Gilmore Girls Mini Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

In honor of the wonderful Gilmore Girl Challenge – Lisa over at Lit and Life asked me if I would do a Mini Challenge and I was honored to do so.  If you are familiar with the series (and I hope you are!)   This mother/daughter quick whit team refers to so many books…. well so many – that there is a Gilmore Girl Challenge.

Another thing they refer to almost as much as books, is movies.  Since Lisa has the book part of this Challenge well covered, I am going to take the movie part.  I think many of us who love books, also love good movies!  So here is my Challenge to you.  Over these winter months we tend to watch more tv…. SO – your task, my fellow Gilmore Girl addicts….. is to watch and review some of these wonderful choice movies!

This Challenge will start today and go through March 8, 2010.  To do this challenge you need to watch and review any of the movies on the list below.  As you do your reviews, use Mr Linky to link directly to your movie review for this mini challenge.  Be sure to link DIRECTLY to the review so I can count it.  For each review you do on the movies from the Gilmore Girls, you will receive one entry for a change to win choice – either The Gilmore Girls Soundtrack or the Coffee AT Luke’s book.

One more thing… You must be signed on for the Gilmore Girl Challenge in order to participate in this one.  What!  You are not signed up?  Well it is not too late!  Pop over and look at the challenge – the books are a wonderful selection and it is going to be a ton of fun!

The Movie List

2000 Year old man
2001
3 Days
8 mile
9 1/2 weeks
AI
Alive
All About Eve
All the President’s Men
American Gigolo
American in Paris
Amistad
An Affair to Remember
Animal House
Annie Hall
Apocaplypse Now
Arthur
Attica
Autumn in New York
Babe
Babe II
Bambi
Banger Sisters
Basic Instinct
Batman
Battlestar Galactica
Beautiful Mind
Ben Hur
Benji
Bewitched
Billy Jack
Blades of Glory
Blood on the Highway
Blue Crush
Blue Lagoon
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Bonnie & Clyde
Boogie Nights                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Boxing Helena
Breakfast Club, The
Breaking Away
Bride of Chucky
Bridge On The River Kwai
Brigadoon
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Bringing up Baby
Brokeback Mountain
Bugsy Malone
Bull Durham
Bye Bye Birdie
Byron
Cabaret
Cabin Boy
California Suite
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Casablanca
Champ, The
Charlemagne: Holy Barbarian
Charlie’s Angel’s Full Throttle
Chico & the Man
Chinatown                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Christmas Carol (Also on the book list!)
Cinderella
Citizen Kane
Cocktail
Cocoon
Coming Home
Cool Hand Luke
Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The
Crimes & Misdemeanos                                                                                                                                                                                                               Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Crucible, The
Damned, The
Dances with Wolves
Dangerous Liasons
Das Boot
Dead Calm
Dean Martin Roast Don Rickles
Deerhunters, The
Delovely
Desperately Seeking Susan
Detective, The
Dick Tracy
Dig
Diner
Dirty Dancing
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Dog Day Afternoon
Dollhouse,The
Dr. Dolittle                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Dream A Little Dream
Driving Miss Daisy
Duece Bigalow
Dumbo
Easter Parade
Ed Wood
Edward Scissorhands
Electric Boogaloo
Endless Love
Endless Summer
Enter the Dragon
Erin Brockovich                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
Everest
Exorcist, The
Fair Pentitent, The
Fame
Farenheit
Fast & the Furious, The
Fatal Attraction
Fatso
Ferris Bueller’s Day off
Fiddler on the Roof                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Field Of Dreams
Final Destination (1,2,3)
Flashdance
Fletch,
Fly, The
Footloose
For Keeps
Forty-Year-Old Virgin
Freaky Friday
Fried Green Tomatoes From Here to Eternity                                                                                                                                                                              Funny Face
Funny Girl
G.I. Jane
Gaslight Ghost                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Ghostbusters, The
GI Jane
Gigi
Girl, Interrupted
Glitter
Godfather, The
Gone with the Wind
Good Morning Vietnam
Good Night & Good Luck
Good Ship Lollipop
Goonies, The                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Graduate, The
Gray Gardens
Grease
Great Santini
Grease
Grinch Who Stole Christmas
Hairspray
Hamlet
Hannibal Lector Movies
Hardbodies
Harold & Maude
Harvey
Heathers, The
Heidi
High Noon
His Girl Friday
Hitch
Hoosiers                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Hotel Rwanda
Hudson Hawk
Ice Castles
Inconvenient Truth, An
Inherit the wind
Into the Woods
Invasion of the Bodysnatchers
Ironweed (ALSO ON THE BOOK LIST!)
Ishtar
It Happened One Night
James Bond Movies
Jarhead
Jerk, The                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Jerry McGuire
Joe vs. the Volcano
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat
Julia
Karate Kid
Ken Burns Boring Sod Documentary that I couldn’t find
Kill Bill
Kiss My Grits
Kujo
La boheme
Lady & the Tramp
Lake House, The
Last Tango in Paris
Legend of Bagger Vance, The
Les Miserables                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         License To Drive
Little House on the Prairie
Little Man Tate
Little Rascals, The
Lord of the Rings
Love in the Afternoon
Love Story
M. Night Shyamalan movies
Mad About Ballroom                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Mad Max
Magnolia
Marathon Man
March of the Penguins, The
Mary Poppins
Mask
Master & Commander
Matrix, The
Midnight Express
Midsummer Night’s Dream
Milton, John
Misery
Mission Impossible
Moment by Moment
Mommie Dearest
Money Pit, The                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Monster
Moose Murders
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge
Mr. Baseball
Music Man, The
Mystic Pizza
National Velvet
Nell
Network
Norma Rae
Not Without my Daughter
Officer & a Gentleman
Old Yeller
Open Water
Othello
Out of Africa                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Oxford Blues
Paper Moon
Parent Trap, The
Passion of the Christ
Philadelphia Story                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Pippi Longstocking
Pleasantville
Poseidon Adventure, The
Postman, The
Power of Myth, The                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Pretty In Pink
Primary Colors
Princess Bride, The
Producers
Psycho                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               Pulp Fiction
Purple Rain
Pursuit of Happyness, The
Rainman
Rent
Reversal of Fortune
Richard III
Riding the Bus with my Sister
Risky Business
River Wild The
Rocky Horror Picture Show The
Room with a View
Rosemary’s Baby
Sabrina
Saint Elmo’s Fire
Sandra Oh
Saturday Night Fever
Saw II                                                                                                                                                                                           Say Anything
Schindler’s List
Seventh Samurai
Shaft
Shakespeare in Love
Shallow Hal
Shane
Shanghai Express
Shoah
Showgirls
Silent Movie
Silkwood
Singing in the Rain
Sixteen Candles
Sleeping Beauty
Snakes on a Plane
Snow Dogs
Sophie’s Choice
Sound of Music, The
Space Odyssey
Speed                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         St Elmos Fire                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Star Is Born
Star Wars
Sting, The
Streetcar Named Desire, A
Taboo Broadway Show
Taxi Driver
Terms of Endearment                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Thelma and Louise
Them
This is Spinal Tap
Thomas Crown Affair, The
Titanic                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   To Kill A Mockingbird (Also on the book list!)
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Turning Point
Untouchables, The
Urban Cowboy
Valley of the Dolls
View from the Top
Waiting for Godot
Waiting for Guthman
Wall Street
Way We Were, The
Welcome to the Dollhouse
West Side Story
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory                                                                                                                                                                                Witches Of Eastwick, The
Wizard of Oz
Working Girl
Xanadu
Yearling, The
Young Frankenstein
You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown

