A Great And Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

On Gemma Doyle’s 16th birthday, after having an argument with her mother about leaving India and going to a school in London, Gemma takes off alone in an angry huff.  Suddenly she can not move her feet and a weird sensation covers her as she has a vision of her mother dying.  When she returns from her walk, she discovers that her mother is indeed… dead.

Two months later Gemma is enrolled in a London boarding school for girls.  She is still dealing with the strange visions and feeling grief and guilt over her mother.  As time goes on, Gemma learns to not only control the visions, but also discovers a realm where she has powers and where she rediscovers her mother who directs her through what apparently is some sort of hereditary magic. 

As Gemma makes friends (Felicity, Ann, and Pippa) at the school, she lets them in on her new found powers and together the girls explore the realm, not realizing the dangers that lurk within, or the clues given in Gemma’s visions.

Segue:  You know how you may pick a dessert from a dessert tray thinking it is one thing, but upon biting into it you discover it is something else entirely, and even better than expected?  Well, that’s how I felt about this audio. 

At first synopsis, I thought for sure this was an historical fiction read.  Which… it was.  But, it is also is adventure, mystery, paranormal, a dab of horror, a splash or romance, and dare I say I think I may have experienced just a pinch of steam punk? 

A Great and Terrible Beauty is narrated by Josephine Bailey and I would say that in the places that I felt a little lost in what was happening in this stuffed full of genre book, it was Josephine’s clear and incredible voice control that held me captive. 

While the start of this novel read is kicking and full of action that made me say “Wha?”, the middle seamed to be filled with just a lot of … stuff.  Filling really – about the school, about Gemma…. it just lost the power that it had in the beginning, and maybe it was just too strong an entrance to possibly hold that level of excitement… I dont know…

My favorite part of the book was the friendship of the four girls.  As in most books that center around a friendship, the girls have diverse personalities, and I like that.  I did enjoy how they came together as quite an unlikely quartette, and well… you will see if you check this one out.

While I did mention the middle fizzle, if you hang on the ending takes you souring again into the “WHOA!” zone and actually had me smiling form the effects of just good writing.  Definitely worth a go (and the occasional “whoa!”)

If you do decide to venture into this one on audio be sure to listen to the authors notes at the end.  Libba Bray has a pretty funny message about how this book came to be and details of how she came to this story.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads review

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include A Great and Terrible Beauty

I borrowed this audio from our local library

Morning Meanderings… The Question Is… Did I Do It?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Good morning!  😛

Mmm…. COFFEE CUP and I are enjoying a quiet start to the day.  Crazy how dark it is now at 7:06 am… gah… I am not looking forward to the coming season. 

My original plan this morning was to get up early and hit the gym… I have decided the only time I can guarantee is free time for me (non scheduled) is the hours between 5 and 7 a.m.  Well, yesterday I went to Group Power with my friend Wendy for the first time in months – pretty much pre-injury in June.  Lets just say it is not a good sign when you start hurting DURING class….  😯

So yeah… today I hurt… but it is a good hurt.  AND I will hit the gym tomorrow morning.

 

If you were reading my meanderings at the end of last week I was sharing that my book club was reading Pride and Prejudice for our annual Classic Read in October.  As of Friday… I had not opened the book, but being optimistic… I had a plan to get it done before B- Day (Book Day) which is uhhh… errrr…..

today.

The plan was a simple math one:  375 pages.  I had three days – Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  That’s 125 pages a day.  Doable?  Yes.  If I could dedicate 3 hours each day to reading it would be an average of 41.6 pages an hour.  I would even have time to grab a cup of coffee!  😛  Really it was only 1.4 pages a minute.    See…. doable.  😀

So…. did I do it?

Ummmm….

not yet.

As it seems to go with us readers, life happened and I think I actually spent more time listening to audio this weekend while I cooked and cleaned than I did reading. 

Will I be done by our 6:30 meeting tonight?  I think so… or I will be close.  I am over 100 pages short right now, but should have an hour to an hour and a half to read before I go tonight.  I will just have to skip the coffee… 😀

Do you have any book deadlines to share?  Funny moments where you are trying to squeeze more reading into your day?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)80 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.

