Book Journey

Berg Fest – Come and Join In The Festivities!!!

Published on February 10, 2011February 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Come One – and come all and join in on the Berg festivities!

This year I was introduced to a new author…. honestly I do not even remember how this original connection came about. It could have been a review on someone’s blog, or it could have been a title I spotted while cruising the audio aisles of my library – but whatever it was…. I fell in love with this authors writing and have been popping her books and audio like candy ever since.

Now – I want to make sure all of you take the time to try this author out for yourself.

Here is the layout… starting today through March 11th I am asking that you read (or listen) to a book by Elizabeth Berg. There are plenty to choose from!

Then link your reviews back here at Mr Linky so myself as well as other participants can go and check them out. Each review counts towards the March 11th drawing where one participant will win a Berg book of choice as long as it is available on Amazon. If you link three reviews here… you will have three entries.

Do your old reviews of Elizabeth Berg books count? If you have past reviews of Elizabeth Berg’s books yes, please link them – as long as you have written a review on them and link to that review – it will qualify. As this Berg Fest is all about reading Berg books – I would like it if you did search out a Berg book you have not read yet, even if you have read her before.

What if you do not have a blog – can you still participate? Yes – you need to leave a comment on this post about which book you read and a little bit about the book. If you do not have a blog however I would like the book to be reviewed and linked here.

** Note – if you are doing the Word Shaker read a long with me you are already one Berg book in once you post what review! 😀

More prizes may be added and if so, the updates to the prize list will be added here.

Here is the LINKY (below) feel free to add your Berg links as you go! 😀

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Morning Meanderings… apparently home of the babbling blogger

Published on February 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)49 Comments

Good Morning!

I am so tired right now.

Yesterday turned out to be much more than I had planned….. in a good way… but wow. I am exhausted.

I worked and at work my wonderful co workers left this for me on my desk:

This beautiful calla lily is now sitting at my desk. I wish I would have taken a better picture – it really is gorgeous.

Then my wonderful coworker Dawn took me out to lunch at China Buffet (I did mention I was turning off the good eating habits for a day for my birthday….) 😀

After work I worked out and then went home and SURPRISE- my hubby had changed his evening plans so we could go shopping and go out to dinner. He thought I would want Chinese (I LOVE Chinese) but I had to confess to him that ship had sailed as of my noon lunch plans. Instead we went to Poncho and lefty’s a wonderful Mexican restaurant and we split a full size order of chicken nachos. (Again – remember I took the day off from eating healthy) 😛

At 8 pm I left to meet up with friends and had a blast. They had made me a cake (ok – seriously – I took the day off from eating healthy! LOL) and we shared in a lot of laughs. Paula picked me up an amazing book – thank you Paula 🙂

Left: Amy, Paula, Deb, Dawn, Laura, and me

And then finally….

I had to (HAD TO!) treat myself to a couple of books…..

The Beth Moore book is a 90 day study on Paul. I seen this at Barnes and Noble when I was there last month and I wanted soooooo badly to purchase it but decided I could wait for my birthday. SO – it arrived yesterday – on my birthday! I love books like this and there is space inside to write which I also enjoy.

A Tiger In The Kitchen:

After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan left home and family at eighteen for America–proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger. But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Tan learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.

A Tiger in the Kitchen, which includes ten authentic recipes for Singaporean classics such as pineapple tarts and Teochew braised duck, is the charming, beautifully written story of a Chinese-Singaporean ex-pat who learns to infuse her New York lifestyle with the rich lessons of the Singaporean kitchen, ultimately reconnecting with her family and herself.

I know right? I can not wait to read this book!

And finally (yes I know – babbling on…) I have to a sweet mention to two bloggers who not only made me smile a little bigger the last few days but were also two of my roommates last year at BEA. A big thank you to Care from Care’s on-line book club who sent me a birthday card a couple of days ago. How super sweet is she? AND hugs to my wonderful friend Reagan of Miss Remmer’s Reviews who called me and sang her own version of Happy Birthday yesterday evening. Seriously – this is two great examples of why I love this community of book bloggers.

Ok… I have an early morning meeting, work until 3, Zumba class at 3:30 and dinner with my Wal-Mart friends at 4:30. Yes another crazy day of good things.

