Morning Meanderings… the Thrilling Dangers of Blog Reading

Published on August 17, 2010August 17, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)73 Comments

Morning all! Hope this Tuesday finds you all in happy places.

This morning I want to do something I have been thinking of doing for some time now, just hadn’t been organized enough to pull it off. 😉

As you probably know Mondays are the big What Are You Reading posts that J Kaye from J Kaye’s Blog kindly left in my hands when she stepped away from her book reviewing to concentrate more on her writing. I was (and still am) so excited for this to be entrusted into my care.

I love that many readers from all over the blogosphere as well as from homes all over the world, stop in and share what they are reading. It amazes me to see how alike, and how different the reads can be.

That said, I have been meaning to highlight some of my finds while I stop and say hi to these “Monday Memer’s” There are so many good book out there but there are usually a few that stop in my tracks and cause me to write a title down – or quickly reserve it on my online library reserve link (which is always up and ready to go while I explore the blogs.

So…. let me share with you what I found yesterday among what you are reading:

First off, over at Book Addict’s Book Reviews I found this book, Clay’s Ark.

The cover… blows me away. Seriously. And the title draws interest…. I want to look more closely at this book.

Then at alita.reads, I found Rebecca. Rebecca was on my “must read list” for summer. Um…… last summer. And I never got to it. Then I see this review and realize I am still missing out on a great read. I know I am!

Have you read Rebecca? Am I missing out on something wonderful?

Over at Friday Friends I found a book that I did not see the review on it yet, but on cover love alone (ok and maybe title) I was drawn to Baking Cakes in Kigali.

I wonder what is in the pages? I have to look into this one more and am looking for it at my library.

And then – totally not book related…. well, wait. That’s not true…. over at Booking Mama, Julie was showing in a post a gorgeous bracelet based off the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. Also on my to be read list. Also – still unread. The Boo Radley charm bracelet is so cute and it actually makes me want to read the book more…. you have to stop by and see the bracelet and there is a necklace too.

Love this cover – can’t wait to read the book. can’t believe I haven’t yet.

and then ( oh yes, there is more!) I was at Everything Distils Into Reading, and seen Stolen. And then after that I seen Stolen on a few other blogs too, and knew this one had potential.

Love the cover…. not sure why….

Then at Linus’s Blanket I seen the book Yummy, The Last Days Of A Southside Shorty and not only looked for it at my library, but when I did not find it I filled out the form to request that it is purchased. This book is one I know will be a powerful read.

Would you, could you, read this true story?

Then finally, at Memoirs Of Life I seen another read… one that I could not pass up. Left To Tell is another book that drew me right in and I do have this one ready to be picked up at my Library today.

In a word, wow.

And that is what I love about the Monday What Are You Reading and why I encourage participants to check out a few of the other blogs. You never know what book might cause you to write down the title… look for it at your library or in a store…. you never know what book could be THE BOOK that you will be talking about for the next year.

Happy reading friends! I work today, I play kick ball tonight. DO NOT LAUGH. Ok…. laugh a little. It’s my third year on this team. It’s not pretty. I am out more often than not… but it’s fun.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on August 15, 2010August 16, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)125 Comments

Seriously did that feel like 7 days to you? I think we skipped a day or two because here we are at Monday again and I feel like it is Friday. 😛

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 (using Random.Org) was:

Jennifer at Rundpinne

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

So lets see what happened in my little corner of the blogosphere this past week:

Why I participate in a bike ride for a camp for people with AIDS

I wrote a guest post for Trisha at Eclectic Eccentric while she is away and I played “Housekeeping for her blog”… embarrassing pictures and all….

Review: White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

Review: Thumbing Through Thoreau compiled by Kenny Luck

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand Audio Giveaway

Review: Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

Long Overdue Winners Post

I guess not such a bad week. I have several reviews still to get posted and that is really where I am at right now.

Reviews yet to post:

Summer At Tiffany by Marjorie Hart (this will go up with the online book club review)

Clementine, Friend Of The Week

The Evolution of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott

Eat The Cookies, Buy The Shoes by Joyce Meyer (book and audio reviews)

Men and Dogs by Katie Crouch (audio review)

auf Wiedersehen by Christa Holden Ocker

Blind Hope by Meeder and Sacher (with giveaway!)

BUT – looking ahead here is what I have brewing for this week:

I recently asked on a giveaway post for readers to recommend great summer reads for me. I still want to get my “summer on”. Hannah from Word Lily recommended Sarah Dessen as that was enough of a push for me to pull this book off my shelf. This is the only Dessen I own and I have been wanting to try this author for some time.

