Please note – the Best Book Blog Meme Category had a glitch in the voting system and all previous votes this category were lost. PLEASE take a moment and re vote, or vote if you have not already. Its quick and easy. 😀
BBAW is so exciting! Thank you to everyone who voted for “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” for Best Book Blog Meme. There are some wonderful memes on this list!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between! D 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.
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
In case you wonder why I offer a book giveaway for those who visit others who do this meme, it is because I LOVE community. This is not a Blog Hop – this is hopefully, you checking out what people are reading and maybe finding new blogs you would enjoy visiting. Book Blogging is all about sharing our love for books with one another. By visiting some of the other participants – you never know where you may find that next awesome read – or a blog that becomes one that you want to read more often.
What a fantastic weekend. I had such an insane week I can not even tell you… but the goal – was the weekend and I made it… and it was fab. I really wanted to spend some time reading and relaxing and that is exactly what I was able to do…. here is what was accomplished last week:
So I think another productive week! I have two more reviews to post from this past weeks reading a more to come this week! Here is what is on tap:
(click on picture to get book description)
I have been drooling over this one since the end of May at BEA – and I have had it for just as long but held out waiting… waiting for almost release time. Well – the time has come and this baby is on the reading shelf for this week! 😀
(click on picture to get book description)
… this past weekend I read the first book in this series, The Knife Of Never Letting Go and let me say… WOW. I am running full steam ahead in to this second book in the series.
(click on picture to get book description)
I have been wanting to read this book for a while now! I am hoping to get to it this week to review for next weekends Weekend Cooking.
(click on picture to get book description)
I started listening to this audio this weekend on my way tot he North Shore and back ( that’s about 7 hours of audio time!)
That’s what is new this week… I am finishing up a book from last week too so I should be plenty full 😀 I am excited to see what you are reading this week so please add your Monday What Are You Reading post to the link below where it says “click here” I hope to get around to all of you this week and see what you are reading! 😀
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Oh – It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? Is on the long list for best Book Blog Meme – dont forget to vote! 😀
Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy who one night dreams of a distant treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. And so he’s off: leaving Spain to literally follow his dream.
Along the way he meets many spiritual messengers, who come in unassuming forms such as a camel driver and a well-read Englishman. In one of the Englishman’s books, Santiago first learns about the alchemists–men who believed that if a metal were heated for many years, it would free itself of all its individual properties, and what was left would be the “Soul of the World.” Of course he does eventually meet an alchemist, and the ensuing student-teacher relationship clarifies much of the boy’s misguided agenda, while also emboldening him to stay true to his dreams. “My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy confides to the alchemist one night as they look up at a moonless night.
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself,” the alchemist replies. “And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
Do you ever have one of those books on your list….you know the one that you say you will always read “someday”… Well that was what this book was for me. This is a book I have had on my shelf for many years. I felt it would be important for me to read, and that alone kept it on my radar. Yet unread it went – year after year…
until…
thank you Audible.com for putting it on sale and making me think “why not?”
Now – going back to my initial thought here… have you ever had that “must read” on your radar for so long and then when you finally do read it, realize that you knew nothing about what it was about… merely was attracted to the title, the cover, the buzz….. and universal knowledge that you must must must read this book?
No?
Ok that’s just me then…. 😉
I am going to come right out and say it – LOVED this audio. LOVED it. LOVED IT LOVED IT. I may not have known what I was about to read (for some reason I felt it was going to be a heavier read…) but the buzz, the hype…. all was correct in making me know I had to read this. YOU have to read this, or listen to it on audio because….
SO FANTASTIC.
Ok… I will try to take the gush level down enough to actually write a review…
I did not know going in this book would read like a fairy tale – but it does. It reminds me of one of those long ago stories told, handed down from generation to generation… it really is breathtakingly beautiful.
As soon as I started listening to this audio I knew I was going to like… told in that “story telling” pace and voice I settled in for what was going to be a GOOD READ. It is a reoccurring dream that takes Santiago on a journey far and away from his family. The obstacles along the way only add to the story as he spends almost a year in a glass shop assisting the owner in bettering his shop and profits, each set back – becomes part of the journey.
