Book Journey

Pretending To Dance by Diane Chamberlain

Published on January 7, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

I first experienced a Diane Chamberlain novel in the fall of 2014 and I connected with her brilliant style of writing immediately and continued to read her ever since without disappointment…. consistently delightful. ~Sheila

Molly and Aidan are preparing to adopt a baby. While there is the normal fear and anticipation between the couple as they hope for the best, Molly carries secrets from her past that she feels could ruin everything if they came to light. Thus begins a journey of present time Molly, and alternating chapters of 14-year-old Molly…. and everything that happened that 14th year and led to the possible destruction of everything she holds true in present day….

It has been a while since I have listened to a Diane Chamberlain book. In this new world I live in, I need to consider topics carefully before I go into a book, watching out for my own personal tragedies that would hit to close to home. When I first looked at the synopsis for Pretending To Dance I was uncertain if this book would be a safe one for me, yet the subject matter and of course the fact that it is the amazing Diane Chamberlain drew me in. I am glad I did.

There is something about Diane Chamberlain’s books. They always carry something in them that you do not see coming, yet told in such a way that you are not necessarily looking for the “WOW”moment until it is revealed. That is what happens in this book and I was delighted to see that Diane Chamberlain had not lost her touch, nor did I in my experience of reading her. Author and reader are truly a match here.

I enjoyed the past story line of Young Molly and the references to Judy Blume’s book, Forever (a banned book by the way…. but most of Judy Blume’s writing – if not all, are.) As I listened on (yes, I once again enjoyed Chamberlain’s book in audio format) I was impressed by the elements of comparison that was placed into this story line that tied close to the Blume book. This held a different feel for me than past Chamberlain books, but one that I found fitting.

If you have not read Diane Chamberlain I would highly recommend this author. This is my first audio book of the year and I am have a feeling it may wind up on my best of 2016 list.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 12 hours and 45 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Audible.com Release Date: October 6, 2015
Publisher: Macmillan; Air Iri OME edition (October 8, 2015)

Other Diane Chamberlain books I have experienced:

Necessary Lies

The Secret Life Of Cee Cee Wilkes

The Midwife’s Confession

The Silent Sister

Morning Meanderings… We Need A Little Gatsby.

Published on January 5, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Anyone else feel like the days are moving too quickly? I mean, it is the 5th already. Seems like I was just trying to make my way through the land mines of Christmas and now we are in a whole new year. I have such mixed feelings about that and the worst part of it is, there is not a thing I can do about how I feel.

Yesterday was 9 months. That is beyond crazy. I didn’t say it out loud to anyone. I didn’t need one more pitying look of “oh, she still counts the days,” I imagine those who have walked this path before me get to that same point…. people do not necessarily want to know that you are still at an enormous level of pain. People want you to “get better” “move on” “be who you once were” and I am not sure if any of those things are in my near future.

Anyway…

Gatsby.

Last February my friend Amy and I went to a Library fundraiser in St Paul Minnesota. It was a Gatsby event and I was beside myself with excitement to see how they would pull this event off. I already was having visions of how I could have such an event in my area. We were going to be early to the event so we decided to go and surprise my son Justin who was working less than 5 minutes away from where we needed to be. This is another one of those crazy things I am so thankful for… I had bonus time with my son that I did not plan for but it just happened. We hung out with him for about an hour, shared an appetizer and were on our way.

This year, I am happy to announce that Gatsby will be happening in my home town. The Friends Of The Brainerd Public Library will be sponsoring this event on March 18th. Justin and I had talked about this. I have tried for two years to make this happen. Initially the plan was to do it last spring and things did not work out that way and now knowing how everything went down last spring I am so thankful for that. If we had been planning Gatsby, I may not have been with my son on April 1st and 2nd. I may have been too busy to get away. Crazy how things work out but there it is.

Here is a link to our Gatsby event. We have a live jazz band, a local dance studio providing swing lessons, an EXPERIENCE auction and a costume contest. I wish with all my heart that Justin was here because I know he would attend and he would bring friends… but I do know he is proud of me for doing what I said I hoped to do. So Gatsby…. it is.

In other news my first book, Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone is coming along nicely. At first I struggled a bit and was unsure if I had made the right choice. This copy of the book is Justin’s and I was hoping to find comfort in touching each page as he had. It took a while to pick up the flow but a couple of nights ago while Al watched the football game I curled up in bed with this book and it started to come together for me. I am so glad I chose this book to start 2016.

