Book Journey

Morning Meanderings…. Book Anticipation

Published on June 13, 2015June 13, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Sitting here this morning – EARLY, with a head cold/annoying sinus thing/ cough and sore throat I was not sure I was going to post this morning. I had two big projects to keep me busy for a while, the chairs that I posted about yesterday and a small foyer to paint which I completed yesterday morning. SO much for that. Now looking into finding materials to put in a raised garden for strawberries and rhubarb…

What actually made me want to post today (other than the fact that connecting with all of you is like sitting at my table having coffee with friends) is book anticipation. If you love books… you know this feeling. It is the feeling you have when a book you have either LONG waited for or a book that you discovered that will be coming out and you cannot wait to dig into it. For me today… it is the later.

In 2011 I had the pleasure of discovering Ready Player One by Ernest Cline on audio narrated by Wil Wheaton. I loved this one sooooo much that I listened to it again in 2014 AND reviewed it again. To this day it is one of the best audio books I have ever listened to. I loved the 80’s references, the dystopian gamer theme, and this audio made a big fan of Wil Wheaton’s narration to the point I searched out audio books that he narrated and listened to them.

Recently I discovered that Ernest Cline is coming out with a new book, Armada, also centered around a game. I quickly looked it up in audio version and was THRILLED to see that this will once again be narrated by the amazing Wil Wheaton. Book release date is July 14th and I am soooooo ready for this one.

Tonight friends are coming over to grill with us. We will be planting a Crimson Maple tree in the back yard that they had purchased in memory of Justin and we will be setting a memorial bench out tonight as well. Promises to be a bitter sweet evening. ♥ Always

A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams

Published on June 12, 2015June 12, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

When Jennifer from Book Club Girl recently raved about this book and this author, I was hooked because 1. I like many of the same books as Jennifer and 2. It is hard for to resist book titles that contain the word “Summer”. For the record, Jennifer did not steer me wrong, and this is an EXCELLENT summer read. ~Sheila

It’s 1931 and best friends Lily Dane and Budgie Byrne attend a football game to watch Bungie’s boyfriend. Lily, spots a new guy on the field, a tall good looking guy that she can hardly take her eyes off the entire game. Nick Greenwald is an amazing football player and while he looks back curiously at the blushing Lily, she knows her parents would never approve of this beautiful Jewish boy.

But who listens to everything our parents warn us about?

Lily and Nick soon find themselves inseparable until Lily suddenly breaks it off.

Now it is 1938 and Budgie is now Budgie Greenwald having married the very guy she warned Lily to stay away from and Lily can do nothing but try to protect her broken heart. A storm is approaching in more ways than one and a story unfolds of friendship and betrayals, of class and lack there of, of hearts wanting what the heart wants.

This is quite possibly the best book I have read in 2015.

A Hundred Summers is written in a beautiful and intelligent way, alternating chapters from 1931 when Lily and Budgie are just girls, to 1938 when Budgie has the man of Lily’s dreams and we the readers, are wondering why. Each chapter unfolds a little more of the story in 1931 and in 1938 bringing about what happened then so you can understand what is happening now (1938). I honestly wish I had words to describe this better because really all I want to say here is

READ THIS BOOK!

I listened to this book on audio audio and was captivated with the remarkable story line form the beginning. Kathleen McInerney narrates wonderfully throughout the alternating characters. I rooted for Lily, wondered why she would ever friend someone like Budgie, and sympathized with all of the above from beginning to end. Author Beatriz Williams should be commended for her brilliant writing, writing that kept me listening every moment I had free to know (I had to know!) what was going to happen.

Highly recommended. Not your average summer beach read. This one has real depth. In a word…. delightful.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 11 hours and 35 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Audible.com Release Date: May 30, 2013

Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Berkley; First Paperback Edition edition (April 1, 2014)

Morning Meanderings…. A Forgotten Anniversary.

Published on June 12, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments

Friday. Sunshine and 80’s today. My kind of day to sit on the deck and read and maybe have a friend over for a visit.

June 9th was my Blogiversary. 6 years. If you have been around the past years you know I usually make a big deal out of it. This year though… I missed it. Thought about it last week, wondered if I would post something and then…

didn’t.