I LOVE this cover…. I so want to know what’s inside and can not wait to give this book a try!

The book chosen through the “Choose The Next Book I Read” post. Using random.org, the winning # was 9 and that was Julie at My Book Retreat pick. I will read this one and pass it on to her.

That’s my reading plan this week. I have a bike ride on Saturday and Sunday afternoon I leave for a Leadership Retreat until Tuesday afternoon. I will have the Monday What Are You Reading post up before I go….

Please enter the link to your Monday What Are You Reading below where it says “Click Here”. I cant wait to see what you are reading this week!

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Click here to enter your link and view the entire list of entered links…

LONG Overdue Winners Posted

Published on August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

*sigh* Time and again I swear I am not going to get behind on posting winners. But….. I have done it again. That thing called life took over and next thing I know I have missed getting this done and I truly do apologize and will try to be better at this.

I have three winners for The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand!!!!

Using Random.org here are the lucky entrants:

Bookjunkiemom09 Blog

Krista

Cindy Woolard

I have two signed copies of this wonderful book in my possession that I am passing on to two lucky winners. Using random.org – my winners are:

Laurel

Word Lily

I have three winners to announce for this book, The Secrets Of Newberry using random.org the winners are:

Colleen Turner

Page Inman

Margie

The winner of “Choose The Next Book I Read is:

Julie

Julie picked The Mermaids Chair by Sue Monk Kidd so that is on my TBR and as soon as I have it read it will be passed on to her.

And finally…

My July winners for my monthly comment drawing are:

Tea

Barbara

These two winners get to choose one of my gently used books from my gift box!

and finally –

My number one commenter for July 2010 and the winner of the $20 Gift Card from Amazon goes to:

Laurel

**Note that the August comment giveaway is going on right now (see post on top of this blog for details)

Thank you to everyone! You all have been emailed about your win! 😀

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

Published on August 15, 2010August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

I was thinking I had not read Kristin Hannah before this read but then recalled that yes I had. I had read Firefly Lane in early 2009 while I was in Honduras. I was curious if her characters could speak to me like the ones in my first read of hers did.

Sheila

30 something Meghann Dontness is a divorce lawyer in Seattle and doing quite well for herself. Clare Cavenaugh, Meghann’s younger half-sister, is a single mom to a five-year old daughter in a small town in the Pacific Northwest who helps her father run a small resort.

The girls, coming from a disrupted childhood of a mother who chose Hollywood to raising her children. Meghann who pretty much single-handedly raised Clare still keeps an eye on her from afar but finds some of Clare’s choices to be annoying (like falling for the country singer and planning to marry him), but the differences between the girls are all pushed aside when Clare is diagnosed with a brain tumor and Meghan may have the connections needed to make amends in more ways than one…

This was a smooth read of two sisters who lives had become far from each others. Hardened Meghann had grown up too fast and drover herself too hard to be the best she could be. Opposite to this is Clare who lives life in the slow lane enjoying each moment. It takes a tragedy to bring these two together to work out things of the past.

It’s no secret that I enjoy books on friendships and this book is no exception. Written in a way that seems consistent with what little I have read of Kristen Hannah, I found the characters to be well-developed with life breathed into them.

My only complaint is that the plot occasionally felt a bit stretched, a little too much of several things coming into play that made it feel unreal and took away from the read for me, but was not a deal breaker.

A good breezy summer read. In the end I closed the final page feeling satisfied and will admit that this was a three kleenex book for me – so do not say you were not warned. 🙂

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading Map to include Between Sisters

If you are in Seattle looking for a good lawyer like Meghann – or for that matter a good cup of coffee, your stop would be Bauhas Books and Coffee.

Cover story: I do like my cover, but actually prefer the one I seen online – it is lighter and more summery looking which appeals to me.

I purchased my copy of this book from our local Library sale.

Morning Meanderings…

Published on August 15, 2010August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Happy Sunday everyone.

The weekend went pretty fast for me. I know it’s not over but with Al being out-of-town I hoped to get more house stuff done – but did make a nice dent in projects.

