365 Thank You’s by John Kralik

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

John Kralik was 53 years old, owner of a struggling law firm, divorced twice, distant children, 2 mortgages (not his own), a tiny apartment, and a girlfriend that was about to become his ex-girlfriend.  Life , it was safe to say, was at an all time low.

One New Years day while taking a walk to sort out his thoughts, John struggled with what he had to be grateful about.  Shoot…. he coulomb even spell the word grateful.  Certainly…. even as he looked through his crumbling life… there had to be something.

And that is where it began.  John made a decision that day to write a thank you card every day for a year in an attempt to focus on the positive.  At first it was easy, he thanked people for the Christmas gifts that he had recently received.  Then, he had to dig a little deeper.  What came out of this project was far beyond what John could have ever imagined.  Relationships…. healed and strengthened, people responded in kind, he learned more about people he hardly knew, and John’s world… became a friendly place again….

All because he opened up to the possibility of gratitude for what he had… no matter how little it seemed.

 

Read mostly in the dining room

I love books that make me realize I was wrong.

When I agreed to review this book I really thought this was going to be a little guide on writing thank you notes.  In a small way it is just that.  In a much larger and more important way, it is about a true story of a man who changed his attitude to gratitude and in turn…. changed himself into someone he wanted to be.

This book… is right up my alley.

I love stories like Pay It Forward, where a kindness changes someone…. makes us look at the good and not focus so much on all that is and can be bad around us.  It’s easy to see where the world fails… where we fail…. it takes a little effort to find the good in things sometimes but I promise you, it is there.

I take this book a little personally because I have been in the low places in my own life and have learned that even the darkest times… have a little light.  It may not be as obvious as the dark that surrounds us, but you can find it.

I won’t get all deep on you – but I will tell you this.  This book inspired me to try to do my own 365 thank you’s.  The written thank you seems almost a thing of the past, yet I know when I receive one I am always thrilled that someone took the time to thank me or appreciate me.  I want to do the same for others.  I think a project like this is one that makes you dig a little beyond the surface…. sure there are the obvious people to thank:

  • the mailman who delivers the mail to your box rain or shine (or in my case hauls books to my front door)
  • a grandparent for sharing their past with you
  • your hairdresser who has listened to your stories for years
  • the friend that is always the first one you call when things are rough
  • your spouse who you share your life with
  • the neighbor who may or may not be a part of your life
  • the adult child who struggles but you love – no matter what
  • the child still in your home
  • A relative who you may have not connected with in a while
  • a boss from the past who really made your job worthwhile
  • the person who bags your groceries
  • parents and siblings

I am going to create a sidebar button and post who I sent the thank you’s to in order to keep track.

I think this book would be a wonderful gift for someone who is struggling to find anything to be grateful for.  I found the book to be inspirational and I am so glad I for the opportunity to read and review it.

Amazon Rating

My 2011 WHERE Are You reading Map has been updated to include 365 Thank Yous


 

I received this advanced copy of this book from Shelf Awareness

 

 

 

A few of you have expressed an interest in also doing a 365 Day Thank You Challenge

Here is a button for that challenge:


Morning Meanderings…. When Reading Habits Just Get….. Embarrassing

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)51 Comments

Good morning. 😀

Let’s just cut to the chase.

I blame you.

Yes you!  Sitting there all innocent like staring into your computer screen with those innocent eyes.

Pah…. lease.

First let me get this blame game started at the beginning…. you, the bookish people who told me, “Oh!  How can you live without a library card!”

Yes, even taking it a step further last year when there was a Library Challenge…. “read you library books” it said!   It’s fun, it’s easy, and you could save a library.

I went for it.  Yup.  Gullible me went down to my local library last year and came out with a…

with a….

library card.

Of course…. if that was it, there would be no story here.

Oh no….. then there were the book recommendations……everyone is reading all over the place, my book club, my friends, and all of you here on-line offering up book choices and covers I can not resist… like book pushers really…

I am weak I tell you….

but you did not care.

No – instead I was bombarded with books, books, books….

and then it happened.

Yup.  the “A’ word.

Audio books.

*gulp*

*sweat beads*

I was drawn to the convenience…. no longer was I bound to a book where I had to hold still and find a quiet corner to read in.  Oh no….. new doors were opened when I discovered I could read…

ANYWHERE and ANYTIME.

