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. 😀
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!
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. 😯
Rob Ryan, along with his partner Cassie Maddox land the biggest murder case of their police careers when a 12-year-old girl has been found murdered in the woods by a Dublin Suburb. For Cassie, this is the career boost of a lifetime…
but for Ryan it is something more…
Twenty years previous, Ryan (then Adam) at the same age that the now murdered girl was, was part of a group of three best friends that entered that same woods feeling their whole lives were before them… Ryan was the only one to leave the woods, his sneakers covered in blood, with no memory as to what happened… the other two children, were never found.
No one knows about Ryan’s’s past history with the woods or the connection the two children never found… no one, except Cassie.
Although stir carrying many scars from his own experience, Ryan does his best to push the past back into the past while applying all his skills to find the killer of the present… yet in his subconsciousness, he can not help but wonder if the two are not somehow linked together…
“What I warn you to remember is that I am a detective. Our relationship with the truth is fundamental, but cracked, refracting confusingly like fragmented glass. It is the core of our careers, the endgame of every move we make, and we pursue it with strategies painstakingly constructed of lies … and every variation on deception. The truth is the most desirable woman in the world and we are the most jealous lovers, reflexively denying anyone else the slightest glimpse of her. We betray her routinely … This is my job … What I am telling you, before you begin my story, is this–two things: I crave truth. And I lie.”
~Opening to In The Woods by Tana French
This audio is a case of internet buzz that brought me make this purchase. I had heard Tana French was an incredible writer, I had heard that the audio was fantastic… knowing that I can get to audio and through audio faster than I can another book on the pile, I went audio.
Diving into this audio I was instantly engrossed in the back story of Ryan’s childhood nightmare and believed this was going to be an incredible story. I have always enjoyed a great murder mystery, probably one of the earliest genres of choice in my youth reading career (oh yes… I feel it is a career :razz:) so I settled in for an amazing ride…
I enjoyed the play back and forth by police partners Ryan and Cassie… I loved that Cassie was not a dopey girly girl but a strong and vile partner to Ryan… what he missed she found, and vise versa.
As the story unfolds into a great and disturbing tale of a family with too many secrets, and the entwining of the two stories both past and present I felt like a kid on the edge of my seat holding the book tight and the blanket up to just below my eyes tighter.
And then just when I was think this book.audio was a rave… the end failed big time for me. It failed so big in fact… I thought I must have missed something. It could not end that way I thought… I have strings left over… they are unraveled… where is my somewhat neat package tied up in a bow?
But no – no package… and no bow.
I even looked at a few other reviews to make sure that I accurate that there was no closure… and its true… at least as far as I am concerned I felt a little cheated in the end, like I was building excitement on this rollercoaster – up,up,up and then…
no exciting drop…. just flat.
Will I read Tana French again? Absolutely… I hear her book The Likeness (also featuring Cassie Maddox) is pretty awesome… so yeah, I will try again. 😀
Ok…. here goes. SO yesterday Morning I posted about my book review due to the Her Voice magazine by October 5th and what could I be reading and reviewing under the Christmas/Holiday genre they requested of me…
I tried… I really did. Christmas style reads are really not my thing… they tend to be too light, too fluffy, too neat, and so sugary sweet sweet sweet that you want to throw up a bit in your mouth. (sorry about the graphic visual there, but that’s the way I feel). My books need meat…
So I tried… I posted for suggestions and you gave them to me and still nothing hit what I was looking for. I wanted an author that was new or little known… I wanted a book that had a Christmas story, but had action as well. And I wanted it to be a pleasant surprise that I could honestly say, “curl up with a blanket this winter and enjoy this read!”
But… with a deadline hovering… I still had nothing.
Desperate times….
I went to our local book store today and gathered the two employees working and told them my story. I told them I wanted different, I wanted exciting, I wanted….
well… we all searched the store for “the book” and time and again they would walk up to me with a book I would turn down. Then, the bookoligist (my word), came running down the rows of books yelling, “organ transplant! Organ transplant!”
I asked her if she has tourette’s.
No, she had a book… and while it is a Christmas read… I think it may have potential. The book is:
Nora Peterson’s twins are seniors in high school and she has planned the perfect Christmas for them. Christi and Charlie are fraternal twins with the invisible bond that many twins experience. Christi is budding artist and during this holiday season Charlie is playing one of Santa’s elves. The holiday season is moving perfectly until a tragic accident shakes the Peterson’s home and threatens to overwhelm them.
Jenna Montgomery is a single mother who works as an emergency room nurse. This Christmas season she only has one wish, finding her daughter a new heart. Jenna’s daughter Heather has been living with a weak heart and becomes weaker each passing day…
So this is my read for the next day – digging in last night and continuing today… as time is a ticking….
In other crazy news… I messed with my new Smart Phone (1st smart phone experience) yesterday and somehow lost how to answer it. It rang and rang, and all I could do was go to call logs, see who called me and then call them back. GAH.
I wasnt around a lot yesterday and probably the same today with the review hanging over my head… but I do have an audio review coming up today!
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.