How is your first book coming along?

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published on January 3, 2016March 31, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

It’s simple but fitting… I do LOVE this cover…. ~ Sheila

When Lauren and Ryan meet in college they instantly feel the attraction. The two become inseparable and a wedding of course is the next step in this match. Now, ten years later the old arguments are no longer funny and are instead pointed. That once was cute is now annoying and Lauren and Ryan can not seem to find their way back to the great love that once was.

Then Ryan lays out a plan to take a year off from each other… no communications whatsoever to see where everything lands once they go out on their own. Heartbroken, Lauren has no choice but to agree. Once Ryan moves out, Lauren is left to sort out her own feelings on her marriage, focus on her extended family and her career.

What does a good marriage consist of? And more importantly is it enough to bring her and Ryan back together or was it really never what was supposed to be?

This was my first dabble into author Taylor Jenkins Reid and I was not disappointing. After I Do is written in a humorous lighthearted way that is engaging, witty, and significant all at once. The one-year-break was a unique way to handle a marriage gone awry. While the story is told mainly from Lauren’s point of view, we as readers are left pretty much as she is… not knowing what Ryan is thinking or doing or if he will even come back. I enjoyed the suspense.

If you enjoy a good not to heavy read I suggest you try this book. I listened to it on audio and found Tara Sands narration to be perfect for this book. In fact, once I finished After I Do, I went on to read two more books by this author.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 9 hours and 11 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
Audible.com Release Date: September 10, 2015
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Washington Square Press (July 1, 2014)

Morning Meanderings… Pondering.

Published on January 3, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Sunday morning with COFFEE cup. I feel…. ready to start something.

This morning I was reading Bryan’s post at Still Unfinished about his one word for 2016 and he links others as well. It is a beautiful post and I enjoyed visiting the others one word as well. Check it out, I love the pictures with all of the words. It caused me to go back and read my own choice for this year. I believe it is the right word for me.

In other random news I need to update this blog look. Seriously…. brown? What was a I thinking? The background color has to change. And my side bar is so outdated.

And now that I am writing… I feel scattered this morning like I thought I had a good post in my head and now I am looking at this thinking “what are you trying to say?”

So that said…. I am just going to tiptoe out of here. Have a great Sunday. Read something wonderful.

Saturday Snapshot….Books Around The World

Published on January 2, 2016January 2, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)39 Comments

January 2…. how are we doing so far into this New Year? I have been fairly busy with 2 small after Christmas gatherings with friends, a movie with my hubby, and yesterday – working on the First Book Of The Year tradition. Let me just say out loud.. wow. I am so glad I continued First Book this year for many reasons, yet the response was still so overwhelmingly positive that it made me so proud to be a part of this amazing community.

For today’s Saturday snapshot I am going to post all the pictures that came in from readers around the world sharing their first books into this new year. Even if you looked at yesterday’s post, more than likely you did not see all the pictures as more kept coming in throughout the day and evening. SO AWESOME. But first I have to show you what Kathryn at Book Date did… she went a step further with her first book and blew me away.

Right? Holy smokes! When I seen her post yesterday I could not believe it! Look at little First Book Of The Year become a video! Another couple of pictures I need to honorably mention for creativity when sending in their picture. No, no one had to be creative, but I was amazed to see the fun efforts:

PicMonkey Collage 9

Ahhhhh! lol

And so with no further delay…. here are the First Books Of 2016. If you look at my original post from yesterday in the comments people shared where they were reading from and it was exciting to see the readers all over the world. Seriously…. wow.

PicMonkey Collage 1

PicMonkey Collage 2

PicMonkey Collage 3

PicMonkey Collage 4

PicMonkey Collage 9

Thank you so much to everyone who participated. This was a far larger response than 2014’s and it meant a lot to me to see you all join in as spotty as my attendance has been here over the past 8 1/2 months. Thank you friends and fellow book lovers. It is hard for me to explain this, but your participation in this made this entry into New Years a little easier.

Thank you.

I am adding this to Saturday Snapshot because…. it is awesome.

The First Books Of 2016

Published on January 1, 2016January 2, 2016 by Sheila (Book Journey)151 Comments

Here it is. January 1 2016. Thank you to everyone who sent in a picture of the first book they will be reading in this New Year. This is my third year hosting this event and I love seeing all the pictures and books come in from around the world! Thank you to the fellow bloggers, readers of Book Journey, my book club, and friends who sent in pictures. Here are your reads of the New Year:

PicMonkey Collage 6

PicMonkey Collage 8

PicMonkey Collage 7

Look at all of you!!!! If traditions hold, a few of you will still send pictures in today and that is ok. Send them to my email: journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and I will either update here or add another block in tomorrows post.

