Morning Meanderings… A Real Friday!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

 

Good morning!  😀

I am excited this morning for many reasons…..

1.  It is not raining!  The forecast called for rain all weekend long which is such a downer as it wipes out visions of bike rides, and reading on the deck.

2.  I think I will go to garage sales this morning as that is what I used to do on Fridays and would like to do a bit more of that.  I forgot until I was at the cabin last week that my moose dinner plates, my moose salt and pepper shakers,the books on the shelf, the pictures on the wall, the board games, the fun decorations in the bedrooms from cardinals to greenery were all from garage sales.  I practically put that house together other than furniture, towels and bedding, from garage sales.

3.  I do not work again now until Tuesday!  That could mean so much – a movie, books, writing, biking (if the weather holds), getting prepared for BEA(ooh I could actually start packing!!!)…

4.  The SUN!  It has been gloomy and overcast since last Monday and I like the sun so much better than the gray clouds. 

And hopefully – I can catch up on blogs this weekend too.  It seems like there is just not enough time these days (of course falling asleep last night at 7:45 pm was probably not the most productive use of my time – but it was a crazy week and I think I was exhausted).

How about you – any fascinating plans this weekend?  Share!  😀

Arranged by Catherine McKenzie

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

S many things are right in Anne Blythe’s life… she loves her job working for a respected magazine, she enjoys great friends, and has a book deal coming together….

so why for the love of all that is good and holy – can she not find a decent boyfriend?

After yet another disastrous breakup and the announcement of her best friend engagement, Anne feels it is time to take drastic measures…. obviously her criteria of “dark hair, steely blue eyes, and perfect build” in a man in getting her nowhere.  When she finds a business card to what she believes is a dating service she feels this is divine intervention telling her to take a chance on a different method to happiness.  Upon making a meeting with this service she discovers to her shock that this is an exclusive, by appointment only – arranged marriage service.  AND $10,000 at that.

At first Anne balks the idea – the cost is out of her price range, and marrying a guy you have never met (the services rules – they believe that when you choose a partner by looks first you are setting yourself up for failure) is crazy.  Yet, her best friends overwhelming happiness and her book advancement of $10,000 makes her decide to give it a try… after all, what does she really have to lose and she can always pull out of the program before the final and largest payment in made.

But there is that nagging… what if?  What if all these testings and therapy sessions, graphs and life styles actually could lead up to the man of her dreams?  What if she too could be gushingly happy like all those married couples she is surrounded by?  Would it work? 

Finland Minnesota, the deck to our cabin.

I first read Catherine McKenzie’s book SPIN and really enjoyed it.  What I thought would be a light fun chick lit book actually had bite.  Again, in Arranged, Catherine McKenzie sets the bar a little higher with a book that has more to discover within its pages than one may first think.

Anne (named after Anne Of Green Gables, and has a brother named Gil…) is a protagonist I could relate too.  Driven to succeed but tired of hitting that wall of “let’s try that again!”.  I enjoyed her immensely and can even imagine in a similar situation how I may be tempted to take that leap or “fast pass” to happiness (as in do not have a dating period, do not pass memories and proceed directly to the altar!).
There is actually so much more than what I share in the synopsis but honestly as I thought of what else to write it all felt a little “spoiler worthy” to me and none of us want that.  This is one of those reads that so many interesting things are happening that I fear saying too much.
I just dove into this book.  I was at the cabin this past weekend and read off and on as I had time through the weekend, finishing this last Monday morning sitting on a sunny deck, telling my son we would start the 3 1/2 ride back home once I finished this book. 
Final thoughts:  I really enjoyed this book, it was a different concept than I had ever really considered so it was fun to live in that world for a few days.
Thank you TLC Book Tours for allowing me to hang out
with Anne Blythe on a whirlwind adventure!

Morning Meanderings… BEA (Book Expo of America) Countdown

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good morning!

