Morning Meandering… Good Bye Harry Potter – A Musical Tribute (yes… I am still trying to let go)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good Morning!

I am giving you something today that I wrote… wasn’t sure I would post… saved it… thought about it (song now stuck in my head) AND today I overslept leaving little time for anything new so here it is:

*whew – run on sentence!*

You will need the words to the real song to follow the beat to the one I made up as I tried the instrumental and it is really a hard one to follow….

Goodbye Harry Potter
Though your parents died too early
You had to hold your head up high
While living with the Dursley’s
They locked you in a cupboard
And they whispered into your brain
They set you up for failure
And they told you nothing of your fame

chorus

And it seems to me you lived your life
Like a wand without a spell
Never knowing who to cling to
When Voldermort crawled out of ****
And I would have liked to have known you
but I was just a muggle
Your scar burned brightly long before
Your life became a struggle

Loneliness was tough
The toughest role you ever played
Hogwarts created a superstar
And pain was the price you paid
Even when you followed rules
Oh Snape still hounded you
All the students had to say
Was that Gryffindor deserved you

[repeat chorus]

Goodbye Harry Potter
Though I loved your movies and books
You fought the battle until the end
While Ron and Hermione exchanged looks
Goodbye Harry Potter
From the young mom who read with her kids
Who sees you as something more than magical
More than just our Harry Potter

[repeat chorus]

Ok…hee hee.  That’s me getting my crazy on a little early today 😀  I need to go see the movie again.

Update to this post:  Since my lovely friend Reagan at Miss Remmers Reviews mentioned a VLOG for this song, and then Shirley from My Book Shelf seconded that motion…. an idea grew.  😛   If anyone would care to do a VLOG of this song I created here – yup…. sing it… use the music, create a skit….  whatever, I will put up a $25 Amazon Gift Card.  If there is more than one entry – I will use Random.org to choose the winner.  Anyone who has access to Amazon may enter as I will email the gift card.  We will keep this short and sweet.  Create your VLOG, email me a link at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com by Saturday July 23 at midnight central time and a winner will be announced on Sunday.  I will link all VLOGS as well.  *The only mandatory criteria is that you must use the song I wrote here.  The rest – is up to you 😀

UPDATE 7/24:  We have A WINNER!!!  Winner will be announced and video shown on Tuesday morning the 26th!

There you go… if I have to pay up…. is really up to you.  😛

hello goodbye by Emily Chenoweth

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

It is the winter of 1990 and Helen Hansen has a secret.  It is one that rips her apart from the inside out to keep… but along with her husband Elliott, they decide at least for now… this is the way it will be. 

Within a year the Hansens’s are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, and they do so a luxury hotel in New Hampshire, going all out by inviting friends and neighbors who have been there along the way.  Meanwhile, 18-year-old daughter Abby has also been kept in the dark.  Little does she know , she is not the only one.  Abbie knows something is up and is resentful that she has not been in the know.  Seeking solace, she finds it in a cute waiter named Alex, and the rest of the summer staff .

While the champagne flows,  guests dance around the elephant in the room…

The hard copy cover - I personally like the paperback cover of the book I own... I think its softer and speaks to the story more

Whoa.  *Deep breath here*

Emily Chenoweth comes out of the shoot with this debut novel with a whirlwind of activity, at times heart wrenching, at times sweet, but always breath-taking.

The topic of this book is a hard one.  We are dealing with a family and an illness.  And at times, you can even wonder if the family itself is part of the illness by not necessarily making healthy decisions.  At the same time, you come to realize that the decisions that are made, are made out of love – and that really becomes the heartbeat of the book. 

If I seem like I am talking in code here… I am.  This is a book that is easy to give away key plots in the excitement of the review and I am walking a fine line trying not to do that, instead leaving the beauty and the mystery of this book unravel itself to each reader. 

Abbie really captivates me as you can imagine how an 18-year-old girl would struggle with what is going on with her family, as well as where she stands in the midst of life.  When the storyline shifts her way, I could almost feel that struggle, even in the story shift.  

While this book could easily have tipped the scale by being considered heavy – it never does.  Handled with a well written prose, instead it is graceful, and real… as you watch a family enjoy the last dances of life together. 

I read this book as part of a TLC Book Tour

Morning Meanderings… Holy Hotness Batman!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning!  😀

*Sipping coffee before it gets to hot out*

I was hanging out on Twitter last night and seen that all over the weather has kind of exploded into this sort of “hot fest”.  I really try hard not to complain about the heat as I am soooooo not a fan of winter that I just take whatever summer has to offer.