Note: I am behind on a few weeks of books mailings and I apologize for that – everything is packages up and hitting the post office today. 😀
I had a very productive week for banned books week. I stuck to reading all books on the banned book list this past week, however my audio listening was my regular listens and I am thrilled to say I finished two audios, almost a third and fourth… and all those reviews will be up this week. As for what I did post this past week:
YAY Nise!!! Shoot me your address and I will get that out to you!
As I mentioned above I also finished the two audio books but will post about them this week… I wanted to keep this past week all banned… all week.
That said, Banned book Week was fun but also a lot of work so I am glad to be free to read what I want to and need to read this week. I am keeping it simple….
Ok… ha ha… maybe this book does not qualify for”keeping it simple” but October is Classic Month for our book club and this is the classic for October 11th and from the groans I am hearing from the rest of the Bookies, I had better get on this… plus – we are dressing up for the review so I must get some insight! 😀
Ahhh…. but of course Pride and Prejudice is most likely not a sit down and read in one sitting style book so I am hoping to break it up with the final book in the trilogy I have been reading. SO EXCITED to get into this one!
AND – this is the week my review is due for the local Her Voice Magazine…. it is due in by the 5th on a Christmas/holiday read…. my choice…. curious what I picked? 😉
I have a pretty solid week, we are serving for IHN this week which I coordinate, and the reads I picked will keep me busy in between work and all of that. As for audio, I am hoping to finish The Night Circus this week so I am not adding any new audio to the week. 😀
SO there it is and I am so excited to see what you are doing for Fall reads…. please link up your Monday What Are You Reading post below where it says click here. 😀 Have a super week!!!
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Johnny Wheelwright lives in New Hampshire with his mom who “chose to have me and to never explain a word about me or to her mother or to her sister”. Johnny never knew who his dad was, and his mother seemed to like it that way and went about with her tranquil and modest nature the rest of her days.
Johnny was rather scrawny and wimpy so it was only natural for him to find a friend in Owen Meany. Owen was small for his age – freakishly small due to a mysterious growth disorder. he also has damage to his larynx which leaves his voice very squeaky and needless to say, the blunt of many jokes. But – Owen is wise beyond his years and knows more about life at the age of ten than most people do well into their later adult years.
When a tragic accident happens at a baseball game involving Owen… Owen feels this was foreseen by God, therefore – Owen is an instrument of God. The book goes on to play on this “instrument of God” piece (even to the point that Owen predicts his date of death) throughout the childhood of both boys – and into adulthood as well as Johnny continues the story.
A little history. Last year this book was recommended to me for banned book week. AND in typical Sheila style, I ran to my library and checked this out along with several other banned books. AND in typical Sheila style… I had more books than I could read. It was returned… unread.
There are books out there that continue to call to me, for whatever reason they stay on my radar as “must reads” and this book was one of them. I checked the book out again this year, now not only for Banned Book Week, but I had also chosen it as the Wordshaker fall opener read to force my hand. (I sometimes, have to trick – myself.)
I had seen the movie Simon Birch long before I knew of a book called A Prayer For Owen Meany. I enjoyed the movie, finding it funny, and sad, and a mixture in between. The book left me feeling much of the same emotions.
In the early pages you are hit with the shocking plot starter that really kicks off the story. Owen then takes on this role as instrument of God which at times is funny, but admittedly – at times, a bit disturbing as well. For me, reading this book as the fictional story it is, made it enjoyable, and in the end, although not always the easiest book to follow (flash back and forwards tend to mess me up), I am thankful I had the opportunity to read it.
John Irving and I have had a rocky relationship. He has a knack for creating quirky characters and then writing stories around them. In the early years of our book club we had read (under my suggestion) The Fourth Hand by him. Lets just say that I never have really ever lived down the choosing of this book that as a group we all disliked very VERY much.
John Irving, in my eyes, redeems himself in this interesting and profound read that would make an incredible book group discussion read.
FYI: Did you know the movie Simon Birch is based loosely on this book?
Simon Birch is a 1998 American comedy-drama film loosely based on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. It was directed and written for the screen by Mark Steven Johnson. The film stars Ian Michael Smith, Joseph Mazzello, Ashley Judd, Oliver Platt, and Jim Carrey. It omitted much of the latter half of the novel and altered the ending. The movie does not share the book’s title at Irving’s request; he did not believe that this novel could successfully be made into a film. The name “Simon Birch” was suggested by him to replace that of Owen Meany. The main plot centers around 12-year old Joe Wenteworth and his best friend Simon Birch.
Why Was A Prayer For Owen Meany a Banned Book?
Banned and censored around the United States for its stance on religion and criticism of the US government regarding the Vietnam War and Iran-Contra.
For those of you who joined me for the Wordshakers read a long of this book – as you are posting your reviews this week, please respond to one or two of these questions within your reviews. When your review is up, please link here.
1. What do you think of Johnny as the narrator of this read? What is his motivation for writing this story?
2. How does Owen develop as a character throughout the novel?
3. Why do you feel so such emphasis is put on Owen’s voice?
4. Reverend Merrill always speaks of faith in tandem with doubt. Do you believe that one can exist without the other or that one strengthens the other?