BEA is less that two weeks away and while it seemed to take FOREVER to get here… now I am all like really, two weeks???   Actually, two weeks from today I will be on the last day of the Expo.  I am flying to New York on Sunday June 3, and returning to Minnesota on June 8th and going right into the MS 150 bike ride on the 8th – 10th and then back home here to Brainerd.

Crazy and exciting!

Two years ago when I first went to BEA it felt like there was more of a buzz around the internet about it.  I remember a group of bloggers all wrote posts about BEA – what to expect, what to make sure you do, what to wear…  I ate those posts up.  I remember sitting with my laptop and a pen and paper handy.  Every tip (bring your own bottled water and snacks to the Javitz) I captured on paper (wear comfortable shoes). Those tips were invaluable to me.

Last year I wrote such a post, and this year – hopefully at some point over the next few days, I plan to write one again.  That first year I was a nervous wreck.  I had never been to New York before, I had never met my roommate Reagan Remmers (Miss Remmers Reviews)… we had just connected through our blogs and emails because we were both from Minnesota.  My friends thought I was nuts to go and stay with people in a hotel room that I had never met.  They said things like “What if Bobbi from Bookish Adventures is actually a big hairy dude?”  Ok ok… they didn’t exactly go that far…. but I did have my fears… 😛

Anyhoo…. are you going to BEA this year?  I would love to meet you if you are – and I would love to meet up with you again if we have already met.  The hanging out with fellow book lovers is a huge part of my love for this event.  😀

Blue Asylum by Kathy Hepinstall

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Color me a litle wackadoodle… but ever since One Flew Over The Coocoo’s Nest, I have had a little thing for books and movies centered around insane asylums.  And if you also are drawn to such topics… you know they are few and far between.  Nobody…. quite literally…

wants to go there.

Well, until now.  When Iris Dunleavy during Civil War time is convicted of madness for being willfull (and yes, I should watch my back!), she is sent to Sanibel Asylum – not a nice little r and r at a local country club, nope… a full fledge asylum with a plethora of interesting, and colorful, characters. 

The plan is that Iris is to work the program and be restored to the obedient woman her hubby thinks she should be and then she will also be restored to her wifely duties.  Iris of course knows she is not mad, simply strong willed and standing up for her rights.  However… mad may be preferable to her life she had…

And then there is Ambrose Weller, a war-haunted Confederate soldier who is calmed only by the color blue.  Iris finds herself drawn to him and as she plans a way out of this dreadful place she ponders if she could possibly make a break for two, bringing Ambrose along with her to a life she knows nothing of…

I have been reading a few lighter more “summery” reads as of late and Blue Asylum is quite a bit different from that genre.  Quite truly Historical Fiction Blue Asylum is a book with a back bone, and that backbone is named Iris Dunleavy.

I was happy to meet the strong and witty Iris within the pages of this book.  She is just the type of female character that keeps me turning pages.  Having heard how well Kathy Hepinstall writes, this brilliant protagonist did not surprise me… however, what did, was the surrounding characters who also felt three-dimensional, and actually made me feel for them.  I like that.

Feeling.

A cast of fun characters burst forth from Hepinstalls mind – a woman who like to swallow things… really anything… rings, whatever.  Another who believes her husband is beside her as she talks to him and walks with him day in and day out…  another, a man whose feet are too heavy to move… and of course Ambrose, who is haunted by a war that only the color blue seems to sooth…

What I really enjoyed is how Iris interacted and even helped each person in a way.

a little bit historical… a little bit romance… for me a pleasant mix that left me thinking after that final page was closed.

Little bonus for Asylum enthusiasts…. I found this site for famous Asylums

Thank you TLC for sending me this review copy

that kept me reading and cheering Iris on!

Morning Meanderings and A Giveaway you will not want to miss!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)58 Comments

Good morning and happy Wednesday! 

Looks like it will be a rainy gloomy day here today – sky is hazy gray….