Wed

Isolated Thunderstorms

92° | 63°

Thu

Partly Cloudy

82° | 62°

Fri

Partly Cloudy

85° | 62°

Sat

Scattered Thunderstorms

80° | 60°

While our current temps do not look bad (Ryan from Wordsmithonia said they are on their 25th day of over 100 degree weather!), the humidity makes it feel like you are breathing in sauna air.  I go out on my deck with a book… last for about 5 minutes and come back in to the central air.  Only to try again and repeat later. 

I would love to go hang out at the lake, and should probably connect with friends and/or relatives who do live by the water.  I wont go to the beach as that is mainly families with kids – and 1) no kids at home, and 2) I wouldn’t get much reading done with the noises of the beach.  😛

What do you do to keep cool in the hot months of summer? 

 

Brown Bag Book Event with Author Laurie Hertzel

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

On Monday, July 18th, our local library hosted author Laurie Hertzel to discuss her latest book, News To Me, Adventures Of An Accidental Journalist.  *you can see more details about this event on the Morning Meandering post*

Laurie Hertzel always knew she wanted to be a writer.  She grew up knowing books, and knowing they were important and valued.  With nine siblings, Laurie had said, her dad would occasionally take whoever was around at the time and load them all into the van and they would go into the book store and each be able to pick out whatever book they wanted.

Laurie who is the Senior Book Editor for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune says she receives around 1,000 books a month for review.  They arrive in shopping cart loads and it is up to her to sort through them.  She says on a good week she can get 6 reviews in the paper – one on Monday, occasionally one on Wednesday and four in the Sunday paper.  It is not easy to choose she says but what she says this is what she looks for:

  • Obviously the big read – like Freedom by Johnathon Franzen (she says people expect these to be reviewed)
  • Regional Reads
  • Human Interest
  • Non Fiction or a poetry read
  • Small Presses

Her job is not sitting at a desk reading.  During office hours she is writing reviews, answering calls and emails.  Her reading comes after hours.  She loves her job and says it is really more like a 24 hours a day job.

For anyone who has an interest in journalism this is Laurie’s advice:

  • Keep practicing your craft… in other words write whenever and wherever you can
  • Dont become political as in choosing sides, you need to stay responsible and neutral
  • Be nimble… learn to use pics, video, twitter, Facebook… report across platform

As far as Laurie’s book goes… she is hilarious.  She read aloud the chapter about making coffee being part of her job at a newspaper office.  She was told that the pot was never to be empty. Laurie doesn’t drink coffee and the only faucet that had enough space to put the coffee carafe under it to fill with water, was the one in the mens bathroom.  She learned quickly that by making really bad tasting coffee, and then responding, “What?  Oh does it not taste good?  I don’t know what it should take like as I do not drink coffee”, soon caused that task to be removed from her list of duties. 

The book itself takes us through Laurie’s careers from the library to the news room… and um… back to the library.  She speaks well, she is fun and funny to listen too.  She also has some amazing chapters in the book such as when in the mid 80’s she went as a reporter to Russia with a group of people from Duluth Minnesota who wanted to make one of the Russian towns their sister city, and when letters requesting such were ignored, they decided to go in person.   Laurie pretty much sold out of her books at this event. 

I am currently reading News To Me and I will have a review of this book up in the next couple of days.

Me and Laurie Hertzel

Morning Meanderings… Occasionally… This Happens

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Good morning!

Yesterday was kind of fun for me.  It was my first real act as a Friend Of The Library.  When I went to my first meeting a couple of months ago they passed around a sign up sheet for the summer author “Brown Bag” events.  This program is that every Monday they would have a Minnesota author come into the library and share the story of his/her book with those who came to listen.  It is called “Brown Bag” because it is noon to one, over the lunch hour and people are offered to bring their lunch in during the discussion.  (*note for the record – only a few women brought lunch)

If you signed up to help host you showed up around 11 am and helped set the room up with chairs, make coffee, have cookies or some other treat as well and be available as people come in to fill things etc…

Yesterday was my debut as a host helper. 

The author was Laurie Hertzel, and not only is she an author(who won a 2011 Minnesota book award), she is also the book editor for the Minneapolis Star And Tribune.  I knew I wanted to help host this one.  😛

And this is where my post title comes in…

after Laurie comes in and starts talking about her book, about her journey to journalism, about the places she worked, places I knew… read a few exerts out of the book….

I knew then…

I had to read this book.