I mowed the lawn while listening to Farenheit 451, I baked cookies while listening to House Rules by Jodi Piccoult, every morning getting ready to the sound of a book being narrated while I showered, dressed, did make up and hair and only (ONLY) shut it off as I headed out the door each morning.

I was in my bookish dream world.

SO…..

to get to the point…

(get to the point…. get to the point… get to the point… get to the point…)

Ahh yes!  The point!

For the past couple days since I asked for your help with great audio books…. I have been popping these titles into my library reserve like they were candy.  I currently am at the point where two of my current audio are going to end yet this weekend and I did not want an audio dry spell…..

yes friends…. I do think it can be too quiet.

AND then after work yesterday I went to pick up a reserve audio that had come in.  I went to the reserve shelf and pulled out two rubber banded together with my name on them.  AWESOME I thought!

Then I looked a little further on the shelf to a much longer bundle of 2 books and 4 audio…. also under my name.

*gulp*

Yet I held me head high and went to the automatic check out scanner and started scanning my treasures.  I was right at the end…. so close I could smell freedom!  …And then it happened.

The little computer scanner thingy told me I had too many audio out and would have to go to the front desk.

Oh the humiliation…..

So I took the one audio I was denied up to the desk and spoke to Mr. Library Man.  I told him my dilemma and asked if I could return the one to the reserved shelf and come back tomorrow with one to turn in.  I told him I had one on my kitchen table that I just forgot to bring back…. this is true…. Dean Koontz’ Frankenstein was waiting for return after I decided this audio was not for me….

He smiled.  It may have been condescending, it may have been pity, it might have been fear of the crazy woman in front of him white knuckling an audio book she did not want to let go of….

whatever it was.  He said “sure.”

Yes I have had coffee this morning… why do you ask?

😛

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Grab your coat and a change of clothes, we are going on an amazing adventure – and once we get started, you are not going to want to turn back!

Sheila

It is 1913 and a little four-year old girl is found coming off a ship in Australia.  She has no memory and is taken in to the home of the dockmaster and his wife and raised as their own.  When Nell, as we come to know her, turns 21, her life is turned upside down when the dockmaster shares the secret that she is not who she thinks she is.

Tormented,by the mysteries behind who she is, Nell’s only clues to her past are within a small suitcase that was with her when she was found abandoned.  Many years pass and within the pages of a book of fairy tales Nell is able to put enough together to find that she was from England and just as she is about to embark on the journey that holds the keys to her past, her granddaughter Cassandra is left in her care. All plans are then placed on hold so Nell can raise her granddaughter.

When Nell dies, it is Cassandra who picks up where the clues left off – finding herself drawn to the mysteries of who her grandmother was, she takes the journey that Nell never had the opportunity to… and unlocks a much bigger story than anyone could have imagined.

Starting out in 2005 with Cassandra and the passing of Nell, we weave back to 1913 when Nell first arrived off the ship, to 1930 when Nell turns 21, to 1976 when Nell takes Cassandra into her home.

Looking at that above paragraph you can think that this 552 page book could be just a jumble of happenings and a big confusing mess… and..

you would be wrong.

Kate Morton weaves together strong women through the decades that in some cases never met, but still have their stories entwined, making not only the women, but the story , stronger.  This writing style would not be for the light of heart or for someone of little imagination as you could easily get lost in the worlds that are within the pages, but again I had no trouble sorting out the story line, more and more fascinated and deeper involved as each page was turned.   Kate Morton holds together each story on its own and a more in-depth read I have not encountered in a long time.

As Kate is quoted from her website:

I like to think of The Forgotten Garden that way: just as a Victorian mourning brooch contains a plait made from the hairs of family members, my book’s narrative binds the lives of three women in three different eras into a single story.

At first I admit that I did find myself trying to remember what was happening when as each chapter for the most part switches years and pieces of the story.  I was asked why I was not whipping through the book, and my response was that as I read I would have to back track to recall where I was and what was happening….  however, about 100 pages in, I picked up on the flow of the read and started to truly engage in each of the different parts of the story – looking forward to what was going to happen next.

