Book Journey

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on April 10, 2011April 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)103 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:

Laurel from Laurel Rain Snow

Congratulations! Please choose an item out of the PRIZE BOX and email me your choice with your mailing address as well! journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

Coming off a readathon weekend is always exciting as there are books galore in the Monday posts and I am so excited to get around and see what everyone is reading! 😀

I had a great week of getting in some good reading… but I was not the best review writer and have many I am going to work on over the next few days – but seriously…. so worth the wait 😀

Here was my week:

Good Bye to Sookie Stackhouse (Review of Dead Before Dark)- my adventures into this series was short-lived…. Sookie and I have agreed to disagree and I have shown her the door.

A BEA (Book Expo America) Scholorship Opportunity – hurry and check this out – you could win a chance to go! 😛

What is your most treasured book? I love the comments that are shared here about the book(s) on your shelves that you cherish the most and why…. mine is one I can not even read.

Little Princes by Connor Grennan – review this week

Sunday at Tiffany’s by James Patterson – Bookies Book Club read and review coming on Wednesday

Open House by Elizabeth Berg – review this week

Dreamland by Sarah Dessen (my first Dessen!!!) review this week

Hate List by Jennifer Brown – review this week

So…. this weeks looks like it will be strong for reviews – thank you to the Dewey read-a-thon… always a great time to work on catching up and reading – and I LOVE that we all stop and read all over the world for this event 🙂

So… moving forward this week… what’s on deck?

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”

I am in the mood for some Hobbit – no idea what brought this on other than the fact that I have not read these books in years and as I was looking for new audio this week… I felt this one may be fun.

The search for God in the midst of horror, disaster, and loss has confounded believers for centuries. How does belief actually matter in the lives of those who suffer? Yancey, popular journalist and public speaker, travels the world and attempts to make some theological sense of the hurting people and devastated places he observes, from Virginia Tech to Mumbai.

This is for our Faith In Fiction group read and I have read and enjoyed Yancey in the past (In fact I taught a class on Grace for a couple of years based off one of his books, What’s So Amazing About Grace.)

Teenaged Johnny works as a cobbler in his mother’s shoe repair shop in a posh hotel in South Beach. He spends his days with his friend Meg and designs his own line of shoes while dreaming of wealth to free his family from the confines of poverty. Unexpectedly, the striking Princess Victoriana of Aloria comes to the swanky Miami hotel for a royal visit. The super-hot partying princess pleads for Johnny’s help in finding her missing brother, and offers of money and a royal marriage convince him to take her seriously-even when she explains that the prince has been turned into a frog. With the aid of a magical cloak and some headphones that allow him to hear animals speak, Johnny embarks on a journey wherein he encounters talking swans, a fox named Todd, and two angry giants. When he lands in hot water with an evil witch bent on destroying him, Meg comes to his rescue. The pair journey from South Beach to Key West, to Europe, and to Manhattan; and in the end, Johnny finds wealth, fame, and true love.

Ok… LOL…. I know…. this one if for The Fairy Tale Fortnight that is coming up and hosted by Misty, The Book Rat) and Ashley from Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing… more on that coming soon… 😉

Two abandoned souls are on the hunt for one powerful man. Soon, their paths will cross and lead to one twisted fate.

Danny Hansen is a Bosnian immigrant who came to America with hopes of escaping haunted memories of a tragic war that took his mother’s life. Now he’s a priest who lives by a law of love and compassion. It is powerful men and hypocrites who abide by legal law but eschew the law of love that most incense Danny. As an avenging angel, he believes it is his duty to show them the error of their ways, at any cost.

Renee Gilmore is the frail and helpless victim of one such powerful man. Having escaped his clutches, she now lives only to satisfy justice by destroying him, regardless of whom she must become in that pursuit.

But when Danny and Renee’s paths become inexorably entangled things go very, very badly and neither of them may make it out of this hunt alive.

Judge not, or you too will be judged.

This one is for a blog tour on Tuesday…. Dekker has been hit or miss the last few years… I am curious where this one will land.

I need another audio to start too…. but will wait and see what comes in from the library. 😀

So that’s about it. I am looking forward to what you are reading as now that I have cleaned up my library books… I am itching to check out more. Add your What Are You Reading Post to the linky below and I as well as others will be able to come and check out your post and add to our own reading lists…. that I am sure. 😀

Powered by Linky Tools

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

Happy reading!!!

What is your most treasured book?

Published on April 10, 2011April 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)77 Comments

I have been wanting to write this post for a while now. I am curious if you have a book in your collection that has special meaning to you… it may be your favorite book in the world…. or it may (like in my case) be one you have never even read. It could be one a parent or adult read to you as a child that still holds fond memories or one handed down for generations. Really… it could be anything.