Not only did I have to read her book, News To Me – Adventures Of An Accidental Journalist…

I knew I wanted to read right away…

So yeah… I waited in line after her talk, purchased a book and came home and started reading. 

Yes… I have other books going.

Yes… I have a book tour this week.

Yes when I posted what I was reading this week I had a full book load already…

but…

the heart wants what the heart wants… 😛

I will share more later today about Laurie’s talk which to me as a hopeful writer, was inspiring.  I had hoped to have the book done so I could review it today but I am going to need at least one more day to finish. Instead I will give you this little taste:


In other news, I completed the 50 mile bike ride on Sunday in St Joseph Minnesota.  I was still wearing my cast and I did it anyway.  I had a great time with my friend Amy who rode this extremely humid/hot ride with no complaint.  I feel ready again. 

I have a doctor’s appointment Friday morning and if everything has gone well… I will be cast free by Friday noon.  😛

Bike Miles:  246

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)80 Comments

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.

Last weeks winner:

Lori from 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

**New books added today to the Reading Cafe giveaway!

 

This past week this is what has happened here:

Beastly by Alex Flinn ( book and movie review)

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain (audio review)

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by J K Rowling  (10th anniversary book review)


Harry Potter And Te Deathly Hallows Movie – Part 2


South Of Superior by Ellen Airgood (review and tour)


Bookies Book Club picks  a New Queen


Once Upon A Time There Was You by Elizabeth Berg

It was a pretty good week and I am looking forward to some good ones this week as well:

Elliott Hansen and his wife, Helen, are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary with a party at a luxury hotel in New Hampshire, where they lived ten years earlier before moving to Ohio. Elliott has planned well, inviting their New England friends and neighbors and keeping the truth from Helen that her inoperable brain cancer is fatal. Their 18-year-old daughter, Abby, is also in the dark, which is why she is feeling resentful and solitary among these old friends and anxious to discover her worth, even if it’s with a preppie hotel waiter. The guests dance around the inevitable, perhaps because facing reality has been something they have avoided for as long as they have known one another. This richly textured, multilayered treatise on learning to give up hope while still grasping at straws is searing in its approach to losing those we hold dear.

This is a TLC Tour for later this week.

 

 

 

Lacey Anne Byer is a perennial good girl and lifelong member of the House of Enlightenment, the Evangelical church in her small town. With her driver’s license in hand and the chance to try out for a lead role in Hell House, her church’s annual haunted house of sin, Lacey’s junior year is looking promising. But when a cute new stranger comes to town, something begins to stir inside her. Ty Davis doesn’t know the sweet, shy Lacey Anne Byer everyone else does. With Ty, Lacey could reinvent herself. As her feelings for Ty make Lacey test her boundaries, events surrounding Hell House make her question her religion.

This is our current Faith N Fiction read and I am pretty excited about it! 

 

 

 

Set against the backdrop of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Nancy Mehagian’s delicious memoir tells the tale of a young woman who heeded the siren’s call to a life of freedom and romance. A first-generation Armenian American whose family narrowly escaped genocide, the rebellious daughter left behind the safety and security of suburban life for an unforgettable adventure that would find her establishing the first vegetarian restaurant on the Spanish island of Ibiza, having an affair with a Bedouin gypsy during a stint as a cabaret dancer in Syria, and through a series of mishaps, incarcerated for 16 months in a London prison (along with her newborn baby) where she managed, even there, to pioneer a healthy way of eating. A breathtaking, sensual and page-turning chronicle that whisks you along the author’s lifelong path to spiritual enrichment, Siren’s Feast, An Edible Odyssey, is a story that captures a colorful era and features over 40 recipes as delectable as the journey itself.

I am so attracted to food related books… I love the stories and the recipes!

 

 

 

A devoted fireman and a driven businessman: strangers with the same face. Only one will leave the Twin Towers alive, but will he ever find his way home?

On the morning of September 11, 2001, two men meet in a smoky stairwell of the World Trade Center. One is Eric Michaels, a driven financial manager from Los Angeles who has been busy climbing the corporate ladder, often at the expense of his wife and young son. The other is Jake Bryan, a New York City fireman devoted to his wife and daughter. In the midst of the crisis, Eric falls on the stairs and Jake stops to help him up. The two men freeze momentarily, stunned by the uncanny resemblance between them.

Later, after the building has crumbled to the ground, Eric awakes beneath a fire truck. He is burned and bloody and most of his clothes have been blown off. A fire captain rushes to his side, thinking he recognizes his friend Jake. By the time Jake’s wife arrives at the hospital, Eric’s face is bandaged and his memory gone.

