Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on November 20, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)74 Comments

Hello and welcome to another fun addition of 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:

Lori from Escape With Dollycas!

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

Well… I am not sure what happened this past week. I expected… more. I thought I would easily whip through several books I had going but that was not the case. I ad a meeting Monday night, Wednesday night, and Thursday night. And honestly – this weekend…. I slept a lot. :zzz:

So here is what I did post (mainly items I had finished while I was away two weeks ago):

A List Of Odd Things (with pictures) that happened while I was in Honduras

Bookies Book Club thoughts on Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (With a picture of our very own Cleopatra!)*

Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness (my long awaited review of the last book in the best series I have read this year!)

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale (you may have seen the movie but the audio is so much better!!!)

Season To Taste by Molly Birnbaum (the true and triumphant story of a want to be chef who lost her sense of taste and smell in an accident)

Ok… now that I look at the list… maybe it wasn’t so bad… what I reviewed was pretty awesome. So while I did not get a lot of reading done, I did write some good reviews. 😀

I am still finishing the two audio from last week and should have reviews up soon… as well as a couple of books from last week too.

As far as what is new for this week:

Tuesdays at Castle Glower are Princess Celie’s favorite days. That’s because on Tuesdays the castle adds a new room, a turret, or sometimes even an entire wing. No one ever knows what the castle will do next, and no one-other than Celie, that is-takes the time to map out the new additions. But when King and Queen Glower are ambushed and their fate is unknown, it’s up to Celie, with her secret knowledge of the castle’s never-ending twists and turns, to protect their home and save their kingdom.

Yup… goin’ a little middle grade…. 😀

Arriving in the mail over a period of weeks are taunting letters that end with a simple declaration, “Think of any number…picture it…now see how well I know your secrets.” Amazingly, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD’s top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial murder investigation.

What police are confronted with is a completely baffling killer, one who is fond of rhymes filled with threats and warnings, whose attention to detail is unprecedented, and who has an uncanny knack for disappearing into thin air. Even more disturbing, the scale of his ambition seems to widen as events unfold.

From BEA this past May…

Janessa McNeil’s husband, Dr. Brock McNeil, a researcher and professor at Stanford University’s Department of Medicine, specializes in tick-borne diseases—especially Lyme. For years he has insisted that Chronic Lyme Disease doesn’t exist. Even as patients across the country are getting sicker, the committee Brock chairs is about to announce its latest findings—which will further seal the door shut for Lyme treatment.

One embittered man sets out to prove Dr. McNeil wrong by giving him a close-up view of the very disease he denies. The man infects Janessa with Lyme, then states his demand: convince her husband to publicly reverse his stand on Lyme—or their young daughter will be next.

But Janessa’s marriage is already rocky. She’s so sick she can hardly move or think. And her husband denies she has Lyme at all.

Reading this one for the INSPY awards…

In one terrifying moment, Dynah Carey’s perfect life is shattered by rape, her future irrevocably altered by an unwanted pregnancy, and her doting family torn apart. Her seemingly rock-solid faith is pushed to the limits as she faces the most momentous choice of her life–to embrace or to end the untimely life within her.

One I have been meaning to read forever…

Maybe that’s a lofty plan but there it is. 😀 Now I want to know what you are reading this holiday week! Is this a big reading week for you with the long weekend, or is it a lite reading week due to big plans? I am excited to see what you are reading so please add your link below where it says “click here”

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Season To Taste by Molly Birnbaum

Published on November 20, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Molly Birnbaum had a mission. She wanted to be a chef. Che spent her days working in Boston alongside a well-known chef, and her nights reading cookbooks ans studying food in preparation for her entrance to the Culinary Institute of America.

While taking a quick morning jog, all her dreams came to an end when she was hit by a car. The accident broke her pelvis, fractured her skull, tore her knee up, and destroyed her sense of taste and smell.

Her bones would heal in time… but her sense of smell and taste? That was another story. How could Molly become the chef she wanted to be if she did not have her sense of taste and smell? Molly quickly sank into a depression.

Then Molly made a choice not to sit back and let this destroy her. By researching and working with experts, Season To Taste is a story of triumph and overcoming enormous obstacles.

I read and reviewed this book as part of Weekend Cooking, found at Beth Fish Reads.

Molly Birnbaun: Recipient of the Politzer Traveling Fellowship In Arts and Culture from Columbia's Graduation School of Journalism. Her work also appeared in the New York Times and Art News Magazine.

I read a couple of reviews on this book a while back and loved the sound of it. Being a foodie, and finding myself more and more fascinated with non fiction… I was sold on knowing more.