Why this is not a movie, I do not know. I seen that the rights to the film were bought by Warner Brothers in 2003, but the movie never panned out due to problems with the script. I read that in one scene they had 10,000 soldiers for a battle and that has nothing to do with the book. Kudos in that case for the movie being stopped as that would just have rated: annoying.
The book is really a story about following your dreams and filled with intelligent and thought-provoking quotes. I embraced the words at every opportunity, basking in their internal meaning:
“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”
“The boy and his heart had become friends, and neither was capable now of betraying the other.”
“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”
“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.”
“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense. “
I really wish I could do this book more justice by telling you it made my heart gush – it is beautiful and if you have not taken the time to read this I would highly recommend you put this on the priority reading list.
The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been update to include The Alchemist
I purchased this from audible.com
Good Morning! 😀
Coming in a little late but that is a good thing from this neck of the woods. Hubby and I are currently in Finland, Minnesota at our cabin. This is where he grew up. It was originally supposed to be us and friends but they had to cancel and we decided to come up alone and enjoy the cabin. We do not do this nearly enough….
I came up yesterday afternoon by jeep with the dogs, Elmo and Bailey. Al (hubby) followed a couple of hours after by motorcycle so we could tool around over the weekend. We have no internet service at the cabin (for that matter, no cell phone service either) so this morning I come to you live from a small cafe in Silver Bay Minnesota. My destination was the Silver Bay Library but they are closed for the holiday weekend.
I thought I would participate this morning in Saturday Snapshots by posting pics of the trip so far…. which mainly.. has been road trip….
I wont be in “internet range” long. I abandoned hubby who was still lounging around the TV when I left with the promise I would not be gong too long. I still need to finish my review to go live here in a few hours as well. We are planning a motor cycle ride this afternoon, maybe into Two Harbors or up towards Grand Marais. Either way – looks to be a lovely start to the official end of summer.
Oh – and yes I am reading – can you guess what it is?
My hint is: “Sheep! Sheep!” 😉
Emily Aulenback is a successful 30-year-old lawyer married to James – who is also a lawyer. While once she dreamed of representing victims of abuse… instead she sits in her cubicle day after day talking to people who drank tainted water. Day after day the job drones on, the long hours, James putting in even more time than she does, the demands of the lifestyle they had created. Emily lives by her blackberry, her computer, and her watch.
Then one day… suddenly she decided she has had enough. She walks out of her job, packs a bag, leaves her husband a quick note – and starts to drive. One word resounds in her mind….
escape.
At first she has no destination… but then she finds herself heading towards a small New Hampshire town that she knew well from her college days. She knows her friend is still there now running a bed and breakfast and maybe she will find her way…. by going back to when life was just easier.
I was initially drawn to this book by the title and the cover. Perhaps a little shallow of me, but come on – the title…. “escape”…. what’s not to like? I think that may be why as I sit here attempting to write this review… I am struggling a bit.
Why?
Well… there was a lot I liked about the book… I liked the idea of “the escape”, I mean seriously – I have been there… sometimes I have joked that it would be easier to go and live int he woods…. get a little cabin, no internet, no phone, no commitments… just me living off the land. Of course if you know me… you know this would be cool for about a week before I would be crawling the walls for something to do and ways to connect… :razz:… but still, it is there.
I liked Emily, but did not love her. I liked her husband James a lot, finding him patient and even likeable even thought their marriage was off track, you could see it was both their doing. I liked the small town Emily escapes too, her friend Vicki, and the mini saga of Lee… I even think I liked Jude as “the other man” even though… well… he isn’t…
It almost felt like one story was being told in the beginning… 1) Emily is receiving letters from her ex boy friend and decides to escape to where she knows he will be, and then 2) Emily is deeply in love with her husband and is just trying to find a happy medium…
Even as I write this I am still torn, my gut says there was an opportunity for a great story here that was not developed. It started strong, and quickly fithered (my word) into just an ok read… I felt many of the story lines never came to fruit…. there was more to the wolves, but we never got there, there was more to Jude, but again… unfinished, … so after all that…. my one sentence summary is:
Started with a strong boil that quickly went to a slow simmer.