Read in the Reading Room

I was in awe of how author Kate Morton was able to detail each part of the book so well and there was no story line that lagged.  In books I have read in the past that have attempted this style of writing I have found that I prefer a storyline and skim through the others just to get back to what I like, this was not the case in this book.  Each woman was so detailed in their time period I felt as though I was there – from the detailed descriptions of the houses to the clothing and the background characters, they all held a secure spot in bringing this divine work of literature to a very satisfying close that will not soon leave my heart.

Amazon Rating

Bookies Book Club Review:

This was our book club pick for our January 2011 review.  It was a fun discussion and I was pleased to see that for as big as this book was, almost all of the group had finished it is time for the review, with a few exceptions (me included!), yet everyone was planning to finish.

My favorite discussion question was the one where we talked about what would happen if you found out everything you thought was true about your life, was false, such as Nell did when she turned 21.  At that point Nell made huge life changing decisions because of this news.  This surprised me and our discussion became pretty deep as we talked about how we would each take such news.  While some of us felt you could move froward from that moment with little disruption to your life, others strongly disagreed and felt that news like that would truly change the course of your life and you would always be left with that “what if”, and “who am I really” feeling.

Out overall rating on a scale of 1 – 5 was a strong 4.8.  In many cases, the highest rating some of our members have ever given a book.


The WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include The Forgotten Garden


I won this book from Helen’s book blog

Morning Meanderings… Bookies, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning!

I posted over the weekend that I was scraping in at the last second on our HUGE book club read that was due for review on Tuesday.  Did I make the deadline?

Uhhh…. no

Pretty much an epic fail.

I did however hold my head up high and showed up as the moderator that I am for our book club and confessed that I was not done… I had procrastinated on starting it and I was not finished.

And how did this great group of women respond?

With love and kindness as we have all been there.  I love that about my book club.  Read it, we hope you can, but we also get that life happens… and that’s ok too.  Above all else we hope you show up – book read or not.

Our review was awesome and as I have now completed the book I am ready to post my review later today as well as share their thoughts on this incredible read.  Stay tuned….

I went into book club on Tuesday evening feeling  S T R E T C H E D…. tired out, over booked (no pun intended but there it is anyway), and really had nothing else to give.

And you know what?  When it was all said and done in that two hours I was there,  this is what I left my book club thinking:

 

 

Oh yeah… also… our newest Bookie (born in December):



Audio Suggestions for 2011… Recommended Listening

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)59 Comments

It is no surprise to my regular readers that I am a BIG audio book fan.  I wasn’t always this way but about a year and a half ago I discovered that there are so many different ways to listen to them that they actually help me make time for books I wish I could get to.  I know many of you have said that you have trouble concentrating on audio but here is how I do it:

  • In the mornings while I get ready I have a book going in my IPOD in the speakers and I listen while I prep for the day
  • In the kitchen cd player while I cook or while I clean
  • In my IPOD with ear buds while I mow the lawn in the summer
  • In my car while I drive…. it really passes the time and I find I enjoy car rides so much more and when I have to travel alone – it is ideal!

My biggest audio dilemma is choosing them.  I can be a real audio snob.  I am a firm believer that the narrator can make or break a perfectly good book.  I never knew this would be the case until I experienced bad narration.

This is where you come in – those of you who have experienced great audio – I am asking for your assistance.  What I am currently experiencing is that I am need of good audio – and I do not know what to choose for fear of the “bad experience”.   I would like to make a 2011 audio play list based on your recommendations.  If I listen to that audio I will mention that you recommended the audio in my review.

Please share hear the audio books you have LOVED.  A few of you left me suggestions on the Monday What Are You reading Post and I thank you for that.  Due to your recommendations, I am now listening to The Art of Racing in The Rain (thank you Margaret of Just One More Chapter, Please)

I plan to make a list of your recommendations and put them up on my sidebar so others can look at what has been recommended for audio as well.   I will also include audio that I have particularly enjoyed too.

Morning Meanderings…. When There Are No Words

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning!

*takes a large sip of coffee and wipes mouth with back of hand*

I LOVE LOVE LOVE chatting with all of you!  You are like an addiction to me…. I read your comments, I laugh out loud, or think about what brilliant thing you said and then I respond back.  I love the community of blogging and when I comment to you, it is like having a conversation about one of my favorite all time topics:

Books.

