Book Journey

Morning Meanderings… Banned Book Week Day Two and I Am Rambling…

Published on September 25, 2011September 25, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good Morning! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I sure am. I had a great time yesterday with the kick off to banned books week, doing a little reading, and a lot of Twitter fun. I hope you are able to join in the big giveaway I am hosting… clues are being given out daily during banned book week and I am about to post another one! (If you have missed any – check out the sticky post at the top of his blog)

Our Clue today comes from Heather at Based On A True Story, you will find it with her review of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. (Which also involves… a giveaway of chocolate!)

Looking for some bonus entries or just more great stuff on banned books? I have you covered!

Danielle at Mercurial Musings is going to give away the top ten most frequently challenged books of 2010!

Gina at Book Dragon’s Lair has a fantastic post up on Bookbanning In America

In my regular day to day so far not banned life, I had a wonderful dinner with hubby and my aunt and uncle last night. This was sweet as we never do this! We went out to eat and then came back to our house for coffee and chatting. In other random non banned things, College son cut his hand open at work last night and needed stitches. I will spare you all the picture he sent me on my phone. Uhhh…. GROSS. 😛 He was stitched up and back to work in no time and laughed at my desire to drive the three hours to Mankato to be with him 😀

And one more odd and interesting (and there may be a banning on this one)… I woke up this morning and had no less than seven (SEVEN!) young cats on my back deck…. in the tree, in the dog kennel, on the deck, on the grill. We dont own any cats. I think they were all wild. They were cute… cant ban them from the deck…

And this one is just for fun…. but…

Look at this beautiful 1984 version of Little Red Riding Hood. To me, it looks lovely, something I would love to have on my shelf….

BUT…

sharp eyed School Board Members in Culver City, California are quick to question what “Red” is carrying in her basket. Certainly the bread is understandable, and perhaps there is some sort of homemade jam in there as well – but as big as the wolves eyes…. Culver City School Board decided that the bottle of wine apparently in plain sight in the basket was not a good image to set before the youngsters. Raising the alert that this book should not be allowed in the school as it sends a mixed message about alcohol.

“Little Red Riding Hood… we are going to need you to slowly step away from the basket….”

AND for purely FYI…. have you checked out Bonnie’s Banned Books blog? This amazing site is 100% geared towards banned books year around…. if you ever want to know more about a banned book or why it is challenged, this is a great source to check out!

Banned Book Week Sept. 24 – Oct 1

Published on September 24, 2011October 3, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Join the fun here at Book Journey for Banned Book Week! Giveaways throughout the week as well as clues linked to other blogs that will lead to a chance to win the grand prize Banned Books week package:

All 4 books = a $10 gift Amazon Gift Card

To win the prize package gather the clues on the Banned Book reviews I mention each morning of Banned Book Week. Miss a clue? Follow this link to see what clues have already been given.

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (Banned Books Week)

Published on September 24, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments

Fern lives on a farm and has a special spot in her heart for a little pig named Wilbur. Wilbur is a shy, bashful pig, and one day discovers a spider named Charlotte who he discovers making a web in the corner of his stall.

Charlotte has a way with words (literally) and soon Wilbur and her are friends and causing quite a scene in the barnyard.

As Wilbur fears what will happen to him as after all, he is a pig on a farm… Charlotte helps him discover his true potential and self-worth.

Certainly, hopefully, you have spent time with this amazing book. I did several times as a child, and today I spent time with it again. Why? Today kicks off the 2011 Banned Books Week… and yes, Charlotte and Wilbur have done gone and got themselves on this list. More on that at the bottom of this post.

Originally I thought the re-reading of this book would go quickly and perhaps I would even just skim through it enough to capture the memories…

well…

it didn’t quite go like that.

I had forgotten about how Fern had saved Wilbur’s life when he was a runt. I had forgotten about the geese saying everything three times… and I had forgotten how Wilbur fainted when he was scared. I always knew this was a good book… I had forgotten it was a great book. Terrific even. 😀

I spent two hours in my recliner quietly reading and finding my younger self going back to the barn that in my childhood housed Charlotte, a selfless spider, and a fat rat named Templeton, and an amazing pig called Wilbur.