Molly tells an amazing story of a dream to be a chef and how in the blink of an eye, that dream was shattered. Most of us would probably have given up there and moved on to something more doable, but not Molly. Molly instead works hard to find out why she has lost her sense of smell and taste and that is really what makes this book a page turner.

As Molly describes food attached to memory, even my mouth watered at her descriptions of dark chocolate and bean scents wafting from coffee shops, sweet pastry’s and good seasoned spaghetti. I could not imagine putting these items into my mouth and sensing nothing but texture…

The research of smell and taste also intrigued me. On page 89 it was discussed how if we are eating something and we become sick our brain is programmed to remember that, making that taste and smell associate with the sickness. I can personally account for that. As a teen, I loved coconut… all things coconut. Then one eventing I remember clearly that I was babysitting and eating coconut right out of the bag (like you buy for baking). I had a flu bug that night and wound up throwing up … well… coconut. To this day – I can’t eat anything with coconut in it.

Molly’s journey from the accident to her strong desire to cook and bake causing her to learn all she can about scent and taste was an amazing one. Not only did I learn through this book much about how our senses work… but also about food, food that made me long to try some of Molly’s specialties this coming week.

Molly had a way about talking about food (as I think all good chefs do) that make you long for what they are describing…. I soon found myself making mental notes to pick up asparagus and fresh Parisian, longing for baked sweet potatoes, and lightly sautéed chicken breasts with mushrooms and wine.

Foodies beware… this book will make you hungry. You want to know about Molly Birnbaum? Check her out at her popular food blog: My Madeleine.

I purchased this book from Amazon

Morning Meanderings… Expect An Avalanche

Published on November 20, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning.

Its funny… it is early, but I am already running late. GAH. How does that happen? I need to be out of the house in 18 minutes…. I think that would be pushing it… but I will see what I can do. 😛

I am on the verge of finishing two audio books and three book books… all within the next day or two… does this happen to anyone else?

Seriously it feels like I have nothing to review and then wham! I am overloaded in reviews. I also have a review to do of the movie Atlas Shrugs (seriously… this is a review I am not looking forward to…)

As for today… I have a late breakfast with my friend Wendy and then back home to do a little reading and keep my weekend at a nice low blip. I am looking forward to this afternoon as being quiet and feel that will cause me to go into tomorrow well rested and ready to go into Thanksgiving week. (How did it get to be Thanksgiving already?)

I suppose this will be a crazy week for some of you, but for us… not so much. We do not have a lot of family and our son Justin will be coming home (YAY!!!) but Brad will be in Jacksonville Florida (Navy) until his leave in January.

Our holiday get togethers usually mean movies, board games, and food. It works for us. 😛

Ok… I am off. I will be back this afternoon with a review and later with the What Are You Reading post.

Enjoy your Sunday.

Morning Meanderings… Saturday Thoughts

Published on November 19, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning. Life as of late has been…

a learning experience.

I would like to say that it has been hard…. and that would be true… but I also have to admit that I am learning through this…. and growing through this… in positive ways.

One thing that has been made abundantly clear this past week is that I am not alone. People everywhere are dealing with pain and while it is not the same as mine – it is just as real and just as painful to each person.

On a lighter note… I am having a pretty low key weekend here and loving it. Yesterday, I didnt even leave the house. Cleaned a little, slept a little, and caught up on some much needed down time after a fairly busy week and returning from Honduras last weekend.

Today, for Saturday Snapshot I thought I would post a few more of the pics from my week in Honduras:

217 — Bird of Paradise against a building

335 — We seen this at a restaurant we stopped at

Alyce from At Home With Books hosts this meme. Stop over and see what others are posting for Saturday Snapshots!

Morning Meanderings… Breaking Dawn at breaking dawn

Published on November 18, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good morning.

I am a tad bit groggy this morning… but things are still doable. 😀 Last night I went with a couple good friends (*waves at Amy and Dee*) to go see the midnight showing of the Release of the Breaking Dawn movie.

So the question this morning (and the question earlier this morning as I drove home at 2:11 am…. ) was it worth it?

If I enjoy a book, I want to see the movie. I know that many people disagree with me here and think a movie can spoil a book. I don’t think so. A movie – rarely lives up to the emotions and visions a book produces…. however, I personally find it interesting to see how a movie director would see the same scenes I read….

I really like the diversity in visions…. and occasionally – the movie vision can be outstanding.

So back to the question… was it worth it. Yes, to the point that I would have wanted to see it anyway… no to the fact that while the movie was ok… it was not Harry Potter phenomenal (not that I thought it would be…) and in fact there are a couple of scenes that were down right cheesy. (Que the talking wolf scene….)

BUT – to go hang out with friends… leaving my house at 11:10 pm to sit in a theater waiting for a movie to start at midnight, with good friends….

priceless.

