Finally – The Wordshakers Read – A – Long

Published on September 18, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

It has been a long time since we have had a read-a-long here. Mainly, 2011 has been extremely busy and I was swept along with it. But not only that…. Word Shakers needed some revamping that I just had not taken the time to really think about how I wanted to move forward.

Thanks to the occasional comments and emails inquiring about Word Shakers, I have finally put together what I envision this read-a-long to be like and now am finally (FINALLY) ready to unveil what I have in store.

First things first… why is it called Word Shakers?

Word Shakers came to my attention when I read The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I loved the book… but what caught my heart most was the story within the story called Word Shakers…

THE BEST word shakers were the ones who understood the true power of words. They were the ones who could climb the highest . One such word shaker was a small, skinny girl. She was renowned as the best word shaker of her region because she knew how powerless a person could be without words.

If you have read this book you know that the story goes on with the girl climbing the tree of words and shaking them down so all could reach them and use them. I love the analogy, and seriously… if I had read this book before I had started blogging, this blog would be called Word Shakers.

Word Shakers is open to anyone who would care to join in on the read-a-long. The more the merrier! To participate:

1. Fill out the form below so I know you are planning to read with us.

2. Read the book or listen to the audio during the time frame that is announced

3. A few days prior to the review time I will send out a list of five questions to ponder. You may cover one or more to discuss in your post.

4. Grab the word shaker widget (above) and feel free to use it on your sidebars and/or on your review posts.

5. Be sure to comment on my post here and let me know that your Word Shaker post is up as well so I may link to it.

6. If you do not have a blog but wish to participate, still fill out the form below and at the time of my posting add your thoughts here in the comments.

Ok.. now for the book….

In the summer of 1953, two eleven-year-old boys—best friends—are playing in a Little League baseball game in Gravesend, New Hampshire. One of the boys hits a foul ball that kills the other boy’s mother. The boy who hits the ball doesn’t believe in accidents; Owen Meany believes he is God’s instrument. What happens to Owen, after that 1953 foul ball, is extraordinary and terrifying.

Why this book?

For one I have never read this and have always wanted to. This book is the story behind the movie Simon Birch which I enjoyed watching. Secondly, this is a Banned Book and Banned Book week is coming up at the end of this month so I thought the timing was…. appropriate.

I invite you, and would love you, to join my on this read.

If interested – please fill out the form below. Live review date would be the first week of October, I am aiming for October first for my review as that is the final day of Banned Books Week.

Morning Meanderings… Whole Lotta Fun Stuff Coming Soon!

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

Good morning!

*yawn*

*stretch*

Ahhh…. I am so glad it is Sunday! I have a few commitment s at church today but by noon it is smooth sailing home do not pass go and collect your $200! (Ok… maybe I dont get to collect money but that would have been cool. 😛

Last night we went out to dinner with some friends for my hubby Al’s birthday. It was a lot of fun but out poor waitress had her hands full. The place was paced they were understaffed and when we ordered our food it took FOREVER to arrive.

BUT – it really was about hanging out with the friends and I did have a blast doing that! We caught up and I took a picture of my hubby and two of his good friends. (I also would have taken a picture of us girls but that was about the time my camera decided that it had a low battery. GAH!!! So my friend Amy took a pic and when I get it from her I will post it.)

No… I did not tell everyone to wear gray so it was not a theme party… even though the girls wore gray too, except me… I wore black. 😀

In other more bookish news – today I want to prep a few things coming up. Banned Books Week is coming so soon and I have contacts to make on that yet today. I also made a sidebar link (upper right) for anyone who may want to get involved…. lets just say we are going to have some fun up in here, up in here. (Just go with me today…. lot of songs in my head…..)

I made a new Review Policy button (left sidebar) mainly because I am receiving emails from authors and publishers saying they could not find my review policy. It has always been on the sidebar and it used to be along the top tabs but now I see it is gone so that apparently is a lie… I will fix it. 😀 I also updated my policy which was a little outdated.

I also know a few of you are chomping at the bit to get into the fall read a long with Word Shakers and I plan to prep that today too so this week I can get info out to those interested in participating.

SO you get it things to do…. but it is miserable and rainy outside which for once I think is awesome as I can stay in and play all day on Asus (Laptop) and read! 😀

Bookies Review/Discussion Of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Published on September 17, 2011September 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)53 Comments

Last week my book club met for the discussion of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. I had read and reviewed this book earlier this year and was not fond enough of it to read it again. I did consider trying it in audio but my library did not carry it.