I wanted to announce that I have a new giveaway!  I reviewed The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty last week and so enjoyed it!  Now I have been told that I can offer a SIGNED copy here of The Chaperone – and that my friends is SSSQQQUUUEEEEE worthy!  😀

Here is what is being said about The Chaperone:

  • “It’s impossible not to be completely drawn in by The Chaperone. Laura Moriarty has delivered the richest and realest possible heroine in Cora Carlisle, a Wichita housewife who has her mind and heart blown wide open, and steps–with uncommon courage–into the fullness of her life. What a beautiful book. I loved every page.”–Paula McLain, author of The Paris Wife

  • “What a charming, mesmerizing, transporting novel! The characters are so fully realized that I felt I was right there alongside them. A beautiful clarity marks both the style and structure of The Chaperone.”–Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife and Adam & Eve

  • “The Chaperone is the best kind of historical fiction, transporting you to another time and place, but even more importantly delivering a poignant story about people so real, you’ll miss and remember them long after you close the book.”–Jenna Blum, author of Those Who Save Us and The Stormchasers

  • “THE CHAPERONE is the enthralling story of two women… In this layered and inventive story, Moriarty raises profound questions about family, sexuality, history, and whether it is luck or will – or a combination of the two – that makes for a wonderful life.”  –O, the Oprah Magazine

  • “A fun romp” –Good Housekeeping

  • Laura’s fanpage

SO what to do to enter…..

1.  Leave a comment here telling me when you were a teen, what your “Big Dream” was for your life.  If you are a teen, share what the dream is for your life.  😀

2.  Leave a comment on my review of The Chaperone, and if you already have just let me know here. 

That’s it.  I will draw a winner on the last day of May!

 

Have a super day – I am at work, and hopefully a workout and a meeting tonight….but this ends my evening commitments for the week and I am THRILLED about that.  😀

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Before I Fall was my first Lauren Oliver read and I remember

LOVING it.  I thought it was brilliant, and now that Camryn has

read it too, I am considering a re-read….

Sheila

Before I Fall

Before I Fall is a book written by Lauren Oliver. The main character, Sam, is a senior in high school. In the beginning of the book, you witness Sam’s death-by-car-crash. Sam lives the day of her death over and over again, each time realizing the mistakes she’s made with her life. Sam’s best friends, Lindsay, Elody, and Ally. They are the most popular girls at school, and bullies at that. Sam realizes that how she treats people isn’t a good thing. Sam and her friends main target, Juliet Sykes, or “Psycho” is constantly picked on at school. When Juliet commits suicide the same day Sam dies, Sam thinks that she has to stop Juliet from killing herself in order to stop her reoccurring death day. Problems such as Sam’s boyfriend, Rob, who is getting impatient with Sam and turning into a jerk right before her eyes, old conflicts with her best friends, particularly Lindsay, and feelings for her childhood best friend, Kent. Can Sam save herself, and Juliet? Or is the process more complex than she thinks?

 

Before I Fall is now one of my (many) favorite books. It is written extremely well, and the story is great. I almost kept my eyes dry on this one, but not quite. I would recommend this book to everyone. It’s really great. Seriously. Read it! You won’t be sorry…….

Camryn is 12 years old, soon to be thirteen and enjoys reading YA books of the fantasy and romance genre. A few of her favorite books are “Hourglass” by Myra McEntire, “The Other Countess” by Eve Edwards, “Hush, Hush” by Becca Fitzpatrick, “The Immortals” series, the “Marked” series and the “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants” series.  When she’s not reading she enjoys watching Gilmore Girls or going to book sales for more books to add to her ever-growing collection.

You can find Camryn’s other reviews here

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)58 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.

This past weeks winner:

Sharon’s Garden Of Book Reviews

Congratulations!  Please email me your book choice out of the recently cleaned up and LOVELY Reading Cafe at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com. 

holy smokes!  I bet you were wondering where I was!  Just a week or so ago I was saying how since I took over this meme in February 2010,  I had never missed a Monday!  And then…. this… I almost missed it.

SO… if you followed my posts going into Saturday morning you know I was going to the cabin on the North Shore with our College son Justin.  We left Saturday morning, and the plan was to come back this late afternoon (which we did).  However – I also brought laptop along – and while I do not have internet at out cabin, we planned a couple outings that would have internet and I was going to put up an abbreviated Monday What Are You Reading as I just did not have enough time to prep it before I left.