And yes…. if you are wondering if it hit me all over again as the book came to a close… it did. With tear filled eyes I closed the final page with a sense of once again having experienced something remarkable in E.B. Whites famous childrens book.

I cant imagine it not being available for me to one day read to the young children that filter into my life….

In 2006, some parents in a Kansas school district decided that talking animals are blasphemous and unnatural; passages about the spider dying were also criticized as being “inappropriate subject matter for a children’s book.”

According to the parent group at the heart of the issue, ‘humans are the highest level of God’s creation and are the only creatures that can communicate vocally. Showing lower life forms with human abilities is sacrilegious and disrespectful to God.’

A junior high in Batley, West Yorkshire, England, which became the center of international attention in 2003 when the school’s Headteacher decreed that all books featuring pigs should be removed because it could potentially offend the school’s Muslim students and their parents.

I hope that if you have this book somewhere on the shelf… pull it down and either read it again to yourself, or share this incredible story with a child.

The Clue needed for the banned books week challenge:

This book is on loan from my local library

This is the second clue given today. To know more about this please read my post from this morning.

Morning Meanderings… Banned Books Week Kick Off

Published on September 24, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning! This is going to be an exciting next 7 days! For the second year in a row I am taking a big part in Banned Books Week. All week-long here, and on other book blogs that I will be sharing with you, there will be banned book reviews, discussions on banned books and why they are banned/challenged, of and did I mention giveaways? Uh yeah… there will be giveaways. 😛

One of the events that starts today is that I have set up a blog a day that will post a review that I will link to each morning. I encourage you to go and check out what they are reviewing and at the bottom of each review they will have a letter to a clue. At the end of the week (next Saturday) you will have 8 clues gathered and coming back here I will have a form for you to put your answer on. Correct answers will go into a drawing for a Banned Book package which you will see here:

All 4 of these books: SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston have been on the Banned Books List. All 4 of these books will go one winner next Saturday who gathers all the clues, as well as a $10 Amazon Gift card to hopefully pick up another book that draws your interest over the week.

You will also receive extra entries for commenting on the posts that I will give you links to each morning. My hope is that you are introduced to a great book this week that has been through the ringer by being challenged or banned.

What do you mean be “banned book?”

A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content. In some cases, banned books of the past have been burned and/or refused publication. Possession of banned books has at times been regarded as an act of treason or heresy, which was punishable by death, torture, prison time, or other acts of retribution.

A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds. We take the acts of banning or challenging a book as a serious matter, because these are forms of censorship–striking at the very core of our freedom to read.

My reviews this week will all be banned books and some will be with giveaways. Pay special attention to my review that will pop up later today as that one will be holding one of the clues you will need to gather…

As for other things happening today banned books wise….

***The awesome Cass at Bonjour Cass has reviewed The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (she also has the clue you will need for today! **Yes, two clues today – one will be here later with my review, and the other is with Cass)

My wonderful friend and fellow Bookie Angie from By Book Or By Crook has reviewed What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonia Sones

The great Julie at My Book Retreat has reviewed And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

The amazing Katie at Curse Of The Bibliophile reviewed The Giver by Lois Lowrey

My BEA Audio Book pal Jill from Rhapsody In Books reviewed In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

The super Danielle of Mercurial Musings is kicking off Banned Books Week by posting about the most frequently challenged books of last year, and a giveaway!

** Comment on any or all of the above links and you will have extra entries available on the form I post next Saturday for the Banned Books Package Giveaway. *One extra entry per comment

In other Banned Books happenings…

I Am A Reader Not A Writer has kicked off today with a Banned Books Week blog hop and the giveaways are everywhere!

And it is not too late for you to jump on the Banned Wagon! Click the picture below if you want to be added to my review list for banned books this week and feel out the form. 😀

FORBIDDEN by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee (W/ Giveaway!)

Published on September 24, 2011September 24, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

The world is no longer as we once knew it. After an apocalyptic experience, the world seems to have lost that sense of impending doom…. all that is left in a civilization of people who live in peace and fear…. can you have both?

The people left on earth seem to believe so… but really who are these people who are left other than the walking dead… merely shells of what people once were…

Many years have passed since civilization’s brush with apocalypse. The world’s greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace… and fear. But a terrible secret has been closely guarded for centuries: Every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Then a young man comes across a vial of blood with a coded message that he does not understand. Yet when he drinks the blood (mmmm hmmmm… bear with me here) it seems to lead to real life returning all the human emotions that have long been gone! The sensation is exhilarating!