Friday I fully intend to pass out. 😀

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

Published on February 9, 2011February 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)43 Comments

Seventeen year old Mia has many things to be thankful for. She has an adoring and sweet boyfriend, a pretty exciting career in music and a possible scholarship to Julliard. She was a loving family – one that she actually likes to spend time with… and a snow day, where everyone is at home and a road trip is in the making – well that’s just icing on the cake.

And then in an instant…

it is all gone.

A tragic accident leaves Mia in a state of in between…. as she sees the devastation before her and an unsure future, Mia has really, only one decision to make….

should she stay?

If I Stay is out Bookies book club read for February. I was fascinated by the synopsis I detail above, and had a twinge of that Before I Fall feeling, which was so so so so sooooooo good. Can book lightning strike twice?

If I stay is a book about relationships. It’s about who we are and who we hope to be… and in some cases, it is about who we were.

As Mia contemplates the life she had, filled with memories of growing up, making pancakes with her mom, school work her dad, watching her baby brother come into this world, and falling in love with the boy she knows she was meant to be with…..all while laying in a coma on a hospital bed hovering between life… and death.

She has to now see if she is strong enough to movie into a future that is so different from what she has known. Mostly Mia has to ask herself if she is strong enough to move forward, when it seems so much easier just to let it all slip away.

It is hard to review this book without slipping into spoiler after spoiler, so if my thoughts here seem…. cryptic, it is intentional. I found this book to be a fast read that really did not fully impact me until after I was finished… now I sit here and the question lies on my lips…

what would I have done if I had to choose?

This book is real. This book is powerful and fans of YA will enjoy the highly emotional roller coaster of Mia’s life – before, during…. and after.

BOOKIES THOUGHTS:

This was our February book pick for the bookies book club. We brought food over to Kaydi’s house and potlucked over our discussion. We try to theme the food to the book, but in this case as the entire book is centered around Mia and Mia in mainly in the hospital unconscious… there was not a lot of food opportunity. However… never fear – as Amy was wise enough to bring jello…. a hospital staple. 😛

The book brought up many conversations on music ( a beautiful piece about this book is that it is surrounded with music – the whole family is associated to it and Mia and Adam both play instruments… we even listened to one of the songs from the book called Girl friend in a Coma by the Smiths. (seriously that’s the name of the song).

We closed up our meeting with the final question that really is what sums up the book…. what would you have done? If your entire family is killed in a car accident and you are the only survivor… do you fight to live… or do you just … let go. This part of the discussion turned deep as mixed opinions – all highly understandable were brought to the surface as well as personal memories that brought the entire Bookies to tears. It amazes me how all of us seen to carry something – no matter how many years it has been, that brings these emotions to the surface in a blink of an eye… a trigger word or phrase.

Here is something I love LOVE about book club. We can take an average read such as this one – a likable read yes, but not over the top… and we can review to the point that I feel we leave the book club feeling like we bonded a little more and we all know each other in a deeper way that makes me feel thrilled about the power of a book.

Over all bookies rating (1 – 5) A 3 3/4 rating and a box of Kleenex.

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading map has been updated to include If I Stay

I won this book from the last Dewey read a thon

from I Heart Monster

Morning Meanderings… Happy Birthday Happy Birthday!!!

Published on February 9, 2011February 9, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)90 Comments

LOL

I am having a pretty good week. After the Monday What Are You reading Celebration, a fantastic book club meeting last night (review and discussion up later today), and now today…. is my birthday.

I am in a fine festive mood and feel we need a little theme music here before I can move on so hang on while I put some music on…

hang on…

be right back…

*looking through stacks of music*

Ok… sweet! Here we go:

(Open up another browser to listen to this song while you read)

(right click on above text and click where it says open new window)

Oh come on it is 80’s! Whats not to love? 😛

Anyway while I dance around my kitchen table with my coffee cup let me share a happening and a tip….

Last night at book club I apparently dropped my cell phone in the snow. By the time I left 2 1/2 hours later (yeah… we were chatty last night) I found it iced over by my vehicle…. it was functioning but slowly.

Thanks to my son doing the same thing a year ago _ I knew what to do.

I brought it home and put it in a Ziploc of rice. Apparently the rice will draw any moisture out of the phone. The verdict? It is working fine today.