On Sunday afternoon we landed in Ely Minnesota at a fun little cafe – WIFI accessible and I grabbed a coffee, Justin a hot cocoa and I pulled out the laptop I had just carried up and down the streets if Ely while we checked out stores, and looked for a place to land.  I could not get their internet to connect.  No worries I thought, we are having dinner in Schroeder Minnesota at Blue Fin, they will have internet!  And they did, but I could not hook up to it.  It just would not connect.

Now while this disturbed the anal OCD side of me…. it was also a life lesson.  I never go unplugged and get away from it all.  I take laptop anywhere and have sent posts and Monday memes from Florida, Chicago, Wisconsin, and frequently Honduras.  Being forced to unplug….

was actually nice.  😀

I sat back and enjoyed 100% my time with my son. 

Now home, I have put in a load of laundry, completed unpacking, did the dishes, started supper and NOW am sitting down feeling satisfied, relaxed and ready to chat with all of you and catch up on emails and comments and visits… and yeah….. 😀

So – now that you know where I was and what I was doing – here is what happened here last week:

Lets Pretend This Never Happened by Jennifer Lawrence

The Chaperone By Laura Moriarty

Viola In The Spotlight by Adriana Trigiani

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

 

Over the weekend we (son and I) finished an audio book we listened to and from the cabin) and I finished a book for a tur later this week.

As for this week… here is what I have planned:

 

Amid the mayhem of the Civil War, Virginia plantation wife Iris Dunleavy is put on trial and convicted of madness. It is the only reasonable explanation the court can see for her willful behavior, so she is sent away to Sanibel Asylum to be restored to a good, compliant woman. Iris knows, though, that her husband is the true criminal; she is no lunatic, only guilty of disagreeing with him on notions of justice, cruelty, and property. On this remote Florida island, cut off by swamps and seas and military blockades, Iris meets a wonderful collection of residents–some seemingly sane, some wrongly convinced they are crazy, some charmingly odd, some dangerously unstable. Which of these is Ambrose Weller, the war-haunted Confederate soldier whose memories terrorize him into wild fits that can only be calmed by the color blue, but whose gentleness and dark eyes beckon to Iris. The institution calls itself modern, but Iris is skeptical of its methods, particularly the dreaded “water treatment.” She must escape, but she has found new hope and love with Ambrose. Can she take him with her? If they make it out, will the war have left anything for them to make a life from, back home?

 

 

Anne Blythe has a great life: a good job, close friends, and a potential book deal for her first novel. When it comes to finding someone to share her life with, however, she just can’t seem to get it right. When her latest relationship implodes, and her best friend announces she’s engaged, Anne impulsively calls what she thinks is a dating service—only to discover that it’s actually an exclusive, and pricey, arranged marriage service. Anne initially rejects the idea, but the more she learns about the service, the more she thinks: Why not? After all, arranged marriages are the norm for millions of women around the world; maybe it could work for her.

A few months later, Anne is traveling to a Mexican resort, where, over the course of a weekend, she meets and then marries Jack. And initially, everything seems to be working out. . . .

 

 

 

That brand-new physique you’ve been waiting for, the leaner, fitter, healthier body you thought you’d never had. Eat This, Not That! 2011–the latest, most up-to-date book in the best-selling weight loss franchise–is ready to start stripping extra pounds from your body today. And once you lose that weight, you’re going to keep it off. Forever.
 
That’s because Eat This, Not That! is a tool. It’s designed to make smart food choices easier, no matter where you’re making them. Consider just a handful of real stories from real people who’ve shed 25, 50, 75 pounds–or more!–and you’ll understand why Eat This, Not That! is “The no-diet weight-loss solution”:

* Michael Colombo of Staten Island, New York, shed 91 pounds in just over 8 months and conquered life-threatening sleep apnea, after picking up a copy of Eat This, Not That!. “My confidence has sky-rocketed!” he says.
* Erika Bowen of Minneapolis, Minnesota, dropped 84 pounds–without dieting. “I feel like I’ve always wanted to feel,” Bowen reports. Once she discovered the truth about her food, she learned she could lose weight and never feel hungry.

