Book Journey

Winners List

Published on June 19, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

I have some winners to announce and seriously it is about time right? Using random.org, the winners for the following giveaways are:

Men and Dogs (Audio)

1. Robyn L

2. Steve Capell

2. Diana

3. Library Pat

Life In Spite of Me (2 copies)

1. Shari D

2. Victoria Pauley

Indivisible

3. Cindi

There are the current winners! Congratulations! I have emailed you all and once I have your addresses I will pass the info on to the publishers! 😀

Morning Meanderings…

Published on June 18, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

This one is a brief one… I was hoping to have more time this morning, but I am not at home, stayed over night for our homeless program and have been running since 6 am. I am cleaning up here and then on the trail with my friends for a morning bike ride and then a late breakfast to catch up and chat.

I will be back later with a review and maybe a giveaway…. have a few I need to get posted. Have a wonderful start to your weekend. Any fun plans?

Oh… I will leave you with this picture. This is what happens at my house if I bring the laundry upstairs but do not fold it and put it away right away:

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand – Giveaway!

Published on June 17, 2010August 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)88 Comments

Thank you to Hachette for this opportunity to give away three copies of this book!

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Greg and Tess MacAvoy are one of four prominent Nantucket couples who count each other as best friends. As pillars of their close-knit community, the MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers are important to their friends and neighbors, and especially to each other. But just before the beginning of another idyllic summer, Greg and Tess are killed when their boat capsizes during an anniversary sail. As the warm weather approaches and the island mourns their loss, nothing can prepare the MacAvoy’s closest friends for what will be revealed.

How To Enter this Giveaway

I love a good summer read! To enter this giveaway please leave a comment here letting me know your ideal summer getaway with a book. (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 July 1. USA and Canada entrants only please.

Vampires, Werewolves, Seamonsters…. and me

Published on June 17, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)60 Comments

Remember when vampires were scary?

Dracula wasn’t a teenage brooding heart-throb who looked good in designer jeans. No. He was creepy looking. Dark and spooky. Pretty sure he probably smelled like something dead too. Because he was.

I will admit (and have here on this blog) to enjoying the Twilight series… not because it was the most brilliant thing I have ever read, but because I do like books that take you out of the box and Stephanie Meyer did that. She made vampires…. not so scary. The Twilight books are not horror… they are a love story.

And look at all the series and books out now that fall under this theme, and are being devoured (no pun intended) by readers of all ages. We have seen the market saturated with spin offs and books about teen age vampires, the occasional sea monster, and hot looking werewolves. This ain’t no era of teen wolf. 😉

And while these books really don’t draw me, I am open to trying new reads, and am willing to try the occasional tale of good vs. evil with a vampire/werewolf hero.

Where I do have trouble crossing that line is when these paranormal creatures creep and crawl their way into the classics.

I wonder, does Jane turn over in her grave? Is it right to take a story that we studied both book and author in our school days… and shake it up and reformat with a pinch of paranormal? Will the youth of this age and the next read the original classics, or skip right past Austen for Seth Grahame-Smith.

“Jane who?”

I shudder to think….

My two cents….

I just can’t sink my teeth into the vampires mixed in our classics. Not even a full moon can make me howl in favor of the werewolves hanging out with the Darcey’s and I seem to be unable to get my sea legs for Sea Monsters in any form of literature.

I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂

(and you can howl if you want to!)

Morning Meanderings…

Published on June 17, 2010June 17, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

I am up. Vertical is good. Coffee is good, and my light croissant with peanut butter is good. Last night I came home and fell asleep on the couch about 7:30 pm. Then woke up at 9:00 and read…. then asleep again at 10 and didn’t get up until 6:45 this morning.

I am stretched, pulled, tired out, over booked, over whelmed, and over committed. And… I am pretty sure I have lost my muchness.

Yup. There it is.

Am I the only one that does this? Says “Yes, Sure!” “Oh absolutely!” “Let’s see I have four minutes between 6:15 and 6:19, yeah, count me in!”

