It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)72 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:

Jayne’s Books

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

 

I have had a  week where everything is on the verge of finishing… 3 audio books, 2 books… but nothing finished.  Here are my posts for this past week:

Team Kickin It:  Lets Get This Party Started – 2012 Active Events!

Carry The One by Carol Anshaw ( my only review this week!  😯 )

Moneyball Movie Review

Choose The Book I Read and win it for yourself!  (This is open until Tuesday morning!)

Hunger Games The Movie (oh yeah… it is good!)

It seems like I have been in this book drought for weeks!  I just cant seem to fit the books in, but I am making progress slowly.  I am close to finishing many so this week I feel there is going to be a breakthrough and a rush of reviews.  Seriously.  😀

So that said….

In late 1950s London, something uncanny besets a group of elderly friends: an insinuating voice on the telephone informs each, “Remember you must die.” Their geriatric feathers are soon thoroughly ruffled by these seemingly supernatural phone calls, and in the resulting flurry many old secrets are dusted off. Beneath the once decorous surface of their lives, unsavories like blackmail and adultery are now to be glimpsed. As spooky as it is witty, poignant and wickedly hilarious, Memento Mori may ostensibly concern death, but it is a book which leaves one relishing life all the more.

AH….. the books I would never find on my own!  Thank Amy from My Friend Amy for this one!

Loviah “Lovie” French owns a small, high-end dress shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Renowned for her taste and discretion, Lovie is the one to whom certain women turn when they need “just the thing” for major life events—baptisms and balls, weddings and funerals—or when they just want to dish in the dressing room. Among the people who depend on Lovie’s confidence are her two best friends since boarding school: Dinah Wainwright and Avis Metcalf.

Outspoken and brimming with confidence, Dinah made a name for herself as a columnist covering the doings of New York’s wealthiest and most fabulous. Shy, proper Avis, in many ways Dinah’s opposite, rose to prominence in the art world with her quiet manners, hard work, and precise judgment. Despite the deep affection they both feel for Lovie, they have been more or less allergic to each other since a minor incident decades earlier that has been remembered and resented with what will prove to be unimaginable consequences.

These uneasy acquaintances become unwillingly bound to each other when Dinah’s favorite son and Avis’s only daughter fall in love and marry. On the surface, Nick and Grace are the perfect match—a playful, romantic, buoyant, and beautiful pair. But their commitment will be strained by time and change: career setbacks, reckless choices, the birth of a child, jealousies, and rumor. At the center of their orbit is Lovie, who knows everyone’s secrets and manages them as wisely as she can. Which is not wisely enough, as things turn out—a fact that will have a shattering effect on all their lives.

I am hoping this one will be good!

“Community, Identity, Stability” is the motto of Aldous Huxley’s utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a “Feelie,” a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today–let’s hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren’t yet to come.

This was in my recent library purchases and was the first comment I drew as a winner… Ryan at My Life In Books chose this for me to read and so… well, I bought it… guess I should try to read it.  😛

From a distance, Michael and Joleen Zarkades seem to have it all: a solid marriage, two exciting careers, and children they adore.  But after twelve years together, the couple has lost their way; they are unhappy and edging toward divorce.  Then the Iraq war starts.  An unexpected deployment will tear their already fragile family apart, sending one of them deep into harm’s way and leaving the other at home, waiting for news.   When the worst happens, each must face their darkest fear and fight for the future of their family.  An intimate look at the inner landscape of a disintegrating marriage and a dramatic exploration of the price of war on a single American family, Kristin Hannah’s HOME FRONT is a provocative and timely portrait of hope, honor, loss, forgiveness, and the elusive nature of love.

In eight incantatory sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces their extraordinary lives, from their arduous journey by boat, where they exchange photographs of their husbands, imagining uncertain futures in an unknown land; to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; to their backbreaking work picking fruit in the fields and scrubbing the floors of white women; to their struggles to master a new language and a new culture; to their experiences in childbirth, and then as mothers, raising children who will ultimately reject their heritage and their history; to the deracinating arrival of war.

And the end of this week is Bloggiesta!  If you are not signed up, you will want to be!