As the time drew closer for our review… I have to admit, I was not looking forward to it. I decided to turn my focus towards the food part of our meeting and that is really when it got interesting for me.

The 1940s were all about rationing, protein stretching, substitutions, rediscovering “grandma’s foods”, and making do with less. Home cooks made sugarless cookies, eggless cakes, and meatless meals. Cookbooks, magazines, and food company brochures were full of creative ideas for stretching food supplies. Why the shortage? Food was needed to feed soldiers fighting in World War II.

When entertaining, I learned that finger sandwiches were quite popular, served open-faced (so the bread would go farther). They also drank a lot of tea as coffee was scarce and if you could find it… expensive.

At this point my creative side kicked in…. the book may not be the best for review, but by golly the food was going to make this discussion a success. 😀

The day of the review, I made the open-faced sandwiches, a cucumber one with a spread of cream cheese and ranch dip mix, and a delicious seafood one (see recipe below).

Then I also made a potato chip and tuna casserole, apparently popular in the 1940’s. This consisted of very few ingredients…. cream of mushroom soup, tuna, peas, and potato chips. Yup. I read the recipe and literally said, “ewww!”

other entries that the Bookies brought were Angie’s (By Book Or By Crook) Grandmother’s stand by hot dish of noodles and tomato’s…

the only meat available in the 1940’s was what you could raise and prepare yourself so…

Side dishes were often garden vegetables or a jello or pudding…

Maybe Creme Brulee was not quite the dish of the 40’s…. but after trying it, who was I to complain…. oh YUM! (recipe below) Thanks Sharon!

Between all that and the pickles, potato salad, tea and water with orange and lemon slices… we were set.

It was time to discuss The Postmistress. The surprise is, I loved our discussion and here are some of the things that came out of it. (Should be spoiler free)

We discussed how in the 1940’s your news came mainly from radio. We wondered if the news being broadcasted seemed more real than it does in today’s world of over saturation of all things media. This led to how powerful news was then and led us to discuss the airing of The War Of The Worlds and how people who tuned in late thought that broadcast was real.

When the motto for a journalist to get a story was “get in and get out” we discussed in such a story can you ever fully get out? Would not some of the things we see, hear, and do in life not ever leave us?

We had a great discussion over today’s media of too much immediate knowledge of all things considered “news worthy”. Were we better off then or now? Sure the modern ways of communicating are awesome, but I also believe there is truly such a thing as TMI (too much information). Facebook came up in the discussion of course and how some of the younger generation do not know how to filter what they put out there in the world for all to see. This led us to discuss what could possibly go even further for the next generation as so much is considered not taboo now…

Historical novels were discussed as a whole… love them/hate them… what are the pro and cons? I felt pro for historical fiction as I learn through them in a format that I may have at one time not read or found boring… the novels take me places I have not known.

Over all the discussion was wonderful and engaging. The food was good, except the potato chip tuna casserole which I did not like at all. We ended our discussion close to 9 pm which is unusual as we usually wrap up close to 8 or a little after. Maybe it was the recent anniversary of 9/11, but for some reason I feel even after the ten years of this group being together… we bonded even more on this night.

**The food portion of this review is part of Weekend Cooking, a wonderful meme you may find at Beth Fish Reads.

Recipes

The Seafood Spread

This was taken as part of a recipe I usually make as a salad. You will need:

imitation seafood

dill weed

mayo

onion

a generous dose of chopped Cilantro (I am a cilantro junky!)

salt and pepper

Chop the seafood into small pieces and place in medium bowl. I used two packages of the seafood (found in the deli department) for the Bookies. Add the mayo only using enough to coat, it should not be goopy with mayo…. sprinkle generously with the dill seasoning, add the cilantro and chopped fine onion, as well as the salt and pepper to taste. Place in frig until ready to serve. For this event I served it on Rye Bread Squares, buy you could use it on crackers too.

Creme Brulee

Yield – 4 servings
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup white granulated or brown sugar (for topping)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, heat the cream with the vanilla bean for 15 minutes, stirring to ensure it does not burn. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the vanilla bean. Strain the cream.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high-speed for 5 minutes, or until they are light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add about half the cream, a little at a time (to temper the eggs), to the egg mixture, whisking until well blended. Then pour the egg mixture into the remaining cream mixture. Stir until completely blended.