Today I work until 3. Then I need to go to the post office because I have much to mail. At 4:20 I pick up the people from the day center who are part of the program I am working with this week. I make sure the people coming in to serve dinner tonight are comfortable before I make a run for it home, shower, grab my clothes and a blanket and hurry back, because it is my night to stay over night for the homeless program. Then I take them back to the day center by 8 am where I will then hurry home, load up the bikes, and meet my girl friends on the bike trail at 8:30 am where we are biking to Nisswa (18 miles one way) to shop and hang out for the afternoon and then bike back home.

I picture this version of me (I think it is me) with a smile plastered on my face laying passed out next to my bike.

Ok… I am done whining. It is another gorgeous day in Minnesota. I believe the forecast called for severe storms but I don’t see it. Its sunny and welcoming and exactly what I need. 🙂

I have what I think is a fun post coming up later today… hope you will pop in for it.

Eyes of Darkness by Dean Koontz (audio)

Published on June 16, 2010June 16, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Imagine you are a mother who lost your young son to a terrible accident a little over a year ago. Your grief has been this aching ever with you passenger in your life but you have done everything you can to move forward. You have closed his room, unable to deal with putting away your sons things, so instead you leave his room – just as it was. Then one day you are sure you see your son in a passing car, and then messages start showing up on a chalk board in his room:

Not Dead… Not Dead… Not Dead…

Dean Koontz was one of my favorite authors when I was in my late teens and early 20’s. At this time I had a handful of authors I read. He was the author I could not wait for his next book to come out. As time went on and I widened my reading horizons, Dean still held a spot in my heart. Not as intense as Stephen King, and not quite as light as Harlan Coben, Koontz writes books that I usually enjoy.

Eyes of Darkness was an interesting listen on audio. I was hit with the plot almost immediately with Tina sighting of her son, Danny. The book continues with Tina juggling her career and ex husband as strangle things begin happening. First it is the sighting, then the messages on the chalk board, Tina is hearing noises at night and the temperature during these activities, seems to drop in the room.

While listening to this audio I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but this book did not have the Dean feeling to it. It almost felt amateurish compared to what I am used to finding in his books. The scenes were a bit unreal, the characters a bit underdeveloped.

It wasn’t until the end of the audio when Dean did one of the things I love about his books, that I figured out what was missing. Dean Koontz always has a little synopsis in the back of his books as to how the book came to be. He is funny and quick-witted and I really enjoy that. What I discovered is that this is actually one of his older books, this one came out even before I had started reading him all those years ago. He had not yet developed his flare, and says so in this end piece. He also said that the book was re-released because it was going to be made into a movie. Was. The story behind this – the development team, the agents, all of it, is told in hilarious Koontz fashion. This alone made the time I spent in the audio worth while.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey travel map has been updated to include Eyes of Darkness

When in Vegas, make a stop at the Sunrise Coffee Shop where the owners put designs in the coffee foam!

Cover Story: It is good and truly a Koontz cover…. dark and mysterious

I purchased my copy of this audio from audible.com

Morning Meanderings…

Published on June 16, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

Go Coffee Pot Go!!!

Is it wrong to rush the coffee pot? I am zipping around this morning as I have a full day and I am starting it off with a big 9 am meeting that I want to look brilliant for. I have a couple of things I need to prep prior to this meeting in order for the “brilliance” to have full effect. Part of this meeting is I need to have read chapters 19 and 20 out of the book the me I want to be by John Ortberg. Love Ortberg so this is no homework assignment at all…. this is – dessert.

😀

And when today is all said and done I am going to enjoy what is supposed to be a beautiful day by rollerblading with my friend Wendy. The last week has been rainy, drizzly, damp, overcast, gloomy, cold…. and darn right frustrating. I have roller bladed and biked in this last week in rain sprinkles. I really want to be done with that. My final award of the day being this:

This is my back deck and this is where I love to sit and read when the sun is out. I took this picture this morning – pre sun…. but it is coming. The weather man said, so it has to be true right? Right? Oh please let it be true….

Before I rush out the door I want to say that yesterdays discussion about Bookaholics was so fun! And you probably (hopefully) have seen I have the survey up now. I will leave that as top post for a while and then move it to the sidebar. I hope each of you will take a moment to fill out the survey so I can get an idea of what sort of reader base I have. It’s very short and I appreciate your help.

