Book Journey

How We Got To Now by Steven Johnson

Published on March 16, 2015March 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Steven Johnson explores six innovations over the centuries that made the world what it is today. Interesting exploration from our fascination with selfies, how we created time, from genius, to mistakes. The six big topics are:

1. Glass

2. Cold

3. Sound

4. Clean

5. Time

6. Light

Although I admittedly do not have scientific mind and by no means could be considered “techy”, I am still fascinated by the creative minds that brought us to today. It is no secret that I am fully engaged with the start up of Facebook and have watched the movie an embarrassingly amount of times. I have not only read about, listened to books on Steve Jobs, I have watched his movie as well… again fascinated how these great minds see something bigger in what we are doing and change the world forever with their nudges in the right direction. Truly, they could not have had any idea how far their ideas would go.

How We Got To Now is another of those fascinating books that show how what happened then ties to now in ways that we could not even imagine. The first making of glass which led to mirrors which led to seeing ourselves for the first time to the first artists that became fascinated with self portraits. Another chapter that really blew me away was the one on time. It is hard to think about a world without time as we are all about time and where we need to be and when. I tried to imagine a time, without time…

Christopher Columbus: Okay men, we are now ready that we shall sail to the new world world!

Men: And how shall we know when to go of wise one?

Christopher Columbus: Uhhh….. we shall know… when we know. Be off with you until then!

Ok that was all me, I can not quote Christopher, it was just the image that came to mind.

This book is one I listened to on audio and it is a short listen at 6 hours and 11 minutes but a fascinating one for those of us who enjoy knowing where things came from and how they affect us today.

Listening Length: 6 hours and 11 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Penguin Audio
Audible.com Release Date: September 30, 2014

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on March 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

Hello! Welcome to It’s Monday What Are You Reading? The meme that we use to share what we read this past week and what our plans are for the upcoming week. It’s a great way to see what others are reading and add to your own To Be Read list. 😀 You never know where that next great read may come from!

Wow did that week burn by or what? Even the weekend felt short and we are having great weather here in Central Minnesota so I don’t like that! 😀 I had such a wild week I don’t think I posted a whole lot but here is what I did:

Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag

Descent by Tim Johnston – w/ book club questions

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Cover Crack – What Book Covers Are You Jonesing Over? (the covers you CRAVE!)

That’s it for my posts however I have 5 reviews yet to write so the reading is there…. I just have not had the time to write reviews.

For this week I am planning….

For My Ears

Fascinomas – fascinating medical mysteries. A paralyzed teen recovers overnight. A woman complains her breast implants speak. A man and his dog become gravely ill at the exact same time. These strange, real-life cases and many more can be found in author and physician Clifton K. Meador’s newest collection, Fascinomas. Combining the word fascinating with the term for a tumor or growth, fascinoma is medical slang for an unusually interesting medical case. These are the extraordinary stories medical professionals recall forever and pass from one colleague to another in hospital lounges and hallways. Every medical professional has at least one fascinoma to tell, and in this collection of bizarre-but-true stories, Meador retells some of the most memorable. In the vein of Berton Roueche, the famed medical writer for The New Yorker, the author of True Medical Detective Stories is back with an all-new book of complex cases, where medical professionals must often race against the clock to find clues in the most unusual places. Fascinomas is an entertaining and informative collection for physicians, nurses, medical students, and those who simply can’t get enough of bizarre clinical cases. Written from the point of view of an experienced doctor, the stories are crafted in an engaging style that can be enjoyed by medical professionals and laypeople alike. More than just interesting tales, however, these real-life mysteries serve as great examples of the need for doctors to listen closely to and ask the right questions of their patients, even in the computer age, when so much information is at their fingertips. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction, and you never know where a crucial piece of evidence will be found by one of the detectives of the medical world.

Autumn has finally arrived in the small town of Bascom, North Carolina, heralded by a strange old man appearing with a beat-up suitcase. He has stories to tell, stories that could change the lives of the Waverley women forever. But the Waverleys have enough trouble on their hands. Quiet Claire Waverley has started a successful new venture, Waverley’s Candies, but it’s nothing like she thought it would be, and it’s slowly taking over her life. Claire’s wild sister Sydney, still trying to leave her past behind, is about to combust with her desire for another new beginning. And Sydney’s fifteen-year-old daughter Bay has given her heart away to the wrong boy and can’t get it back.

For My Eyes

Colom had the perfect childhood, the much-loved only child of a church pastor. Yet he wakes screaming from dreams in which his sister is drowning and he can’t save her.