Yet occasionally, I will post something that I just let ride without my input.  This happened yesterday when I posted about the controversy currently surrounding the changes to the Huck Finn book.  I wanted to share my thoughts and hear yours as well and I am enjoying seeing the comments come in but I have no more to say about it myself.

Note that this is a rare occurrence…. mainly because “man, I do love to chat with you!”  Blogging to me is so community oriented.  I love the books you recommend to me, the thoughts you share, and I look forward to hearing from you.

I am on a crazy day today – work, work out, 5:00 meeting and a class at 6:30 – 8:00 pm tonight.  I will not touch back to home base until around 8:30 tonight and even thinking about that makes me tired!

I have a post up later today I am pretty excited about so hope you will be able to stop back and know that when I get a chance I will be responding to your comments 🙂  I believe I am naturally chatty…

and caffeinated.  😀

Could I please get a Huck Finn light?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

There is something amazingly beautiful and pure about the classics.  I love to look at them… see them all lined up on my shelf and I quite literally (pun possibly intended) get shivers as I stand before the greats.

Classics.

The words of great authors.  And the closer to the original date of the books printing… the better.  I like my classics to be original covers, and yes – the original words.

Which brings me to the buzz currently around The Adventures Of Huck Finn.  Here is a quote from an article that was recently in our local paper:

An Associated Press story from Montgomery, Ala., reported a new edition of the two Mark Twain books has replaced the N-word with “slave.” Twain scholar Alan Gribben, who is working with NewSouth Books in Alabama to publish a combined volume of the books, said the N-word appears 219 times in “Huck Finn” and four times in “Tom Sawyer.” He said the word puts the books in danger of joining the list of literary classics that Twain once humorously defined as those “which people praise and don’t read.”

 

The word “nigger” is in the book 219 times.

When you take away the “N” word we are replacing the language of the book.  Did Mark Twain write these words to be offensive?  No.  Yet the word does hold a power to it that reflects the times and in instances such as this, a replacement word does not hold the same power that the original does.  This is not the word we would use today, but it is part of the history of the south and I for one do not believe that we silence it.  Yes it is an ugly word, but it holds within it the picture of the times and the emotions that come with it.  All of it… every word… is the creation that makes up Huck Finn.

 

So let me say it this way….. if you have your great great great great grandmother’s apple pie recipe and you decide for giggles that you are going to remove one of the ingredients and replace it with a substitute….. is it still the CLASSIC recipe that was handed down to you?  Or is it now…. your recipe? Close to the original…. but not quite.

 

What are your thoughts on this change? Any thoughts on other changes made in books?


Morning Meanderings…. Literary Mornings!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)41 Comments

Good morning.

This morning as I am thinking about how I do my weekdays, I thought I would share with you from a bookish perspective of how a typical morning goes for me…

Ready?

Grab your coffee cup and let’s go!


6:00 am:  I am up and I spend about 30 minutes with a wonderful devotional book I was given from Christmas.


6:30 as I plan my attack (pick out clothes, brush teeth, shower, make up hair, etc….) I am dodging stray bullets and rolling down steps with Lulu as I listen to the craziness that is Stephanie Plums everyday life (IPOD:  Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich)



7:10 I am in the kitchen and while the coffee is brewing and I am settling in for a quick email check I am getting in a dose of information from a dog’s perspective (Kitchen CD Player: The Art Of Racing In The Rain by Garth Stein)


7:40 I am out the door and driving to work while Diana is worried about her mom who has just been wrapped in a shower curtain and taken to the hospital with complications from her polio that has left her paralyzed from the neck down (car CD player:  We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg)


Book lovers rejoice – there are always ways to get your “reading” in!


I am curious, do you multi task with your books and/or audio?  I would love to hear how!

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)118 Comments

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:

Joy from Joy’s Book Blog

***  Joy is also a brand new participant in Monday What Are Your Reading!


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

 

I did not finish  a lot of books during this last week but I did actually get a lot of others things done that will lead to great reading this year.  Here is what I accomplished this past week:

 

  • I finally sat down and planned out what Challenges I wanted to be a part of this year.  This was fun and I think I can be successful in all of them.