Hiking into the remote Utah canyonlands, Aron Ralston felt perfectly at home in the beauty of the natural world. Then, at 2:41 P.M., eight miles from his truck, in a deep and narrow slot canyon, an eight-hundred-pound boulder tumbled loose, pinning Aron’s right hand and wrist against the canyon wall. Through six days of hell, with scant water, food, or warm clothing, and the terrible knowledge that no one knew where he was, Aron eliminated his escape option one by one. Then a moment of stark clarity helped him to solve the riddle of the boulder–and commit one of the most extreme and desperate acts imaginable.

That’s the week… not sure what next weekend holds yet, so far I don’t think we have plans… but haven’t chatted with hubby yet since my return today as he is still at work.  I am however hoping some of you still will link up this late and I hope to stop by and see what you are reading!  Add your link below where it says click here.

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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:

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

You would not recognize that Sylvia at 17 in Bohemian clothes and long flowing loose hair was the same Sylvia 38 years later who was a pressed suit wearing, hair dying, prim and proper politician’s wife.  Life was a ritual of making her husbands schedule, getting his coffee and being by his side as the perfect cookie cutter political wife.

Then a very public scandal rips Sylivia’s marriage wide open and make’s her question everything she has become.  Retreating to her mothers unoccupied seaside home, Sylvia works at distancing herself from the mess her life has become and creating a life she can move forward in.

Sylvia’s daughter Diane is dealing with her own marriage issues.  Her husband Gary’s whiney nasally voice has trampled her last nerve.  He wants nothing more than to stay at home and play games on his laptop while Diane thirsts for more… and more is what she finds in a man she works with at the hospital who seems to be everything that Gary is not.Lizzie, the youngest daughter has already led a troubled life.  Having battled addictions already of drugs and alcohol at her young age, she fights to stay clean and sober, when a man comes along who seems to good to want someone the likes of her. Eventually, all three women wind up at the seaside home… each dealing with major curve balls in their life and trying to process through what the next step should be. 

 

Author: Jennifer Weiner

I think somewhere along the line of mountains of books and authors I enjoy, I forgot how much I enjoyed Jennifer Weiner (pronounced Why-ner).  Listening to this audio just reminded me that she is not an author to miss.

Usually when a book has several strong protagonists, I usually find myself favoring a story line and going with that.  That is mainly because when you split the top billing character, many times they lack depth and development. 

In Fly Away Home, I have to say I enjoyed all three-story lines.  Sylvia’s story was painful and honest and I loved how she handled herself, even allowed herself to change out of that stiff molding she had placed herself in.  Diane’s story also felt real and captivated me wondering what she would ultimately do, and Lizzie, who never really seemed to live up to anyone’s expectations suddenly finds her own worth.

Really, Fly Away Home is an impressive heartwarming read that does not end with everything tied up in a neat little bow.  Instead it feels real that some questions remain to be answered – and some choices, are still being processed through.  Yet I was satisfied with the way it all ended.

I recommend Fly Away Home as an excellent summer read or listen.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

Audible.com

Check out these great bloggers thoughts:

Write Meg!

The Girl From The Ghetto

Confessions Of A Bibliophile

Morning Meanderings… Events the past couple of weeks

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Saturday!  😀 

The past two weekends I have had bike rides, and in honor of Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots I thought I would post a few pics I took from these rides.

This is us pulling into the Ironman bike ride on May 6th. The weather was a bit gloomy….

 

The first thing we have to do is go in and let registration know we are there, get out wrist band and then we are free to ride. This ride was a 17,30,50,68, or 100 mile ride

 

Myself (left) and my friend Amy prior to the ride.

 

I let Amy choose what route we would take – the weather was supposed to storm all day. she chose: 50!

 

At the lunch stop we could gather around this little baby…. I love it! It looks like a cauldron and makes me think of Harry Potter!