Pour the custard into four 9-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Place the dishes in a large baking pan. Pour enough HOT water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set.

Remove the dishes from the baking pan and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 or up to 24 hours.

To serve, let the ramekins stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tops with sugar in a thin, even layer over each ramekin. To caramelize the sugar, light a propane torch and hold it so the flame just touches the surface. Start at the center and spiral out toward the edges of the ramekins. If the sugar begins to burn, pull the torch away and blow on the sugar to extinguish the flame.

*Sharon said this recipe took her three tries to get it right and she is an amazing cook so I think this one is not for the faint of heart…. or… errr…. me. 😯

Morning Meanderings… I Went To Bed With Patrick Ness Last Night

Published on September 17, 2011September 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Oh! Good morning! 😛

Sorry about that post title… I couldn’t resist….

hee hee

Oh and if you are a newbie to Book Journey and popped over because of the post title… welcome. Coffee is on, help yourself. 😀

I am hoping most of you are familiar with Patrick Ness, author of the Chaos Walking series. These books have pulled me fully into them. When I read The Knife Of Never Letting Go, I could hardly put the book down. Now I am making my way through The Ask and The Asking and finding it just as brilliant. I can’t even put into words what this author has created within these pages…

so to get to the point of the post title… at 7:00 pm last night (hey I know it was early… I am not proud! :razz:) I decided to go lay down and read since hubby and the new upstairs tv was bugging me (tv, not hubby) and I did not want to go downstairs. Once in bed and covered with a warm blanky (yes Minnesota has turned cold on me), apparently I was a little too comfortable and by 7:30 I was asleep, book open and tucked under my hand.

This all explains why at 5:00 am this morning I was wide awake, up and chatting on Twitter with COFFEE CUP, trying to pretend I was a sane person. 😀

As for today’s Saturday Snapshot *waves to the amazing Alyce from At Home With Books* you would think with all I have been up to lately I would have lots of pictures to choose from (Tailgate party on 9/11 for Fallen Firemen, two birthday parties, the North shore a few weeks back) but sadly… I do not. However, I did go out to dinner with three of my friends this past week and our food looked so delicious I could not resist…. (kudos by the way to friends who understand when I whip my camera out to take pics of odd things like ummm… what we are about to eat.)

Sliced avocado and grilled chicken sandwich w/ sweet potato fries

Grilled Salmon covered in Rum Sauce (SO GOOD!) w/ a sweet potato and brown sugar

Ok if you think this food is making your mouth water… wait until I post my book club review later today with the food we served. 😛

Stop over to At Home With Books to add your own Saturday Snapshots to the group. It is a lot of fun!

Finally before I go get ready to start my day I need to announce my final BBAW winner for yesterdays giveaway of The Night Circus! Using random.org for yesterdays post comments our winner is:

Jeanne at Necromancy Never Pays

Jeanne, email me your address and I will have this shipped to you right away!

BBAW Day 5: Blogging… what works… what I’d like to try

Published on September 16, 2011September 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)56 Comments

I can not even believe that here we are on Day 5, the final day of BBAW. It came… and then it went so quickly. Todays topic is:

Today’s Topic
The world of blogging is continually changing. Share 3 things you are essential tried and true practices for every blogger and 1-3 new trends or tools you’ve adapted recently or would like to in the future.

This is exciting for me to discuss as I remember all the crazy things I did in my early days of book blogging just to get connected. I created meme’s and features and let me just say this to those of you who are fairly new… do not do this unless you have thought it out well and know you are in it for the long-term. Within the first couple of months these meme/features fizzled out by either lack of participation, my loss of interest or both. 😀 You can still find them in the archives of my blog…. Word Verification Balderdash… Wednesday Feature Book Club…

As far as tried and true practices here are the top three for me:

1. I know time is of the essence, but comment. Comment not only on other blogs (if you do not know where to begin, find a meme to participate in that links many blogs to the same topic…. great way to meet other bloggers and find blogs you enjoy reading.), but also comment back to those who comment on your blog.