  • The 2011 WHERE are you reading Map is up and now has three (woo hoo 3!!!) pegs on it coming out of the first week of January so I thrilled about that.  You still have time to join in!  😀  You can see my current map at the bottom of all my current book reviews in 2011.


  • Also – new in the house from my super fun road trip with my friend Wendy this weekend to St. Cloud and of course Barnes and Noble:

Yup!  I could not turn down the chance to pick up th LOST encyclopedia at 50% off!!!  AND Matched has been on my wish list for awhile and Wendy recommended Night by Elie Wiesel.

 

 

That was pretty much my week, but considering that I had work all week and a meeting every evening :  Monday – Thursday, I feel pretty good about what I accomplished.

 

For this week here is what I currently have going on as well as what I hope to accomplish:

 

I have not read Evanovich in years but while looking for something to listen to in my kitchen CD player at the library this one caught my eye.  I had heard that the audio’s were good and thought I would give this a try…. I am currently on disc 2 and enjoying the read!

 

 

Fresh from my library, Some Girls Are was on my wish list for 2010 and I just never got to it.  So – here it is, on my kitchen table and in the plans for this week!

 

I am listening to We Are All Welcome Here in my car.   Currently on disc 3 I am in awe of this one so far.  Key words of interest:  Polio, Iron Lung, Paralyzed

 

 

???????????

 

Currently on the IPod…… Nothing….. nada. After finishing Peace, Locomotion yesterday I have not looked to figure out what I want to download next to listen to on my IPOD.  I am open to suggestions – what would you recommend on audio?



 

Kitchen Boy that I am currently reading from last week has been put on hold for me to finish in the next 36 hours:  The Forgotten Garden which is my book club read for this Tuesday.

 


There you have it.  I am anxious to see what you are reading these cool January days and nights.  I will popping in as I can to check that out!  LINK up with the Linky below and I highly encourage each of us to take time to check out some of the other participants blogs.  It’s fun and appreciated and you never know where you may find that next great book recommendation – or blog you wish to follow.

 

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The Nineteenth Element by John L. Betcher (and a signed copy to GIVEAWAY!)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)41 Comments

You may think that there is nothing in Minnesota that grants a nuclear attack plan.

You would be wrong.

The Prairie River Nuclear Power Plant seems to be the target and with the help of a few Minnesotans as well as a Three Mile Island Survivor with a chip on his shoulder, things are looking a bit grim.

Yet just as things are beginning to look bleak, we find retired U S Government Intelligence, James Becker, living a mere six miles from the targeted plant.  As John uses his past experience to put together the clues, he is also tasked with trying to convince the government of the threat.

Can’t a retired guy catch a break?

So here I am reading a book about the government,war, and terrorists….. and I do not like reading about government, war, and terrorists.

Why then?

Here’s why.  Last year I had the opportunity to read John Betcher’s first book, The Missing Element.  In this book I was introduced to a character I really enjoyed, James Becker.  James was  light-hearted character who while dealing with serious matters, still had a snappy line here and there that made me smile and want to read more.

This past fall I was offered to read John’s second book and I  was glad to do so.  It took me awhile to fit the book into my crazy schedule but once I sat down to read it…. I was back in the world of James Becker again.

I think what makes this book enjoyable for me is that John Betcher’s writing style is down to earth.  I can’t help but like the life he writes into his character James Becker’s DNA.  SO while this topic would be one I would most certainly pass on, John writes it in such a way that I found it fascinating to research the clues and solve the mystery like a side kick in the story.   I, being from Minnesota as well, enjoyed this setting around the familiar area of  Red Wing, a place where you really are not expecting a body to wash up along the shores of the Mississippi.

John and I in Minneapolis - Oct. 2010

Amazon Rating

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map now includes The Nineteenth Element


Did I mention a Giveaway?


I did!  To enter this giveaway leave a comment on this review.

A second chance to win will be given if you blog or tweet about this giveaway (let me know in a separate comment)

For a bonus entry – subscribe to receive my posts by email (upper right sidebar) and let me know in a separate comment)

That’s it!  I will close this giveaway out on January 29th.  USA and Canada entrants only please.  The winner will be chosen using random.org

I received my review copy as well as a signed copy to give away from author John Becker