*Remember to link each movie review here – the more reviews the more chances you have to win!  Now grab your popcorn and lets get started!

Lorelai: So, apparently, I’m now the Reigning Lorelai.

Rory: Huh. I guess you are.

Lorelai: It’s a lot of responsibility.

Rory: Well, sure.

Lorelai: I mean, it’s mostly ceremonial stuff nowadays. Declaring knighthoods, opening supermarkets. But now and then, you get to banish someone or pose for a stamp.

Rory: Neat. And coins.

Lorelai: Yeah, and coins. You know, someday you’ll be the Reigning Lorelai.

Rory: I don’t like that idea!

Lorelai: Why not? You get a cape.

Rory: Because if I’m the Reigning Lorelai, then that means you’ll be gone.

Lorelai: Gone? No, not me. I’ll step down way before that. I’m not going to pull a Queen Elizabeth on you, make you wait around forever, force you to develop interests in polo and architecture.

Rory: I am scared of horses.

Lorelai: I know that.

Rory: So there’s a cape, huh?

Blogiesta : 2nd Edition

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments


I am foregoing the Morning Meandering today to instead, let everyone know about the upcoming Blogiesta this Jan 8,9, and 10th.  The 1st Blogiesta that was held in June 2009 was right when I started blogging and it was not only timely for me – but so helpful.  (I will go more into detail on that this Friday at the kick off.)

If you are not familiar with the Blogiesta, pop over to Maw Books Blog and see what it is all about.  Basically it is a great way to learn more about blogging, meet new people, and make some blog improvements that you may have been putting off or did not know how to do. There are mini challenges as well as prizes.  It is not to late to hop on board and seriously – if you can participate, you wont be sorry.  This is like a blog makeover weekend!