(oh and a funny but annoying tid bit… Amazon and a few other sites have the synopsis of the story with Tim as Emily’s husband. There is no Tim in the book. I actually thought I was a bit wackers when I first read that, thinking… I am sure his name is not Tim. I seen it on a couple other book publisher sites as well…)
My 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include: Escape
Good morning! 😀
Yes I am still a bag full of sniffly sneazy coughy “GAH” over here…. BUT – not on antibiotics so hopefully this too will pass. 😛
We leave for the cabin today which is a big “woo hoo” for me… I don’t know why I feel I need a weekend away from it all… but for some reason I just want to get out of dodge and not deal with people, or phones, or commitments…
That said, my recent mailbox arrivals are timely and beyond appreciated:
Thank you so much for the necklace for pre-ordering Ashes by Ilsa Bick and for the two audio books that recently came in the mail from me from fellwo book lovers – SSQQQUUUEEEE!!!! Thank you Nise (Under The Boardwalk) for Blink and Kathy(Bermuda Onion) for The Knitting Circle. 😀
I also need to mention winners for the two audio books I recently offered up to a reader that would like to give them a go… and here are the two winners:
**Please email me your addresses at journey throughbookks@gmail.com and I will mail these audio books next week. 😀
On a completely random note… in September of 2010 I wrote my review for ROOM by Emma Donoghue. Along with that review I also wrote a Spoiler Page (I LOVE using the spoiler page button!). The Spoiler Page is something I use when I find I want to discuss the book more deeply with those who have read it, so I create a safe area where we can chat freely about the book with no fear of saying anything that would be considered spoilers to those who have not read the book. I bring this up becuase recently that page has drawn a little attention again and I can not figure out why. I am getting Spoiler Page comments – which I love…. just curious why suddenly it is being dug out of the Book Journey basement. 😛
Have a super awesome (and safe!) weekend. I am hoping to be able to get a little internet access here and there as I do have reviews ready to roll out…. plus, honestly…. I really like to start my morning chatting it up with all of you. 😀
Good morning.
Scraping in a little late this morning but had a huge day yesterday – home about 9:30 pm from an event and yeah…. still sick. I may have to suck it up and go to the doctor today. Hate that. 😦
While Summer is my absolute FAVORITE time of the year, fall has really earned my respect. After all… fall to me is a bookish season. It’s like how some of our favorite tv shows return…. good books seem to hit the shelves as well…. and that is always exciting.
So what is coming up in reads?
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Awesome right? The Night Circus is the one I am SUPER excited about and I will be reading next week…. (watch for a giveaway copy – also coming with next week…) 😀
Fall also means Banned Books Week and I am planning big things over here at Book Journey so be on the look out…. more on this soon!
Sisters Meredith and Nina have grown apart once they reached adulthood. Meredith took over the family business and raised a family, while Nina followed her dreams to traveling the world as a photojournalist. When their doting father suddenly becomes ill and dies the sisters world is rocked to the core. As a dying wish, their father had made the girls promise to spend time with their Russian mother, who has never been the warm motherly type.
As the girls try to come together on a decision of what to do, their mother, Anya, starts to act oddly – leaving burners on in the house and even pealing the wallpaper off the walls. Anya starts to share fairy tales that she used to tell when the girls were little and through these tales, the girls discover the stories are not stories at all but the facts of Anya’s life growing up in war-torn Russ. In amazement of this new discovery, Meredith and Nina decide to help their mother uncover the truth of her tragic past, in the hopes of understanding more about her as well as themselves.
