One False Move by Harlan Coben

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Myron Bolitar stands at 6 foot 4 inches and is a renowned Basketball Player and owner of MB Sports Reps.The MB standing for Myron Bolitar, and yes, he hates to brag, but he did think of the name himself.  Women find him handsome.

Brenda Slaughter plays women’s basketball.  She is smart and she is beautiful and she is no damsel in distress.  And that’s good, because Myron is no bodyguard.  Yet Myron has agreed to keep an eye out for Brenda and by doing so finds himself entangled in the tragic web of deceit that is her life.

Twenty years earlier Brenda’s mom had abandoned her.  And just as Brenda’s career is taking off, her father disappears too, much in the same way her mother did.  As Myron tries to dig through the deceit and the lies that people are dying to keep, and others are killing to protect…

Harlan Coben and I, BEA 2011, New York

Harlan Coben.  A long long time ago I was first a Stephen King fan.  As I grew out of my teen years and into my early twenties I moved on to Dean Koontz, not as over the top creepy as King could be, but still spooktacular (my word) writing.  Then after I had devoured everything I could get my hands on by Koontz, Harlan Coben hit my radar.  Coben wrote a good mystery but had something that King had little of, Koontz dabbled in it, but Coben hit a home run with it…. quick wit.  I do love good funny not, stupid funny and not unnecessary funny but a smart comment placed in the right spot is golden in my eyes. 

I remember one of the earlier books I read of Coben’s.  I can not recall the book but I do recall the story line.  The protagonist is in his kitchen eating a cereal bar when someone busts into the kitchen and shoots him.  In this tense moment, as the protagonist is falling to the floor before he loses consciousness, he tried to recall if the cereal bar was blueberry or cherry….  maybe it’s just me, but I think that is when I knew Harlan Coben and I would be friends forever. 😛

Now – while I have read most of Harlan Coben’s books, I have avoided this series of books surrounding his character Myron Bolitar.  Why?  Because 1.  I could see the books went way back and I did not want to back track to older titles and 2.  I was not sure if I would like Myron.

I am getting to a point here… really I am.  I listened to this book on audio mainly due to the fact that I was out of audio in-house, and my library supply has been thoroughly picked over by me and now I am reviewing titles I have previously passed on.  Enter Myron Bolitar into my life.

This is where I grovel.  It did not take long to be listening to this audio until I was once again smiling over Harlan’s great sense of humor and amazing story telling.  Myron is at once funny, witty, and interesting and I wanted to know what happened to Brenda’s family and why was her life such a big cover up.

If you like smart, fun, and engaging reading, I suggest you spend some time with Harlan Coben AND while I don’t think I will listen to the entire Myron Bolitar books, this one was fun and I admit I am listening to a second one with Myron right now. 

Borrowed from my library

Morning Meanderings… Morning Is Not Always Pretty

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Morning.

*Yawn*

Ok picture this (since a real picture would be frightening and I know some of you have kids who would have nightmares…)

Hair in my eyes and well… everywhere.  (Haircut scheduled for this afternoon…. Thankfully!)

Sleep pants and t shirt

flip flops

Coffee cup… not full enough… not hot enough… not enough.

Cheeto stuck to the side of my face.

(Ok, not really about the Cheeto but I thought that was a funny visual.)  😛

 

I have had a crazy week and that is why the Morning Meanderings have been missing as of late.  No time to meander… my days are work, my evenings are commitments… I run from one thing to the next.

Today I plan to work a short day, 8 – 11:30… then I am hitting the gym 12:15 – 1:15, then I have a hair cut at 1:30… then I need to come home and pack for the womens retreat that starts at hmmm….. 4:30 meeting at Applebees.  (Dont you hate it when even the fun stuff feels like a commitment?)  😯

I will be at the retreat until Sunday late morning… then home, floor hockey at 4 pm then HOME for the night.  YAY!!! 