Add your What Are You Reading to the linky below and I as well as other will try to stop by and see what you are reading! My hours at work drops back to normal this week so I should have more time to get around. 😀

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

and those of you who read mainly childrens through YA reads – please also link your post here:

Hunger Games Movie

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Hunger Games.  More than likely… you have heard of it.  If you have read me for any amount of time, you have heard it here…. through book reviews, through the excitement over the movie…

To this day I still struggle when somebody asks me what it is about.

Why?

Because honestly, based on the synopsis I would have never read this book.  Children fighting to the death?  People watching from their homes as it is televised for all to see… children that were not born killers, but fighting because they had too… they were forced to for the pleasure of the Capital?  For entertainment???

But then… I had seen the book reviews.  People whose opinion I trusted were raving… and I read the book.  And I loved it.

It’s hard to explain Hunger Games.  It is the story of Katniss, living in a world broke into twelve districts, hers being the most impoverish of them all, District Twelve.  She lives with her mother and her 12-year-old sister Prim.  They have nothing but a roof over their head.  Katniss hunt, illegally, with her friend Gale, trying to put any food on the table… a bird, a squirrel….

And then, there are the Hunger Games.  Children from the ages of 12 to 18 are put into a drawing to see who will represent their district in a fight to the death.  One boy and one girl from each district.  Twenty-four children go into the Hunger Games, only one comes out alive.  For each year from twelve on, you get your name entered.  Occasionally for extra rice on the table, you can offer to have your name put in extra times.  Prim is in the drawing once.  Katniss is in there more times than she would care to remember… is it 20 times?  30?

And then.. the day of the drawing is held… and as you can probably guess, Prim’s name is drawn.  It’s heart wrenching – in the book,and in the movie… and Katniss says NO, and takes her sisters place.

So enough about the book….

lets talk about the movie.

Myself and four friends went to the midnight showing on Thursday.  While I know many people do not like to go to movies from books because they say they ruin them, I am not one of those people.  I am always curious when a book I have enjoyed becomes a movie.  I wonder if the movie will do the book justice, I wonder what the director will pull out of a book that I didn’t see… for better or for worse…

And of course, as book lovers, we do take some personal ownership in these movie choices don’t we?  It has been interesting as they chose who would play what part and the buzz on the internet if the characters were the right ones for the part.  Guesses were made and suggested…. rumors milled as to who would play Katniss, Peeta, and Gale…

and then it was done.

Hunger Games, much like the Harry Potter movies, leave me breathless.  I know how the book made me feel…. I hope I get that out of the movie.

I can safely say I did… and then some. 

Jennifer Lawrence is Katniss.  I am sorry if you disagree, but I thought she was the perfect mix of tough girl, who could pull off the fighting for her life look as well as the dressed up version.  Entering the games, her look of fear is spot on. 

Josh Hutterson took a little while longer to grow on me (he is so little in real life!) but once they were preparing for the games… I found him to do an amazing job as well.

Liam’s role as Gale is so small its hard to get a feel for him.

Fantastically done, and tasteful seems to be a word I use that does not make sense when again… its kids fighting to the death, but it is done well.  The actual killing is off-screen.  You know what happened, but nothing is overly violent and gory. 

It was kind of cool to see how the capital watched like “Big Brother” over the games, and how they made things happen if it was getting dull… 

My recommendation is see the movie.  If you have not read the book, do that too, but the movie does a nice job of covering all the bases so if you have not read the book (shudder to think of it!) you will not be lost. 

On World Book Night, April 23, the book I am handing out is Hunger Games.  Yeah, I appreciate it that much.

I will be going again.

Morning Meanderings…Sunday Salon

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

 

Good morning.  *YAWN!*  *STRETCH*

*sips coffee*

So, whats happening out there in the world of books and bloggers and beyond?  Yesterday morning I posted about my week with friends, so doing that again seems like repeat so just a brief recap:

Fargo

Book Sale

Police

Gifts

Hunger Games!!!

Chinese Food

Tired!