One of my favorite blogs when I started was J Kaye’s Book Blog. I would visit her blog daily, but sadly she moved on with her writing and let her blogging days drop to the wayside. J Kaye responded to every comment on her blog. Now – before you panic, just do what works for you – but I loved going back to her blog several times a day just to follow the conversation. It was not unusual for people to comment on the same post two or three times as the conversation continued. I knew then, I wanted to do community like she did and model some of my blog practices today after how she did hers.

2. Post at least 3 -4 times per week. Your blog, (my blog) should not go silent. Maybe you can not read 3-4 books a week and review them…. I hear you there! 😛 There are other posts you could put up that make great discussions…. bookish topics, trends, questions on e readers, an author event or author interview, book store stories…. or like myself, I put in a morning discussion – not always bookish, but mainly just life that goes live 6 mornings a week. I may not get a review or topic in on a certain day, but I almost always have my morning post and consistency build loyal readers.

3. Keep a neat and organized looking blog. I know I may catch some slack for this one, but if you read some of the comments going on my earlier post today, you will see that many of us (dare I say most of us?) visit blogs to read the main post. Too many bells and whistles, pictures, and flashes on the side bars just distract from your posts. I am guilty of this too in the past and hopefully have now what I believe is a tasteful looking blog where the main feature is the post and it draws your eye to it. I love sidebars – they are awesome for other connections and I think as long as they match what you and your blog are about, they work. Even as I type this, I know (and I have been meaning to) make some upgrades to my own.

As for the future… yes, I am always planning things I want to do with the blog…. always thinking of ways to connect others to great reads and genres near and dear to my heart. I have a big project I want to take on in 2012 but have some homework to do first on it. One hint… it would require me setting up a second blog to man it. (**Note on stuff like this…. when you are thinking of ideas and reading challenges, try googling them first.. sometimes you may discover it is already being done by someone else).

Another thing I am putting back on is the Word Shakers on-line book club. I had great responses to this in the past, but the way I was running it was too time consuming and I was putting too much of the discussion on me, and not enough on the participants. If you look at my right sidebar you will see I have a book in place for the group read, I just need to post the details and time frame. (*when starting things like an online book discussion, check out other blogs who are doing it and see what you like about their style and what you do not… it’s a great way to build on how you will do your own.)

I think that is it for now. BBAW was awesome this year and I hope everyone had a great time discovering new blogs and/or maybe discovering for the first time how big, and how tight knit this community can be.

**Note: Comments on this post will be entered into my BBAW giveaway for today a hard copy of The Night Circus. (for an additional entry, comment on my morning post as well). Winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

Morning Meanderings… A CRAZY Week and let’s give away another copy of The Night Circus

Published on September 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)92 Comments

I can’t believe I made it…. holy smokes what a big week…

It wasnt just work, although that was busy too… it was several days of big evening plans with little gap between work and other commitments. Pretty much I dragged myself home after 9:00 pm three times this week and my body feels it. Workouts went to the wayside… no time for that, laundry has been washed but not dried and put away, and books…. have not been read.

BUT…

today is Friday and I am off (off off off…. it echo’s nicely don’t you agree?) I have no plans today, no commitments… and there is a real good chance I may not leave my house. (Probably not true… I do want to mail some books today and maybe stop at the library….)

Mostly though… I am hanging out. I am writing a couple of reviews, I am making plans for Banned Books Week, and I am reading. Ahhh… such a great word. 😛

In other random news…. Audible.com is having an AMAZING sale on their audio with over 200 titles now at $4.95 each. Oh my goodness, I am so excited and found several great titles for myself and I bet if you pop in, you will too. I picked up The Kitchen House, Outlander, Night Road… all for $4.95 each. If you want to check out the sale the link is on this banner below.

AND – this is uber exciting! I also seen that The NIght Circus on audible is being read by …… wait for it…. wait for it….. Jim Dale! Yes, Jim Dale who narrated for the Harry Potter books… Jim who is totally totally totally scream worthy….. (did I say totally?)

Anyway because I am sooooooo excited about The Night Circus, and because I see so many of you are as well… I am going to offer up another hard cover copy today for the last day of #BBAW. To enter you just need to be anywhere Amazon delivers, and answer this question: (*when I put my BBAW post up later today you can get a second entry by commenting on that one as well)

Todays BBAW topic is about blogging. As a book blogger yourself, or as a reader of blogs, what do you like to see the most on blogs. Or in other words, what keeps you coming back to certain blogs (layout, memes, book topics, variety, the writing, giveaways, etc…)

And finally – my winners of the last two days of giveaways…

Vicki (I’d Rather Be Reading At The Beach)

Alexia’s Books and Such

Yay to both winners!!! Now don’t forget to enter todays for The Night Circus!!!!!