In the months that follow, Eric struggles to relate to a wife and daughter he doesn’t remember, while on the opposite coast Eric’s real wife grieves and finds comfort from Eric’s brother, a single man who has always adored her. The emotional suspense builds as Eric begins to have disturbing dreams and flashbacks, and questions grow in Jake’s wife’s mind.

The only way for Eric to find his way is by following the love of a special woman, and the footsteps of a man who no longer exists.

I have wanted to read this for a long time and never got to it.  Now finally I am getting to it on audio!

 

 

 

Binyavanga Wainaina tumbled through his middle-class Kenyan childhood out of kilter with the world around him. This world came to him as a chaos of loud and colorful sounds: the hair dryers at his mother’s beauty parlor, black mamba bicycle bells, mechanics in Nairobi, the music of Michael Jackson—all punctuated by the infectious laughter of his brother and sister, Jimmy and Ciru. He could fall in with their patterns, but it would take him a while to carve out his own.

In this vivid and compelling debut memoir, Wainaina takes us through his school days, his mother’s religious period, his failed attempt to study in South Africa as a computer programmer, a moving family reunion in Uganda, and his travels around Kenya. The landscape in front of him always claims his main attention, but he also evokes the shifting political scene that unsettles his views on family, tribe, and nationhood.

Throughout, reading is his refuge and his solace. And when, in 2002, a writing prize comes through, the door is opened for him to pursue the career that perhaps had been beckoning all along. A series of fascinating international reporting assignments follow. Finally he circles back to a Kenya in the throes of post election violence and finds he is not the only one questioning the old certainties.

This is a BEA read that will be released this week.  I am curious about this one!

 

 

I have a big week in reading planned but for the most part… a low key week so this should be doable.  Now I want to know what you are reading – add your post to the linky space below where it says “Click Here”

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Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)39 Comments

Kyle Kingsbury is one good looking guy.  And… he knows it.  He is that guy that looks amazing, has a way with words, and has the money to back it up thanks to daddy.  Kyle can have any girl he wants and has her…. but one girl annoys him, the class freak Kendra.  She calls out Kyle every chance she gets and he makes a decision to get even.

At a school dance he sets Kendra up for an epic fail and humiliates her.  Feeling good about himself, as Kyle usually does, he goes home only to find that Kendra has also come to his home and curses him by telling him he will be just as ugly on the outside as he is on the inside.  Instantly, Kyle turns into a scarred, tattooed beast.

The cure, Kendra tells Kyle is to find someone who loves him for who he is on the inside.  And well…. good luck with that. 

Even the family money can not find a way to return Kyles looks and his father embarrassed now by his son sends him away to a home with his maid to live out his days out of the public spotlight. 

Will Kyle ever be able to find someone who could love him as hideous as he is when he can not even stand to look at himself? 

The movie Beastly: Also recommended

Honestly?  I had no intention of reading this book.  I think I seen the movie cover before I seen the book cover and it just screamed “Teen angst!” 

But then, as occasionally happens I read a review of this book over at my friend Reagan’s blog, Miss Remmers Reviews.  It was enough to make me curious and so I found a copy and poked my head inside. This is one of those books that even though you know that you know that you know the outcome – how it will all come together, even who the characters will be that makes it happen… it was still…

wonderful.

Yes – I too was surprised by my enjoyment of this book, so much in fact that after the read – I rented the movie and really enjoyed that as well.  Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer do an amazing job together and it just made me fall more in love with this modern day retelling of Beauty and The Beast.

You may recall that I read and reviewed Cloaked, also by this author.  Alex Flinn has a way with putting a pretty interesting twist on the fairy tales of our past, and I enjoyed the modern day recap.

Amazon Rating

Good reads review

The 2011 WHERE Are You reading Map has been updated to include Beastly

I borrowed this book from my local library!

Morning Meanderings…Back on the bike seat again!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good morning.  Up at 5 am this morning, picking up Amy at 6 am and off to St Joseph Minnesota for the Tour Of Saints.  This is my first bike ride since the crash in early June and I am excited, but a little nervous too.

Our goal is 5o miles and we want to start early to beat the heat as much as possible… it is supposed to be 92 degrees today.  We should be checked in and started by 7:30 am.

I will be back later this afternoon to get my book on 😀

I LOVE my bike

Medium Raw by Anthony Bourdain

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Anthony Bourdain, the star of the series No reservations on the Travel Channel, and the author of Kitchen Confidential now releases his sharp tongue, never apologizing ways in this new collection about the chefs in the industry, the economy, the best places to find a good burger… it reads like we are sitting and talking about cooking and food…. Anthony Bourdain flies from topic to topic, while occasionally hard to follow – it almost always is interesting.