Head over to Maw Books and see all the details on this wonderful event – I would love to do this with all of you!

Curse Of The Tahiera Winner!

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Its time to announce the winner of the Curse Of The Tahiera book by Wendy Gillissen. Thanks to everyone who signed up for this one… your answers to my question were awesome!

The winner is (using random.org):

wendy wallach!!!


My questions was: If you were a fictitious character dropped into an adventure book, what would your adventure (story plot) be. add an extra chance by also telling me what your character name would be!

Wendy’s answer was:

My adventure would be about finding my way to a magical universe and my name would be Kyra

Thriller and Suspense Challenge 2010

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Oh come on!  I had to!  Look at this great challenge picture!  Plus I read Thrillers and Suspense…. so I am in!  Book City Chick is hosting this challenge this year and you can peek over there for full details and signing up.  Here is the basics:


Timeline: 01 Jan 2010 – 31 Dec 2010
Rules: To read TWELVE (12) thrillers in 2010

Details:
• You don’t have to select your books ahead of time, you can just add them as you go. Also if you do list them upfront then you can change them, nothing is set in stone! The books you choose can crossover into other challenges you have on the go.

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James Patterson Reading Challenge

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Yes it is another Challenge.  But wait!  Let me explain!  While blog hopping the other day I found my way to Socrate’s Book Reviews and this Challenge is August 15 2009 – August 15 2010.  I have actually read and listened on audio to several James Patterson lately so this is a no brainer!  It’s not to late!  Anyone care to join me?

The challenge is to read at least 10 James Patterson books in a year. You do not need to make a list of what you will read now or, if you want, you can. However, nothing is written in stone and the books you list can be changed at any time. Overlapping books with other challenges is allowed.  Stop over at Socrate’s Book Reviews for the challenge link and more details.

Game on:
1.  Run For Your Life by James Patterson (audio)

2. The Murder Of King Tut by James Patterson (audio)

3. Swimsuit by James Patterson (audio)

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10.


Bookies Year In Review Coming Soon

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

It is that time of year again!  Today I will be tallying up the results of our 2009 reads for next weeks Bookies In Review book club meeting.  Each year I like to put together a booklet highlighting each book we read, where we met, and put in any pictures or funny happenings.  These books have become keepsakes to me and I have for every year since we began in 2001.


Last month, each member was given the sheet that askes them (using the books we read ass a book club):

  • what their favorite book club read was in 2009
  • What was their least favorite book club read in 2009
  • Best male character in a book club book
  • Best female character in a book club book
  • Best new author we were introduced to in 2009
  • Best author overall in 2009
  • Favorite place to do a review
  • Favorite Bookie memory of all time

Our Books for 2009 were:

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

Such a pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

The Book Thief By Marcus Zusak

Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Walking In Circles Before Lying Down by Merill Markoe

Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Pope Joan by Donna Woolfork Cross

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty White

Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Home For The Holidays by Rebecca Kelly

The results will be in next Wednesday when I will feature a post of the Good, The Bad, and the moments not to be forgotten!

Morning Meanderings

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)70 Comments

Good Morning!  I finally did it!  yesterday I went into our Library and I picked up a Library Card!  It was on my list of things to do this week and I needed one if I was going to do the Support your Library Challenge!  I was looking for a few other books for one of the challenges and they had to pull them in from other libraries.  I couldn’t leave empty handed so I did pick out one book:

Smoking cover right?  I agree.  And yes… it wasn’t until I came home that I discovered it was a sequel.  That’s ok… I reserved that one too.  🙂


Do you use your local library?  If so, what do you use it for (all your reading, certain genres…)

And if you do not… why not?

Mass Casualties by SPC Michael Anthony

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

I wound up on the battle field right alongside Michael.  ~ Sheila

Mass Casualties

“Look around,” the drill sergeant said. “In a few years, or even a few months, several of you will be dead. Some of you will be severely wounded or so badly mutilated that your own mother can’t stand the sight of you. And for the real unlucky ones, you will come home so emotionally disfigured that you wish you had died over there.”

It was Week 7 of basic training . . . eighteen years old and I was preparing myself to die.

They say the Army makes a man out of you, but for eighteen-year-old SPC Michael Anthony, this fabled rite of passage is instead a dark and dangerous journey. After obtaining his parents’ approval to enlist at seventeen, Anthony begins this journey with an unshakeable faith in the military based on his family’s long tradition of service. But when he finds himself in a medical unit of misfits as lost as he is, Anthony not only witnesses firsthand the unspeakable horror of war, he experiences the undeniable misconduct of the military. Everything he’s ever believed in dissolves, forcing Anthony to rethink his ideals and ultimately risk his career—and his freedom—to challenge the military that once commanded his loyalty.