SO – birthday agenda? Nothing great really. I work until 3, then hitting the gym…. home for dinner and then 6:30 I take Chance to Youth Group and myself to class. AT 8 pm I plan to run Chance home and then at 8:15 meet up with a few girlfriends for appetizers for a small but “Woo Hoo its your birthday” gathering. The eating healthy is on hold until the Birthday is over. 😀

Unspeakable Journey by Rinda Hahn

Published on February 8, 2011February 8, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

Isabella is happy with her life. She has a loving husband and children she adores. She lives pleasantly enough and has money to buy the things they need. On the eve of her thirtieth birthday as Isabella is grabbing a few groceries at the local grocery store she is abducted in the parking lot.

Despite all Isabella does to escape, Hasam, a human trafficker arranges to have her taken into Saudi Arabia where she is presented to the Prince Latif to be taken as wife. Latif, upon meeting Isabella finds her to be a beauty of long lavish red hair and captivating green eyes.

Isabella arrives in a country foreign to her. Ripped from the love of her family and friends she is forced to live under the laws of this country and live out her Christian faith under the very large and ever-present watchful eye of the Muslim community.

Ok… first off, holy smokes did this audio get me heart racing! While this is a fiction read it felt as though it could be a memoir. Isabella’s abduction seemed very real to me, I think in the times we live in there is so much out in the world happening that I listened to the start of this audio and thought, “Why not? It could happen.”

Isabella’s story is one of a strong faith. While she loses everything that can be taken away from her, there is one thing that can not by taken – and that is God. As Isabella’s captivity goes from days, to weeks to months… she has little hope of ever returning home to her husband and her children, and she literally gives it all to God. If this is His plan for her, then she will abide. A powerful, POWERFUL reflection of being fully committed to whatever will be.

I found the characters to be well written and the story line engaging. As Isabella fully gives herself to this new husband as she is demanded to… I found this to be an incredible topic for a Christian fiction read. There are many questions that came to mind and I felt that author Rinda Hahn wrote a very impressive book.

My only complaint is the ending was so abrupt. I would have liked to have known more from that point on – however I can see where if there was to be a sequel (hint hint hint!!!) I can see where this story line could pick up and continue into another book.

A book about keeping your faith and knowing God is with you, even in the darkest of days. A wonderful debut for author Rinda Hahn, who I would gladly read again.

**Stay tune – soon I will be interviewing author Rinda Hahn

Amazon Rating

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

I purchased this audio from audible.com

Morning Meanderings… The New Classics?

Published on February 8, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)52 Comments

Good morning! I am buzzing around this morning coffee cup in hand making sure I have everything I need for the day. I have work, gym, make dinner at home, book club at 6:30 pm. Book Club! I LOVE book club!

According to a list found on Entertainment Weekly’s website – they have posted a list called the “New Classics”. The best reads from 1983 to 2008. I have went through and “white lighted” the ones I have read.