Morning Meanderings… Burning the Candle at both ends (and a giveaway!)

Published on September 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Why why why did BBAW have to fall on such a busy busy busy week?

Uhhh…. I mean….

good morning! 😛

Really though, I had to laugh last night when I finally was able to sit down with New Laptop (Asus) and do a little Twitter, and a read the comments on my post about Community. How funny that I put the fun and importance of commenting, when I was way too tired to do it myself.

I dont even know how to explain this craziness but thought it might be fun to try…. I will start with Tuesday:

Tuesday 6:00 am up

have coffee, write a morning post

work by 7:30

work like crazy getting ready for a weekend group fair

leave work at 2:45 to return cotton candy machine from this past weekend event

at 3:15 stop in to Best Buy just to “look” at flat screen wall mount tvs as a possible gift for hubbys birthday (which was Wednesday)

3:45 leave Best Buy with (you guessed it!) flat screen tv and mount and an appointment with a dud to come out to house on Wednesday afternoon and hang it on wall for me. (YAY!!!) (BEST Wife ever award I am sure! :razz:)

4:00 make stop at grocery store for a few items I need for book club

4:20 home, tv unloaded and hidden in spare bedroom, now vac house for book club

4:50 start cooking my 1940’s style food for review of Postmistress ( post will be up for this event yet this week)

5:30 downstairs setting up chairs, now looking for my review notes… which I do not find until the next day and they were in my car the whole time

6:10 first Bookie arrives and helps cut up oranges and lemon for the water.

6:20 second Bookie arrives and helps me cut rye bread into squares for finger sandwiches

6:30 – 6:45 the rest of the Bookies arrive with food and books as it is our annual book sale for charity

6:45 – 7:00 we drool over books, “shop”, grab food and head downstairs

7:00 – 9:00 have an awesome discussion about the book and WWII

9:10 pm the last Bookie leaves

9:10 – 10 Try to read posts, try to leave comments….. TIRED.

10 – BED

5:15 am – (Now it is Wednesday) I went to bed earlier than I usually do so now I am up early. Start coffee, write morning post after checking out BBAW topic

6:30 am – pull myself away from laptop and get ready for work

7:30 am I am at work and start my day

work consisted of two meetings, creating check ins for evening event, phone calls, prepping paperwork for students, copies, more class schedules…

at 2:40 pm the tv dude calls and I hurry home to let him in and so he can put the tv on the wall (it is Al’s birthday!!!)

3:00 – 4:30 pm the dude hangs the tv, relocates the cable, while I rearrange the room by stitching out the couch for the recliner, a little table for Al to put his work magazines and relax in style.

4:45 – on my way back to work to finish up what I was working on and prep for a meeting at 6:30 the same time I am due to help the students check in, then I need to pop back upstairs to talk about an upcoming Honduras opportunity.

7:30 pm – I am still at meeting when hubby Al texts me and says he is home… GAH! He beat me home! Friend Wendy offers to take Chance home for me at 8 so I can go now…. thank you Wendy!!!

7:40 arrive home, thankfully he is still going through mail and has not seen said “AWESOME BIRTHDAY GIFT!”

Now I show him the living room which in my typical husband fashion, comments on how he likes how I arranged the room…. does not notice tv. I assist in the observation.

Wala!!!! He sees it. Hubby happy – he watches TV until 9 and then goes to bed.

I again try to read posts and blog. Not happening.

Bed by 10 pm.

I know… right?

Today will be much the same… work (soon actually) until 3:30, grab hubby something for dinner and at 5:30 I have dinner with friends for Sandi’s birthday. *Note to self – do not forget gift!*

Briefly – I know have to pick a winner yet for yesterdays giveaway and I will post that tomorrow morning as I have run myself out of time… in the meantime… NEW giveaway starts right now for today in honor of BBAW.

This one is a book yet to be released – but it is one that is creating BUZZ:

Serious…. cover crush here… this book is released on September 27th and II will have this shipped to you directly from Amazon. SO – anyone who access to an Amazon delivery is welcome to enter for this one.

Here is how…

Respond in a few sentences an answer to todays BBAW topic…

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these and share your thoughts today!

