Book Journey

Harry Potter and The Goblet Of Fire by J K Rowling

Published on February 1, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)9 Comments

Year 4: A brief recap in my words: Harry is able to go with the Weasley’s before school starts to see International Quidditch Cup being played (think Super bowl but with brooms and a snitch). This is a big deal and getting away from the Dursley’s early is icing on the cake!

Yet that is not all the surprises in store for this year! Once at school, Harry as well as his classmates learn that Hogwarts will be hosting a very special event – the Triwizard Tournament; an event that had been cancelled for many years due to the champions chosen being killed form the intense competitions. Now, feeling that the Magical world has knocked the kinks out of the tournament, they have brought it back and two schools will be coming to complete with Hogwarts.

When the goblet of fire is placed in the great hall, students 17 years old or older are welcome to put their name in the cup for a chance to be chosen as their schools competitor. The cup then will choose the name for each school of who will compete.

Exciting stuff!!!

Yet when the time comes and the names are popped out of the cup… a 4th name comes out as well. A second champion for Hogwarts…

you guessed it.

Harry Potter.

Not only is Harry underage, but Hogwarts already has put forth a champion, Cedric Diggory. When the judges discuss they can not figure out how Harry’s name was placed in the cup but the cup has spoken and the rules are the rules. Harry must compete.

With his own school turning against him thinking somehow Harry forced his name into the cup to suck up attention, Harry knows better. He does not want to compete…. and his hear, as well as the fear of his friends is that someone placed his name in the cup… someone who wants to see Harry killed.

Book 4 into the readalong took me a ~~little~~ lot longer than I had anticipated. Having a very busy January my hardcover copy of this book traveled with me to Australia and to New Zealand with very little of it being read. Basically it was a good four pound carry on in my luggage.

I also found at first that this 4th installment took a while to get going. I am not sure why that was as there was a lot happening in the book. Finally once I made it to the Triwizard Tournament I was fully engaged, excited to see what was going to happen next!

As I read this book, I started to get the feeling that I have not read this one since the first time when the series originally came out. Some of the books I has read through before, the first one for sure, and the last book I read through in 3 days, turned around and read it again a second time right away to let it sink in more. Never have I done that with any other book.

The theme that stood out to me in this book was friendship. Hermione stayed by Harry’s side through the competition and even Ron let his jealousy get in the way. There was also a friendship between Harry and Cedric that I thought was especially nice. They helped each other out throughout the competition.

In the end, this is the first book in the series where there is a significant loss. I think J K handled this so well. The year ends with a tribute instead of the usual celebration and it is well done. I am excited now to watch the movie which I have seen many times, but not with the book fresh in my mind. I picked up differences from book to movie while I read and now I want to confirm them. 🙂

Spoiler Note…. for those of you who cried over Cedric, feel better knowing that he left Hogwarts, and became a hot vampire. All was not lost for Cedric, who now goes by Edward. 😉

** Watch for giveaways to pop up soon! I have some catching up to do with the readalong giveaways!

Morning Meanderings…. A Few Books And Things To Accomplish

Published on February 1, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

It is cold here this morning in Central Minnesota. I am here with COFFEE Cup and blanket and thinking about my crazy day.

Tomorrow I have my first big meeting for the Minnesota Association Of Library Friends at 10 am in ST Paul. I will need to leave here by 7 am to give myself a nice cushion on arriving in plenty of time to feel comfortable. That goes until 2 pm and THEN we have our Annual Friends meeting here in town at 6:00 pm. Neither of these meetings am I ready for. 😯

I have papers to print out for the St Paul Meeting and stuff I should probably look over that just came by email yesterday. For our meeting I still need to make the agenda, a new 2015 Friends Roster and prep what I am going to bring to the potluck. I have not felt that well the past couple of days so that is assisting in the procrastination.

Ok… lets talk about books for a moment:

Jack and Louisa ACT 1 by Andrew Bolger and Kate Wetherhead

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

My Sunshine Away by M O Walsh

Fun mix!

Tonight we have a Super Bowl party to go to and I am hopeful I am feeling well by then. I really want to go and I need to bring something. I have an idea of what I plan to bring, just need to get in gear and pick up the ingredients.

The good thing about the library association meeting is that with it being two + hours away I will finally have some real audio listening time. Something I have not had for a month!

Morning Meanderings…. Oh The FOOD!

Published on January 31, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)42 Comments

As you probably know (from all the gushing over here, on Facebook, etc…) my husband and I along with friends went on a 17 day trip to Australia and New Zealand earlier this month. We spent three days in Sydney before we boarded our Cruise ship for the rest of our journey.