1. The Road , Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)
11. Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer (1997)
12. Blindness, José Saramago (1998)
13. Watchmen, Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986-87)
14. Black Water, Joyce Carol Oates (1992)
15. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, Dave Eggers (2000)
16. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (1986)
17. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez (1988)
18. Rabbit at Rest, John Updike (1990)
19. On Beauty, Zadie Smith (2005)
20. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding (1998)
21. On Writing, Stephen King (2000)
22. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz (2007)
23. The Ghost Road, Pat Barker (1996)
24. Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
25. The Joy Luck Club, Amy Tan (1989)
26. Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)
27. Possession, A.S. Byatt (1990)
28. Naked, David Sedaris (1997)
29. Bel Canto, Anne Patchett (2001)
30. Case Histories, Kate Atkinson (2004)
31. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (1990)
32. Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch (1988)
33. The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion (2005)
34. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold (2002)
35. The Line of Beauty, Alan Hollinghurst (2004)
36. Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt (1996)
37. Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi (2003)
38. Birds of America, Lorrie Moore (1998)
39. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri (2000)
40. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman (1995-2000)
41. The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros (1984)
42. LaBrava, Elmore Leonard (1983)
43. Borrowed Time, Paul Monette (1988)
44. Praying for Sheetrock, Melissa Fay Greene (1991)
45. Eva Luna, Isabel Allende (1988)
46. Sandman, Neil Gaiman (1988-1996)
47. World’s Fair, E.L. Doctorow (1985)
48. The Poisonwood Bible, Barbara Kingsolver (1998)
49. Clockers, Richard Price (1992)
50. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen (2001)
51. The Journalist and the Murderer, Janet Malcom (1990)
52. Waiting to Exhale, Terry McMillan (1992)
53. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon (2000)
54. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (2000)
55. The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (2006)
56. The Night Manager, John le Carré (1993)
57. The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (1987)
58. Drop City, TC Boyle (2003)
59. Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat (1995)
60. Nickel & Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001)
61. Money, Martin Amis (1985)
62. Last Train To Memphis, Peter Guralnick (1994)
63. Pastoralia, George Saunders (2000)
64. Underworld, Don DeLillo (1997)
65. The Giver, Lois Lowry (1993)
66. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, David Foster Wallace (1997)
67. The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini (2003)
68. Fun Home, Alison Bechdel (2006)
69. Secret History, Donna Tartt (1992)
70. Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell (2004)
71. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, Ann Fadiman (1997)
72. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon (2003)
73. A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving (1989)
74. Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
75. Cathedral, Raymond Carver (1983)
76. A Sight for Sore Eyes, Ruth Rendell (1998)
77. The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro (1989)
78. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert (2006)
79. The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell (2000)
80. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (1984)
81. Backlash, Susan Faludi (1991)
82. Atonement, Ian McEwan (2002)
83. The Stone Diaries, Carol Shields (1994)
84. Holes, Louis Sachar (1998)
85. Gilead, Marilynne Robinson (2004)
86. And the Band Played On, Randy Shilts (1987)
87. The Ruins, Scott Smith (2006)
88. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (1995)
89. Close Range, Annie Proulx (1999)
90. Comfort Me With Apples, Ruth Reichl (2001)
91. Random Family, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc (2003)
92. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (1987)
93. A Thousand Acres, Jane Smiley (1991)
94. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (2001)
95. Kaaterskill Falls, Allegra Goodman (1998)
96. The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown (2003)
97. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson (1992)
98. The Predators’ Ball, Connie Bruck (1988)
99. Practical Magic, Alice Hoffman (1995)
100. America (the Book), Jon Stewart/Daily Show (2004)

There are many on this list I want to read: Beloved, The Things They Carried, The Handmaids Tale, The House On Mango Street, and A Prayer For Owen Meany to name a few. It would be interesting to post this list again in a year and see if I have made any progress.

I am curious – which of these have you read? Are there books missing from this list, and if so which? Are there books that do not belong on this list?

*On a completely random note – thank you to everyone who visited yesterday and helped celebrate the one year anniversary of Monday What Are You Reading? A fun fact – J Kaye gifted this meme to me on February 8th 2010. That day was the biggest day I ever had on this blog. Yesterday, February 7, 2011, that record was broken.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY

Published on February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)225 Comments

Welcome to the One Year Anniversary Party for It’s Monday What Are You Reading! This weekly meme was transferred to me from J Kaye, one year ago this week. I can not believe it has been a year already! I have been having so much fun with this meme and having the opportunity to share what we are reading.

This week will work like any other week with just a couple additions. First – every participant who links to this meme this week with their own “Monday What Are You Reading” post will go into a drawing for a $20 gift card to Amazon. Secondly – leave a comment on this post letting me know a)how long you have participated in this meme and/or b) a blog or blogger you now follow because you found them through this meme. ***If you post a Monday What Are You Reading post and leave a comment with the above information you will be entered twice into the drawing. If you do not have a blog but still follow this meme and visit other blogs bacause of it, leave a comment here with the “b” part from above and you will be entered as well.

Hopefully that is not too confusing. 😀

As for everything else – we still continue as we always have:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

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. 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 (♥selections updated!♥) and email me your choice with your mailing address as well! journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

This past week was…. insane. I did not have the reading time that I had hoped during the week and then this weekend it kind of broke free and I started catching up. At this point I have reviews written for books I have read but due to last weeks schedule did not have them written or ready to post so now I have a back up of book reviews…. expect a review a day this next week:

Word Shakers On Line Book Club – Read A Long Chosen!

Help! I Have Lost My Identity! (searching for assistance in my missing Gravatar on some blogs)

This Book Is Overdue by Marilyn Johnson ( an interesting look at Librarians and what they have contributed and continue to contribute in the name of reading!)