Maybe I will post something later this fall and have a late celebration.

In other news, I finished an EXCELLENT audio book last evening while I was outside painting old chairs in fun colors. The audio, A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams will be reviewed later today.

And finally, I found out yesterday that some of Justin’s friends are planning a benefit for him where he was working in St. Paul. It is set for next Saturday. I will attend, it is a chance to see his friend’s, but I know it will be yet another hard thing to do. I am so tired of everything being hard to do. It is so hard to imagine my life now, before this because I feel I am so different… so much more vulnerable, so cautious, and so so broken.

Today…. there is sunshine. I need the sunshine.

Morning Meanderings…. Annual Book Exchange

Published on June 11, 2015June 11, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Morning. Coffee. Overcast day. Overcast mood. Day 68.

On Tuesday of this week we had our Bookies Book Club meeting and discussed the book The Pearl That Broke It’s Shell by Nadia Hashimi. I did not finish the book, I started it and then knew it would be too detailed for me at this time. Those who read it said it was a good read and they learned about the Afghanistan culture. It made for a good book discussion and I enjoyed listening to the discussion.

For the fourth year in a row, we have made June our book exchange month. The rules: You are supposed to bring a book that you really enjoyed (preferably in the last year) that you would like someone else to enjoy too. Put a post it note in the book saying why you enjoyed this book so much and if you want the book back or if the person who chose it can keep it. You wrap the book in brown paper wrap. We then each choose a book out of the pile and that is what we read for our July gathering. Here are the books that were picked:

Amy M – Wind Through The Keyhole (Sharon)
Angie – Blessings by Anna Quindlen (Lori P)
Sheila – Abercrombie Trail by Candace Simar (Laura)
Kaydi – Waiting For Summers Return (Kathy)
Lori – Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Amy P)
Jean – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Sheila)
Sharon – Those Who Save Us (Mary)
Amy – Distant Shores (Jean)
Kathy – Naked in Death (Lori N)
Susan – Walking on Water (Kaydi)
Mary – Union Street Bakery (Amy M)
Lori – The Nightingale (Angie)
Laura – Gift From The Sea (Susan)

Today my son’s roommate is coming to visit me. It will be nice to see her, but I know it will be an afternoon filled with memories and tears.

Out Of Orange by Cleary Wolters

Published on June 9, 2015June 9, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

I find Piper’s story interesting having followed it on Netflix (even though I am sure they took fictional liberties and there is much in the series I could have done without but I did like the story line if that makes sense). I admit I have not read Orange is the New Black. ~Sheila

You may have heard of Orange Is The New Black. The true story of an upper middle class girl names Piper Chapman who was sentenced to serve 15 months in a federal prison for drug smuggling with her former girlfriend Alex Vause. Piper, who was now years separated from Alex and happily engaged is about to do her time.

Out Of Orange is Alex’s side of the story. The background story of how she became involved in drug smuggling and how she met Piper.

I found Out Of Orange to be interesting. Having followed Piper’s side of the story it was interesting to hear Alex’s. As I listened to this one on audio, narrator Barbara Rosenblat had just the right style for Alex, raspy voiced and self-assured with a kick of humor. Learning how Alex became involved in drug smuggling was a subject I knew little (nothing!) about. What a frightening and fascinating world she lived in!

If you liked Piper’s story, or are a fan of the Netflix series, I think you would appreciate this story. Recommended on audio.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 11 hours and 59 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Harper Audio
Audible.com Release Date: May 5, 2015

Morning Meanderings…. Camp Benedict 2015

Published on June 9, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Sitting in Crosslake this morning at my usual space in the main lodge of Camp Benedict. This is the camp I am on the Board of, and normally I am here the whole week Monday – Friday, but this year I only came for yesterday and will leave this afternoon. That is all I think I can do this year.

I am so tired – I feel I have been going non stop for over a week now and it is taking its toll. Mt plan is after today I am lying low for as long as it takes and if things don’t get done…

well…

they don’t get done.

I have no push left in me.

I just want to BE.

Book Journey, Camp Benedict, Camp Knutsen, Sheila DeChantal — My sleeping quarters

Book Club tonight…. we are reviewing The Pearl That Broke It’s Shell. I did not get it done. Too deep for me at this time.