Winner will be announced tomorrow along with the winner from yesterdays giveaway as well. 😀

BBAW – How Do I Do Community?

Published on September 14, 2011September 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)58 Comments

Life as a book blogger is not always easy.

I have a job that while it is only 25 hours a week, I spend a night or two a week volunteering, I have a mandatory dinner date once a month with a group of girls I used to work with, I have an amazing book club of 14 strong that I meet with every month for in-depth book discussion, writing a book, I try (TRY) to work out by bike riding rollerblading and classes at the gym, I am in a weekly study group, plan special events, spend the weekend with my hubby or traveling to nearby towns and festivals with friends… oh yeah…. and I read. 😛

Uhhh….. Sheila…. what does that have to do with the Book Blogging Community?

Well actually a lot. By what I said above I think we can all agree I am a community girl. I love love love getting in and trying new things, supporting great causes, meeting new people… and yeah – all of that takes time.

Knowing all of this about me…. the Book Blogging Community is also so important to me.

But ummmm…. why? You have so much going on? Why care? Why do it?

Well that is the beauty of the book blogging community. Back when I felt like a lone reader (pre-blogging), I had people I could occasionally talk books with, but certainly not on a daily basis. When I discovered book blogging, and that there are so many others like me…. seriously….. book lover heaven. There is no other way to describe it.

Yes – yes the early years were crazy (early years… ha! Who am I kidding… I am three years in and it is still crazy! :razz:) I started out wanting to find book lovers who read what I liked to read, and yeah that worked…

BUT…

I think the real community began when I started reading blogs and bookish topics that were not necessarily my genre, but I liked what they were saying…. and suddenly all sorts of great book blogs entered into my life and I was reading books I would have never thought to read…. and loving them… I had to read every post these bloggers wrote and I loved “comment chatting” it up with them and boy… did my book tastes open up to a whole new world.

How do I keep up with it? Well…. I enjoy it so I make time. I try to comment on at least 10 blogs a day. That usually comes easy as I my wind down time is usually seeing what others are reading anyway… I recommend that if you are still trying to find your “community piece” of the blog world make sure you are commenting. Conversations begin, and by the time I went to BEA in 2010…. the book bloggers I had connected with on-line were already like friends. Meeting them in person was not awkward at all. Seems to me that from my experience, book bloggers are pretty real people and I did not meet anyone that seemed different than who they were on their blog and in the blogesphere.

SO … three years in I can say I have slowed down on the commenting but certainly not because I want too… just lack of time. I love meeting new book lovers and I really get my fix through the Monday What Are You Reading meme. Chatting books is a passion of mine and you – all of you who read and comment… you make my day. SERIOUSLY. I come home to comments and they make me smile, and occasionally laugh out loud.

You stretch me. I love it! My life since June 9, 2009 … when I first discovered book blogging…. has never been the same and I do not regret a minute of it. I look forward to my time to unwind and catch up on the book world. Thank you…. thank you…. to me, you are what makes book blogging so pleasurable.

(*Note comments on this post will be entered into my BBAW drawing for today discussed in my morning post directly below this one. 😀 )

Thank you

Morning Meanderings… A Winner… A New Giveaway… And BBAW

Published on September 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning!

Last night was a wow wow wow book club meeting at my house…. it was a discussion over the book Postmistress, and I read this last fall and found it to be an ok read, but not one I wanted to review again…. well… last nights discussion made me change my mind. Later this week I will share the food, the discussion… did I mention the food? 😀

The winner of yesterdays BBAW giveaway of The Night Circus is: (using random.org)

ReviewsbyLola

GAH!!! WOO HOO!!! Congratulations. Send me your address (no po boxes please) to journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

And now… another 24 hour giveaway of another smoking hot title that was released recently…

This beautiful new book is sitting on my kitchen table right now. I have two copies – and one is about to go to one of your homes!

To enter, leave a comment here telling me which book released (or yet to be released) in 2011 have you been most excited about. (You can get in on a second entry for this book by commenting on my BBAW Community post that will go up yet today. )

My BBAW Interview Swap with Lu from Regular Rumination

Published on September 13, 2011September 13, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Today I am very excited to share with you my interview of the amazing Lu from Regular Rumination.

