Morning Meanderings….. The Good News… and The Bad News

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)66 Comments

Good morning!  “Wot’s up?”  Couldn’t resist – we had bonus book club night at my home last night and I made Wot, a spicy chicken dish which is popular in Ethiopia.  This was for our review of Cutting For Stone…. which… with a little luck, will be posted yet today 😀

In the mean time….. the good news is, this past week has been weather in the high 30’s to mid 40’s…. for Minnesota this time of year that is practically a heat wave!  In my excitement for spring, I went out last weekend and bought these super cute sandals:

 


Are they not just awesome?


The bad news is…. this is our current weather forecast:

* Timing and location: a winter storm is affecting the Brainerd
lakes region… Saint Croix River Valley… and an area from
Hayward to Phillips tonight. The storm will produce heavy snow
across these areas… with the heaviest snow expected to fall
overnight until mid morning Wednesday. 

* Snow accumulations: 10 to 14 inches of snow is expected by
late Wednesday afternoon.

* Main impact: heavy snow combined with northeast winds of 15 to
30 mph could cause power outages due to downed trees and power
lines.

Precautionary/preparedness actions…

A Winter Storm Warning means heavy snow will occur. Expect
extremely slippery and dangerous snow-covered roads. If you must
travel… exercise extreme caution and allow extra time to reach
your destination. Let someone know your travel Route and expected
arrival time. Have a working cell phone in case you become
stranded. Keep a winter survival kit in your vehicle… including a
flashlight… food… and water.

 

Don’t worry – I have changed my shoes.  😛  Off to work to see what is happening.  I am going to guess most people are snowed in… I live by a major highway and have four-wheel drive so I am usually ok to get where I need to go.

If you have real spring where you live… please tell me about it.  I need green” stories.  😀

Jimmy by Robert Whitlow

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

 

Jimmy has always been a little special.  As a baby he was not developing as quickly as he should and after an incident where he was left in the tub and almost drowned while his mother took a phone call, he has a fear of water to boot.

Now at fourteen Jimmy lives with his dad and step mom who both love him dearly.  He spends time with his Grandparents where his grandpa challenges him to do things he never thought he could like climbing a pole with a safety harness in the back yard, much to Jimmy’s delight and his Grandmother and Step mom’s fury.

Jimmy knows he is different, how could he not when his cousin constantly calls him retard, and kids at school tease him…. but Jimmy is smarter than they all realize, able to do things like work in his dads office, and even testifying in court.

 

It is really hard to explain this audio.  On one hand, I loved this story.  The sweet southern narration of the author Robert Whitlow himself was wonderful.  Jimmy’s story of moving beyond what was expected of him time and again it is heart warming.  Jimmy’s heart is so pure and he always wants to do whats right, including being saved in church, and wanting the same for his Grandpa – so bad that he makes deals with Grandpa to get him to go to church.

Jimmy also has a knack of seeing things he calls “watchers” Angel like people who show up in different situations, some times to help, some times to observe…. Jimmy takes great comfort in them but tells only a few people he trusts about them. I wish they would have developed this part of the read more as while they touch on the watchers a little bit, but  they are sprinkled through most of the book so maybe that is all the author wanted us to have…. not a real idea about them but a glimpse.

Really my only complaint is that as the audio went on it seemed like it was crisis after crisis and that took away a bit of the :real” feel for me.  The audio is 4 hours and 45 minutes and in that time there are five major plots within the story that Jimmy has to go through.  After so much in such a short audio it felt to be too much.

If you can overlook that, I would HIGHLY recommend this in book format or audio.  The story really was good, and in the end… well, I can’t imagine you can walk away without taking a little piece of Jimmy with you.

 

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include Jimmy

I purchased this audio from audible.com

Morning Meanderings: Are Library’s Still QUIET?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments

I frequent my library a lot these days.  We have been having internet “opportunities” at home so many times after work, Laptop and I (who by the way I have named Lazareth due to his dying and coming back to life many times now…) wander over to the local library where I can catch up on emails, visit blogs, and respond to comments.