I know I will have a good time once I get there… I am just tired and I have a ‘tude.  Laptop is coming with so I will be checking in and I do have posts for the weekend too…. no idea when I had time to write them – but they are there 🙂 

I am off… I have 32 minutes to shower, dress, stop at the store and get to work.  Oddly… that is enough time for me… I am probably the fastest get ready woman in the world…. LOL

The Making Of A Book Club

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)49 Comments

Stick around here long and you will hear about my book club the Bookies.  If you have been visiting me for any amount of time already, feel free to insert your eye roll here.  😛

This time you can blame Shirley at My Bookshelf who asked me, “Would you do a post about keeping book clubs energized and enthusiastic with some tips, please?“

You don’t have to twist my arm to get me to talk about book club!  Any time you can bring books and people together… I am in.  😀

To start with let me give you my credentials.  I am pretty much just like you.  I am a book lover who loves to read and loves to talk books.  The Bookies started in fall of 2001, of course at the time… I did not know when I placed a note by the time clock at Wal-Mart that I was starting a book club and anyone could join, that it would turn into The Bookies. 

That first book I posted as a “read this and meet me here on blah blah day at blah blah time” was Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts.

I posted the note three weeks in advance and then I waited.  No one approached me.  No one asked me about the book group I was going to start.  The evening of the event, I told my husband I was going to see if anyone showed up but had an idea I would just be sitting alone in a pizza shop having a diet Pepsi with my book.  I would be home probably in thirty minutes chalking this one up as a fail.

Turns out…

I was not alone.

That evening Angie (my friend who runs the blog By Book Or By Crook) and Sandy joined me to discuss out book.  That day was August 14th, 2001.  We had a blast, we picked a second book, Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard was that book.

That second meeting was scheduled at the same place, same time, for September 11th, 2001.  Yes.  9-1-1.  That fateful day in history and I went to the meeting just in case someone showed up and as it turned out, all three of us came.  We shared in our sorrow over the days horrifying events and we reviewed our book.

Through the early years we grew to 8 members and remained that way until about year 5.  Around then we had a growth spurt that took us to 14 members and by year 8 we had 18 members.  During those growth spurts was when I started worrying about how to manage such a large group keeping us all on the book topic and keeping it interesting… that’s when we got creative.

Being such a large group it was hard to find restaurants to accommodate us and if we did find one, I worried that our laughter or our discussion might be disturbing the other patrons of the restaurant.  When we took turns opening out homes we decided to potluck food around the theme of the book.  Not only did this stretch our creative thinking, it bonded us through the food to the books.

Another element we added was visual props surrounding the book discussion.  A few of the ladies in the group would bring pictures or their laptops to show articles that had to do with the books topics.  For instance in a book we read once dealt with a lot of Victorian themed items.  Pictures were brought of what these items were and what they looked like.  More recently we had a power point of shoes, Italian foods and scenes of Italy played during our book review (Thank you Adraina Triginiani!)

In 2006 we added the July Queen Event where we do not choose a book to read for the month of July however we meet and grill on the lake either at a members home or at a park and we all dress in formal wear and try for Queen of the Bookies.  (The Queen breaks all book choice ties and chooses a place to meet if we are undecided during her rein).  This idea came from a book club read called Same Sweet Girls by Cassandra King.

Bookies Queen Event 2011
Bookies Queen Event 2010
Bookies Queen Event 2009
Bookies Queen Event 2008

Yearly in December we have a Christmas party, do a gift exchange and read a Christmas related book. If a book we read turns into a movie we try to attend as  a group.  We even have a Bookies Bucket List – things we would like to do as a book club.

We made a Facebook page to communicate the book, the food, where we are meeting, etc…

We have few rules.   We realize that life is busy and I would much rather have someone come and hang out with us even if they did not have time to read the book. As of July 2013 we added the rule that you needed to attend at least 6 meetings a year to hold your Bookie spot as currently we have a wait list of people wanting to get into our group.  We also implemented that we will not (in the future) go over the count of 16 Bookies.  It just gets too hard to find places big enough for us to meet, especially during the winter when we have to be inside.