 

We finished that 50 mile ride without a drop of rain on us.  No idea how that happened – we just missed it. 😀 

 

Then last Saturday I drove to meet us with my MS team for a 50 mile ride in the Cities.  This time the weather was awesome!

These are the girls I rode with: Me (Left), Belinda, Sheila, and Diane

 

One of the pit stops on this ride

 

I did not take a whole lot of pics on this ride -f or some reason when I rode I felt awful – I ached, my neck, my legs, my arms…. the total opposite of the weekend before when I felt great.  A friend (ex -friend) of mine said, “Well Sheila, as we get older our body does not recover as quickly….”

*fingers in ears*  LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA

LOL.  So that is what I have been doing these past two weekends when not enjoying a good book.  😀 

 

This weekend, my College Son and I are heading up to our cabin on the North Shore.  We are both looking forward to this.  It is about a 3 and 1/2 drive from our home. but we will stop in Duluth for lunch, maybe Barnes and Noble… and then continue on up. We are planning some biking, hiking, board games, movies…  and we are not coming back until Monday afternoon. 😀 

 

Stop over to Alyce’s At Home With Books and see what everyone else is posting for Saturday Snapshot!  😀

I do have posts prepped…. so please stop and see me – I will totally catch up with ya all early next week 😀

An Uncommon Education by Elizabeth Percer

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Naomi Feinstein is afraid of losing.  She is afraid of losing her parents – her dad with a weakened heart…. her mom who is deeply depressed.  She is afraid of losing her friend Teddy who she confides everything…

Setting her mind on becoming a doctor, Naomi buries herself in her books, hoping to be accepted into the college of her dreams, Wellesley.  When Teddy does (as she had feared) departs from her life, the blow is too hard and too deep, and seems larger than she can handle – even when the hopeful acceptance letter from Wellesley arrives.

Hoping that college will fill all the gaps in her life where fear and loneliness seep in, Naomi heads straight into the school she believes will become her security.  But, college is not what she had dared hope, and while Naomi finds herself surrounded by hundreds of other young women… at the same time she feels unreachable and alone.

When Naomi witnesses a girl fall into a freezing lake, things began to change.  She learns of a mysterious society – called the Shakespeare Society with all the lure a secret society would have – rituals and secret meetings, and students with a canny passion.  Finally Naomi believes she has found something that makes her feel a part of life and fills all those gaps.  As Naomi grows into this new person, hard lessons are brought forth and Naomi is about to learn the most important lesson of her life.

Author: Elizabeth Percer

 

Does anyone remember Dead Poet’s Society?  It was a movie from the late 1980’s starring Robin Williams as an unconventional Professor of English, John Kleets.  While I adore this movie and love all that John Kleets stood for, the best part of the movie to me, was the secret society of The Dead Poet’s.  (Even as I type this my mind is thinking… do I still have this movie in my collection?  Is it DVD or VHS?  Please be DVD….)

I mention this now, because when I first read the synopsis of this book… that is what stood out to me.  An ancient secret society…. sorry, I never went to college – I think I crave the whole secret sorority thing….

In An Uncommon Education, Naomi’s back story (prior to college) is a slow tedious start.  I picked the book up.  I put it down.  I picked it up again.  I believed it had a story within its pages that I wanted to read.  I just had to find that story. 

I hung in there.  I found the book detailed, well-developed, I had a good feel for who Naomi was and what she stood for.  I liked her.  These are the things I clung too while I slogged through the first part of this book. 

And then…

Wellesley.

Bringing Naomi to the school, the book picked up more of a heartbeat pace.  It had rhythm… it had life.  More importantly, I no longer wanted to sett he book down and move on.  I think Naomi as well finds her heartbeat.  When things get rough and a scandal is resented – Naomi then is forced into some hard truths that really bring this book full circle.

In a few words:  Give the book some time to warm up, it is worth the wait.

In a word:  WOW.

 

Thank to to TLC Book Tours for a gorgeous, thought provoking  read