Lately though… I have discovered a trend at my library that has me typing with clenched teeth and a little bit of smoke coming out of my ears…. enough to give that nice BBQ grill scent……

Teens talk talk TALKING at my library.  Now I am not an angry person… I think for the most part I am pretty easy-going, but seriously…. I want to say,

“HELLO….. It’s called a LIBRARY!”


Yesterday I went in to find a quiet corner to do a bit of work and that was just not to be found.  All the great tables were taken, and believe me this is not a complaint, as I am proud that our library is well used…. it is the teenage hang out part that has me riled up…. not book reading teens, but hang out teens.

As I sat trying to get my work done and wondering if it was worth it for me to truck up to the front counter and say something only to get the “wrath of teens” when I returned with the “Book Authorities”… I decided just to wait it out and of course, this blog post was forming in my mind.


Question to you, if you do use your library – and I hope you do, is it still a sanctuary of quietness, or has it become acceptable to use the library as a social hang out?  Honestly, I think I could have had it just as quiet if I had went to a coffee shop and typed over the sound of the whooshing espresso machines and caffeinated chatter people.  😛

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)101 Comments

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 receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Last weeks winner:

Kristin from Always With A Book

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


Here is a recap of what went down here this past week:


Snitch by Rene Gutteridge (book review and liking Rene Gutteridge a lot!)


The Postmistress by Sarah Blake (book review and tour!)


Dream When You Are Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg (yup…. the Berg movement continues 😀 )


Weekend Cooking:  Chicken Nachos (mmmmmmm!)


Dewey Read A Thon is coming in April!


Minnesota and Surrounding Areas Book Blogger Get Togethers (in the area?  Well check this out!)



My week was busier than I thought and my reading suffered.  I am surprised as I thought I would have a great reading week but this was not the case.  I have a couple audio about to end so I can add whats next here – but other than that…. the books I am posting here are the same I said I would read the last week with one bonus exception:


Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. Until the vampire of her dreams walks into her life — and one of her coworkers checks out. Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn’t such a bright idea. Sookie keeps to herself and doesn’t date much because of her “disability” to read minds. When she meets Bill, Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s the type of guy she’s waited for all of her life, but he has a disability, too–he’s a vampire with a bad reputation. When one of Sookie’s coworkers is killed, she fears she’s next.

Ok… seriously – don’t ask!  I want to try these books… I don’t know why.  I have never seen the HBO series true Blood.  This audio was on the sale pile at audible.com s here I go…. don’t even say that I don’t try new things 😀  LOL


Samantha’s husband has left her, and after a spree of overcharging at Tiffany’s, she settles down to reconstruct a life for herself and her eleven-year-old son. Her eccentric mother tries to help by fixing her up with dates, but a more pressing problem is money.

To meet her mortgage payments, Sam decides to take in boarders. The first is an older woman who offers sage advice and sorely needed comfort; the second, a maladjusted student, is not quite so helpful. A new friend, King, an untraditional man, suggests that Samantha get out, get going, get work. But her real work is this: In order to emerge from grief and the past, she has to learn how to make her own happiness. In order to really see people, she has to look within her heart. And in order to know who she is, she has to remember—and reclaim—the person she used to be, long before she became someone else in an effort to save her marriage. Open House is a love story about what can blossom between a man and a woman, and within a woman herself.

Yup – onward with Berg.  😀


This one was on my list last week and I am half way through with review due for discussion Tuesday evening.  This book needs to be my focus over the next couple of days – so far I am really liking it.  Some said it was slow in the beginning but I did not think so at all.  Really interesting!


This one is also from last weeks reading list and will go “live” right after I finish up Cutting For Stone.  😀  Cant wait!


And this one… *sigh* should have already been read but has not.  This is the Wordshaker read and for those of you who are participating this time around I am so sorry I am late on putting out discussion questions etc… I am just behind.  Period.   Trust me, it’s not you, its me… and I hope to bring us all up to speed soon.