Keep it fun, keep it interesting.  We grew together.  Start out with books, with food, with great conversation.  See which way your group grows.  Every book group is different but they can all be unique and fun. 

Currently Bookies is at 18 members.  We dont always all make every meeting, but we are really good at communicating our thoughts on the book and rating through emails, texting, and facebook.  I think the fact that we connect so well helps keep us a strong group.  We care about one another.  We celebrate birthdays and babies.  We hang together when someone if going through something rough.

Through our 11 years of existence we have had our growing pains and made it through.  It is not always easy to organize – but it is always fun 😀  A group of motley crew people brought together…

by a book.  😀

I would love to hear about your book groups!  Or if you have questions I did not answer, leave them in the comments and I will respond. 

Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Valentine Roncalli does not believe she is the pretty one  Nor is she the smart one.  Valentine in fact looks at herself as the funny one.  It’s an easier spot to be in. 

Yet now that the Angelina Shoe Company, the one her family has owned for more than a century seems to be on the verge of financial destruction, funny just is not going to cut it.  To save the business Valentine must find a way to bring their business into the 21st century, all awhile juggling her own romance with chef Roman Falconi, her larger and opinionated family, and not only enter but try to win a design challenge presented by a prestigious department store.

Valentine will turn her life, and their business upside down in ways she never expected.

Very Valentine is a re-read for me.  In fact, it was this book, along with Brava Valentine that entered me into an Adriana Trigiani contest two years ago that lined me up with dinner with her along with 5 other book bloggers when we were in New York in 2010.

When my book club chose this for our February read I was thrilled for them to get a chance to experience this wonderful author, but for me was unsure if I was going to read the book again (what is the Italian word for idiot?  😯  )

As the time came closer to our review I thought I had better skim through it at least and had downloaded it on my NOOK (my challenge to read all book club books this year on my NOOK) and opened the story up… within a minute I was smiling to myself.

Do you know that feeling when you walk into a bakery or a fresh bread store and a scent brings you back to an earlier in life moment?  That’s what Very Valentine did for me…. the opening lines made me smile.  I was suddenly whooshed back to Valentine’s world and it is a busy one filled with voices of family, amazing Italian dishes, and shoes… oh the shoes.  Skim shim… I read the book in its entirety again. 🙂

2010 lunch with Adriana
In 2011, a group of us had lunch with Adriana again…. fantastic experience, she is such an amazing woman.

Last night at the Bookies review we had a wonderful time discussing family and traditions, two very large and important topics throughout Very Valentine.  We also discussed the shoes and Angie (By Book Or By Crook) brought along a slideshow presentation of shoes, embellishments for the shoes, Italy, the windows discussed in the book…. it was awesome.  I love that our book club will do the little extras to bring a book to life.

And much like a big Italian,  family ourselves, we brought food… delicious food, we ate, we laughed… and before we left it was 9 pm…. (we usually end at 8 pm)  😯

This is the makings of a Harvey Wallbanger which is mentioned in the book. For most of us this was out first time trying it. We served in tiny sample cups.

The book was enjoyed by all.  The discussion and food were wonderful (I did not even get a picture of the desert!

Morning Meanderings… Books and Snow!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

 

Good morning!  Happy Tuesday and all that! 

I did not get around to many blogs yesterday.  Between work and last nights meeting I had a tiny window of about an hour and a half which I used for CRAZY stuff like a load of laundry and making dinner.  😛

However, and possibly unfortunately, in the few I was able to get around to…. I found….

books.

I know… I know…. like a hole in my head, but yeah… books and darn good reviews that made me want to read those books…. and now… I am going to pass them to you so you catch the fever too!

I have seen this book around… not really given it much thought (you know what a cover snob I can be and this is just not calling me…. but then I innocently pop over to see Lydia from The Lost Entwife and I am reading a review for this book that causes me to put it on the wish list.  Whoa.  What happened? 

Stop over and check it out for yourself!

 

And then…

 

Ok this cover DOES call to me… I don’t know why…. maybe because it looks like Skittles…. or pastel Easter M & M’s, but any book reader knows…. one can not live off cover love alone….