So that’s me… day to day.

The Lost Recipe For Happiness by Barbara O’Neal

Published on June 8, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

In apparently continuing with my trend of reading foody books (they feel pretty safe), I bring to you a review of a woman, her dog, a restaurant, and learning to let go. ~Sheila

Elena Alvarez has just been offered the deal of a lifetime. She has been offered the opportunity to run her own restaurant, something she has only dreamed about. Being an experienced Chef, this is the first time she will be in the leading role from staff hiring, restaurant look and feel, and the menu planning. Haunted by an accident that she alone survived with her back broken in 4 places, Elena knows what it is like to withstand the odds. Arriving in Aspen Colorado with a restaurant project may just be the change she needs to reboot her life and it doesn’t hurt that her new boss, Movie Writer Julian Liswood is easy on the eyes.

For Elena, every move she makes is a risk. The restaurant business is physically hard on her body and the ghosts of the past, do not let go easy.

There is a lot to like about The Lost Recipe For Happiness. I liked the idea of a fixer upper project with Elena the one to call the shots. I do like a good project! I also found I liked Elena. For what she has literally lived through, she is a strong independent woman with dreams and goals. I also enjoyed the back up players in this book, while I never did get a full handle on Ivan, I think (I think) I liked him. Patrick is wonderful and you have to love Julian and his daughter Portia. Ivan the dog? Also pretty awesome.

What I didn’t like so much was there are a couple off intimate descriptions that the wording actually made me cringe… I think the opposite of what the author would be looking for at that moment. It also took me a while to understand the ghost part of the book and the first appearance of Elena’s sister, well, I thought she really was there.

All in all I think there is a lot of cultural history within this book that is slowly mixed in and that was interesting because I did not know about the Day Of The Dead traditions, or about the meal. While the book was not an over the top “wow” for me, I did find it interesting enough to follow it all the way through.. curious about the Julian and Elena storyline, as well as the restaurants success.

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Bantam Discovery (December 30, 2008)

Morning Meanderings… Reducing The Push

Published on June 7, 2015June 8, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

Sitting here this morning with COFFEE CUP close by. I have been up for HOURS but that is nothing new. I finished a book this morning, cleaned my kitchen, started laundry, cleaned the deck furniture, cleaned out the fridge. I helped my husband pick up the empty boxes in the garage. I cleaned up all the papers on my kitchen table, the cards I need to still enter into my spreadsheet.

“Be kind to yourself” is the repeated mantra I hear from friends and family. SO often I am told this I have to look around and wonder…

how?

Life does not stop for my grief. I still have commitments and even though I take on a reduced role, I still feel for whatever reason (right or wrong) that I need to function at some level. I helped at this past weekends Children’s Book Sale. I had two meetings for the library and coming up the next two days I am going to try to help out at camp. Each time I do these things it costs me. Each time I hold it together while in a public setting or trying to handle my normal things… once I am alone I lose control.

Life does not stop for my grief.

All I think I can do right now is remind those that I am on committees/boards with is to please understand that I am nowhere near 100%. At times I think I can look like I am but inside my heart is racing like a scared rabbit. Please please please by kind to my heart. Please please please understand I am so broken and can’t handle being pushed. I can get things done. I can function. Just let me move at my own pace for now.

As I type this I wonder why I am saying this here. You probably were looking for some bookish topic and instead you picked up on my head ramblings like a radio that was moved to the wrong station.

I am unbelievably sad. Even when I smile and carry on what appears to be a normal conversation please know that it is taking everything I have to hold it together. Some day soon I will put a message like this on Facebook. Maybe today. I don’t know.

Anyhoo… books. Still listening to Out Of Orange on audio. I finished The Lost Recipe For Happiness this morning and if all goes as planned (plans…. ) I will have a review up today.

Next up I am vacuuming ans shampooing carpets. If the weather holds I will mow my lawn a bit. This afternoon some great gals and EXCELLENT friends are coming over to my home for a little book event on Dorthea Benton Frank’s new book, All The Single Ladies. It’s a small gathering of people who “get me”. I am hopeful to enjoy a couple of hours of relaxing with friends. I am still working on doing small things as I can.