For myself, you will find me in the 5th block down, second row. Yes that is me holding a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – but not just an any copy. This is my son Justin’s book, off his book shelf. This is the copy he grew up with and loved so much that his Harry Potter books followed him to college and to his apartment after. My son and I both love all things Harry Potter and after his accident in April I have been unable to watch any of the movies or look at any of the books that we loved so much together. In fact, last Christmas he bought me the whole set with the new covers. Today I am reading this book, the one he so lovingly took care of all of these years. ♥ I think it is a great book to start off my new year and honor him.

The link below is where you can link your own posts about your first book choice and why. Be sure to link back here as well so others can see all of us around the world reading in 2016. A question I really need to add to the form next year is where everyone is from… I know for sure Australia is represented and Hawaii.

When commenting below please share where you live and what are you reading for your first book in 2016. Happy New Year.

Powered by Linky Tools

Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list…

Retiring a Word…. Bringing In A New One

Published on December 31, 2015December 31, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Here we are.

2015 has been the hardest year of my life. I came into it with such high hopes only to feel I have been knocked off my ship and sent to crash again and again on the rocks along the shore. You would think I could look at today as good riddance to a year that has been mostly pain… yet it still hurts to move away from the year, the last year of my son. It’s hard to think I seen him and laughed with him and joked with him and talked books with him in 2015…. and I will not in 2016.

Emerge as you may recall, was the word that I chose to be my “it word” for 2015. The plan for 2015 was to emerge into who I have always wanted to be… a full time writer between working on freelancing and on my own book…. no longer would it be a dream. Well… emerge changed throughout the year with the loss of my son and my struggle to find a solid footing in what now seems to be an uncertain and shaky world. Yet 8 months into this and I am starting to lay a path, starting to emerge again into something I believe my son would be proud of. “Go Mom.” I can almost hear him say.

And so, as I retire Emerge this year, while it was different than I had planned – it still worked. I believe as this word will be removed from my necklace and placed in a keepsake box I will add a letter as to what it has been like to live with Emerge this year. A new tradition for the words that are to come.

For 2016, I have chosen the word COURAGE.

cour·age

ˈkərij/

noun

noun: courage

the ability to do something that frightens one.

strength in the face of pain or grief.

I even already made a purchase so I have something to wear. I still need to find it in a format that I can wear it on my chain much as I did with Emerge. I never took it off, and I don’t want to this year either.

The new year is upon us. There is still time for you to choose your word. There is also still time for you to choose your first book.

Happiest of New Year to all of you. Stay safe. Stay well. Love others unconditionally.

The Books of 2015

Published on December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

2015. what a year.

One of my favorite anal-bookish things I love to do each year is keep track of my reading. I love to see the page count, the book count… I am a total dork when it comes to charts and all the bells and whistles. I love keeping track on Goodreads each year and setting goals… however I lost track of everything this year. I recall a big reading phase in late May and all of June just to keep my mind occupied… they were books with covers of cupcakes, and buildings, about friendships and businesses – safe books for me…. nothing deep but mind occupying. I can recall bits of plot lines, but can not remember titles or authors – I am almost sure I did not review them and have no idea where to begin so they are among the missing.

In all honesty I probably would not have even tried to see where I landed on Goodreads for this year if I had not popped on there a few days ago and seen a super cool page to all the books I had remembered to record this year. That love for lists and tracking sparked and I started to go through the ones I had not reviewed yet that I could recall. And managed to come up with somewhat of a worthy year of reading :

goodreads 2015 — click on image to go to report

I did not reach my goal that I set last year about this time, but I am surprised I was anywhere near it. I like to see the books that I rated high. I am not going to chat about them because honestly looking back they are all kind of blank to me (thank goodness for reviews!)

I do look forward to setting a goal for 2016. And on that subject, have you picked your first book of the new year yet? You can still join in the 2016 First Book Of The Year. Come on… you know your going to read a book….. 😉

Do you use Goodreads to track your books? Do you set reading goals?

Morning Meanderings…. Christmas After

Published on December 26, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

It is so crazy what sort of negative anticipation a day can bring.