The Secret Life Of Emily Dickinson by Jerome Charyn (review and book tour)

First Timers Cookbook by Shawn Bucher (Review)

As mentioned above – several books were finished this weekend and reviews written…. but in order to not overkill on posts I will wait patiently to get them out one day at a time this week.

So moving forward this week fills pretty good. Tuesday is book club so I will be able to release my thoughts on our February read of If I Stay as well as announce what we have voted to read next…. as for my reading plans:

When Kelley moves to New York to pursue her dreams of theatrical success, she expects that her only encounters with mythical beings will be confined to the stage, in the Avalon Grande Theatre’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. All of that changes when she meets Sonny Flannery, who introduces Kelley to a world she never knew existed. A member of Auberon’s Janus Guard, he patrols the portal (in Central Park) between the human and faerie worlds on the few dangerous nights when it opens and members of the Unseelie Court can pass into the mortal realm. He is strangely drawn to Kelley, and as he gets to know her, he begins to suspect that there is more to her history than either of them know. Through encounters with sirens, hellhounds, and kelpies, Kelley and Sonny are drawn irrevocably into a battle among the Fey. Despite the budding attraction between them, forces they can hardly understand seek to keep them apart.

I just picked this one up on audio from the audible.com first in the series sale. I started listening to it on Saturday.

Since novelist Helen’s husband, Dan, died a year ago, she’s been unable to write, and though her publisher and agent aren’t worried, she is, particularly after a disastrous performance at a public speaking engagement leaves her wondering if her writing career will be another permanent loss. Meanwhile, daughter Tessa is getting impatient as Helen smothers her with awkward motherly affection. Tessa longs for distance and some independence, but Helen is unable to run her suburban Chicago home without continually calling on Tessa to perform the handyman chores that once belonged to Dan. And then Helen discovers Dan had withdrawn a huge chunk of their retirement money, and Helen’s quest to find out what happened turns into a journey of self-discovery and hard-won healing. Berg gracefully renders, in tragic and comic detail, the notions that every life—however blessed—has its share of awful loss, and that even crushed, defeated hearts can be revived.

Home Safe hit the kitchen cd player today after I finished listening to Testimony.

Widowed at 34, amateur harpist Marie “Angel” Buchan realizes at 40 that her life and dreams are slowly slipping away. A summer in Scotland turns out to offer far more than she ever imagined! Not only does the music of her harp capture the fancy of the small coastal village she visits, she is unexpectedly drawn into a love triangle involving the local curate and the local duke.

The boyhood friends have been estranged as adults because of their mutual love of another woman (now dead) some years before. History seems destined to repeat itself, with Marie in the thick of it. Her involvement in the lives of the two men, as well as in the community, leads to a range of exciting relationships and lands Marie in the center of the mystery of a long-unsolved local murder. Eventually she must make her decision: with whom will she cast the lot of her future?

Angel Harp is a bit of a chunkster so I am going to devote most of my reading week to it.

That’s the plan. I can not wait to see what you are all reading this week! Thank you for being a part of this weekly meme which really is a favorite of mine weekly! Please add your own Monday What Are You reading post to the linky area below so we can all come and see what you are reading too! 😀

Oh and don’t forget to comment about how long you have participated in this meme and/or a blog or blogger you now follow because of this meme. This will put you into the Anniversary drawing for the gift card!

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Word Shakers Read A Long February Pick

Published on February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

It’s has been since last fall that we have a group book discussion through Word Shakers On Line Book Club. Finally after the business of the holidays and the recovery time, I am ready to dust off this read a long and hope that many of you will decide to join me.

This year I have taken an interest in Elizabeth Berg’s writing. This is an author that has surprised and delighted me with her style and I am thinking if I had been missing out of this amazing author, how many of you have not had the opportunity to read her either? The book for this read a long will be Elizabeth Berg’s most recent release:

As onetime classmates meet up over the course of a weekend for their fortieth high school reunion, they discover things that will irrevocably affect the rest of their lives. For newly divorced Dorothy, the reunion brings with it the possibility of finally attracting the attention of the class heart-throb. For the ever self-reliant, ever left-out Mary Alice, it’s a chance to reexamine a painful past. For Lester, a veterinarian and widower, it is the hope of talking shop with a fellow vet—or at least that’s what he tells himself. For Candy, the class beauty, it’s the hope of finding friendship before it’s too late. As these and other classmates converge for the reunion dinner, four decades melt away: desires and personalities from their youth reemerge, and new discoveries are made. For so much has happened to them all. And so much can still happen.