I admit I did not know Lu’s blog prior to her being linked to me for the interview exchanges but that is what is so great about this. I immediately started stalking her blog which is pretty cool, and you must check it out. 😀

With no further yammering from me, please give a warm welcome to Lu.

I’m Lu (short for Lulu), no that’s not my real name, but there are people in real life who have been calling me that since I was 7 or so. I’m a 20-something reader who wants to talk about her books with other people who think sleeping is overrated when compared to how many books you could read if sleeping was optional.

I started my blog so I could have a place to write and ramble about all the books I’m reading. I read pretty much anything and everything and if you tell me it’s good, I’m bound to give it a try. That doesn’t mean I like everything I read, because I definitely don’t. Reading and writing have been a passion of mine for a long time.

1. How long have you been blogging and what influenced you to start a blog?

I’ve been book blogging for almost three (three?!) years now! I started my blog back when I was in college, home from winter break, and totally bored out of my mind because I had nothing to read. I decided to go to the library, but was suddenly overwhelmed with choices! Oddly I wasn’t a library user really before that winter break, since I had a horrible habit of forgetting to bring the books back, especially since I didn’t have a car. But in college, I could walk to the library, so I started using it more and more. Anyway, that winter break I was googling book reviews and stumbled across a book blog. It was definite an “I have found my people” moment. I had had a little sad craft blog that hadn’t gone anywhere and I realized it was because I wasn’t as passionate about it as I thought I was. Reading, however, was my life love. Book blogging and I just were meant to be! So I commented on all those blogs, wrote my first few reviews, and the rest is history.

2. What is your favorite part about Book Blogging?

For me, I love to be able to practice my writing. I love to write and blogging is just another way to work on it. But I think the best thing about book blogging, and I think most people would agree with me here, are the relationships you form. I think it’s the most unexpected thing about book blogging. Suddenly you have all these people who you can call friends, despite never having met them in the “real world.” It’s a really remarkable thing.

3. Name a book that you found out about by reading another blog that really turned out to be a fantastic read?

There are so many of these! I think Neil Gaiman is the one I always talk about, because I don’t know that I ever would have found out about Neil Gaiman if hadn’t been for blogging. That seems so silly and impossible now, but I remember having to look up who he was when everyone was participating in the Dream King challenge when I first started blogging! I also have gotten back into reading YA, after years of thinking I was too old for it. Ha! Right. I have loved getting back in touch with all the novels I loved as a teen and discovering so many more I wish I had read then.

4. What book do you wish you could jump into the pages of and travel right along the story line with the characters?<

When I was younger, it would make my heart ache that the worlds I read about weren’t real. I wanted so badly to travel the countryside with Ella in Ella Enchanted or various planets with Meg in A Wrinkle in Time. Who hasn’t wished they could live in the world of Harry Potter for one day? Forever? I know I do. Or, goodness, any of Charles de Lint’s novels? I used to dream about living in that world.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Lu with Tim O'Brien

5. Over the next year what is one thing you hope to either implement, improve on,or change about your current blog or blogging?

Oh, lots of things. My blog never has been and never will be perfect. I’m a lazy blogger. I often forget to write reviews or to update information. I’d like to do better with things like that. I also want to do better about finding new blogs. I feel like all the people I talk to regularly on my blog and on their blogs are people who I have been talking to for three years now. I love them, but I also wonder what I’m missing when I’m not looking for and reading new blogs. The book blogging community seems to have grown tenfold when I wasn’t looking, so I know there are great blogs out there that I haven’t found yet.<

6. What advice would you give to a brand new book blogger?

BE YOURSELF. Find your voice and use it. Practically every blog has reviews, so you should do something to make it special. Talk about yourself, make it a little bit personal. Also, don’t be afraid to comment. Sometimes I still find myself lurking on blogs. Everyone loves a comment, no matter how intimidating they seem! Also, if someone comments on your blog, show them some love and visit their blogs once in a while. I know it can be hard, and it’s something I still work hard at, but it’s really the bread and butter of this community. But most of all, have fun. It’s a hobby and if you’re not having fun, it’s not worth it. That’s why we’re all here, to be nerdy, passionate book lovers, so let that shine through on your blog!

Thank you Lu for hanging out here today. Readers, be sure to stop in and see Lu in her natural environment at Regular Rumination… and if you stop by her blog today and leave a comment on her interview with me, I will put you in for an extra entry for today’s giveaway book …. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.