😛

Recommended? Sure… it tells a story and if you have read the books and followed the movies so far, why not?

Now, hopefully I can be somewhat productive today… I have books to mail, bills to pay, and a home that could use a little attention (this equals audio time!) 😀

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale (Fantastic!)

Published on November 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Have you met Frank Abagnale…. err…. Frank Williams, Robert Conrad, Frank Adams, or Robert Mojo? They are all the same man. AND not a fictional man either… but a con man of epic intelligence and a “no fear” attitude that brought him far.

During Franks great conning years he sweet talked his way into a pilots uniform and co piloted a Pan Am jet… this “Pan Am” masquerade brought him money, fame, and women from all over the world. Frank also practiced law without a license and forged over $2.5 million dollars in checks – all before he was 21.

Abagnale lived a life of luxury and fantasy until the law caught up with him. Now recognized as the nations leading authority on foul-play, Abagnale shares his incredible, occasionally hilarious true story of being a man with a mission.

Truth really is stranger than fiction.

I seen the movie Catch Me If You Can many years ago, starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DeCaprio (as Frank Abagnale). I really enjoyed the movie and knew it was based on a true story and that was that.

Then last month, Audible.com had one of their fabulous audio book sales I chose this one for $4.95. Turns out, that was a great $5 buy! As soon as I started listening, I knew I was in for a treat. Narrator Barrett Whitener tells it like it is and I was quick to realize that this audio was going to be better, MUCH better, than the movie.

Told in great detail, Catch Me If You Can is Frank’s true retelling of his start during his teenage years as he had bigger dreams and wants than he had money. His swindling career started with his own father (which he regrets to this day), and went as big as posing as a Pan Am Pilot and receiving all the perks that go with it.

When you listen to how Frank makes things happen for himself you will be astounded how simply he gets away with things. A few phone calls posing as reporters, students, and trainees, gets Frank the information he needs, a few questions to the right people finds him being fit for uniforms, receiving the tools to make forged licenses, and at one time – even flying on a fake passport.

Franks story is one that is both frightening (at how simple his forgeries are!) and astoundingly laughable (Franks escape off a plane through the toilet is certainly one I will not soon forget!).

If you are looking for an interesting and well narrated audio, look no further than Catch Me If You Can. I find myself still talking to friends about this one!

Goodreads Review

Audible review

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Catch Me If You Can

Purchased from audible.com

Morning Meanderings… Making A Fail a WIN

Published on November 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Good morning. 🙂

Recently I posted about my book clubs last read, Cleopatra. Lets just say it did not qualify for our best book of the year. Lets say…. not even close.

It has been fun these last few days as I have heard from the girls in the Bookies either call me, text, or Facebook comments about the book and how much they did not like it.

That makes me happy. 😀

Don’t get me wrong, we all know when we are believing a book will be awesome it is a let down when it is not… BUT… some of our best discussions over the past years have come out of bad books. Its true…

Wuthering Heights. Out first ever classic read received a scorching review. I for one liked it… I think because I was so thrilled I had read a classic… but also.. it was fun to diagnose Kathryn in modern terms…. bipolar comes to mind… that woman was either way up… or way down. No middle for Kathryn. 😀

And this morning I see that Angie from By Book and By Crook has posted her review of Cleopatra. Angie is an original Bookie, has been on our book group with me since day one. I think she rocks at choosing books… but we all have our moments… as I reminded her in a comment this morning…

I once chose The Fourth Hand by John Irving for our book club to read…. MANY MANY years ago. I thought it would be funny… instead it was creepy. I think one may still rate as worst book we ever tried to read as a group…. HOWEVER…. while I can not tell you what we actually did in that review as that has to go down in the Bookies vault…. I can say…

It was memorable. 😛

On another random bookish (sort of) note, I have my ticket for tonight’s midnight showing of Breaking Dawn. Yes… I am that crazy. A couple of my friends are going and asked if I would like to come too…. it really is more about the hour and the friends than it is about the movie. 😀 (Ok… I am a little curious what they did with this one…

Monsters Of Men by Patrick Ness

Published on November 16, 2011November 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

In this third and final books of the Chaos Walking Series Todd and Viola are coming into the biggest war of their lives. This is not one of those series where you can pick up any book and start it… and get it. No, you must know where Todd came from in The Knife Of Never Letting Go and how Viola came into the picture. You must understand the level of sacrifice already given before you enter this world again in The Ask And The Answer…

The Spackle are more… more than one could have imagined and The Mayor…. well, will one ever fully figure him out?

Viola is working with The Answer, and Todd is working with … well, with The Mayor. And The Spackle (wondering what a Spackle is… well, its not something you do to the walls…) are coming in as the third part to a war that we thought was two-part… but no, Ness would not make things as simple as that.

