.  They turn back one page so they can see what you drew and then on page three they write the word of what they think you drew.  Lets say in this case after looking at the above picture they wrote down:

“Deep Sea Diver”

Now that person flips to the next page and then passes it to the left.  That person turns back one page, looks at the word that was written – in this case, “Deep Sea Diver”, they flip back to the blank page and draw what they think would be a deep sea

My friend Diane

diver picture.  Flip to the next page, pass to your left again.. and so on until you get your own book back.

*Note – in our case, since there were 4 of us, we ran the books around twice through as there are enough pages to go 8 times and it was so funny to see where the word starts and ends.

When you get your own book back you share in turn what your secret word was and flip through the book to see if that word makes it to the end.  The game is like the old school telephone game with paper. 

There is a points system but we just had a good time flipping through the results and laughing at people pictures.  BELIEVE me, they were not all as easy to guess as the one I show you above, for instance – there are some words that it asks you to pick.  I drew one that said your favorite author.  Like I can pick that!  But I did pick one that is near and dear to my heart, so I drew this:

Now remember, that poor unsuspecting person to the left of me doesn’t even know that the topic is an author.  So…. I don’t even remember what they wrote on the next page but it was nowhere near the true answer which was J K Rowling.  See it? 

My friend Sheila

Thats Harry and Ron and Hermoine standing in front of Hogwarts….  see it?  No?  LOL

Anyhoo – the game rated high for all of us – we had a lot of fun and a couple of times the word that was started was the word that ended as well.  In case I didn’t explain the game well, here is a video to help out with that:

 

This is a great get together game.  I would recommend it for your next gathering or I think it would make a great gift for that gamer in your life.