This post is for Weekend Cooking and for Saturday Snapshot and it is all about FOOD. Food is really part of the experience and my rule for traveling is that we can never eat at a place that I could eat at around where I live. I love new food experiences!

Disclaimer: Not all food pictured is mine (thank goodness!) I took pictures of the food that my hubby as well as our friends were eating too.

While in Sydney, we stopped at a little pub for lunch. I ordered a burger that was to come with “hot chips” and I was very curious about these chips. Turns out, chips are french fries. Now I am not a huge fan of thicker french fries, I like the crispy fresh thinner ones with that salty yum flavor. These were DELICIOUS. I became a big fan fast of the hot chips of Australia and New Zealand.

We were in Sydney 3 days and at one stop enjoyed a Japanese Cuisine meal. The four of us girls were really excited about this, however the two guys, Ray and Al were not… thinking it was going to be like a china buffet. The boys were converted quickly. The food was incredible and Al (my hubby) said he would stop anytime that he sees Japanese noodles.

At our hotel was a very nice restaurant and the above picture if from their display window. We never had a chance to eat there, we were too busy out exploring.

I wish I had taken better notes, but I did not. While in Sydney we took an all day trip to go and see some of the sights. We stopped at a quaint little town where we had a change to grab a bite to eat. We walked into this corner cafe that displayed the above window. I chose a delicious sandwich pictured below:

On to the cruise….

If you have ever taken a cruise, you know there is a lot of food. There was a buffet area that was open all the time. A pizza place, hamburger and hotdog spot, your main dining area, a steak house, Italian restaurant, and a Sushi restaurant. The food, other than the steakhouse, Italian, and Sushi, were all included in your cruise cost so knock yourself out. 🙂 The above picture is my dinner on the first night we ate in our dining room. This is a chicken Alfredo in a Parmesan shell. I know right? I dont even want to think about that calories in that mouth watering, buttery yummy concoction.

Al and I ate in the steak house twice. Once with our whole group, and then once just the two of us, a gift from our Travel Agent. The steak house menu gave you choices of appetizers, soups and salads, your main dish with choice of sides and of course dessert. Everything came with dessert. Below is one of the appetizers I had, a crab cake with shrimp on top. This was also the night I had the creme brulee. I was so full!

On one of last excursions we went to Christchurch in New Zealand. We had heard that they had amazing fish and chips (there’s that chips word again!). We stopped at three different fish and chips places and all three were closed or out of business. By mid afternoon we were pretty hungry and finally found a nice looking pub style restaurant. (I love these pubs you can find some of the best food there!)

I ordered a chicken sandwich which I was sold on because it came with avocado. I also ordered for all of us, the nacho’s as us girls had been craving nachos but unable to find them anywhere in Australia or New Zealand. Wendy ordered for us to all try the potato wedges.

My sandwich was good, but the nacho’s and potato wedges were excellent. Each had a tasty chili sauce that I would love to try to duplicate. The portions were HUGE, but all 6 of us were able to get our fill of these delicious treats.

I of course have to talk about the deserts on the cruise ship. They were always beautiful and you just had to try them… no matter how full you already were. Below are pictures of some of the deserts we experienced on the cruise. Again – note, these are not all mine 🙂

If I were to mention any favorite of the entire trip it would have to be the Japanese Noodles we had in Sydney, the chicken Alfredo in the Parmesan bowl, and the nachos at the pub in Christchurch.

This is why I have been on my treadmill almost every day since we have returned. Ha! 🙂

Do you have a favorite that you see here?

Anything That Moves by Dana Goodyear

Published on January 30, 2015January 31, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

We live is a crazy exciting and sometimes strange world. In today’s day and age we find adventurists of all sorts… extreme sports, people pushing themselves to lengths they never had before, and yes – extreme eaters as well.

There is a movement of adventure eaters – the more unusual the ingredients, the more rare (even illegal), the better. In Anything That Moves they eat live octopus, shark fin, blood coffee, foie gras, pig snout, raw goat milk…

Health benefits to eating raw and unprocessed? The history of the food we eat? It’s all here.

I am the person who watched Survivor or Fear Factor and when it comes to the gross food challenges (unhatched birds, grub worms, bugs, etc…) I immediately announce to the TV screen and to my husband that I am out. As I watch the people gag on the TV I wonder why they even try to eat it when they know they can not win this one. For the record, Al calls that he is out on all height challenges.

At points in this book I am appalled. At other times fascinated. Not being an extreme eater myself, I am not entirely sure if I am impressed or disgusted with extreme eating… I think both. Dana Goodrow handles this book with facts. She takes the reader into restaurants like Nose to Tail where they literally eat everything in between. A party called the Weed Party where the host puts marijuana in all the dishes to his fully aware guests. Stinkbugs with a slice of apple. Extreme? Indeed. At least to me.