Kristen Hannah is one of those author’s whose book covers draw me in and I always plan to read … and then rarely do. In fact out of all of her attractive looking books, the only other one I have read in Firefly Lane with my book club a few years back. (I remember I was in Honduras on a bus when that book came to its rocky ending that left me in tears)
SO here I am again with Kristen Hannah with probably the least likely choice of all her books – Winter Garden. Why? Because winter is my absolute least favorite time of year…. (however… I do like gardens?) But of course none of this random ramblings has anything to do with the book….
Winter Garden started slow for me. The two sisters thing and dysfunctional family synopsis has been done and done and done again. I listened halfheartedly taking in all the facts but not really engaged.
Then the audio suddenly took a turn to the “holy wah” when Anya started detailing her story of growing up in Russia…. suddenly I was glued to my kitchen, unwilling to shut the audio off, or leave the room I was folding laundry on my kitchen table and cleaning kitchen counters, and straightening seasonings in the cupboards – all to keep on listening.
It all came to a tearful fully engaged version of me as the story unfolded into what I could only refer to as Kristen Hannah working her magic of story telling. I literally had tears rolling down my face as I heard the story pour out of Anya.
In recap… the first half of the book was meh…. the second half…. a rollercoaster of emotions that has left me wondering what I should choose next of Kristen Hannah’s books.
The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include Winter Garden
I purchased this audio from Amazon
Good morning.
No, not feeling better. Still coughy…. and yeah, coffee. :sick:
Yesterday after work I made a little trip to my library for strictly one reason…..
audio.
I have cleaned myself out of cd audio. I have plenty for my IPOD, but I have a CD player in the kitchen and one in the jeep that need to be fed and I have went through all I own, all I had borrowed, and all I purchased recently.
It was really an audioergency. 😛
Friday I am driving to our cabin and I think hubby is planning on taking his motorcycle so we can tool around the back roads when we are there. This translates to – 3 1/2 hours in the Durango ALONE… which really means – AUDIO TIME!
Like a kid in the candy store I perused the shelves and finally came out with these:
I have to get ready for work so I do not have time to link them to synopsis… but there they are in all their glory! On an average day – I listen to three audio … one in my car as I drive around, the one in my bathroom (IPOD) while I get ready for work, and the one in my kitchen while I make meals.
Tomorrow I have two audio winners to announce from last week.
Michael Bennett is back in this 4th book in the Michael Bennett series. While taking his ten (TEN!) adopted children to a seaside retreat with live in nanny Mary Katherine and (the hilarious and wise) Grandpa.
What Detective Michael Bennett had hoped for was a little r & r and perhaps exploring his growing feelings for Mary Katherine, he uncovered much more than he bargained for when a rash of bizarre crimes tear through the city, terrorizing everyone who lives there . So much for vacation…
When Michael is pulled away from the retreat to investigate the crimes, his family is left open for attack. Working the case with attractive colleague FBI Agent Emily Parker, Michael finds himself questioning what the future may hold. All the while the clock is ticking towards who is behind the odd murders that seem to be copy cats old famous crimes…
TICK
TOCK
A couple of years ago when I started to embrace audio books – this series was one of my first audio experiences. I know this is a Patterson book and I know some people struggle with his books and in some cases I agree, Patterson does have some gory graphic books out there. This series is not one of them. I think it is the touch of author Michael Ledwidge that gives this series its likability for me.
This series is centered around a detective, Michael Bennett who had adopted with his wife, 10 children. As the series opens, Michael loses his wife to cancer and while adjusting to a life without her, maintaining a huge household, and maintaining a high-capacity job, I kind of fell in love with this family.
In this fourth in the series, I enjoyed the start of a possible relationship between Michael and Mary Katheryn and even the annoying presence of the attractive Emily…. tossed in for good measure. The story line of the kids is always interesting and the crimes are usually good and not too graphic.
Usually.
I found in Tick Tock the gore level was raised – not a lot, but enough for me to notice. I could almost sense the shift from Ledwidge to Patterson. While I still enjoyed this audio, it was probably the one I have enjoyed the least out of the series.
Will I continue with the next one when it comes out? Absolutely… there is still more of this story to be told and I for one want to know what will happen.
The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Tick Tock
I picked up this audio through Amazon
Book Journey 