Last weeks winner:

Chris and Nerfreader


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

So my week was crazy and you are probably thinking, “Wow Sheila what else is new?” Well… lots of things but more on that later this week.  😛

This past week around bonus craziness I did get a few things done…

In The Woods by Tana French (audio review – my first Tana French and I have a complaint…)

Robin Hood by David Coe (audio review)

Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy ( a book tour review)

Weekend cooking with Pride and Prejudice

They Are Creepy And They Are Spooky – what are you reading for Halloween month? 

Considering my week… that’s not too bad.  I have two more audio close to being done, and Night Circus (on audio) should be done late this week as well I think.

I am finishing up Pride and Prejudice for book club on Tuesday and Monsters of Men from last week is on the hit list after that.  😀

I have a girls weekend this weekend so I will not get a lot of reading done – but  in the event I get some time this week to add a little more I hope to read:

Is nothing sacred? The last thing Carmela Bertrand and her friend Ava expected to bear witness to in St. Tristan’s Church was a crime. But now a beloved member of their scrapbooking circle lies lifeless next to a smashed statue of St. Sebastien-and a mysterious hooded figure has absconded with an antique crucifix.

As Carmela and Ava are drawn deeper into New Orleans’ French Quarter in search of the missing crucifix, they may need the help of more than a few patron saints. Because this is one killer they don’t want to cross…

In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts. 

The home’s new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. Unlike the Miracle on the Hudson, however, most of the passengers aboard Flight 1611 die on impact or drown. The body count? Thirty-nine – a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself wondering about the women in this sparsely populated White Mountain village – self-proclaimed herbalists – and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has become desperately tenuous? 

I am super excited to have received the Water For Elephants movie for a pre screening prior to the DVD release on November 1.  I have not seen the movie yet so am watching it tonight.  Review will go live the end of October.

I hope to get around to see what you are reading this week!  Be sure to add your link to your own What Are You Reading post below where it says click here:

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They’re Creepy And They’re Spooky…. What SPOOKTACULAR books this way come??

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

October.  As the leaves are quickly separating from the trees, and the nights are starting to release the chill of pending fall… I find myself, like many of you, thinking of a little something spooky to cuddle up with in the evenings. 

What scares you? 

Here are a few that I would love to get the opportunity to read:

In 1987, Bohjalian purchased a Victorian house, only to discover a mysterious sealed door in the basement. But it wasn’t until 2009, when pilot Sully Sullenberger was forced to (successfully) land his plane on the Hudson River, that Bohjalian had the second thread he needed for The Night Strangers’ terrifying plot. His protagonist, Chip Linton, is a pilot who lives to tell the tale of his emergency landing on Lake Champlain. But Flight 1611 ends up with 39 casualties among the 40-odd passengers and crew. Thirty-nine just happens to be the same number of bolts that seal shut a hidden door in the basement of the new house Chip and his lawyer wife Emily move to with their twin daughters Garnet and Hallie. This retreat to the mountains of northern New Hampshire is an attempt by Chip to come to terms with the crash. However, peace doesn’t come easily.

While Chip goes about refurbishing the house (discovering the boarded-up door and random weapons hidden in nooks and crannies in the process), Emily and the twins realize this small White Mountain village is populated with numerous greenhouses and self-proclaimed herbalists. As Chip’s grief slowly descends into a type of madness, Emily begins to question why the town is so obsessed with teaching her daughters the tricks of the plants.

 

 

 

 

The basic premise, that of an amnesia victim suffering from debilitating short-term memory loss, has been thoroughly mined in print (James Hilton’s Random Harvest, G.H. Ephron’s Amnesia) and cinema (50 First Dates, Memento). Where Watson diverges from the formula is in his exhaustive exploration of one woman’s spiral into paranoia. Does Christine have a happy marriage, or is it a total sham? Does she have a son, and if so, did he die in Iraq, or is that just a figment of her overworked imagination? And what’s up with her doctor, anyway? From early on, it is clear that her husband is not being entirely truthful with her, but to what end—Christine’s well-being or something darker? On the sly, Christine begins keeping a journal, documenting the inconsistencies in the stories she is told by those she thought she could trust, leading to a showdown of epic proportions.