… but will it also resurrect the old feelings of hate and greed?

Ted Dekker is a New York Times best-selling author best known for mystery and thriller novels, though he has also made a name for himself among fantasy fans. Early in his career he wrote a number of books that would best be categorized as Religious thrillers. His later works are a mix of mainstream novels such as Thr3e, Obsessed, Skin, Adam, and BoneMan’s Daughters; and fantasy thrillers that metaphorically explore redemptive history. Best known among these are his Circle Series (Black, Red, White, Green), The Lost Books (Chosen, Infidel, Renegade, Chaos, Lunatic, Elyon), and The Paradise Books (Showdown, Saint, and Sinner), as well as House (with Frank Peretti). One of Dekker’s most notable works is his mega-series, the Books of History Chronicles.

As found on wikepedia –

click here to learn more about this fascinating author

In recent years I have had a love/hate relationship with Ted Dekker. The first books I ever read by him were Blessed Child and A Man Called Blessed… both books took my breath away. Since then I have found some of his books to be good, others to be a bit confusing, and some just downright… WHA?

Which brings me to FORBIDDEN. You have to hand it to Dekker, he does know how to strike where the iron is hot and dystopian style reads are a big draw and honestly, I think a great genre to touch on for a Christian fiction author…

the question is… does Dekker deliver?

I did like the pace of the read. Within a few pages you have a firm understanding of what has happened to the world.

Fear is a big component of FORBIDDEN and while in this read scientists had figured out how to eliminate the need of human emotion, oddly they never could figure out how to dispose of fear… which in its own self is rather interesting when you think about it and rather smart of Dekker to layout the book this way.

Fear plays a huge role in our current world and while some are devoured by the overpowering fear of the unknown, others in today’s society seem to live on it like adrenaline junkies… waiting for the next big tragedy so they can feel alive…

In the end, I have to say I appreciated what Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee built here in this first book in a series. I found the message of “blood giving life” to be deeply symbolic of the blood of Christ bringing each of us life.

I would recommend this book to not only those who enjoy Christian fiction, but also Dystopia, thrillers,and sci fi.

I have a copy of this book to give away – if interested, please leave a comment letting me know if you have read Dekker before, and if so what have you read – and if not… what appeals to you about his books to give them a try?

Other Faith and Fiction Participants:

This book was read as part of the Faith N Fiction Group

The ASK and the ANSWER by Patrick Ness

Published on September 23, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

In this sequel to The Knife Of Never Letting Go, our boy (MAN) hero, Todd is now trapped in New Prentisstown under the watchful eye of Mayor (errr… President) Prentiss. Having been separated from Viola, Todd is unsure whether she is dead or alive and he has no choice but to do as he is told until he can find a way to get some ANSWERS.

Meanwhile – Viola, in another part of town, has made connections with a powerful woman named Mistress Coyle, who is not about to accept this new President Prentiss at face value. Viola, under Mistress Coyles care, learns a few tricks of her own in taking care of herself as well as protecting others.

As Todd and Viola work hard to find each other, each silently ASKING where the other one stands now in this new world. Todd wonders if Viola still is working with him for a plan to escape, and Viola QUESTIONS Todd’s motives of working directly and seemingly happily under the Prentiss directive.

“ToDD”?

And that is about when the bombs start going off… buildings are mysteriously being blown apart … and then it really gets interesting.

One series.... no waiting - all books are available!

A week ago I reviewed The Knife of Never Letting Go with “SSQQUUEEESSSS” of excitement and soooo glad I had this next book in hand to hop right into it. Life happenings this past week may have slowed down my reading but this week I was able to spend some good quality time one on one with Todd and Viola.

The Ask and The Answer is not as light a read as The Knife Of Never Letting Go. This book has put our characters right in the heat of battle… once again told in Patrick Ness’s phenomenal style… we have alternating chapters from Todd and Viola’s perspectives.

There are so many things I want to rave about Patrick Ness’s writing style. It is creative. It is brilliant. It makes me want to hug the pages and say, “YES! This is how to write!” When words make me feel… I am sold out.