Yesterday morning Wendy and I rode bike to Nisswa and had breakfast before we biked back. We had a great time and yes, Wendy is a coffee drinker – see exhibit A:

Exhibit: A Wendy drinking coffee in Nisswa

We had a waitress named Donna and it was her first day. We asked if we could sit outside as the restaurant was full so they sat us up and Donna took our orders saying we were her first outside customers. She was extremely friendly and Wendy and I both ordered the egg beater veggie omelets without cheeses and dry wheat toast. (Game on Diet people…. I have to stay on game) 😛

When Donna brought out our food she said it down and casually said, “I will be right back to refill your coffee cups. Your eggs look really tasteless.” She then proceeded to turn a little red and say, “I meant tasty!”

Wendy and I really laughed at this and totally left Donna off the hook. I told her that I thought this was probably a bad time to ask for salt and pepper then. Anyway – the omelets were tasty and Donna received a nice tip from us, and hopefully she had a good story to share with her family last night. 😀

Anyway – today promises to be lovely. I need to get myself ready for church, my final weigh in for the week and I will update the Game On Journal when I get back home.

Have a beautiful Sunday and please, feel free to share any of those fun restaurant moments here. 😀

The Island by Elin Hilderbrand audio giveaway

Published on August 14, 2010August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)65 Comments

Thank you again to Hachette for allowing me to have 3 copies of this audio set to give to my readers.

Four women-a mother, her sister, two grown daughters-head to Tuckernuck for a retreat, hoping to escape their troubles. Instead, they find only drama, secrets, and life-changing revelations.

How To Enter this Giveaway

I am not giving up on summer yet and I love books about beaches, vacations, friendships, and sun! To enter this giveaway please leave a comment here letting me know what book you recommend as a “must read” for me yet this summer. *If I can get the book in audio that is worth a bonus entry. (You much complete this task to be entered)

Want more chances to win?

For two extra chances to win, become a subscriber (or be a current subscriber) of this blog (do this in the upper right side bar) and let me know in a separate comment

Blog about this giveaway and let me know in a separate comment and receive two more entries

Twitter about this giveaway or link tot his giveaway on Facebook and let me know here for another entry

This giveaway will end on September 1. USA and Canada entrants only please.

Oh, and prefer to have a book to an audio? Elizabeth over at Thoughts From An Evil Overlord has three copies of this available for giveaway in hard cover!

Thumbing Through Thoreau – compiled by Kenny Luck

Published on August 14, 2010August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Years ago my book club dabbled in the words of Henry David Thoreau’s within the pages of Walden. What a treat it was to have an opportunity to experience him here in this book, Thumbing Through Thoreau.

Sheila

On July 4, 1835, when Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, he was probably unaware that his abode in the woods, and the impact and influence of that endeavor, would forever echo through time. Thoreau was an uncompromising idealist; “The mass of men,” he famously wrote,”lead lives of quite desperation.” Yet the scope of Thoreau’s message is much wider than social criticism. He speaks of spiritual transcendence in Nature and the unbound potential of the individual. Thoreau is a dreamer and he speaks to dreamers. In a word, shun dogmatism and demagoguery; see beyond the immediate conventional religious explanations to reap a higher understanding. In our commodified contemporary American Society, with the rise of religious intolerance and fundamentalism, materialism and mass consumerism, Thoreau’s message is needed more than ever. Author Kenny Luck has thumbed through Thoreau’s voluminous journals, correspondences and other publications to make this the most comprehensive collection of Thoreau aphorisms available.

If you enjoy quotations , poetic words for thought, this book is worth your time. Created from Thoreau’s journals and various writings, all placed into one book. We all know Thoreau’s work even if we did not know it was his. These quotes have stood the test of time and you will still find throughout modern literature today.

: “What Nature is to the mind she is also to the body. As she feeds my imagination, she will feed my body…” page 166

Reading through this book was a refresher course in Thoreau. I enjoyed reviewing my memories of quotes from Walden and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this as I am not a big poetry style reader.

This is a lovely gift book, or a coffee table book. Its one that you will want to pull from the shelf again and again.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading map to include Thumbing Through Thoreau

I received my review copy from Tribute Books

Morning Meanderings… HUNGRY for words

Published on August 14, 2010August 14, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

I am in a bookish mood. Which… for me….can be dangerous. I want to read, which is a good thing, but I want to read about everything I see. I am very happy with my current read, Summer at Tiffany, but finishing up my review of Thumbing Through Thoreau last night left me hungry for words. I want to finish Stop Laughing At Me, and get started on The Red Queen, and I have yet to read Linger but I want to…. and finish up my thoughts on Her Fearful Symmetry, and why have I waited so long to read Fallen…..

and….