That is the weeks plan…. The audio will be started this week and new audio is always exciting to me… I have two that will finish in the next couple days for review and a third that should be pretty close to being done if not this week than for sure early next week – depends on the car time 🙂

I hope you all have awesome books for me to drool over!   😛  Please add your own Monday Where Are You Reading post to the link below and I hope to stop by and see what you are reading!  😀


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Minnesota and Surrounding Area Blogger Get Togethers

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

I am working on putting together a group of bloggers in the area that would be interested in being notified when there are opportunities to connect as a group.  Last year a group of us went to the Twin Cities Book festival and really had a great time.  It was a lot of fun meeting fellow book bloggers and hanging out together.

Below you will find a form to fill out to let me know if you are interested in being notified when such book group opportunities come up.  Some ideas for get togethers may be:

Book Festivals

Summer Meet Up

A Fall Book Blogger retreat Weekend

As part of the group you would be welcome to submit suggestions if you hear of anything coming up that may be of interest to the book bloggers in the area.

Go to the Form here

Morning Meanderings: Did You Know There Is A Readathon coming?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)39 Comments

Good morning!

I have about a 14 minute window here before I need to shower, pick up Chance, get to Church, sell Banquet Tickets for all three services… then I am going to come home and attempt to make this:

Crock pot pizza pasta.  If it works, I will share the recipe next Saturday for Weekend Cooking.  If it doesn’t… we will pretend this never happened.  😛

The Dewey Read-A-Thon is coming April 9th.  This 24 hour read-a-thon is a wonderful event and I plan to participate as much as I can.  I do have a charity auction I need to participate in on that day but a book will be going with me 🙂  I have participated in the last 4 of these read a thons and they are a BLAST!  Not only is there reading but there are mini challenges, prizes, cheerleaders (yes – this event even comes with cheerleaders!)

I really can not say enough positive about this.  Go over to the Dewey Read A Thon website, check it out and sign yourself up for fun!  😀

Yipes got to run!  😀

Weekend Cooking: Chicken Nachos

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

Weekend Cooking is a fun meme hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

This morning I posted about the beauty and the taste or real sour cream vs. lite and fat-free sour cream.  Since that post…. all I can do is think about the chicken nachos I had a couple of days ago….. mouth-watering…. want more….

So…. I thought I would bring all of you to my level of CRAVING here and share with you the recipe that I LOVE LOVE LOVE for Chicken Nachos.

 

Not my picture - wish I had a picture of mine - there is more cheese, more sour cream and a lot more chicken 🙂

 

 

 

You will need:

a bag of tortilla chips

3 – 5 cups of cooked and shredded chicken breast (the amount depends on the size you are making)

shredded cheddar cheese (as much as you like)

chopped Roman tomato (as much as you like)

chopped onion

fresh chopped cilantro

salsa

heated re fried beans (optional)

REAL sour cream (you can substitute for lighter if you wish)

jalapeno (optional)

Guacamole (optional)

black olives (optional)

 

Preheat over to 300 (if you are making smaller portions can be heated in microwave)

Layer your tortilla chips in the bottom of a baking pan.  Take your shredded chicken and mix in a little taco seasoning to taste and then sprinkle with fingers across the top of the chips.  If you are using the refried beans, while they are still warm, spoon then over the chips and chicken placing dollops here and there.  Now comes the fun part.  Sprinkle on the onion, cilantro to taste, dollop salsa here and there, and then sprinkle over the top of all with the cheese.

Heat in oven/microwave until cheese is melted and gooey.  Watch closely as you do not wish to burn the cheese or the chips.  It only takes a few minutes in the oven and even less in the microwave.

Once out of the oven add the jalapeno, guacamole (dollops on top), sour cream ( generous dollops again over the top), and olives.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy!

This is so great for a fun get together with friends or a movie night snack.