If you want to know more about that, you will have to read yesterdays post.  😀

As for current conditions… I am sitting in my quiet house this morning with no sound but the light tap on my keyboard and I am basking in it.  Soon, too soon, I will be getting ready for church, a meeting following, set up for IHN (serving the homeless this week), buying food for our IHN week, brief time home in afternoon to hopefully catch up with Jane Eyre, floor hockey play offs are four, orientation for new group with homeless tonight following,figure out supper and then Amazing Race.

Yup.  My week has started.

In books this past couple of weeks (I did not post last Sunday as I was out of town), here is what came in:

Out of this group that came in I ordered Memento Mori fro the Faith N Fiction discussion that will take place the end of this month with My Friend Amy.

I was sent two copies of Reunion so oh yeah…. Giveaway!

I am not sure what Breakout Kings is going to be like but I was sent this first season for review so I will check it out.

I am most excited for The Snow Child, and thank you for the win Lori at Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book.

 

A couple of days ago I put up the library sale books and an offer for you to choose which one I will read and after I read it I will send it to that winner.  I am going to pick three winners out of this first group but today I am only picking one out of the three, I will pick the other two Tuesday morning.  I am choosing one today so I can add it to my books to read this week. 

SO…. that winner is: (using random.org)

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 106 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Yup, I am adding Ryan’s suggestion to read Brave New World to my reading group for next week and then I will mail it to him after I have read it.  I have never read it, so it should be an adventure in reading.  😀
It’s not too late for you to choose from the books, I will be choosing the other two winners Tuesday morning. 
And finally, so I do not forget, last night I posted in Team Kickin It all the bike rides and adventures I hope to, plan to take place in this coming season.  If you have a minute, please pop over there and check it out… Team Kickin It is a fairly new project for me and I have not been loving on it like I should…. it needs encouragement.  😀

Morning Meanderings… Fargo, Birthday, Christmas… FRIENDS

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

Good morning!  I think after a sluggish day yesterday that included a late nap in the recliner, watching The Descendants, and really nothing more… this morning I feel… good.

Last week I missed out on Alyce’s Saturday Snapshots which I love to do, but I was out of town and not that organized prior to leaving.  As I thought about this past week and what pictures I could post this morning, I realized my week really had a strong theme to it.

Friends.

Last weekend I was in Fargo North Dakota with three friends.  We shopped, hung out, talked, went out dancing and laughed.  It is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from where I live but it was a blast!

Deb, Amy, Paula... waiting at Granite City in Fargo ND for dinner.

Last Sunday, when we arrived home we had to all quickly change as three of the four of us who went away for the weekend play floor hockey and so after a quick change, there we were:

Our Floor Hockey Team picture on Sunday

That game was followed by a quick shower and then I went to a friend’s birthday party that evening. (Sadly – no pics!)

On Thursday as I blogged about, was the library sale and while hanging outside and chatting it up with new friends and old, I had a blast.

Suzette and Mari standing outside the Brainerd Library with me - pre sale.

Thursday afternoon I had a lunch date with Julie, Key, and Sandi, it was for my birthday (that was last month) and for Julie’s which is this coming Sunday. Julie picked me up a CUTE bag that I told her I wish I would have had earlier that day for the book sale, Key gave me an awesome book, and Sandi a beautiful necklace.

Thursday evening was the midnight showing of Hunger Games and Wendy, Heidi, Amy, Dee, Jodi, and myself all attended.  We ordered pizza from Dominos while waiting in line (because that was funny!) and had a great time!

Wendy picking up the pizza from the movie theater

Then a very tired version of me that had come home at 3 am on Friday, worked at 8 am to noon and then met Heidi, Cindy and Sara at my home at 12:30 to celebrate…. you will never guess…

Christmas.

Life… had been busy, yes we had got together these past few months but we had other agenda’s – so finally… we met for lunch (mmmm Chinese takeout) at my home yesterday afternoon, talked, caught up, laughed, and exchanged Christmas presents.  I have the cute moose in an outhouse for the cabin, a few gift cards, a purse hanger, and a fun ornament.

All in all the week was busy, but looking back… I am blessed for a person who has very little family, I am surrounded by a lot of great friends.