 

 

 

 

My name is Amelia Gray. I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to the rules passed down from my father. But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman’s brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I’ve been hired to restore. The clues to the killer—and to his other victims—lie in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret. Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy. To warn him would be to invite them into my life. I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.

 

 

 

 

 For 10-year-old Beau Jackson, the annual late August trek from his home in Richmond, Virginia, to his grandmother’s ancestral property on a Georgia peninsula known as Gull Island is a dismal one. For two weeks, Beau will have to deal with his constantly arguing parents as well as his alcoholic aunt and uncle, swarms of mosquitoes, unbearable humidity—and his weird cousin Sumter Monroe. 

But this summer proves to be different from past vacations. Sumter, always a little strange, is downright disturbing. Obsessed with a decrepit shack at the edge of the property, Sumter makes it his own personal clubhouse and names it Neverland, a place where grown-ups are forbidden and an old human skull is worshipped as a destroying god. Compelled to Neverland to escape the dysfunction and alcohol-fueled fights inside Grammy Weenie’s house (ironically called The Retreat), Beau and his older twin sisters Missy and Nonie enter Sumter’s dark sanctuary and become entangled in a web of evil that includes thievery, animal sacrifices, blood drinking, demon worship and, quite possibly, facilitating the beginning of the end of the world.

Thank you to Book Page and Goodreads for these suggestions

That’s just to name a few.  How about you?  Any “scare-awesome” reads coming up?DO any of these appeal to you or do you have others on your radar?  Or maybe you skip the spooky all together…

Oh and in answer to what scares me….

dolls.

Dolls have always creeped me out.

GAH! Right?

There I said it.  😛

Weekend Cooking.. Visiting Pride and Prejudice

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

 

I find that the more I read.. the more I like to dissect books… really look into the time period, the setting, and the food.  Currently my book club is reading Pride and Prejudice for our annual October Classic read and I thought it would be fun today (as I make my way through this book) to connect with some of the food from the Regency era.

My husband = house lab rat.  😛

As I love the Weekend Cooking meme, I want to try more of this bringing the food out of whatever book I am reading…. and so today I present our fall “Regency type” dinner as English Pot Pie and British Salad Greens.

The main dish, was the English Pot Pie that honestly… looked like a lot of work so I made my own recipe (an easier version) – but hey, it’s fall in Minnesota and this is a great comfort food:

 

You will need:

 

3 cups Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
2 cups cut-up cooked chicken
1 large can condensed cream of chicken soup
2 cups Bisquick® mix
1 cup milk
2 eggs

Heat oven to 400.  In separate bowl mix the vegies, cream of chicken, and the cooked chicken.  Pour into ungreased baking pan – I used two smaller class baking containers.

Now mix the Bisquick, milk and egg together.  Pour over the vegie/chicken mix evenly.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Secondly, the salad.  Pretend you are Elizabeth Bennett and you and your sisters have just picked fresh vegies out of the garden.  (I cant explain the blue cheese but lets just say one of the cows were sick and they made their own….)

You will need:

1 English cucumber (the one in the produce section that is long and wrapped in plastic)
3 cups mixed greens
a chunk of blue cheese
Blue Cheese salad dressing
a sprinkle of chopped English walnuts (no worries, these are the common walnuts we mainly use in the U.S.)
Craisins (ok ok… so Craisins were my addition, but let’s just say I ran into Elizabeth Bennett in the forest near her home and I told her about Craisins and that they rock.  She, being of good character, knows an honest person when she sees  one and takes me at my word.)
Black pepper to taste

Slice the cucumber in to 1/4 inch slices and circle around the edge of each salad plate.  In the center place the mixed greens.  sprinkle the walnuts, craisins, and walnuts on top and then a drizzle of the salad dressing.  Serve.

Did it pass the husband test?   I would say seconds means yes to that.  😀

This is a part of Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking.

Morning Meanderings: The Tackling of P & P

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning … 😀

If you have been around lately you may have heard my soft mumbles (maybe even some grumbles) that my book club is reading Pride and Prejudice for our annual October classic read.  For me, this is the first time reading it.  And with life being a little exceptionally busy lately as well as the draw of other books… book club is Tuesday evening and I am on page …

7.