But more than that even, as I told a friend earlier today…. Patrick Ness finds no character indispensable. In a “take no prisoners” style, Patrick Ness brings characters to the books… and he takes them out.

Period.

No holes barred.

And I am left shocked and thinking, “Oh no.. he did not just do that….”

But he did.

And shocked, and confused….

I love it.

If The Knife Of Never Letting Go held me…. The Ask and The Answer stuck me to the wall.

I absolutely can not wait to leap into the pages of Monsters Of Men.

My opinion? If you liked Hunger Games… you will LOVE this series. If you LOVED Hunger Games…. The Chaos Walking series is about to blow you clean off the planet. 😛

Amazon Review

Goodreads rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include The Ask and The Answer

purchased from Amazon

Morning Meanderings…. I Got A Feeling….

Published on September 23, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Good morning!

*BIG sip out of coffee cup.*

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to real sun today… not that hazy gloom of overcast dreary sky – nope… honest to goodness clear skies, and a WARM sun (I tested it when I let the dogs outside). HA! Take that fall… we are not spiraling down to winter yet! 😛

I have today off *SSQQUUEEE!!!!) but plenty to do around my home and around the blog. I have some banned book week things to still put into place – stay tune for kick off tomorrow on that – I think it is going to be a LOT of fun. I know I am looking forward to it.

Also- I am about to hit a lot of review prepping at once as I finished The Ask and The Answer last night (awesome awesome awesome), Robin Hood is about to finish up on audio in my car, and In The Woods should finish up here quickly too when I finish the lawn today.

I plan to stop by my library today to see what is happening for banned books week – I am hoping they do a cool display like they did last year. Also going to the library with me is an audiobook that I super excited about when I came home last night and seen someone sent me audio *SSQQUUEE!!!) and then I realized the audio was something I had signed up for to go to my library. I am excited to take it to them… and then get in line to check it out 😀

I may possibly have two book reviews up today and I apologize in advance for that. Forbidden by Ted Dekker may go up late today as starting tomorrow I only want to post banned books and reviews for the week and the group that was reading Forbidden are posting their reviews over the weekend. .

I hope you will pop in and visit often throughout this next week…many book bloggers will be participating and there is a fun Banned Book contest that I will be kicking off tomorrow morning. 😀

I leave you with this… “Tonights Going To Be A Good Night with Flashmob…. someday… someday… I am taking part in a flash mob…. I will find one… I will. 😛

Morning Meanderings… and A Virtual Read-Out

Published on September 22, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning!

Lets just say…. my hair… currently is everywhere. 😛

It was a long night. I worked, I helped out with a student event last night, came home and watched a little tv with hubby…. nothing really unusual except I feel WIPED OUT. I thing I am going to blame this dreary wet and cold weather we are having here in Minnesota.

And today will be no better…. I have another full day at work and then off to a pre-meeting, before an actual meeting that will bring me home a little after 8 PM tonight.

GAH.

Not a good way to start my day…. pre- ornery. 😯

BUT – this part does make me feel good. I have been chatting up banned books week (Sept. 24- Oct 1) for the past few weeks here, and today I want to let you know about the Virtual Read-Out. A You-Tube station has been dedicated to two minute clips of people reading from a banned book. I think it is BRILLIANT (quoting Harry Potter…. yup…busted).

Now if You Tube is not your thing…. consider doing it on your blog if you have one, or sending a video to me of you reading our of a banned book and I will happily post it for you. You never know what may pop up here during Banned Books week …. I am just saying. 😀

Got to run… duty calls… 😀

Morning Meanderings… Favorite Spam Of The Week

Published on September 21, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good Morning! I am back on the work schedule today and glad to be. I actually really enjoy my job and the people I work with. I have a lot of fun and love seeing the results of what we do together as a team. The additional time off this week was nice, but I am ready to get back at it. 😀

I have never understood why people spam. The comments are crazy and I just don’t get the point. Do these actually get through to blogs? Are there people who actually click on the links therefore creating some sort of “hit power” to the spammer?