Stop by Alyce’s Saturday Snapshot and see what everyone else is taking pictures of.  😀

I have a commitment this morning and not sure about this afternoon yet.  I may go for a bike ride, or to a movie, I may just come home and read.  😀

Choose The book I Read and Win It For Yourself

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)131 Comments

In library sale tradition, I am posting the books I picked up from our spring Library Sale.  To help ensure that I actually get to these books and do not shelf them for life…. I have come up with a fun way to make sure they not only get read, but you have a chance to read them too. 

Look through the two pictures of books and leave me a comment on what you suggest I read.  In a few days I will choose 3 winners using random.org and then I will add those three books to my near future reading list – once I read that book, I will then pass it on to the winner who chose the book.  Win -win.  😀

 

Thank you for your assistance!  Good luck!  😀

Morning Meanderings… A Library Sale, The Police, and Hunger Games

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

 

Good morning!

As days tend to go, yesterday was a FULL one.  I woke up at 5:30 am and set a little Rocky Theme in my head while I prepped to go to the annual Spring Library Sale.   It has become this fun and ridiculous thing for me and a few friends to arrive SUPER early like we are waiting outside for tickets to an amazing concert. 

Except this year – I did it alone.  People had to work, plus a few of them that would normally sit by my side drinking coffee and laughing in the early morning light were also part of the crew that was getting together at midnight to see the opening night of Hunger Games, myself included.  But I could not choose one or the other of the great events.  Stubborn me… wanted to do both.

After arriving at 6:30 am and setting up my lawn chair, blanket, cell phone, and book… I promptly popped on to Facebook to let people know I was at the library 2 1/2 hours before it opened and to feel free to drive by, point, and laugh.  😀

By 6:45 am… a police car slowly drove by the library parking lot…. hesitated, then pulled in.  I think, he may have thought I was loitering, or some hopped up on I don’t know…. adrenaline (?) book junky ready to vandalize… either way, I stood up and plastered a smile on my face as he got out of the car.

“So what is going on here this morning?”

I explained the sale, my tradition, the craziness of me and my awesome friends… errrr… minus the companions this morning.  His face broke into a smile, “I think,” he said, “My wife comes to this every year too – but at a later time.”

Other than that – the other highlight was Mark (*waves!) friend/ employer/Pastor, called me at 6:50 am after seeing my Facebook status and offered to bring me coffee.  Of course, I accepted, 😀 

By 7:30, person #2 arrived (later I would find out his name is Tom), and slowly they trickled into the line on a lightly rainy morning at the Brainerd Library. 

I think… I enjoy the pre- sale comradery often even more than the sale itself.  😀

ANd then… at 9 am the doors opened and I was in.

The Line prior to the doors opening

 

Just a small SMALL section of the books at the sale...

 

They said they had record amount of books this spring.  At 50 cents a book – I left spending $29.00.  😯

I think… I may be a book hoarder. 

HIghlights of the sale:

There were a few specialty books for $1.00 I could not resist.  This lovely copy of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane caught my eye.  To the right, someone had donated some lovely old copies of Fairy tales and A Tale Of Two Cities dating back into the early 1900’s.  The covers were gorgeous!

I will post the books this afternoon so be sure to stop back as in tradition of my library sale postings.. there is a little fun in it for both of us!  😀

 

At noon yesterday I had lunch with three amazing friends, after work I came home and tried to rest but it did not happen, at 10 pm I went to the movie theater and waited in line for two hours (it was a line waiting day!) for Hunger Games…. which was amazing – and more on that later.  😀

 

I also need to announce the winners of the Finn book from a couple of days ago!  Using random.org, congratulations to:

Justin (#4)

Laurel  (#2)

Congrats to you both!  Please email me your address to journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and I will pass the information on to have this book sent to you right away!

I need to get ready for work, I have dinner with friends here this afternoon and then I think I may just crash for a bit.  😀

Morning Meanderings… We Interupt This Blog Post…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning!

Today is the spring Library book sale.  I think I am alone on this one this morning.  I got up at 5:30, heading out the door now at 6:20 am, I have my lawn chair, a blanket, my phone, and a book.  Sale opens at 9:00 am.  Tomorrow morning I will post the treasures.  YAY!!!  Treasures!