If you have seen his show, you pretty much know what you are in for.  At least… I thought I did.

 

Here is a little sample (or two) of Bourdain’s show, No Reservations:

 

 

 

Anyway – you get the picture.  Food is what Boudain does.  And for the most part he does it well.  This was also the draw for me to this audio, narrated by Anthony Bourdain himself.

I admit it.  I like the tone of Anthony’s voice.  He is level and matter of fact.  he has a quick wit, a knack for sarcasm – and he tells it like it is.  Even, when I necessarily do not need to know to that extent of “what it is”.

What do I mean by that?  Well, while I do enjoy Anthony Bourdain’s show, No Reservations… I have come to realize that they clean his words up quite a bit.  In this audio, there is none of this and you can plan on being encased in everything that is on Anthony’s mind and without any sensors, all of this will come right out of his mouth.  You will hear the “F” word… frequently.  You will hear pretty much every other word as well.

So why, a person that usually avoids such books and audio, why would I put myself through this?

Honestly… I like to hear about the food behind Anthony’s language.  If you can filter (and you will need a heavy-duty one at that) through that, the audio is quite interesting. 

I enjoyed hearing how the economy changed the look and feel of some of New Yorks higher class restaurants forever – and even possibly for the better.  Anthony shares that while some restaurants may no longer be able to afford to serve the salmon they once did, they have found ways to serve delicious lesser priced fish just as well.  In some cases – they are thrilled to do so as chefs have known that some of the fish that normally would not grace their menu, is actually very good – and the economy has given them the opportunity to show this.

I also learned – that the economy has made the classy restaurants friendlier.  There was a time you would be snubbed for walking up to a high-class eatery without a reservation.  If you called to get a reservation without weeks and weeks notice, you would practically be hung up on.  These days are gone.  People are now encouraged to come in anytime.  The phone service has greatly improved and the wait staff is considerably friendlier.  Well – yay for all of that.  😛

I also enjoyed hearing about other big named chefs.  Bourdain is not easy on any of them.  He takes no prisoners. Some he admires.  More, he does not, and he is not shy to tell you why.  Names are tossed on the chopping block.  He even goes into detail about his time as a judge on Top Chef.  Bourdain will share, occasionally at great lengths about the importance of the great chefs actually being at their restaurants – actually cooking meals instead of relying on their name alone to get people in the door. 

The chapter talking of the great detail that chefs go to prepare the fish for our meals – astounded me.  I had never thought about what the big name restaurant may pay for a pound of fish and that would be including – head, innards, scales etc… much of which they paid for is thrown away in the cleaning process and they pay a very talented chef with a knife to do just that long before we ever see it on our plate. 

At times I applauded Anthony Bourdains’ boldness.  At other times I cringed at his references, language and crudeness.   I am well aware that some of what make me cringe… are part of what has made him the success he is today.

The over all thing I have to admit here is that despite his great flaws…. I like him.  

 

This review is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking.  Pop on over and see what others are cooking or reading about food this weekend!

 

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

 

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

I purchased this audio from audible.com

Morning Meanderings… A Look Into My Saturday

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)44 Comments


Good morning!  I am sitting here with COFFEE CUP this morning reflecting over the past week. 

It was… a good one.

On Tuesday we had our annual Queen Event for Book Club, on Thursday I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter… the final movie.

July 2011 - Bookies Queen Event

I think that is a pretty good week.  😛

This morning I reflected a bit on my yard.  I love love love my back yard.  So for The Saturday Snapshot over at Alyce’s At Home With Books,  I went around this morning with the camera…

The view of my back deck. My favorite summer reading place is on this deck. I love the shrubbery around it... it gives it the feel of a sanctuary in the middle of a forest.
Apples coming in on the tree we planted 8 years ago to replace trees we lost in the tornado.

The two Silver Maples in the center of this pic are also replacement trees.
...and one of the hostas along side the house.
...and one of the hostas along side the house.

As for my weekend… today I have planned to finish the lawn, finish a book.  Hubby and I may go for a motorcycle ride later, or a movie.  Tomorrow I am doing the Tour Of Saints bike ride with my friend Amy, the first bike ride since my accident in early June.  I am excited to get back on track. 

Any fun weekend plans?  I would love to hear what you are doing this weekend in your corner of the world!  😛