 

 

Dream When You Are Feeling Blue by Elizabeth Berg

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

 

 

They were known as the “dreamy Heaney sisters”, all young and beautiful.  Kitty who is said to be a Rita Haywood look-alike is sure that her boyfriend Jillian has left her an engagement ring at the jewelry store before shipping out to fight in WWII.  After all he hinted about her going to the store after he had gone to pick up a little something he left for her!  Louise is in love with Michael who is leaving on the same day as Jillian to fight in the war but he will be on the European front, where Jillian will be in the Pacific.  Both sisters pine for their men but while Louise is getting pages and pages of letters form Michael filled with romance and love, Kitty finds Jillian’s letters to be lacking in that department and feels more like a pen pal then a possible fiance.

When Kitty goes to pick up the mysterious package at the jewelery store, what she finds makes her rethink everything she thought she knew, and find an inner independence that she never knew she possessed and make sacrifices, she could never have imagined.

 

 

 

 

Now this is the Elizabeth Berg I have come to know and love.  Recently I had listened to a couple of her reads that left me a little flat, but as my goal is to read through all of her works (come what may) in 2011… I have continued on and so far I am enjoying the journey.

Dream When You Are Feeling Blue is a story from the 1940’s and it is almost sad in some ways to see how much we have changed.  In these times, girls usually did not move out of their parents homes until they were married.  The three sisters (there is a third sister named Tish who is quite the handful) share a room in their strongly Irish home.  As I listened to this on audio it was fun to hear the thick accents of both the parents.  What struck me is how strong knit this family was, come what may – they were in it together and the sisters as well as the three brothers, all listened to and respected their parents.

When the sisters start going to the USO dances, Louise and Kitty mainly to keep an eye on their younger and wilder sister Tish, they are shocked when they see someone actually kissing out in the open.  So different from what happens today.

Another part of the book that spoke to me was the deep sacrifices they made as a family and really that is the theme of the book.  The girls sacrifice their boyfriends to the war and hope that they will return to them whole.  The family sacrifices by all doing their part to make ends meet, the girls getting jobs, Kitty even working in a factory that her parents find not fitting for a girl, but she wants to do her part for the war efforts and they are proud of that.  The food is rationed, some days there is no meat available and many of the meals sound like they had to choke them down as they were made from only what they had.  It made me think of how privileged my own life has been having never have gone without anything I needed like food or comforts of home.

I think from this review you can see this book made an impression on me.  From what I have read of Elizabeth Berg so far, this is her at her best.  While the book is about the events surrounding WWII, it is mostly about what is happening on the home front and the letters that the girls write to the men fighting in the war.

The ending shocked me…. and yes, there was a few tears shed.

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You reading Map is updated to include Dream When You Are Feeling Blue

I borrowed this audio from my library

Morning Meanderings… Real Sour Cream? No contest!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments

Good morning!

I feel like I am sleeping soooo much lately.  I used to stay up until midnight (and after) almost nightly and be up by 6 no problem and do it again.  As of the past month seems like I can not stay up past ten without drifting off and then I am sleeping to 6:30 unless I make myself get up to get things done.

Enough of that…. today I want to talk about sour cream.  I know, right?

I try ( emphasis on TRY) to eat healthy and make healthier food choices when I am at the grocery store.  As a standard, I will purchase for our household the light sour cream and if it is just for me, I buy the fat-free.  Apparently it has been a long LONG time since I have had Real full fat sour cream.

As I mentioned yesterday, Thursday evening I went with my cousins to a restaurant called Poncho and Lefty’s.  It is a nice place to eat in Baxter Minnesota and one of my favorite things to get there is the chicken nacho’s.  You can get a half order which is still HUGE and I share it with my cousin Cheryl.  This week, I brought the leftovers home for Al and ummm…. well, they never got to him.  😳

At home as I am picking through the to go container I am marveling at the texture and taste of the sour cream and thinking, “what is with this sour cream, does it come from magic cows?” Yes.  It was that good.

Then it dawned on me…. its REAL sour cream and not the stuff I eat that is a sour cream IMPOSTOR, tasteless and nowhere near as creamy, fluffy…..

Oh…. I am not sure I can go back to the stuff in the frig.  😛

 

Chicken Nachos - SOOOO GOOD!