In the meantime, if you did not check out my fun giveaway I posted yesterday, please do so now.  😀

 

Moneyball

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt), is the general manager of the Oakland A’s, who has just had his best players poached by teams that can afford to pay a lot more. Fed up with how money twists the game, he listens to Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), who persuades him that certain players are being undervalued for trivial reasons, such as age, ability to catch, ability to hit the ball hard enough to run all the bases… Statistics revealed hidden strengths that could, when used in the right combinations, produce a winning season. Beane takes Brand’s advice going for the more “bang for our buck” strategy, then has to fight everyone else around him to follow it through.  His job is at stake but Billy Beane hangs tight, believing that this formula could change the way people think about baseball, and the value of players.

I am not a big sports movie fan and at first sight, this movie for me would have been (and was) a pass for me.  It was not until the night of the Oscars when I listened to the awards it was up for, and seen a few clips of the movie that it started to peek my interest.

What sealed the deal?

It is a true story.  Always one to cheer for the underdog, I do like true stories of triumph against all odds.  When I did rent Moneyball for Al (hubby) and I to watch, in my head, it was more for him.  As busy as he is, it is hard to engage him in a movie, any movie, without him falling asleep.  

He fell asleep.

But here is the kicker, or I guess the hitter, in this case… instead of turning it off at that point and seeing if he wanted to finish it the next evening, I kept on watching. Billy Beane sets out to beat the budget, and the big wigs who have far more years and experience than he, fight him all the way to the field.
 I was invested, connected to Billy Beane and his vision of taking several lesser valued players, benched in some cases, and giving them back their dream, or at least the chance to reach for the stars again.   And the magic of this?  Is that they do just that, and the rest is history at its finest.

As for Al, well… he did finish the next night, which is not always the case, and when out with friends I heard him asking the guys if they had seen Moneyball as it was an incredible movie.

Highly recommended for anyone who likes true stories, great goals, Brad Pitt (or not), baseball (or not), an excellent drama that is easily family friendly.

Morning Meanderings… Being Flynn giveaway!!!!!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Good morning.  😀

Happy Wednesday and all that.  I don’t know if I am excited about Wednesday because we are now officially half way through the week or if I have a little anxiety as each day brings me closer to next week which is FULL FULL FULL and I don’t like my weeks that full….

HOWEVER.. there is some great things happening yet this week that I do not want to miss so I think I should just chill… and enjoy.

For instance… tomorrow morning is the Spring Library sale which means… I will be there über early because that is just fun.  They open the doors at 9, I plan to be there around 6 am.  😀  Then I work, and I have a lunch date with friends, then back to work and then home and a nap…. because…. midnight is the showing of Hunger Games and yes, myself and a few crazy friends will be there.  Yes, because it is fun.

AND then… Friday opens up the movie Being Flynn, based off the Memoir by Nick Flynn, and I am giving away 2 copies of Nick Flynn’s book!   For my readers in the Twin Cities area, please note that the film will be showing at the Uptown Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis.

Ok… about the book.  Ummm… yeah, how about that title?  Did not see that coming.. but here is what it is about (and that I do like!)

Flynn’s wayward father, a self-styled writer and ex-con, describes his life on Boston’s streets as “another bullshit night in Suck City”: he hangs out in ATM lobbies, stuffs his coat with newspaper and is often “still drunk from the night before.” This biting memoir describes the years poet Flynn (Some Ether; Blind Huber) spent, in his late 20s, working at one of the city’s homeless shelters, where his path crisscrossed with his down-and-out father’s. In examining their troublesome relationship, Flynn admits to feeling lost, as he turned to alcohol and came close to being on the other side of the shelter admissions booth himself. Punchy language and short chapters make what could otherwise be excessively painful more palatable (e.g., “Fact: In 1839 Dostoyevsky witnessed a mob of peasants attacking his father…. they poured vodka down his throat until he died. Fact: I can watch my father pouring vodka down his own throat any day of the week. My role is to play the son, though I often feel like a mob of peasants”).

