Morning Meanderings…. Embarassing Confessions

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Morning 😀

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…

well the answer is….

Nil, zero, naught/nought, zilch, zip, nada, diddly-squat, squat

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!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)60 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:

Lori at Dollycas’s Thoughts


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

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:

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson (Banned Book)

Beloved by Toni Morrison (Banned Book)

A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving (Banned Book and my crazy attempt at a vlog)

A WHOLE lot of links to other banned book related posts for the big giveaway! 

 

Also – winner of the Banned Book Week Giveaway package is:

Nise from Under The Boardwalk

 

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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A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

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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I borrowed this book from our local library

Morning Meanderings… Please Welcome Me To The New Century

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

Good morning!

BIG ol’ sip from COFFEE CUP*

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)

Morning Meanderings… The Ban Is Lifted (almost) w/ The BIG Giveaway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Good morning!  😀

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?

Morning Meandering… Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream! I’m just saying…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Good morning!  Happy Friday!

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

Krystyn from Someday I’ll Get There wrote up her review of The Diary Of Anne Frank

Crystal from I Totally Paused has her review up of Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince

Reagan at Miss Remmer’s Reviews reads from To Kill A Mockingbird

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.

Morning Meanderings… A Peek Into Pottermore

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning.  😛

We are having some nice weather here in Minnesota.

I had a busy Wednesday so had no reading time whatsoever running from one commitment to another… however, once home,  I cuddled up in my blanky, put on the recording of Survivor, and played a little Pottermore on line. 

I know I am revealing my level of Harry Potter geekiness here but… so be it, it’s POTTERMORE and I just received my letter of entry a few days ago.  I wont go into a ton of detail but let me just say – wow.  The story opens into chapters, you look for clues to collect in your trunk as well as ingredients for potions which is cool…

BUT – coolest of all is that J K Rowling reveals back stories on the characters the places, from character names, to addresses…. all great stuff for the Potterheads out there like me.  😀

Yes, it is still banned book week and I have another clue for you! 

Clue holder:  Meredith from Wandering In The Stacks shares her review of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

 

For bonus entries into the giveaway (plus amazing posts on banned books) please check out the links before.

Jon from The Rogue Scholar is posting his review on The Handmaid’s Tale

 

 

Jennifer at Literate Housewife has a post on Take This Book And Ban It!

 

 

Christa from Hooked On Books has a review up of Water For Chocolate

 

 

Gina from Book Dragon’s Lair discusses The Night Kitchen

 

 

Beloved by Toni Morrison (Banned Book Week)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

In the troubled years following the Civil War, the spirit of a murdered child haunts the Ohio home of a former slave. This angry, destructive ghost breaks mirrors, leaves its fingerprints in cake icing, and generally makes life difficult for Sethe and her family.  People will not visit the home at  124 Bluestone road for it is clearly haunted – things moving on their own accord, a heavy reddish light of sorrow in the doorway. While Sethe’s daughter Denver would like to move, to escape this every ever enduring life, Sethe herself finds the haunting oddly comforting for the spirit is that of her own dead baby, never named, thought of only as Beloved.

Beloved is also a movie starring Oprah Winfrey

Does the above synopsis sound like a Paranormal read of today?  It is not, instead it is a book released in 1997.

Beloved was my first book by Toni Morrision and I read this for banned book week. 

In the beginning of Beloved, the haunting is merely ghost like, a feeling, a movement…. knowing someone is there.  Soon in the book Paul D is introduced, a former friend of Sethe’s who is initially passing through the area, but upon making his way to Sethe’s door, finds that she was who he was searching for all along.  His presence disturbs the ghost and brings her to full manifestation, in the body of a young woman who immediately falls upon the sympathies of Sethe and Denver as a woman who has nowhere to go and winds up staying with them.

Its hard to write my thoughts on beloved… it was at times powerful, the writing smoothly flowing on each page to the next as I followed Sethe’s loss and pain..  And then at other times it was disturbing.  The entrance of Beloved and how she immediately wrapped herself into the family, only Paul D sensing that there was something about her that did not sit right…

As I closed the book (late at night) I had to sit with my thoughts for a bit, all jumbled and processing… was Beloved’s appearance into the home of Sethe a good thing?  On one hand it led to abuse – both physical betrayal, and sexual.  Her presence, being full accepted as it was creeped me out a bit. Yes on the other hand, Beloved’s arrival also forced Sethe, Denver, and Paul D to make the decsions they did…. to move on and beyond….

Perhaps even more so for me was the fact that Morrison based this book on actual events and the story of an escaped slave named Margaret Garner who had murdered her own child rather than see them all returned to slavery.

Overall Beloved is a disturbing read.  Not always, in a bad way.  This book made me think about the slavery in our history and the lengths people went to escape it.  Toni Morrison shows us here through her work in Beloved, that some ways of escapes…

are not escapes at all.

Why was Beloved banned?