Fiona turns to her husband, desperate to help their son. But David will not acknowledge that help is needed—and certainly not help from beyond the church.

Then they find the suicide pledge.

Fiona, in panic, takes Colom and flees… but when will she acknowledge that the unnamed demons Colom faces might be of her and David’s own creation?

This beautifully written and searching novel by poet Gerard Kelly explores the toxicity of secrets, the nature of healing, and the ever-present power of rain.

That’s the plan… how about you? What did you read this last week and plan to read this week? Add your Its Monday What Are You Reading link below where it says click here:

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For those who read mainly children and middle grade books please add your link here as well:

Cover CRACK… What Book Covers Are You Jonesing Over?

Published on March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

jonesing

to have a strong need, desire, or craving for something.

There are certain book covers that for whatever reason draw my attention. Seriously. I can be browsing books and particular covers can stop me in my tracks and cause me to pick up the book and read the synopsis.

Sound familiar?

It should. Even though we are told to never judge a book by its cover, I have to believe that most of us, when put in a room of books to browse, it is the cover that is the next logical step to wondering if a book is a good fit for you.

That being said…

for me the cover crack that catches my eye is at this time: Houses and Food. I know. I know. Lets break this down.

Houses.

Covers with an old home on them, a mansion, a street filled with homes, even buildings (barns, sheds, maybe a hardware store). I think what draws me in are the possibilities. What is happening in that place or what will happen? Who lives there? What secrets do they have?

Here are a few samples of endearing book covers. (*Note – these are not necessarily books I have read, but these are book covers I am drawn to)

house book covers, jonesing over covers, cover crack, Book Journey

(actually in this house category is one of my all time favorite books)

Food.

I love reading about food and I am not just talking about cook books. I mean fictional fun stories and memoirs of traditional cooking, starting a restaurant, creating culture, famous chefs…. I love it all.

Your up. What covers do you find call to you?

Black Ice by Becca Fitzpatrick

Published on March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)5 Comments

Many years ago I read Fitzpatrick’s engaging trilogy starting with Hush Hush and enjoyed it so much. I was so excited to give this one a try and see if these new characters could live up to the wonderful books she had written previously. They did. ~Sheila

Britt Pheiffer has been training for her upcoming winter backpacking trip to the Tenton Range with her best friend Korbie where they will be staying at Korbie’s family cabin. When Korbie’s college brother, and Britt’s ex boyfriend Calvin decided he is going to join them by meeting them at the cabin, Britt is not sure if she is excited or annoyed.

While the girls on their way to the cabin a blizzard makes the roads impossible to drive on and they seek shelter at a cabin they find in the woods. They gratefully accept the hospitality of the two young men, Sean and Mason, occupying the cabin soaking up the warmth after a chilling walk. Yet soon the girls realize all is not as it seems. The two men are fugitives for murder, on the run from the law, and Britt and Korbie have just become their hostages.

The men decide that Britt who has more outdoor skills that Korbie will guide them off the mountain. While Sean is dark and angry with a quick temper, Mason tries to keep him calm and protect Britt when he can. Is Mason an ally? Can a cold blooded killer be an ally?

Britt’s only hope is that Calvin discovers her abandoned car and comes looking for her and Korbie. And hopefully he will make it before it is too late.

Becca Fitzpatrick does it again with characters that are three dimensional and a story line that keeps you guessing.

I enjoyed listening to Black Ice on audio, Jenna Lamia (narrator for The Secret Life Of Bees, The Help, Looking For Me, Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt) has just the youthful voice for this book, as well as the diversity to handle the male voices of the book as well without sounding like a girl trying to be a guy. Impressive as always!

Black Ice was a wonderful listen and a good story line that is at once scary and also a little bit of a YA romance, a mix that works well here. I enjoyed experiencing this author again.

Audio CD
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (October 7, 2014)

Morning Meanderings… Books, Book Releases, and 11,000 Leprechauns

Published on March 15, 2015March 15, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

And that my friends, is how a week gets away from you.

It was a great week last week that I balanced with work, and coffee dates, appointments, and reading. Oh yeah… I have been reading, as of this mornings list I am 6 reviews behind and that does now happen with me…

until it does.

Freelancing is fun, but it is very easy to find yourself working 7 days a week if you are not careful. I am trying to create work free weekends,but that will not start today. 🙂 That is ok though, because I did take most of Friday off for an overdue meet up with a friend, and then Saturday I ran the 7K in Minneapolis for the annual Get Lucky ST Patty’s Day run; the largest run of the year – 11,000 of us green people doing the 7K in one area, and 20,000 people doing the 21K (the lucky 7 7 7 run) in another part of the cities. I will save most of the pictures for later, but here are a couple samples:

Getting ready to run at the starting gate – that’s a lot of little green people!