 The movie…

Being Flynn is the new dramatic feature from Academy Award-nominated writer/director Paul Weitz (About a Boy). Adapted from Nick Flynn’s 2004 memoir Another Bulls—t Night in Suck City, the movie explores bonds both unbreakable and fragile between parent and child.

Nick Flynn (portrayed in the film by Paul Dano of Little Miss Sunshine and There Will Be Blood) is a young writer seeking to define himself. He misses his late mother, Jody (four-time Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore), and her loving nature. But his father, Jonathan, is not even a memory, as Nick has not seen the man in 18 years.

Jonathan Flynn (two-time Academy Award winner Robert De Niro) has long defined himself as a great writer, “a master storyteller.” After abandoning his wife and child, Jonathan scrapes through life on his own terms, and ends up serving time in prison for cashing forged checks. After prison, he drives a cab for a number of years, but with his drinking and eccentricities now accelerating, he loses his job. Despite the occasional grandiose letter to his son, he has remained absent from Nick’s life.

Suddenly facing eviction from his apartment, Jonathan impulsively reaches out to Nick and the two come face-to-face. The older man is eloquent and formidable; overwhelmed, Nick nonetheless prepares to integrate his father into his own life. But, as quickly as he materialized, Jonathan flits away again.

Moving on, Nick takes a job at a homeless shelter, where he learns from Captain (Wes Studi) and Joy (Lili Taylor) how to relate to the guests who arrive night after night. Seeing the homeless – some permanently, some temporarily so – and hearing their stories, Nick finds purpose in his own life and work. He also sustains a romance with a co-worker, Denise (Olivia Thirlby). Then one night, Jonathan arrives, seeking a bed, and Nick’s senses of self and compassion falter. To give the two of them a shot at a real future, Nick will have to decide whom to seek redemption for first.

Evocatively told, ruefully funny, and moving in its depiction of the ties that bind, Being Flynn tells a story that reveals universal truths.

SO in recap, two copies of this book are being given away here and I will announce the winners here (using random.org) on Friday morning, in honor of the movie release. 

How to enter?  Leave me a comment here giving the book a different title from reading the synopsis… 😀

Have a great day!

Carry The One by Carol Anshaw

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

It started with a wedding.  And then there was a reception.  There was a lot of drinking, and a lot of drugs.  In hindsight, it probably was not the best idea they had ever had to drive that night in a drunken drug induced haze but they did.

And that is when they hit the girl.

For Carmen, Alice, and Nick, the accident is carried with them wherever they go, far into the future.  The girl shows up in Alice’s paintings in the gallery…. a girl, wearing the same clothes she wore that fateful night…. a girl who Alice can not find closure for.  Casey has memories of the girl she never knew and Nick all these years later still tries to hide inside a bottle.

How… in the flash of a wrong choice, that alters lives forever… HOW do you move on with out carrying the one?

When I first read the synopsis of Carry The One I could not wait to get my hands on it.  A tragedy… an accident… and how a family moves on from something so terrible, so senseless, so their fault….

and so I listened to this on audio and…

let’s just say Carry The One was not what I had thought it would be.  I was expecting a deeply involved novel that did carry the victim throughout the pages.  That was not the case.  In fact, the book is really more about the three siblings, Alice, Carmen, and Nick… and their lives.  Alice paints and searches for love, but that is no different from what was happening prior to the accident.  Carmen’s choices may have an underlying hint of the accident and a need for closure, but mostly she is just doing life, and Nick… well Nick was in trouble before the accident with his drug use and alcohol abuse and that remains the same throughout the book.

I hate to use the word disappointed, but that is what sums this one up for me.  I really thought this book was going to show how one struggles to move on when the unthinkable happens and I really thought the center of the book was going to be about the little girl, Casey.  To me, it was just a book about the lives of three people and day after day how they tried to get it right.  The girl, is not mentioned much, but occasionally, yes.

Maybe I set myself up for failure on this one by having an entirely different idea of how this would play out.  I wanted to like this, shoot… I wanted to love this. 

I did not.

There are some interesting reviews going around about this book.  Quite a few loved it.  I think a few more found it an average read.  Be sure to check out other opinions on Carry The One and if you have read this, please let me know in the comments and I will be happy to link up your review to mine.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review