5. Owen Meany taught John that “Any good book is always in motion–from the general to the specific, from the particular to the whole and back again.” Do you think Irving followed his own recipe for a good book?
6. Several reviews call A Prayer for Owen Meany “Dickensian,” and Irving himself incorporates scenes from Dickens in the story. In what ways does Irving’s writing remind you of Dickens? What other writers would you compare Irving to?
I will be answering my thoughts on these questions through commenting on your reviews. Be sure to use the Wordshaker widget to connect your review as part of the Wordshaker Read-A-Long.
Link your Word Shaker read-a-long review here: (linky open through October 8)
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Banned Books Week is officially over. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work too. There were a few of you that signed up mid-week to participate and I just did not have the time to connect with you and add you… lets just say it got a little crazy trying to make sure I had all the links of everyone participating each day. 😀 (you can still get in on this giveaway by linking and picking up the clues here…. and then filling out the form here.
Today I hop into our serving week for IHN, yes it is that time again where I work with a team to house the homeless for one week and that starts today. I am pretty set with volunteers, just need to do some set up, food shopping, and a lot of orientation throughout the week with new volunteers.
It will be a busy week. 😛
So what is this welcome me to the new century about? I think I am the last person in my office to get a smart phone. Up until yesterday I was still on my flip cell phone that had pretty much lost its flipping powers the week before. It was at the point if I shut it, it would shut off. It would not hold a charge and as much as I was all gaga over it two years ago when we contracted our cell phones…
I no longer found it cute.
So off I went yesterday to come up with a new plan. Literally. I wound up at Sprint as my two sons SWEAR by Sprint and I liked that nothing was limited – no limited data plan, no limited text or phone minutes….
My only fear…
was this too much phone for me?
The salesman assured me it was not.
After a switch of my accounts to Sprint (awkward by the way – their shop is right next door to Sprint… I walked over, received my account info and walked back to Sprint. ) BUT – better plan, less money, more phone… how could I not?
And seriously –
ain’t she pretty?
I am obviously still very new to the fancy phone world but I LOVE LOVE LOVE that I text by talking…. of course picking up my emails and having internet access is pretty sweet too…
I have yet to figure out the camera (I can take a pic but where doe s it go?)
How to link Twitter and Facebook…
And although my hubby called me and I could not figure out how to answer…. eventually I got there. 😳 This is by no fault of the salesman who was awesome and told me how to do all of this stuff… I just hit information overload…. got home and went… huh? 😛
Ok – got to run but will be back later with a review …. and a winner…. (or two)
I can not believe it is the last day of Banned Books week! It has been a fun week and I have had a blast reading the other banned posts. So today I have the final clue to give you and then for those of you who have gathered them all – figure out the 9 letter answer and pop back here and fill out the form I have up….
The final clue comes from Tif at Tif Talks Books with her review and thoughts on The Diary Of Anne Frank
AND if you did not catch the clues because life happened… no worries, this link will let you catch up on the nice reviews that gave you the clues…. as well as a list of the bonus entries.
The giveaway package w/ $10 Amazon card
Thank you to all the awesome people who participated in Banned Books Week. I know I learned a little more about some of the books this week and was able to even read a few that have been on the TBR for a long, long time.
Did you learn anything abut banned books this week? Maybe a title that surprised you on the list, or a new/old book brought to your attention that now you would like to read?
It’s feeling fall here this morning. I have already been outside with the dogs and yeah… a bit chilly for sleep pants and a t shirt but the trees are looking gorgeous as the weather man said they would this year.
Anyway… I did mention ice cream.
I am really not a big fan of ice cream but occasionally a flavor will draw me out. A couple of summers ago there was a limited edition called Key Lime Pie. Of wow…. that was bad. Lets just say I would go downstairs to do laundry (which is next to the freezer) with a spoon. ‘nuf said.
Then recently at the store, I seen this limited edition Pumpkin Pie ice cream. I am not even sure why it called to me… I am not a big pie person either and if I were to have pie, pumpkin probably would not make my top 5 choices….. yet there it was…
For the record – I thought it was ok…. different, good – but not a “have to have”. Remember though… not the Pumpkin Pie fan… my college son however, who I sent a text to about my find, made a special trip to the store last night in Mankato to find this ice cream. His #1 pie of choice: Pumpkin.
Moving on… we are nearing the end of banned books week and we are down to only two more clues – today and tomorrow. If you have missed any of them, I have organized them here for you so you can quickly catch up and get in on tomorrows big banned book giveaway.
Today your clue comes from Laura at Book Snob, with her review of The Handmaid’s Tale (one I have yet to read but own and want to!)
In other banned posts going up today and each one worth a bonus entry for tomorrows giveaway – please take a little time to see:
Sarah from Sawcat’s Book Blog has her review up of The Hunger Games
And for all your year around banned book curiosities… Bonnie runs the Banned Books Blog which I am thrilled to be a contributor to.These reviews not only let you know what each book is about – but why it was banned.
There’s the banned plan! As for me….I think this morning I will have a little tea, a little reading and maybe this afternoon a bike ride or a walk with the dogs.
Book Journey 