Me, pre-run, being Irish helps me fit the part!

And…. books came to my house this week! Lovely lovely lovely books:

Praying Through The Gospels by Sarah Lindbergh (3 copies, 2 for a giveaway!)

The Cake House by Latifah Salom

Control by Lydia Kang

Catalyst by Lydia Kang

LEGACY by Ellery A Kane

Stranger by Harlan Coben

And….

Releasing this coming Friday:

Keep an eye on this one, we are going to have some fun with this title with an author interview that will amaze you later this week and this will be a book to start talking about now.

This morning I made a to-do list to get a feel of where I am at for this week, while I hope to make a nice dent in this list today, it is really something I will be working on throughout this week. This afternoon, book time…. and I know just the book.

Morning Meanderings… Going Green and Debating Tights!

Published on March 13, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good morning! It is FRIDAY!!!! I am crazy excited about that for really no reason at all except that I should have some reading time this afternoon and of course shopping to get my green on.

Literally.

Tomorrow morning I am off to St Paul for The Get Lucky Annual 7k run. I like this run, and it is my first Ortho run of the year. The Ortho runs are nice as you usually get some serious bling, like a nice hooded sweatshirt. Excited about that! 😀

As the weather seems like it will be a little nicer than the last three years that I have completed this run, I am thinking I may change-up my green this year. After a coffee date this morning I am going to go and see what I can find for my “green wear”. I have some things from previous year but hope to shake it up a little bit this year.

Above – pics from last years run.

Off to coffee…. have a wonderful start to your day everyone!

Morning Meanderings… It’s ALIVE!!!! Creating Flat Bookie

Published on March 12, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

You know how sometimes it is just DANGEROUS to put a group of witty readers int he same room? They can really feed off each other and you never know what is going to happen.

I think it went down like this…

On Tuesday we had book club here at my house. We were discussing those of our group who are out exploring the world on this spring break week. Someone mentioned they should have taken a “Flat Stanley” with them which somehow led to…

Flat Bookie.

A bookish relative to Flat Stanley who would travel when the Bookies travel so the Bookies can take pics with him when they are in bookish situations… such as…

book stores

author events

and of course, just reading a good book wherever they are

I love ideas like this.

Yesterday afternoon I went about creating the Flat Bookie. Something simple we can cut out and laminate and send off on adventures…. bookish of course.

For the record, I did not wear a bra on my head while doing this (for you 80’s people, that is a Weird Science movie reference)

It was fun and I presented to the group the result:

Behold!!!! The Flat Bookie!!!!

Ok. LOL. I am done. 🙂 Guess who will be traveling with me to the Book Expo this May?

In case you do not know what I am talking about when I mention Flat Stanley – here is a link. I once had one I took to Honduras with me for a friends daughters project.

Have you ever had a Flat Stanley travel with you? If so where?

Descent by Tim Johnston – Bookies Book Club Review w/ Discussion Questions

Published on March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

Quick Synopsis…

While the Courtland family is on vacation in Colorado with their two teenage children, their daughter Cailtin is abducted while out for a morning run. What follows is a three-year nightmare while the already struggling family tries to move on. With no answers to what happened to Caitlin or even if she is dead or alive, each remaining member of the Courtland family battles this crushing weight in different ways.

Grant, the father remains in Colorado unable to leave the are his daughter disappeared from. He stays at a ranch helping out an elderly man, making attempts to move forward but nothing happens.

Angela, the mother, has returned to their home state of Wisconsin but deals with great depression. She lives with her sister after having had to sell their family home and has a hard time functioning from day-to-day.

Sean, the brother, now 18, the age his sister was when she was taken struggles with the guilt of having been with Caitlin when she was taken. What could he have done differently?

And Caitlin. Will they ever find her? And if they do, what exactly will they find?

I reviewed Descent by Tim Johnston last week with my opinion. This review is the thoughts of our book club as a whole and no spoilers 🙂

Descent brought out a lot of good discussion among our group. While some of us really found the storyline realistic and engaging, others pointed out things that did not seem to fit. There were questions of characters who suddenly did something completely out of their character which we all agreed did not fit, but some would argue that some things do not need to be revealed to the reader. Perhaps the author was giving the reader the feeling of “no control” and that not knowing what would happen could very well, as some argued, give the book a feel more real to life. After all… life is messy and try as we may to figure out how things are going to go… we never do really know.