This book will be a new one for me as well as I have been reading many of Elizabeth Berg’s books, but have yet to read this one. On another note – joining in for the read-a-long will fit in nicely with another event I will be posting later this week.

Here is how Word Shakers works:

Fill out the form below with your interest in participating. Read the book between now and March 15th. On March 6th an email will be sent to all participants with questions on what you thought of the book. Participants will fill out the form that will automatically come back to me. I will compile the results in a review that will be posted here on March 22. A linky will be available on that post for you to attach your reviews of this book as well. *You do not have to have a blog to participate in Word Shakers book club.

If you have already read the book you are still welcome to join in. If you would like to be included in a mailing group that will be notified each time a new read is announced, leave me a comment below saying so and I will add you to the group. (*You do not need to post your email, I receive it with every comment)

Fill Out This Form to Join

Morning Meanderings… Super Bowl… (wait for it….) COMMERCIALS!!!

Published on February 6, 2011February 6, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)56 Comments

Good morning!

Fingers are flying across the keyboard this morning…. must be the coffee.

Today is a day that many people wait all year for. The super bowl. You here the excitement build up in those last games of the season… some teams drop off the chart, others hang in there and finally (FINALLY) it is down to two teams… and if your team is not one of them… you usually go into this BIG GAME tonight still rooting for one over the other.

My friend Wendy (Hi Wendy!) is a HUGE Packer fan. Even though she lives here in Minnesota, she is originally from Wisconsin and she is Packer all the way. I can imagine that she probably does have the face paint, jersey, and the foam finger…. even if she will not admit it. 😉

I however – have never been interested in football. Yet every year we will go over to friends over large quantities of appetizers and watch the big screen. I go… to hang out with the girls and catch up…. and for the commercials. My super bowl goes like this:

*The game is on the TV*

Girls: Talk, talk, talk, giggle, talk, talk, NO WAY!, laugh, talk talk

*Commercials come on*

Me: “Quiet everyone – it’s the commercials!”

Yup. It’s true. I do like a well written commercial and that is the highlight of the game for me. (Please do not hit me with your foam finger.) 😀

What is not to love?

DO you watch the game? Any game plans?

The First Timers Cook Book by Chef Shawn Bucher

Published on February 5, 2011February 5, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)36 Comments

This cook book is the book that will take you through all the basics to cooking up a delicious meal – even if you are new to the kitchen and cooking scene. I am reviewing this today as part of the Weekend Cooking meme at Beth Fish Reads

Confession: I did not inherit the cooking gene.

My mom could pull random items out of the refrigerator and mix up a dinner that was delicious in mere minutes. I on the other hand seem to find myself at the grocery store every few days needing ingredients to make something… for some reason my kitchen has never flowed with all the necessities to make meals for more than 4 days at a time and I seem to never have the basics, or if I do – I don’t know how to combine them into something….

edible.

It’s true. The kitchen in our home is probably the room I spend the least amount of time in.

Books like this – are a gift even to a person like me who has been married with children for a long time.

In Shawn Bucher’s cookbook, he takes you from how to select meat at a store and the steps to preparing it – all your basics of beef, chicken, and fish are covered in techniques such as baking, broiling, grilling, and frying.

In the vegetable section which takes us from how to select them to how to cut and cook with them. I even picked up a couple of tips here.

The book goes on to explain cooking great pasta, making soup stock, choosing fruits and how to prepare them, and basic cookware needed to get a jump-start on your kitchen menu planning.

When I look at cook books, I want to make something in them. Tonight’s dinner thanks to The First Timers Cook Book will be roasted chicken, with carrots, celery, and onion in the bottom of the pan and baked potatoes. (My family will not know what hit them!) 😀

This book would make a lovely gift for newly weds or a new college student. I am already picturing gift baskets in the future for upcoming events such as these that will include copies of this book, a couple of dish towels, measuring spoons, a bowl, spatula, and a whisk.