I was not at all looking forward to this Christmas… the first one without my son Justin. We did not put up a tree. I did not cook. I did not purchase any gifts until December 24th when my husband and I went up town to find things for our son Brad who would be joining us for Christmas Day. Until that point I had avoided retail stores as I did not want to see the decorations or the happy people eagerly choosing the gift that would make their persons day.

I had been told, from those who has gone before me on this painful path that the anticipation of the “day/holiday” is usually much worse than the actual day. It is kind of hard to tell because I think by the time I reached Christmas Day I was numb. I did what I had to do because my son was here and we tried to carry on with a little normalcy. We watched TV and I gave Brad Justin’s IPAD knowing that I would never be able to use it myself and it would sit in storage until it was obsolete. We had to guess at Justin’s password and by using his password hints we were able to figure it out, clean out his personal notes and register it to Brad. We also logged him off of his Facebook which 8 months ago was unthinkable. As you can imagine it was a hard thing to do… but I know it was the right thing to do and Justin would have approved.

Al and Brad played cribbage on Justin’s cribbage board. Justin LOVED cribbage and Al and he would play for hours. It was sort of symbolic to use his board for the game. I felt as though he were including him.

In the late afternoon we drove to the Casino which honestly Justin would have thought was an awesome way to spend Christmas. We came up with that idea a few weeks ago as they have a seafood buffet. At the time of decision I kept saying “Oh, we are those people you feel bad for because they have no traditions on Christmas…” Once there, I seen my opinion on this was incorrect. The casino was packed but not filled with sad and lonely lost people as I had imagined but couples and friends hanging out and having a good time. Families were at the buffet and exchanging gifts and I had to change my attitude to maybe this was a nice way for families to enjoy a delicious meal and be together just as much as sitting at home around a tree.

Family traditions can be wherever you land.

I was wiped out by the time we came home around 8 pm. Being “on” all day and the constant knowing what is missing while you try to keep going forward is exhausting. I sat down and had a glass of wine out of a glass that Justin had made and hated that he was not here… and so glad I had climbed another milestone of firsts and made it through. Justin wanted me to be happy. I am trying kid… I am trying.

Thank you to those of you who sent me a Christmas card. That is so nice and I so appreciate your kind and encouraging words.

For those of you signed up to participate in 1st Book of the year, don’t forget to send me your picture! Looking forward to the post!

A Christmas Message To You

Published on December 24, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

I did not send out Christmas Cards this year so consider this our Christmas card.
I look outside at the silent whiteness and feel a great emptiness. Loss can be all-consuming and I waiver on the blurry edges of this new world and the one I had. My heart longs to go back and have a do over. I want to change things and put things the way they were but the pieces of this puzzle fall between my fingers as I try to hold tightly to the past that I wish so much was the present and the future.
In this new world I see friendship differently. I see life lines. I see compassion. I see those who have stepped up and those who have stepped back… and I understand both sides. The rose-colored glasses are off and my world is at times painfully real.
I don’t want this to be a sad message. I want it to be one of hope. For whatever reason, my time here on this earth remains. I don’t necessarily want… I would readily trade it – but it seems that is not meant to be.
And with that I look cautiously towards this new uncertain world. I cannot will not let go of what was. It is too much engraved in this beating heart and to take that away – would stop this heart forever. However, I can look at the blessings sprinkled throughout this new world. The connections with Justin’s friends, the courageous people I have met with their own stories of loss, the people and community who have held us a little closer, the ability to see somewhat of a path I hope to travel that will honor my son for all the years I have left until I can be with him again.
This post is not going as I planned.
What I want to say is this.
THIS Christmas, share a little more of you. DO something kind for a stranger. BE a little more open. Hug a little longer, laugh a little louder, and LOVE with all you have.
NEVER NEVER take any moment for granted. Each memory is precious so open your eyes to it and embrace each day for all it is worth. Your memories are treasures and you have the power to build on them. SO build.
Merry Christmas.
The DeChantal’s….. Al, Sheila, Brad, and Justin….. ALWAYS

My attendance at this site has been spotty at best this year. When I think “I am back”, I am not back. I write reviews in my head for hours after I read a book… what I will say, what funny punch line I will give…. but for whatever reason I don’t sit down and review it. I hope that changes soon. I am still here. I still want to be that voice on this page that talks books and life and heartbreak and finding my way… and I hope you will all continue to stop in and see me here in 2016. ♥