Challenged at the St. Johns County Schools in St. Augustine, FL (1995). Retained on the Round Rock, TX Independent High School reading list (1996) after a challenge that the book was too violent. Challenged by a member of the Madawaska, ME School Committee (1997) because of the book’s language. The 1987 Pulitzer Prize winning novel has been required reading for the advanced placement English class for six years. Challenged in the Sarasota County, FL schools (1998) because of sexual material.  Retained on the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 reading listing in Arlington Heights, IL (2006), along with eight other challenged titles.  A board member, elected amid promises to bring her Christian beliefs into all board decision-making, raised the controversy based on excerpts from the books she’d found on the Internet.  Challenged in the Coeur d’Alene School District, ID (2007).  Some parents say the book, along with five others, should require parental permission for students to read them.  Pulled from the senior Advanced Placement (AP) English class at Eastern High School in Louisville, KY (2007) because two parents complained that the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about antebellum slavery depicted the inappropriate topics of bestiality, racism, and sex.  The principal ordered teachers to start over with The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne in preparation for upcoming AP exams.

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

I purchased this book from our Fall Library sale

Morning Meanderings…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Good Morning!  D

Central Minnesota has been kind to me these past few days and I have been able to get my lawn mowed, yard cleaned up, and yesterday I even cleaned out the garage while listening to…

Night Circus.

I know, I know… I am reading all banned books this week but my thoughts on this are – if they are saying this read is going to be as big as Harry Potter, already had the movie rights bought by the same company that made the Twilight movies…. certainly it will one day be banned/challenged as well right?  😛

 

We are sitting right in the middle of Banned Books Week and I have been thrilled to have so many Book Bloggers join me here sharing banned book reviews and thoughts.  I hope you are able to take a few minutes and peek at some of the links I have been giving you since this last Saturday as Banned Books Week is an important week .

Each day since Saturday I have been giving a link with a clue letter for you to gather for the Banned Book Giveaway…. here is the Wednesday clue…

Lindsey from Literary Lindsey features today Bridge To Terabithia

For other links to Banned Books – and bonus entries for the giveaway, please check out these other blogs:

Samantha from Booking It With Runner Sami reviews Twenty Boy Summer

Danielle from Mercurial Musings review Catcher In The Rye

Brenda from Simple Pleasures talks about Being A Reading Mentor

Kim from Mild-Mannered Librarian talks about Language in Banned Books

Angie from Book or By Crook reviews and Tango Makes Three

 

So how is Night Circus on audio?

I am still deciding, I am liking the story line but it is taking me awhile to get into Jim Dale’s narration.  That’s sad as I love Jim Dale… but the tone, I dont know… its too early to tell.  If all else fails, the book is right here on the table  😀

SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson (Banned Books Week)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments


Melinda wanders the halls of her school.  She sees the excitement of the cheerleaders (which she has much opinion on this group), the decorations for the upcoming dance, people passing her… passing her… passing her by.  The preps, the  jocks, the human waste, euro-trash, big hair chix, goths, thespians, shredders, country clubbers, suffering artists… all roaming the halls in their little herds… Melinda stands alone.

She is outcast.  And she is not speaking.

There is no point in looking for her friends…. err.. ex friends.  Her best friend Rachel, now goes by Rachelle.  They have moved on without her.  Ever since the day she called the cops during the party she was attending, the entire school population has turned their back on her.

Loser.

What they do not know is why Melinda called the cops that fateful night.  Why…. why …. why…. they don’t know about IT.  They don’t know about the rape.  If only Melinda could Speak.  Instead, she stops speaking… to her parents, to her teachers, to anyone.

 

 

Reposting from my original post on 9/28/2010

Told in the first person of Melinda, I found this book to be filled with  raw and real emotion.  Melinda narrates with a true teenager voice.  She is sarcastic and funnily so.


The first ten lies they tell you in High School:

1.  We are here to help you.

2.  You will have enough time to get to your class before the bell rings.

3.  The dress code will be enforced.

4. No smoking is allowed on school grounds.

5.  Our football team will win the championship this year.

6.  We expect more of you here.

7.  Guidance counselors are available to listen.

8.  Your schedule was created with your needs in mind.

9.  Your locker combination is private.

10.  These will be the years you look back on fondly.

I have to be honest… I picked up this book because I was hearing all the hype around it being challenged and I was hearing also the other side of what this book was about.  After reading it, I am pro this book.  I did not find the subject matter to be anywhere near as strong as it was described and certainly not offensive.  I thought Laurie Halse Anderson wrote in a very tasteful manner about a hard subject.

The book is a quick read and an important one.  I loved Melinda’s inner dialogue throughout the book, and it is interesting to watch her grow in her own self-confidence through the dynamics that Laurie Halse Anderson breathed into other characters.

A book like this may help young girls find their voice to SPEAK.  And that is really what SPEAK is all about.


FYI:  Before she was Bella, she was Melinda.  Kristin Stewart plays the lead in the movie SPEAK.  (Which I am excited to see!)


Why was SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson banned?

The 1999 young adult novel Speak, which chronicles a high school freshman’s struggle with the aftermath of rape, was challenged by a Missouri professor and father of three in June.

Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor of management at Missouri State University in Springfield, made a public complaint to his local school board about Speak and two other books included on English reading lists at Republic High School. Scroggins also issued an editorial in the Springfield News-Leader on Sept. 18, in which he categorized Speak and other books on the high school reading list as “material that should be classified as soft pornography.”

I purchased my copy of SPEAK at Barnes and Noble