Nope.  Instead I am over at Kritter’s Rambling minding my own business and then this review makes my jaw drop and now… now I want to read this.  I want to read this now. 

 

In other news, it is snowing.  SNOWING.  My beautiful dead grass world is now covered with snow and it is supposed to continue irritating me for the next three days.  Not a fan.

Tonight is book club.  We have read Adrianna Trigianni’s Very Valentine.  This is a re-read for me but a delicious one and while I grumbled about it being a book I have already read, I forgot how fun it is to read Adrianna’s writing and for that…. I am a schmuck.  Instead… getting back into Valentine’s world has almost (almost) made me forget about the snow… 😛

 

What’s Your Number? Movie Review

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments

Ally thinks she is just your average woman looking for the right guy.  When a magazine (think Cosmo) tells her that the average amount of men women are with is much (MUCH) lower than her own score, she starts to panic.  Perhaps she had the right one and let him get away!  So Ally, not wanting to add to her number, cuts a deal to have her neighbor Collin help her locate the men of her past.

 

 

I received this movie for review from Think Jam Publicity.  I was excited to give it a try as it sounded like a cute story – and for the most part it was. 

Anna Faris is a funny actress (think Hot Chick, The Scary Movie spoofs…).  When I seen she was in this movie I was thrilled.   Add Chris Evans to this mix (Cellular, Puncture, Captain America) and you have a fun couple of main actors. 

The story line as I mentioned above is Ally (Anna) decided there is no way she is going to add to her already significant number of men so she is going to instead go back through the men of her past to make sure “the one” did not slip through her fingers.  By recruiting cute neighbor guy Collin to assist her, while she helps him escape his own messes in life, the outcome is pretty funny.

While over all the movie is predictable, it was also funny.

 

The movie is rated R for a reason – there are a few sexual references and a couple racier moments in the movie. 

 

Thank you to Think Jam Publicity for sending me a copy of this movie to reveiw

 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)81 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:

Abbi (gatorade635)


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

What a crazy week!  Between work, working out, evening commitments Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday…. I hardly read a thing and almost came before you with a goose egg today…

😯

But… yesterday saved the day and I did finish an audio that I have been working on for a couple of weeks so here is the week of accomplishments (or lack there of):

Awesome video:  Sh** Book Bloggers Say (a must see!)

 

No Comment.  YES!  Comment!!!  (the importance of commenting as part of Reagan’s BBRAW)

 

11-22-63 by Stephen King (a remarkable read – do not miss this one!)

The Eyre Report #1 (my first update to the Jane Eyre self read a long 😀 )

 

So ummm… yeah.  Thats it.  I am reading a couple of books still from last week and have some plans for this week so hopefully back on track.

Sara Beth Riley never dreamt she’d walk straight out of her life.  Actually she’d never dreamt a lot of things that had happened this year … From being kidnapped by her own best friend, to throwing her wedding rings into the Hudson River, to calling an old love in France, to getting inked with said best friend, painting the passionate constellation of these choices into permanence.  But mostly, she could never have dreamt what started it all.  How could it be that her mother’s unexpected death, and the grief which lingered painfully long, turned her into the woman she was finally meant to become?

Sara Beth’s escape begins a summer of change – of herself, of marriage, of the lives of those around her.  In a story that moves from Manhattan to the sea to a quaint New England town, Whole Latte Life looks at friends we never forget, at decisions we linger with, at our attempts to live the lives we love.

OOH sounds good!

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is poised on the edge of the big time. So is Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback and Myron’s prized client. But when Christian gets a phone call from a former girlfriend, a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead, the deal starts to go sour. Trying to unravel the truth about a family’s tragedy, a woman’s secret, and a man’s lies, Myron is up against the dark side of his business—where image and talent make you rich, but the truth can get you killed.

I love Coben! 