What do you do to save the place you have come to know as home? What do you do to save the one you love?

And how do you look at all that is happening and not take it personally?

Lets just put it out there. I ♥ Patrick Ness. It’s ok…. I told my husband too. 😀 I mean you know its bad when I get excited about the font in a book. I do. I did. I still think it is brilliant and if you have read none of these books then you have no idea what I am ranting about but that…. needs to be corrected.

I am always shocked, appalled, and even thrilled by the courage of an author to do away with key characters. In this way, Patrick Ness did not let me down in any of the three books. My advice to new readers – don’t get attached to anybody.

Knowing that… imagine my fear page after page…. never knowing who was going to be wiped off the planet at a moments notice…. this sort of dystopia novel really can bring out the tingly feelings of anticipation, of fear, of the big…. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? (And of course what I fondly refer to as “back turning”… when something happens that you are all like (NO WAY!) and you have to turn back a few pages to read that again and go there again…. only… to be shocked again. (Mmmmm hmmmm…. it’s that good.)

I wish I could avoid this rambling and choppy review but I finished this book over a week ago as we landed in Honduras and without taking down a few notes on my thoughts (my bad…. my bad indeed) I left here a week and a half later hanging on to remnants of excitement but not sure where I felt them or how to share them with you.

I can however say that this is the best trilogy I have read this year and I do not take series lightly. If you are looking to end the year on a high reading note – I highly recommend you start on this series and then…. feel free to rant and rave here with me…. 😀

Bookies thoughts on Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (and a picture of our very own Cleopatra!)

Published on November 15, 2011November 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316001929
ISBN-13: 978-0316001922

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; assassination was a family specialty. Cleopatra appears to have had been with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and–after his murder–three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends.

This was our book club read while I was in Honduras. I had the best of intentions to read it before I left, but life happenings, a very sick dog, and hard decisions made that… ummm… not happen. Upon my return from Honduras I connected with a couple of the girls in the group and they shared not only their thoughts… but also pictures!!!

We were all surprised by the role of women in Egypt during this time. They had so many rights and were held in such high esteem. They were able to own land and many riches and sometimes the husbands were the ones left at home weaving by the loom. We wondered what created the shift in our culture to relegate women as so far beneath men that we had to struggle in the last century to get some of our rights back. One of the questions in the discussion guide asked if women could ever go backward in rights again and all of us believed it would not happen to us again.

While we still do not know a lot about Cleopatra even after reading the book, what we did learn was fascinating. She was very rich and slightly manipulative. She was charming and even (look at the pictures in the book) kind of ugly.

The Bookies advice to me.. dont bother reading it. Most of the girls did not finish it, finding it hard to get into. However I was also told it is not as long as it looks.. the last 60 pages are pictures.

Overall with 8 Bookies in attendance, the book rating was way below average.

The food however – was fun:

Fig Newtons because Cleopatra called for sweet figs on the day she committed suicide and also Greek yogurt because that is just fun. 🙂

and finally – Amy was our very own Cleopatra:

1aaa — Amy - really gets into the book club book

Which leads me to burst with pride for our AWESOME book club! As I sit here and write this review I am prompted to jot down a few (ok maybe more than a few) reasons I enjoy the Bookies so much:

1. We go the extra mile to make the reviews interesting

2. Special event months like our Summer Queen event, Classic Hat and Read month, and Christmas party

3. Digging deep for bonus info on books and authors

4. We value each others opinions

5. We agree to occasionally disagree 😛

6. Food that is prompted by the books we read

7. An amazing and passionate group of girls that have turned from a group of book lovers to friends

8. Stretched to read books and genres I may not have chosen but found out I enjoyed

9. It’s ok to not read the book. 😯

10. 10+ years of Bookies, started in August 2001 with 3 girls and now 10 years later we have 14.

Morning Meanderings… Things “Happen” while I am away….

Published on November 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning!

I returned home from Honduras in the early hours of Saturday morning this past weekend. A few things I have noted over the past several days that have taken place while I was away….

1. My Chocolate Caramel Creamer.

Yes, I will admit it is not good for me but oh…. have you tried it? On Saturday evening I was craving a large cup of coffee and thought…. ooh, the creamer would be good. But – I could not find it in the refrigerator. Al (Hubby) does not usually drink coffee at home…. he leaves for work around 5 am and catches it at a coffee shop and he only drinks coffee in the morning… unlike me…. 😛

When I inquired about the missing creamer he responded, “Oh, that was really good.” When I mentioned he never drinks coffee at home, he responded, “Oh, I didnt drink coffee. It was like chocolate milk, I drank a little glass full of the creamer each night.

😯

2. My office.