My most treasured book, the one I keep in a protective box, belonged to my dad. My dad died in a house fire along with my sister in 1980. This book was found in the ashes… while the cover is damaged, the pages are remarkably clean. The book is one he was given in 1966 when he was in Vietnam. It is a Viet-Anh Vietnamese to English dictionary.

I have very few items of my dads… pretty much everything was destroyed, so this is a treasure. Later this week would have been his birthday and I like to take this out of the box and touch it knowing that a long time ago, his strong hands held this book too.

I would love to hear about your book treasures…. feel free to comment here and if you do decide to write a post about yours, let me know and I will link it here.

Morning Meanderings… Sunday Something…

Published on April 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning. I have just a few minutes this morning as I have an early commitment. For all of you who did the read-a-thon yesterday, how much fun was that? I had a blast even with a few things in my day that pulled me away. I made it to hour 18 and then it was literally light out for me. I was done – kupoot…. I wanted to do more… I could not.

I will gather totals later – probably Tuesday morning as tomorrow is all Monday What Are You Reading and I try hard to keep Mondays clear for that purpose alone.

Anyhoo…. I would love to hear if you participated how did you do? What did you read? What did you love? What was the best part of the read-a-thon for you?

I am out… but I wanted to leave you with this….

This was my cover made up for one of the mini challenges….. below is the actual cover… and yes, that is ET….. he was my stand in. 😛

LOL…. have a sweet day! 😀

Dewey Read-A-Thon…. we interrupt the regularly scheduled hoo hah and what nots of this blog…

Published on April 9, 2011April 9, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)63 Comments

And I am OFF and READING! I am up and ready to READ READ READ today! If you are scratching your head saying Read-A-Thon… what read-A-Thon… you can check it out on the Dewey Read A Thon site. My book list is not impressive or well thought out as I just didn’t plan for any thing really and plan to use the old “grab as I go” technique. Seriously – I am not lacking for any reading materials here…

First here’s a bit about me:

1)I am reading from Central Minnesota

2)Three random facts about me are – I just took up kick boxing this week (OW!), I have been to Honduras 8 times to work with kids who live on the street, and I have a once in-house office that now serves as my library (and thank goodness as the option would be to have books EVERYWHERE… er, which I kind of do anyway.

3)I have plans to read 5 or 6 books throughout the read-a-thon (see book list below)

4)I have no real goals other than to commit to reading instead of seeing something shiny and getting distracted… oh and to have fun. Fun is a good thing 😛

5)This is my 4th read-a-thon…. my advice to newcomers is just have fun…. (oh, I said that already?) Well…. that’s how important it is… tackle the books that you want too…. read at least one guilty pleasure book – that book on your shelf that you want to read sooooooo bad and just never seem to get to it. Oh, you know the one. Shoot…. so do I… now I need to change my list! “Doh!”

Midnight Book Girls Mini Challenge was to create a sentence using books only. FANTASTIC! Here is what I got:

Thirteen Reasons Why The Outside Boy Sold The Dress Lodger. (LOL)

I had to try Hungry Readers Challenge which was to recreate a book cover for a book I am currently reading for the readathon…. so here goes…

and the actual cover….

LOL – that was AWESOME! And yes I used my ET from Disney World for the cover pick….LOL

In Hour 7 here is Hannah’s (Word Lilly) Challenge where we were asked to try origami:

011 — This.... is a frog. Yes.. feel free to laugh 😛

A total epic fail on my part, but decided to post it anyway… at least for a smile 😀

Ok entering Mini Challenge for hour Four: Book Puzzle – we are asked to create a puzzle using book titles…. so FUN!!! 😛

I do have a few in the planning and I will let you in on them here:

I eat Hate Lists for breakfast! Oh… well, uhhh… in this case I do. I am kicking off on this book that I was able to read a few pages last night and I am moving forward on as soon as this post is up.

Dreamland is my “I need an eye break” audio all set up in the kitchen ready to play if I stop for substance….

Berg of course is on the agenda… what would a read-a-thon be if I had not included Berg in the mix…. that’s like having a party without chips…… UNHEARD OF!

Partially read and then set down for I don’t know why…. I need to complete this book. I think the read-a-thon is a good time to finish the books I have not but have meant too.

Another one I have started and not finished yet…. today (HOPEFULLY) could be the day I complete it.

Hmmm….. I guess I do kind of have a plan then. Well – Excellent! Also, I am reading for a cause – my post of where my pages are being donated to is here. 😀

I will post updates on this post throughout the day.

Off I go to read and hope to see you all back here for the mini challenge later today!

Dewey Read-A-Thon Mini Challenge: Book Club Recommendations

Published on April 9, 2011April 9, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)150 Comments

Hey there all you read-a-thoners…. how YOU doing? 😛

Had a little Joey from friends flash back…

This challenge is now completed – the winner using random.org is Shel from The Hungry Readers! Congratulations Shel! 😀 Please email me at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com with your book choice from Amazon up to a $15 value.