Have a super day! I am back later with a review… maybe something more. I have a couple drafted discussions that I can’t wait to pull out but they may wait….. 😉

Boneman’s Daughter by Ted Dekker

Published on June 15, 2010June 21, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

In typical Dekker fashion… we enter a book about a serial killer who murders his victims by breaking their bones, but not their skin. A killer who stems from his own feelings of abandonment. After not being heard from for over two years, suddenly he re-emerges and abducts 16-year-old Bethany Evans. Bethany’s father, Ryan has recently returned from Iraq, after having been captured and tortured. As Ryan tried to find Bethany he is still dealing with his own emotional scars he caries with his from the war and this not only hinders his efforts in finding his daughter, but causes the authorities to wonder if Ryan is not The Boneman.

I do enjoy Dekker’s books finding the suspense filled stories to cause my heart to beat a little faster as I try to get behind the author’s pen and guess where he is going this time around. The Boneman’s Daughter was different than some of Dekker’s books that I had read, but similar in ways to his recent book,The Bride Collector.

The theme of this book is centered around abandonment, Bethany’s history with her parents have caused her to build her own protective wall around herself… and in turn reflects on how many people reflect on their faith, at times feeling as though God has abandoned them. Dekker again sends a clear message of God’s love in his own unique style.

Boneman’s Daughter was a good read, yet not my favorite of Dekker’s as I found parts to be increasingly “horror filled” and not as tame as some of his other books. While not gory – I felt Dekker pulled away from the message he started out to portray but going too far into the fear factor.

Book Journeys map has been updated to include Boneman’s Daughter

416 pages

Cover Story: It is a great cover and pulls me in.

I received this book as part of our Spring 2010 Library Sale

It will now be passed on to:Jackie from My Ever Expanding Library

Morning Meanderings…

Published on June 15, 2010June 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)105 Comments

Good Morning! My name is Sheila and I am a bookaholic.

Symptoms:

Inability to leave my home without a book in my purse, one tucked between the seats of the vehicle, or an audio in the CD player. (In many cases – all of the above.)
The ability to pick up on other people “book conversations” at great distances. Almost like bat ears I can tune into a book related topic.
Most often (in case #2) being able to walk up and join in the conversation without having to know these people.
Skipped out on meetings or other events because you were in a really good part of a book.
Own a t-shirt that says “I’d rather be reading” – and it is true.
Have misplaced a book and unable to find it as quick as you had hoped, went out and bought another copy so you could continue where you left off.
Refer to Barnes and Noble as my “Mother Ship” and all my friends know this.
Can not pass a bookstore without jonesing a little.
All the Librarians know you by name.
Stay up way too late into the wee hours of the night (which has now become morning) and discover you only have a few hours of sleep before you need to go to work.

And the point of this conversation this morning is #10. I stayed up way too late reading last night. Then I woke up at 7 am (I never use an alarm). I sat up, and thought – 5 more minutes, and layed back down. I woke up again at 8:05.

I go to work at 8.

AND – and, I had a commitment to deliver keys to a van to friends of ours this morning on my way to work. They needed the keys by 7:30 – 7:45 am and I said “no problem, It’s on my way to work!”

GAH!

So…… yeah. I have issues. Please make my day by adding to this list of bookaholic symptoms, or share your stories from the top ten here. Oh you know you have them…. 😀

(P.S. for those of you who received a survey in your email box last night but couldn’t link to it here…. it is coming yet today, I meant to draft it and instead published it…. yes, my madness continues…. perhaps I need coffee…)

Book Journey Survey (sticky post – new posts below)

Published on June 15, 2010July 15, 2010 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

One of the ideas that I picked up at the Book Blogger Convention last month was to take a survey of our readers. I thought that was a great idea and I hope you will indulge me here. I have compiled a few questions that will give me an idea of why you read this blog, how long you have been visiting, etc… At the end of one month I will compile the answers and post the overall results.

As a thank you for helping me out here, I will choose one random participant on July 16th who will receive one book of choice (up to $20) from Amazon and I will have it shipped to you.