Well…. you are picking up what I am putting down. I am in a reading frenzy. Which actually is perfect as after my morning bike ride with Wendy at 8 am (goal: 32 miles and breakfast in between) and a brief stop at the bike shop, I am coming home to do some cleaning while listening to audio, and also some reading. I have the house to myself today so after my initial break out this morning – I do not plan on leaving again.

And since I am hungry for words I will shoot off a couple other random things here –

This morning I signed up for Audiobook Community. I haven’t really looked into it much yet but I do like audio. I am also waiting patiently for the promise from Swaptree that they will soon be swapping audio books. They originally said August 1, but it has yet to happen.

I also want to put in a little plug her for Kay Arthur’s book, Cinderella Society. I read it last fall and really enjoyed it. While emailing her last night I realized I never did really give a shout out to her book when it went live this spring. So, check out my review of Cinderella Society and see if it is a fit for you.

FINALLY – finally.... I received this interesting email about the books our current and past two Presidents have read their first year in the office. (Well, of course I was curious!) As much as I wanted to believe that maybe at least one of these Presidents curled up in the oval office with something to the likes of The Hunger Games, dabbled back in the day with a little Harry Potter, or indulged in a great mystery like Shutter Island… this was not the case. At least not in this document.

American Presidential Book Club

So that’s me for this morning. Looking at what I have written I guess the word would be scattered… hmmm…. much like yesterday. Perhaps a nice bike ride will cure me. 😀

Morning Meanderings… sticking your head where it doesn’t belong…

Published on August 13, 2010August 13, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning! I am a little late in my post this morning mainly because I have been puttering around the house doing odds and end things, had some oatmeal, a couple of cups of COFFEE, updated my Game On chart and journal, and well, I guess I am just not really focused.

Yesterday Wendy and I biked from Brainerd to Nisswa, a 32 mile round trip jaunt. Next weekend she is doing her first bike ride with me at Itaska State Park and I wanted her to get in a little practice. It was a fun ride, the weather was perfect and in Nisswa we stopped and seen a friend of ours, Don, who was having pizza at Rafferty’s. This pit stop led to the following picture….

Yeah. Some things you just can’t pass up…. even when you should. 😛

Today it looks like the sun is going to come out which is wonderful since it stormed all night and was still raining up until about 30 minutes ago. I am off to help a co-worker learn a new program and then picking up some groceries for my hubby. He is going golfing with a friend up at our cabin this weekend and I am thrilled because the guy never takes a break when we are in season and he needs one.

This leaves my weekend plans to maybe get in another bike ride or two… definitely some reading and hanging our with our Kinship Partner Chance. I hope to shampoo my carpets too with having the house to myself. I need to enjoy this weekend as the next one will be crazy busy.

How about you? Any plans for this weekend?

White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

Published on August 12, 2010August 12, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments

It is 1967 and Kate and Frankie are sisters from America, growing up in Hong Kong while their father is a war photographer for Time Magazine. The girl’s mother, often overwhelmed with the war, and reality itself, seeks comfort in painting. In her paintings she created an alternative “now” and she fully embraces it and wishes her daughters would too.

The girls are watched mainly by their amah (a woman employed as a servant) and find it quite easy to escape beyond her attention, and do exploring of this world they live in on their own. While swimming they find a floating body of a Chinese girl and at that point their innocence seems to take a turn. As the summer progresses, Frankie becomes more reckless and an incident causes someone to die and younger sister Kate becomes the keeper of secrets.

♦ ♦ ♦

Taking a deep breath, I have to honestly say it took me a couple of times to get going into this book. While written in almost a poetic manner (page one was beautifully written), I found it to almost drone on and I was lost within the words – and not within the story.

The book is told by younger sister Kate. Kate is 12. The sisters left under so little supervision get into a lot of trouble, especially Frankie who lacks the parental attention she needs, starts to find it in the male friends of her fathers. I found myself on one hand angry at their mother for being so absent, buried in her paintings while her daughters strayed into dangerous areas, and on the other hand taking pity on the woman who was obviously overwhelmed by all that had become of her dreams.

While I never found the book riveting, in the end I have to say I am glad I read it. My favorite part of this read was the incredible detailing. Author Alice Greenway writes of a Hong Kong that I could see with vivid colors and descriptive smells that made me feel as thought I was standing outside the bakery myself peering in at two sisters, Kate and Frankie.

A poetic type read that I am glad I picked up and finished. In reality, a wonderful first novel.