Ok…. on to the Mini Challenge! It’s no secret I LOVE talking books and honestly – not all books are “chat worthy”. I have been in my book club for 10 years now and the book reviews I enjoyed the most and remember the most are the ones that really brought out great discussion. My challenge for you today – if you choose to accept it, is to share with me in the comments a book you would recommend as being very chat or discussion worthy. You do not have to be part of a book club to do this challenge, I am just looking for a book title with author that you would recommend as being a great thought-provoking and/or discussion worthy book.

***For a bonus entry – add in a menu that would go along with the book discussion – (my book club loves to theme food around the books we review).

That’s it! I plan to eventually make a post of all the book club recommendations that show up on this post and link back to you as suggesting that book (if you have a blog). Yes, it is ok to put down a book that someone else recommends, I am looking for a list of different reads but certainly will count your entry even if someone else already suggested it.

When this mini challenge ends I will choose one winner using random.org to choose a book I can purchase from Amazon.com that is $15.00 or less and I will send that book to you.

Oh – and get up and stretch your arms and grab a fresh cup of coffee, a bottle of water or a granola bar…. stay strong and keep on reading!!! 😛

Dewey Read A Thon: Reading For Charity

Published on April 8, 2011April 9, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Spring is finally here in Minnesota and I can not be more THRILLED! Today I took my bike out for the first time in 2011! I am a big bike rider and do quite a few rides throughout the season for fun or for charity. The one I want to talk to you about today is one that holds a special place in my heart.

Camp Benedict is a yearly camp for those affected and/or infected by AIDS. My friend Connie who works hard to make this camp happen each year is a 30 year AIDS survivor. Connie was infected by AIDS in 1981 when she received an emergency blood transfusion for a hysterectomy. Connie is an amazing women who works with many others to make this camp a success each year providing support and education to those who have been touched by the AIDS virus.

On April 9th 2011 is the April Read-A-Thon. As timing would have it, it is also the day that Connie is having her silent auction at the Brainerd Arboretum from 1- 4 pm to raise money for this years camp. I am going to help support this cause from home by reading for the camp.

I plan to personally contribute $1 for every ten minutes I read or every ten minutes I listen to audio. You can help support me in this cause if you wish by pledging in the comments a per page or in audio per minute) contribution or by using this link to make a one time pledge for the bike ride I will participate in this fall that all the money I raise goes directly to the camp. The read a thon is for a 24 hour period on April 9th 2011.

Morning Meanderings… Kick Boxing Day 2 (OW!) A Read-A-Thon and Book Love

Published on April 8, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Good morning.

Yes it is still morning, but yes… I am late. First of all… my fingers hurt. Well.. I think maybe it is my arms hurt all the way to my wrists and therefore it is effecting my fingers. 😛 Kickboxing Day 2 did not come out as pain free as day one. I think I over achieved, over confidently thought that since day 1 was pretty much pain free why not jump back in to the ring? Well… I definitely felt weaker last night, seemed that my arms tired more quickly and I watched the clock…. a lot. Is it over yet? I was supposed to do to the 5:00 pm class tonight with my friend Christy but I am pretty sure I will be canceling out and waiting to start again on Monday.

The Dewey Read-A-Thon is tomorrow – SSSQQQQUUUEEEEE!!! This is so much fun and I hope you are planning to participate….don’t worry if you cant do the full 24 hours (oh I tried once… at 2 am it was not pretty… :razz:) If you can take any amount of time at all to read and join in the fun you should go sign up! 😀 And they have fun mini challenges throughout the day to break up the reading time and I love that! I have the 2 pm (central time) challenge right here and make a note to come check it out because you are not going to want to miss this one! 😀 I have a couple must do’s tomorrow – one being going to my friends silent auction so I will listen to audio while traveling there… keeping in the readathon theme…

And as for book love…. ahhhh… I just am craving book time. I am going to sit down here in a few minutes and wrap up Little Princes. Yeah, that was on my agenda for yesterday but the day was crazy busy and after kick boxing and dinner I fell asleep on the couch at 9 pm. Boy that is embarrassing. 😛

Today I am doing group power at noon, dropping off items for the auction, going to the library, prepping my post for tomorrow, and reading. Yes – I am hitting the pause button on life and getting in a little reading time….. warming up for tomorrow 😀

Morning Meanderings…. A BEA Scholarship Opportunity and Kick Boxing

Published on April 7, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Good Morning.

Things I need to share this morning before I take the dogs (Elmo and Bailey) to get their haircuts while I am at work….