I am hoping that it will come together this next couple days especially, but looking ta my lovely copy I have 375 pages to tackle…. if I could read this over the next three days I only need to read 125 pages a day…

say I can manage 3 hours a day for reading these next few days that is 41.6 pages per hour.

That’s 1.4 pages per minute….

😛

In other words…

I think I got this. 

My book club wears hats of the era for classic month… a few of us…. no names mentioned (to protect the goofy of course) go a bit farther and try to dress entirely around the theme of the book.  😛

 

In other news, it has been a couple of weeks since I have been able to participate in Alice’s Saturday Snapshot.  Time limitations, you name it, I just did not get it done.   I do however have a few pics from a recent event….

my hubby’s birthday.

In mid September we went out to eat with a few friends and celebrated Al’s birthday.  It was a pretty good time. 

L: Robb, Al, and Chad

 

 

L: Me, Amy, and Julie

 

Al and I
Al and I

It you would like to participate in the fun at Alyce’s At Home With Books, Saturday Snapshot, click on over and see what is happening!

I have to run… I have a small commitment this morning and then breakfast with College son who was in town for one day and heading back to Mankato this afternoon.

Reclaiming Lily by Patti Lacy

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Gloria Powell has wanted a child since she first said “I do” to the love of her life Andrew.  But ten years had passed and still no children.  When the Powell’s decide to adopt they pay the hefty fees as well as the travel expenses to go to China.  After much hoop jumping, they leave with a beautiful young girl who Gloria feels God told her was “her daughter” since she laid eyes on her.  They decide to call her Joy.  It seems so appropriate.

Then seven years later, a woman names Kai appears in the Powell’s life stating she is  Lily’s (joy’s birth name)  biological sister and comes to share medical records of their mother’s death, a disease it seems that Joy may have inherited as well. Gloria is already struggling in her relationship with the now teenage and rebellious Joy…. what will the entrance of a blood relative due to this relationship, let alone the chance of this disease being in Joy…

Will Kai be an answer to prayer?  Or will this blip now in the family dynamics cost Gloria more than she can possibly handle?

 

Having been to Honduras 8 times (my ninth coming up in just a few weeks here) I was drawn to this book by the topic of adoption.  When you travel to some of these countries and you see these darling children with nothing, you want to scoop them up and take them home…. 

Such as within this story of Gloria, wanting desperately to have a child of her own… and along comes Joy. 

I am not sure what I expected when I picked this book up to read… I know the ending result was so much more.

I am impressed by Patti Lacy’s ability to write a captivating, interesting story, that is not always light on the topics.  For a Christian fiction read I applaud Lacy’s ability to write strong, three-dimensional, flawed characters.  As I read on about what a tough teen Joy was… under my breath I was saying “yes!”  And even better?  Joy is not the only flawed character of the story…. nor does it seem that any topic is off limits – including Christianity itself.

Kai, was a pleasant addition to the read… you have to wonder her motive for entering into the Powell’s life… is she an answered prayer?  Or is she there to  try to pull Joy/Lily back to her roots… or is it a combo of both?

I was kept guessing until the very end … in fact – quite literally the very end… as even the last page reveals a surprise.

Reclaiming Lily is a wonderful read that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about loss, healing, and the pursuit of hope against all odds.

Amazon Rating

Good Reads Review

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Reclaiming Lily

 

Please see the entire tour schedule for this book here

Thank you to Litfuse Group for allowing me a copy of this book to read and give an honest review

Morning Meanderings: Back to the land of the living…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

 

Good morning. 

I believe…

I am back.  😛

It has been a crazy busy week and while I still have a few things to tend to throughout the weekend… at least I think it is safe to say life has mellowed to a low “hummmmmm” of energy. 

I think anyway…

I am really still at the Church I stayed overnight in for the IHN program.  I have cleaned up the kitchen and dining areas and am sitting here with COFFEE CUP (not mine, but a coffee cup all the same) waiting for my co-volunteer Jennifer to return with the van that delivered everybody back to the day center.