 

 

 

Everyone in town thinks Meg is volatile and dull-witted and that her younger brother Charles Wallace is dumb. People are also saying that their father has run off and left their brilliant scientist mother. Spurred on by these rumors, Meg and Charles Wallace, along with their new friend Calvin, embark on a perilous quest through space to find their father. In doing so they must travel behind the shadow of an evil power that is darkening the cosmos, one planet at a time.

Never read it… but look forward to it.  This review will come with fun giveaways!

That’s it… keeping it light this week and I have a few to catch up on from last week including my book club read due this Tuesday! 

I am looking forward to seeing what you are reading!  Add your What Are You Reading post to the linky below and I will try to stop by!  😀

Powered by Linky Tools

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

 

And if you mainly read Middle Grade, and childrens books – add your link here as well:

The Eyre Report #1

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

It has been a week since I have forced challenged myself to read Jane Eyre.  On the original post you will see I clearly called out my past grievances attempts to read this and my fail after fail… due to:

1.  boring

2.  the language (not bad language) but old school language… which I guess really… is bad language. 😛

3.  Something shiny distracted me

4.  I dont want to!

My self challenge was to read 10 pages a day average, and then weekly report back as to how it is going. 

Currently on page 70, I am now seeing Jane at school after her harsh treatment of her so-called Aunt.  Just a few pages ago she had dropped the slate in front of Mr. Brucklehurst and been punished by standing on top of a stool in front of the whole class.  Now she has been swept away along with her one friend (?) Helen Burns to Miss Temple’s chambers where they are currently sharing tea and cake.

At this point the story has my interest and I have no idea why it does this time when at no other time have I made it this far.  I am curious about the cruel and strict head master Mr. Brucklehurst.  I am also curious about Jane’s large language for a ten-year old girl.  To me she speaks as some one much older. 

I confess that I know nothing of where this story is going as I have not watched a movie about this either.  I am guessing we are going to watch Jane grow up into if not a beautiful woman on the outside, perhaps on the inside. 

I probably would have read more this past week but honestly have been wiped out every night and fell asleep after reading only a few pages nightly.

My rating at this point in the book:

I know a couple of my readers mentioned reading this along with me.  I would love to hear how you are doing on this. 

11-22-63 by Stephen King

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

November 22, 1963.  A date that is well know in the history books.  The day that President Kennedy was shot and killed by Lee Harvey Oswald.

But what if there was a way that this moment could be changed?  What if there was a way that you could go back in time and have a do-over of that day or that time… and by placing yourself in the right place at the right time… you could change it all…

That is what happens to thirty-five year old Jake Epping.  Jake is a High School English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine by day, and frequents a local diner at night owned by his friend Al.  One night Al, shares a secret with Jake, there is a porthole in his storage room that takes you back to 1958.  Skeptical (who wouldn’t be?), Jake decides to humor his friend and goes into the storage room…

and comes out in 1958.

Astounded.  Excited.  Jake returns to present time and the diner where Al fills him in on how he discovered the porthole, and what he had done in the past.  Al, who is sick and knows his time is short wants to pass the ultimate mission to Jake… to go back in time and stop President Kennedy from being killed.

Jake agrees and begins the adventure of a lifetime, going back to 1958 under the name of George Amberson and living within the vicinity of Lee Harvey Oswald from 1958 to 1963.  Jake (AKA George) takes a teaching job, enjoys the peacefulness of a laid back pre-internet society, and the 1958 prices, buying his time until the day would come to save Kennedy.

What he did not count on was meeting the lovely Sadie Dunhill… or the fact that the past does not want to change and will fight to make sure it does not.

Another cover… I really like this one

I was  not a girl who enjoyed History back in school.  For me it hit right up there with math class.  BLAH.  Boring.  Yet years later I find I like to know more and more about the past… and when I discovered Historical Fiction, I found a happy Sheila… a mix of two things I found I enjoyed.

Now when you read this book title and then the synopsis you may be scratching your head.  Stephen King?  Where is the murderous gore?  A pet Cemetery?  Possessed car?  A spooky clown?  (well, actually the clown is mentioned in this book in a brilliant way….)

But no.  No gore.  No horror.  A new more user-friendly version of King that I feel will reap new readers.