First – exciting news for those who would LOVE to go to BEA but find costs to be a big factor in attending. Lenore at Presenting Lenore is having a book blogger convention scholarship giveaway – hurry, you must sign up by April 13! I met Lenore last year when we both were on the Adrianna Trigianni Tea experience and she is so sweet and fun – AND she recently received a book deal which is so ssssqqqquuuuueeeee worthy I can not even put into words 😛

I received a BEA scholarship last year when I entered a contest held by author Sarah Pekkanen (author of Opposite of Me and Skipping A Beat) and therefore I can tell you that you never know who may win! 😀 (BEA recap on a stick)

And on to kick boxing…. I took my first ever kickboxing class last night at the Warrior Alliance. My friend Christy has been going and I was interested…. but let me tell you – this is not your Wii boxing….. nope.

I walked into the room which is all workout mats and surrounded by cage like walls and touch looking girls wearing boxing gloves…. Oh wow, I thought – this is so real.

AWESOME!

I had a BLAST and am going to try to attend tonight as well. It’s not a bad deal -$40 a month and you can go up to 5 times a week. I really enjoyed it and I know I got a good work out. Surprisingly, other than a little bit in my shoulders, I do not hurt today and was able to leap (yes leap!) out of bed without feeling like I was hit by a truck. 😛 Always – ALWAYS a good thing.

Ok… time is ticking and I need to move. Hopefully tonight I will have some time to visit a few blogs and finish Little Princes and start Hate List. 😀

Morning Meanderings… I am missing books that require the SPOILER PAGE

Published on April 6, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning people of Wednesday. I come to you in peace. 😛

I was reading my friend and fellow Bookie, Angie’s review of ROOM yesterday evening over at By Book Or By Crook. I always enjoy seeing thoughts on books that I have read and enjoyed. I left her a comment about the controversial discussion I found by using the spoiler button link in my review. Then I thought… wow… it has been a long time since I have read a book that required use of the Spoiler Button.

What is the Spoiler Button?

It is a link I would use if I read an extremely awesome book that I wanted to discuss deeper with others who have read it as well. The button would link to a separate page where we could really discuss the book in great detail without fear of spoiling the book for those who had not read it.

I started wondering what books would be ones that I could use the Spoiler Button again and thought I would engage you in this…. I think perhaps when I read Hate List, that might be one…. or the Mortal Instrument Series (City Of Bones…)

What else would you recommend as books that stir up the discussion… books that you would enjoy a safe place to discuss openly about?

This morning I am sipping coffee and hurrying off to work. I want to leave you with this memory of Gilmore Girls that pops in my head every time I go to bed without washing my face first…

Mmmmmm Hmmmmm…. let this be a lesson to me. 🙂

Have a super day!!!

Good Bye To Sookie Stackhouse (Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris)

Published on April 5, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Sookie Stackhouse is a small time waitress who has a disability. She can read minds and let me tell you that makes dating – well…. impossible. Imagine trying to date someone when you constantly can hear what they are thinking! No real worries about that, as pretty much everyone in Sookie’s neck of the woods (oops – did I say neck? 😉 ) thinks she is weird.

Then one day who should walk into Sookie’s bar but Bill Compton… he’s tall, handsome… and a vampire. best thing of all? Sookie can not hear his thoughts and there is something so peaceful and appealing about that she can hardly believe it. Thanks to synthetic blood now being available, vampires can now live (oops – did I say live? 😉 ) among the errr….. living. Some people are ok with this coexistence, others not so much – and others still fall into a groupie sort who think that vampires are the coolest thing since sliced bread and this group is referred to as fang-bangers…. (yes, crude but there it is) 😛

Suddenly these “groupies” are turning up dead and the heat is on all vampires – good or bad. As Sookie has taken quite a liking to Bill and he to her, she worries for his safety – and as a vampires girlfriend – her own as well. When the deaths seem to be hitting to close for comfort, Sookie has to make decisions to protect herself and her brother who really is her only family she has still living.

……………………………………..

Ok.

*Deep breath*

I wanted to read this book because I have heard so much about the HBO series True Blood and of course, the books that are made around this series. I have never seen True Blood, but thought I would try a book or two and see where I landed. I landed.. flat.

I thought I would like the characters and the story line, but honestly… I didn’t. Sookie was too ditsy for words and in her defense, maybe if I could have seen her in True Blood and had a better picture of what they were going for here… but as I listened to this on audio…. she just seemed ridiculously naive, and not appealing as a character at all. Bill was not clearly described and happenings later into the book made me clearly “not a fan” no matter what his excuse. I know many of you love this series and that is awesome – I just found it not to fit for me. 🙂

While at times witty, parts were a bit out there for my liking and when it ended – it ended with a large gap in the story that would probably take most readers to the next book to see what happens – but for me… Sookie was a fun acquaintance to meet, but we are probably not going to be life long friends.