Next stop: HOME.

I have a book review up today and really need to get cracking on Pride and Prejudice for next weeks book club.  😛  Yes… P & P … first time around and I am going to try (try try try) to finish it in record time.  On the semi bright side… I have been wanting to ride my bike all week as it has been GORGEOUS here in Minnesota and not this morning it is really really windy and a bike looks as though that may have to wait…. 

why is that the bright side?

I will actually stay in the house and get some reading done.  😀

Enjoy your day and the start to the weekend!!!

Robin Hood by David Coe

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

In 13th-century England, the legendary figure known by generations as Robin Hood leads an uprising that will forever alter the balance of world power and will make one man of humble beginnings an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.

An expert archer once interested only in self-preservation, Robin now serves in King Richard’s army. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation. There he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion, who is skeptical of the motivations of this mysterious crusader from the forest.

Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and to save the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct the injustices of the sheriff.

The Robin Hood statue as it is in Nottingham

 

Robin Hood was an outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is now known for “robbing from the rich and giving to the poor”, assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his “Merry Men”.Traditionally Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes. The origin of the legend is claimed by some to have stemmed from actual outlaws, or from ballads or tales of outlaws.

Robin Hood became a popular folk figure starting in the medieval period continuing through modern literature, films, and television. In the earliest sources Robin Hood is a yeoman, but he was often later portrayed as an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff.

 

So seriously… doesn’t that sound a lot like Robin Hood?  That’s ’cause it is!  I kid – but really this audio was all action, all testosterone, strong men who fight for their women…

ahhh… I admit it – I do like the era… I like men who act like men (packing a bow and arrow doesn’t hurt either…) and women who wear the long beautiful dresses but are still tough….

whats not to love?

I have seen the movie Men In Tights (no, I am not proud but there it is…) and probably a cartoon or two in the past, but not this movie as pictured here on the cover of my audio.

And I did enjoy it.  I have never read anything about Robin Hood before… haven’t even really sat through a movie about him… so this was really an experience.  I wasn’t sure going in if it would be a fit for me but it was funny and full of energy.

Thanks Tanya with Black Stone Audio who hooked me up with one at BEA!

Good Reads Review

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Robin Hood

I received this audio at BEA from Blackstone Audio


Morning Meanderings… I Think I Wear Crazy Well

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good morning!!!

I feel like I have been energized…. no idea why, but here I am popping up with a plan this morning that is tight but doable….

Yesterday went something like this…

6:30 am – up get ready, write a morning post, go to work

8:00 am – work… an assortment of duties, a meting, an insurance call about my accident this summer, several IHN calls for serving the homeless this week, another family of five entering the program bringing us up to 15 people…

noon:  Still at work but multi tasking, planning more food for the IHN meal so it does not stress out my family doing the cooking, actually thawing the bbq while I am at work. 

3:00 Pm – leave work and hurry over to where we are serving to set up five beds.

4:00 pm – run home to cook the BBQ beef and get buns out of freezer to go with this.

4:30 back to where we are serving, drop off food, grab van – go pick up guests

4:45 back at serving area with all guests, do orientation with new family, help my cooking crew with their meal set up and serving.

5:30 Activity people come in and while families are still eating I tour them through the program, introduce them, and help with kitchen clean up

6:20 take one of the teens serving to Band practice and then drive home

6:40 start making dinner for Al and I

7:00 pm we go downstairs to watch the recording we have of Amazing Race

8:20 pm – Al goes to bed… I start reading the book I need to have done for the magazine article.

11:30 – Done with book… jot down a few thoughts so I can write the review in the morning… off to bed.

This morning, review is written, I am getting for work, I work until 3:00, I am with the IHN program after work until probably 7:30 tonight after I do orientation with my overnighters tonight.  Tomorrow, I am one of the overnighters.

Yes – crazy… but somehow it is juggling well and the light at the end of the tunnel is Friday afternoon I am done serving, my volunteers from that point on are repeat servers so really know what to do and I have the weekend to catch up on other life things… like Pride and Prejudice due to be read by Tuesday for book club.  😯

Have an awesome day!!!