 

 

Ok… for Alyce’s wonderful Saturday Snapshot I have to (I HAVE TO) use a picture from last weekend and I apologize to my frequent visitors that have already seen these pictures but I am still going a little “Whoa…. can’t believe I did that!”  😀  For those of you that have not been here and are thinking WHAT IS SHE DOING AND WHY?  AND WHILE WE ARE AT IT WHY IS SHE WEARING A YELLOW PROM DRESS THAT MAKES HER LOOK LIKE BO PEEP?  You are welcome to click here to read about the Polar Plunge.

You can also go to Alyce’s website and feel free to link to your own Saturday Snapshot.

 

There is no turning back now...

 

I am in!

 

 

Today promises laundry to fold, a large tub to store (LONG STORY), a trip to the library, a possible (POSSIBLE) drive to the bike trail with my hiking boots to scope out what is happening and when will the snow go away, more Floor Hockey recruiting, steaks and potatoes for dinner, and helping at church tonight sell Missions Banquet tickets for the service tonight and all three tomorrow, and I have to start making a dent in Cutting For Stone.

Whats in store for you today?

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

In 1940, Iris James is the postmistress in coastal, Franklin, Massachusetts. Iris knows more about the townspeople than she will ever say – for example, that Emma Trask has come to marry the town’s doctor, and that Harry Vale watches the ocean for U-boats. Iris believes her job is to deliver secrets. Yet one day she does the unthinkable: slips a letter into her pocket, reads it, and doesn’t deliver it.

Meanwhile, Frankie Bard broadcasts from overseas with Edward R. Murrow. Her dispatches beg listeners to pay heed as the Nazis bomb London nightly. Most of the townspeople of Franklin think the war can’t touch them. But Iris and Emma and Frankie know better…

 

 

Who are we to decide what is considered truth and who is allowed to hear it?  This is the underlying message in this book and I am thankful to say this is not as much of a war novel as it is the knowledge that there is a war happening.

 

 

 

My first impressions were “whoa – that’s a lot of characters!”…  I have mentioned this before, I prefer books with few characters as I like to get to know them.  I also struggle keeping a gaggle of characters straight when many are brought in at once or switched frequently and that does happen within this read.  As much as I enjoyed the three main female characters and found this to a pleasant read, there was a lot to keep track of and having just read another world war II book it felt a little like work to read.

But hang in there reader.  These three women do make for an interesting read.  Iris, who resides in Massachusetts is the keeper of all things postal… in this case, the local post office and insists that she be called the “postmaster”, (I am curious as to why the book was not names this, instead of postmistress). Iris’s job is a serious one as in a time where TV’s were pretty much non-existent, radios were the source of entertainment (yup – pre Twitter, texting and hang on to your chair, pre- Facebook.).  Iris was in many cases the communication life line between people such as Will and Emma… until one day…

OOPS!  Moving on 😉

American journalist Frankie Bard is the voice of the war.  Frankie’s job is to find a way to tell the stories of those she meets and this becomes her struggle, as she can not remain neutral.   Frankie’s role really becomes a center to this books as much is set around her broadcasts and the other characters (Iris who feels it can not be as bad as Frankie is saying and Emma  listening to them.

 

Emma is a young newly wed to the towns doctor, Will.  She also resides in Massachusetts.  Through a happening in the book she becomes friends with the much older Iris.  Emma waits for Wills letters that come frequently for a while…. and then they slow to the point of stopping, the results are what will bring all three of these women to a heartbreaking togetherness.

 

While the book at times felt choppy, I have to admit I took great interest in the story line…. what right do we have to withhold information?  How is it that while our world is at war we can go on living as though all is well?  This applies to the book – and I think to our every day lives.  Of course, my thoughts drift to Japan…

Final thoughts:  It is a good read but I did not find it to be an easy read and at times it felt a bit like work to follow what was happening.  If you are making a decision on this book, please check out other thoughts as well as they are mixed and this is one of those books that holds a sense of mystery around it…. some love it, some hate it….  I liked it.  🙂

 

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

 

I received this book to review for the TLC Book Tour