Enjoy your Sunday everyone. One of these days soon I will start posting the Monday What Are You Reading again.

Morning Meanderings…. 60 Days

Published on June 3, 2015June 3, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

60 days. How does that even register? It doesn’t. Yesterday I spent most of the day in bed. After company for 4 days and lots of activity around a wedding I was wiped out. It is amazing how quickly my energy drains. I read between napping and found myself all over the board there too…. I am listening to…

The real-life Alex Vause from the critically acclaimed, top-rated Netflix show Orange Is the New Black tells her story in her own words for the first time – a powerful, surprising memoir about crime and punishment, friendship and marriage, and a life caught in the ruinous drug trade and beyond. I have been fascinated with Pipers story and now hearing the side of Alex Vause has been very interesting.

This one I found at the last Library Sale. Wally Lamb has run a writing workshop at the York Correctional Institution, Connecticut’s only maximum-security prison for women. Writing, Lamb discovered, was a way for these women to face their fears and failures and begin to imagine better lives. Couldn’t Keep It to Myself, a collection of their essays, was published in 2003 to great critical acclaim. With I’ll Fly Away, Lamb offers readers a new volume of intimate pieces from the York workshop. Startling, heartbreaking, and inspiring, these stories are as varied as the individuals who wrote them, but each illuminates an important core truth: that a life can be altered through self-awareness and the power of the written word.

My speed of reading right now draws me to books like this. It’s the opportunity Elena Alvarez has been waiting for–the challenge of running her own kitchen in a world-class restaurant. Haunted by an accident of which she was the lone survivor, Elena knows better than anyone how to survive the odds. With her faithful dog, Alvin, and her grandmother’s recipes, Elena arrives in Colorado to find a restaurant in as desperate need of a fresh start as she is–and a man whose passionate approach to food and life rivals her own. Owner Julian Liswood is a name many people know but a man few do. He’s come to Aspen with a troubled teenage daughter and a dream of the kind of stability and love only a family can provide. But for Elena, old ghosts don’t die quietly, yet a chance to find happiness at last is worth the risk.

So that’s what I am doing. Day to day doing what I can. Working a bit on projects I have to get done but making the steps slowly. So slowly.

The Cake Therapist by Judith Fertig

Published on June 2, 2015May 18, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Claire “Neely” O’Neil finds her way back to her home town of Millcreek Valley Iowa to open a bakery. Claire feels she needs the break from her own life to sort out the flavors of what decisions she needs to make as well as the desire she has to bring flavors and tastes to others. Claire has an unusual talent of adding the right flavor combination together to bring out a customers secrets, fears, desires… a talent Claire does not always want, but one that has brought great success when helping potential clients choose a wedding cake that suits them both, or a flavor to mend a broken heart.

Claire certainly doesn’t have to worry about much down time as messages and packages keep arriving from her husband she is separated from, her goth girl employee tries to cover her secrets and pain with dark-colored make up, an older woman of the neighborhood brings about stress, and a handsome man from Claire’s past makes her wonder what would have happened if she had chosen the path not taken.

There is plenty going on around Rainbow Bakery to keep even the pickiest customer coming back for more.

The Cake Therapist was a light and sweet read. Early on in the book the story jumps into Claire’s talent of knowing what flavors work with what customers however I found that part confusing and if I had not first read the synopsis I would not have understood what was happening when Claire opens the bakery door and describes the flavors separating into light. There is also a lot going on in this book. A LOT. Between Claire’s own storyline unfolding, her employee Jett’s troubles, and a story set 100 years earlier following along in alternating chapters, the book felt a little choppy too me. I had trouble figuring out what the historical story had to do with the current story and things did not flow well until half way through the read.

The Cake Therapist was a good read and I enjoyed the characters although there was no great aha moment. When things do piece together in the end it is quick and eve though answers were revealed I don’t think enough of it was said earlier on for the reader to have that true “Oh! Of course!” moment. When the story ends it feels as though more could be said – but not enough for a second book.

My recommendation is to try The Cake Therapist for yourself as with my current life happenings I do not necessarily trust my feelings on this one. As a lighter read this book would make for a good summer read. Don’t expect a lot of “wow”, but you can expect to feel good.