Anyway… I love how WordPress snatches up all that spam and saves it for me to review without it ever touching my blog. I go through it once every couple of weeks just to make sure no real comment was caught in the spam trap… if so,I set it free. 😀

So yesterday I am cleaning the spam filter when a couple of spam just crack me up. I love it when they come right on the verge of making sense and then… they blow it. These two “comments” were on my interview with Laurel *waves Hi Laurel!* which I did back in June of 2009:

“Fantastic goods from you, man. Author Interview With Laurel-Rain Snow Book Journey I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely magnificent. I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it wise. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is really a tremendous Author Interview With Laurel-Rain Snow Book Journey informations.”

“Fantastic goods from you, man. My Journey With Audio Books – and a GIVEAWAY for you! Book Journey I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely excellent. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is really a terrific My Journey With Audio Books – and a GIVEAWAY for you! Book Journey informations.”

My gosh this is great stuff for the ego… I mean really, extremely magnificent? *puffs chest up* 😛

2aa — My goodness... look how big my head has become! 🙂

Ok enough… I am out of here… enjoy your day! 😀

Night by Eli Wiesel

Published on September 20, 2011September 20, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

In Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel’s memoir Night, a scholarly, pious teenager is wracked with guilt at having survived the horror of the Holocaust and the genocidal campaign that consumed his family. His memories of the nightmare world of the death camps present him with an intolerable question: how can the God he once so fervently believed in have allowed these monstrous events to occur? There are no easy answers in this harrowing book, which probes life’s essential riddles with the lucid anguish only great literature achieves. It marks the crucial first step in Wiesel’s lifelong project to bear witness for those who died.

Elie Wiesel and the original cover of the book Night

There are few books that cross my path that I say are a must read for everybody. This would be one of those rare reads. I have had this book for over a year on the shelf. I took it down a couple of months ago, started it… and put it down for something else. Recently when browsing audio books at my library, this audio stood out to me and I thought maybe if I listen to it… so I borrowed it.

I love audio for the ability it has to let me multi task. I can listen to a book while folding laundry, cooking, dusting, cleaning… yet this story took me so far into the Nazi German concentration camps that I was rendered useless to do anything else but listen… for fear I may miss a word, or a moment of this incredibly powerful and heart wrenching story.

Elie Weisel’s memoir recaps everything from the sounds, the smells, and the visual empowerment of the camps. Along side his father Shlomo, they work in the camps trying to stay energized and look strong as the weak are picked out one by one and taken to the gas chambers to be asphyxiated.

There are moments in this audio that will not ever leave me as Elie retells a story of watching an elderly man hiding a piece of bread to share with his son, and the son beats his father to the death to have all of the bread.

…….

I pause here – because that particular part of the story brought me to my knees in my kitchen. Surrounded by ingredients I was using to make dinner, I looked at the excess I had in front of me as I listened to a man being beaten to death.. for a scrap of bread.

Elie recaps how as a teenager in the camp, always seeming to have to protect his own aging father, he admits to becoming weary of the task, at one time, as his father draws ill he admits to thinking, “If only I could get rid of this dead weight … Immediately I felt ashamed of myself, ashamed forever.”

While Night may not seem to be for everyone, I have to disagree. This audio changed me. I have read several books regarding the Nazi Concentration Camps and each time I am slammed with the reality of what a confusing and painful world we live in. I listened to this audio astounded how people can be so cruel to one another… and yet, I think it is so important that we recognize this.

Although I picked this up at my library, I will be looking for my own audio copy of this book. I think this is something I need to listen to again, and yes I will be reading the book as well… still open to the page where I left it in the Reading Room.

Side thought: A few years back when we were in Honduras I had my first experience of the starving children living in the dump. That visual of the dirty kids, the flies, the unbelievably thin dogs, the buzzards, and of course that smell of rot – will never leave me. I could not help but sense my eyes feel with tears….

We were told at that time not to look at them with pity… they did not need our pity. They needed our compassion. This thought comes to me today as I write this review.

~Sheila

Night, I discovered is the first book in a trilogy… followed by Dawn, and then Day. Dawn, unlike Night, is a work of fiction about a girl named Elisha who is a Holocaust survivor. Day is also a fictional story of a Holocaust survivor who is hit by a taxi in New York City, while he recovers from his injuries, he reflects on his memories of the war and the loss of family and friends.

Amazon sells the three books in one.

Night, on audio, is 4 hours long. In book format it is 109 pages.