It was mentioned that the book synopsis that we read from the book when we chose it was not an accurate synopsis, of what actually happens in the book. Some felt mislead to be told one thing and then read another.

Over all, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the best, the ratings went from 2,s to 4,s and quite a few rating it in the 3’s (a standard read). It was one of those books that bring out a lot of thoughts, opinions, and discussion. We even reenacted a final scene (I can’t share… that would be a spoiler) when we questioned how one would do that. One girl in our group even had a similar story to share of something that happened to a friend of her sons while hiking. There is actually a book written about that true story, Bringing Jon Home by David Francis. A book that I ordered on Kindle this morning.

Why Would This Make A Good Book Club Read

Descent is a book that could have been ripped from the headlines. This leads to discussion like, “what would you do?” as well as discussion on how a strong family can be shattered by such an experience and a damaged family (such as the Courtland’s) have a good chance of falling completely apart.

If you look at reviews of this book on-line from some of the big name newspapers, New York Times, The Herald, etc… you will find diverse opinions, much like you can expect from a group read. The writing style can be thought of as brilliant, or annoying. (And in our group it was just that)

In the book, Sean is believed to be false when he is telling the truth. Discussion can be made over when that has happened in your lives, when you are telling the truth about something and you are either misunderstood, or believed to be false and the frustration of when your character is questioned like that.

Themes of hope, faith, depression, denial, and survival instinct are all represented within this read.

Food ideas… while not a lot of food is mentioned within the book, there is pizza at a birthday celebration, and Caitlin keeps snickers in her pockets when she runs for energy boosts.

Questions For Your Discussion

Morning Meanderings… Book Club Heated Discussion

Published on March 11, 2015March 11, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)15 Comments

Good morning! Happy Wednesday! My only big “to do” today was to take the dogs to the groomers and I have already dropped them off. Now a day of catching up on some smaller projects and basking in the aftermath of last nights book club.

At least….

nothing was broken.

😯

Actually I kid, our group was awesome as usual and last nights discussion of Descent by Tim Johnston was a good one. I do not want to say too much here as my book club review post of this book is going up later today – but I can say a book where the group has different opinions always makes for good discussion.

I think I made it to the second question on the book when it started…. one person said, “and that was where it all went wrong and I didn’t like the rest of the book,” and another piped in, “I thought that was when it was getting interesting!” I nudged Kaydi who was sitting next to me and I said, “here we go.. this is going to be good.”

And it was good, we all had things that we did not like about the book and some of us found things that we really liked about the book. This was a great discussion read and we were nowhere near the level of mixed heated discussion we were when we discussed Me Before You by Jojo Moyes.

Bookies Book Club, Sheila DeChantal, Minnesota — One of our gals was out last night due to a recent surgery and we took this picture to put on Facebook.

I did also promise you some food pics… and that will be in the review post – stay tuned to find out more about Descent by Tim Johnston and what makes it an excellent book club choice as well as questions you can use for your group if you discuss this one.

I know I asked you yesterday for ideas for a book club read for April and you came forward with excellent suggestions. We did settle on a book that was part of our Book Club Girl package, Vintage by Susan Gloss because she is skyping with us for our April meeting. I am kind of excited as we have fun plans in store for this one.

Morning Meanderings…. Book Club Morning and I Need Your Help

Published on March 10, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)47 Comments

Good morning! I want to run through the house screaming “It is book club day! It is book club day!” Perhaps tossing flower petals out of a little yellow basket as I do so.

Yes that is how excited I am about having book club at my house this evening. The book Descent by Tim Johnston was one I enjoyed and I am curious what the rest of the Bookies thought of it. I already know there will be mixed feelings on this one which does make for good discussion. I already have my food planned (you will see what I came up with tomorrow!) and an idea for a prop or two…. we do like to get into the books we read.

I was just talking about our book club with a friend yesterday and was explaining we were so much more than a book club. I told this friend that while at one time we were a bunch of motley crew gals that enjoyed books, through the years we became so much more. We are there for one another when we go through things. I would not want to lose any one of them. I teared up a little bit when I spoke of them.

It is true. We have built such an amazing group that I hang tight to them. Together we are funny, we are serious, we are sad, we are passionate, and we get angry – all about books. I love it. I do.

Each meeting we choose the next book we plan to read. We can all submit a book for vote – we look for a book that is:

Fairly new so we can find enough copies

priced under $15 and Kindle does count

SO my question to you this morning since at this time I do not have a suggestion in mind, what book would you suggest I put forth for the book club tonight to be considered as our April read? Why would that make a good book club book?