In its place, is a fascinating story of “what if”.  Mixed facts (the place, the Oswald’s, Kennedy) with fiction.  The result?  Brilliance.

I listened to this on audio…. yes 30+ hours long and probably the longest audio I have ever listened to.  Narrator Craig Wasson nailed it.  I loved it from the start.  There was no warm up session here… from the very beginning I was sold.  Great narration and great writing can do that.

Interestingly enough, King had first thought about this book in 1972, 9 years after the assassination, and right before the release of his first novel, Carrie.  He decided to put that thought on the back burner as it would require too much research while he was teaching full-time.  Initially King thought it would be titles Split Track.

11-22-63 is such a powerful book.  Stephen King did an amazing job smoothly traveling back and forth between 2011 and 1958, switching between cell phones and twenty-five cent burgers.  The walk back in time was real enough for me to feel that I was walking along those streets of 1958 – 1963, scoping out a very real and very dangerous Lee Harvey Oswald.  Even listening to the climax of this book made the hairs on my neck stand on end…. perhaps, it felt a little to real to the actual event?

At the end of the audio, do not miss out of Stephen Kings own words about the book, the research and his recommendation of books to read to learn more about the assassination. A couple of the titles I managed to write down:

Marina and Lee by Priscilla Johnson

Case Closed by Gerald Posner

Oswald’s Tale by Norman Mailer

For me I can not stress enough that you must take time to read or listen to this book.  Audio lovers, you are in for a treat – Craig Wasson was fantastic… and that even does not seem like a strong enough word.  I loved listening to this and I will miss it now that it is over.  Easily the best audio I have listened to this year.

Visit me in the Spoiler chat room to talk about this book in spoiler detail and to see a list of the awesome book references hiding within the pages of 11-22-63:

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

 

  • Audible Audio Edition
  • Listening Length: 30 hours and 44 minutes
  • Program Type: Audiobook
  • Version: Unabridged
  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
  • Audible.com Release Date: November 8, 2011

 

I downloaded this audiobook from audible.com

Morning Meanderings… Ummm… Where Are The book Reviews/ Sunday Salon?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

Happy Sunday all. 😀  You may have noticed that in this past week I have not posted one review.  Not one.

😯

I am not sure if that has even happened before. 

I chalk it up to a busy week with most nights (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday) not getting home before 8 pm and one worn out book girl stumbled off to bed with book in hand read two pages and promptly fell asleep….

I also can attribute it to my current book and audio choices…

We’ve Got A Job is a beautiful large hardcover book with tons of pictures, yes, but also a lot of words and interesting facts that I read slowly to absorb. 

11-22-63 I have been listening to for the last two weeks.  This is a 30 hour and 44 minute audio book.  (The book is almost 900 pages).  I finished this one last night and WOW.  Really wow. 

My usual audio books are between 6 and 10 hours so you can see where this slowed me down…

and then of course there is my self-inflicted read of Jane Eyre… my goal of reading ten pages a day (FAIL!) and trying to keep up with that and by trying to read the ten (pages (FAIL!) a night without falling asleep to the wording of “thy master’s home… and feeling swoon….”  😯  Anyhoo… you will see an update on that hopefully later today in the Eyre report.

As for my Sunday Salon, the week was good and busy and I guess usual.  I worked all week, went to dinner Tuesday night at a friend’s home for Valentines Day as hubby Al was out-of-town, and stayed way too late talking and laughing, Thursday I got in a good workout with a friend and again on Friday too, another hour and a half chalked up!

On Saturday morning I had a baby shower to attend and then I met a friend for lunch.  I picked up steaks for dinner as Al came home late yesterday afternoon.  We caught up on the Survivor episode from this last week and three Modern Family Episodes.  It is good to have him home. 😀

As for today I have church this morning, I am hitting the Group Power Class at 12:30 and at 6 pm I play floor hockey.  I am working hard to keep up the work out momentum… I need to, as the bike rides and events will be here before I know it!  😀

What are you doing with your Sunday?