This searing memoir chronicles the experiences that change one young soldier forever. A seasoned veteran before the age of twenty-one, he faces the truth about the war—and himself—in this shocking and unprecedented eyewitness account.

If this book comes as surprise review out of my “genre” comfort zone to you…. you would be right.  I do not enjoy books about war.  Yet when this book was offered to me for review I had to look at Michael’s story a little closer and came to the conclusion that I didn’t know how I could not read it.

Michael takes us as readers right into his own personal war zone.  Month by month he journals life in the Army as a medic.  A real close up look from the friends he has made… the ones he has not, from sleep or lack there of and grueling work shifts.  Sometimes funny, sometimes horrifying, Michael puts it all in this book.

This was a side to to serving our country I had never deeply thought about.  Michael brought this to life in this book and gave me a close up of what it is like on the inside.

An Iraqi Man is staring at us; I see him; he wears a black and white turban, which I know means he’s been to Mecca. I’m not sure if I’ve seen skin tone like this before; it’s golden auburn.  I notice that it is the same color as the buildings, and the buildings are the same color as the sand blowing in my face.They’re the same color as the sky.  I think that if I were fifty feet away and there was a pile of sand, a building, and a naked Iraqi man, I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between them.  They all looked like they belonged together: the tiny buildings, the man with the face that’s tired, the sand, the sky, and the sun.

Biography

Michael Anthony (MA) seemed destined to serve from the day he was born.  The youngest of seven children, Michael has four brothers and two sisters, all but one of whom joined the military. His father and two grandfathers were also in the Military.

After graduating high school, he joined the Army Reserves, went through basic training, and then went through job training to become an Operating Room Medic. One year later he returned home and enrolled in college to begin his first semester. Almost immediately upon finishing his first semester he was shipped off to Wisconsin to train for four months before he would leave and spend his next year in Iraq. Michael is now back in the States and working toward a Bachelor’s Degree in creative writing.

*Note:  This book contains some strong language and some sexual references.

My Amazon review


This book fits into the following challenges:

2010 100+ Reading Challenge

I received my copy from Pump Up My Blog Tour

It’s Monday – What Are You Reading?

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

Thanks to J Kaye’s Blog for hosting this fun meme!

Here’s what I read last week:

Timeless Toys by Tim Walsh

Take Your Best Shot by Austin Gutwein

Defining Twilight by Brian Leaf

The Murder Of King Tut (audio) James Patterson

Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling

Mayo Clinic Diet and Journal

Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I really enjoy planning my reads for the week and here is the plan:

Yes it looks like I have BIG plans.  But really not so much…


What To Do When The Roof Caves In by Marilyn Meberg (started in October and sat aside… plan this week to finish it)


Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark (been on the TBR shelf… time to make a debut)


The Cost Of Dreams by Gary Stelzer (half way through)


The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent (yes you have seen this one here before…. twice before in fact.  I don’t know what is with me and this book but it seems to be just dragging…. I don’t know why… I think its me but I refuse to give up!)

One Day Way by Hobbs – (this one is finished and up for blog tour this week with a giveaway!)


Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets by JK Rowling (bonus indulgence book for fun… if I have time)


So what are you reading this week?


Morning Meanderings…

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Good morning!  Another week is upon us … (I will pause here with my Coffee Cup to hear the universal groan of a Monday throughout the blogesphere)…. and the few optimists that are saying “yippy”!   Hello friends  🙂

This weekend I had the opportunity to see two movies at the theater.  Yes.  Two.  What an over achiever am I…LOL.  It was Friday afternoon when my hubby decided we should go and see Avatar.  I wasn’t sure it was a movie I wanted to see… the length was a down point for me, but Al is always so busy a chance to spend time together is very rarely turned down… so off we went.  Turns out – I really enjoyed the movie.  It was not at all “alienish” like I thought it was going to be… in fact I was really impressed with where the story went and it didn’t seen long at all.  (Sherlock Holmes on the other hand from Christmas Day seemed loooooonnnnnggggg…. but that’s a different story).

On Saturday afternoon my friend Wendy and I went to see Blind Side and this movie was beyond even my hopes.  It was fantastic.  I will probably go to it again if I can rope someone to go with me.  I will definitely own this one.   If you haven’t seen it I recommend that you take time to do so.  I cried no less than three times…. I think the first time was about 15 minutes into the movie.  SO GOOD.  Highly recommended.  I would say best movie I have seen this year (which is true) but since this is only January 4 that probably doesn’t hold much water.  😉

Seen any good movies lately or planning to see any of them that are coming out soon?