I enjoyed this book learning about foods that I am pretty sure I would not consider eating. I liked learning about some of the traditions in other countries. Anything That Movies is written with humor. As a foodie I am glad I read it. I now know facts that will disgust my friends.

Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Riverhead Trade; Reprint edition (November 4, 2014)

This review is linked to Weekend Cooking

Morning Meanderings… Finishing Up January

Published on January 30, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)34 Comments

Being home so little in January it feels weird to be talking about the end of the month already… yet here we are. January was…

1st books of the year….

6 7 books reviews and 5 audiobook reviews. An additional 3 books read but not reviewed yet due to release dates.

World traveling and spending a lot more time with my hubby than we usually have time for 17 luxurious days ♥

Traveling through the books I have read and keeping up on the archives.

Lots of guest posts (YOU all rock!!!)

Posts about hobbits…

work out hours…

lunches with friends

Very Little Snow – YAY!

using My Fitness Pal consistently since I came home

So that is wrapping up January. 2015 so far…. I like it.

February will bring a Super Bowl Party, an annual meeting for the Friends Of The Brainerd Public Library, my first meeting with the Minnesota Association Of Library Friends, possibility of a literary party, a birthday, an article… and who knows what else. 🙂

Today… I need to finish a book. Work out. A retirement party at the library. Things to start prepping for Camp Benedict and for the Annual Friends meeting on Monday. It shouldn’t be too crazy of a day.

How was your January?

Witches Of Echo Park by Amber Benson

Published on January 29, 2015January 28, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Unknown to the modern world, witches still exist in the gray areas of our vision, appearing quite like mere mortals… and all the way keeping our world balanced. Yet their existence is in danger and therefore, putting the world as we know it is danger as well.

When Elyse hears that her great-aunt Eleanor is deathly ill, Elyse rushes to be by her side in Los Angeles. What Elyse finds is not only the aunt who raised her, but also secrets that Elyse would never have guessed. Now, heir of her aunts estate, Elyse is also to take the place of her aunt in the Coven. To do so, Elyse must put herself in danger as the world in under attack and Elyse is not sure if she is strong enough to do everything she needs to do.

Very character driven, Witches of Echo Park has everything I enjoy in a good listen. I thought the characters were well-developed and interesting. Inheriting a coven of witches? Brilliant and unique! I also absolutely loved that the author Amber Benson narrated this audiobook as well. AND did an excellent job.

My only grumble is that the book was a little slow-moving to my liking. This is the start of a trilogy so maybe as the series goes on it will pick up speed. Definitely interesting – I would have initially thought this was a YA read (I think it was the book cover that led me to that) , but due to some content, I would say older YA to New Adult.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 9 hours and 21 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: January 6, 2015

Morning Meanderings… Bells of My Home Town… Feels Like Stars Hollow

Published on January 29, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning! Happy Thursday! I can not wait until my sleeping patterns return to normal! Up until 1:30 am when I forced myself to bed (wasn’t tired)… then I toss until 2:00 am, sleep a bit wake up at 5:00 decide I need another hour and then wake up at 9:00 am. GAH! Too late to have breakfast when I have a lunch date at 11:30 am so hungry and holding…. LOL

Well… there is always coffee. 🙂

Last night I had a Library Board meeting. We were going over Strategic Planning before our regular meeting so I arrived int he parking lot at 5:00 pm for our 5:15 meeting. As I exited my car I heard the bells play their song on the hour like they always do. This got me thinking…

As long as I have lived in Brainerd which is *cough cough* for the most part all my life, the bells have rung on the hour in town. They play a little tune, it’s pretty, occasionally it is seasonal, and it is always on the hour.

However…

I don’t know why. I don’t know how. I don’t know if it starts at a certain hour and ends at a certain hour… I don’t know if it goes all night…. I had never really thought to ask.

We have one of the city council members on our board so I asked… and she told.

The bells are carillon bells and they are there because a woman with the last name McKay was a big part of Brainerd back in the day. She had served as a nurse in the war and upon her death requested there to be bells that chime from the court-house on the hour in memory of those who died in the Bataan. Her request was put is place and someone actually manages the music, programs the bells to toll out their song – different each hour.

Sadly, I know little more than that. I Googled this last night thinking I would find information on the bells and I found very little. There is an article from 2011 in our local paper but the archives will not open it and three calls to the Dispatch this morning to access the information could not help me. I could not even find images of the bells on-line, although other parts of Minnesota, like the Mayo Clinic proudly display theirs.

Ok – enough of my bell obsession. I like them because I think they are unique. They remind me a bit of what I would expect out of a town like Stars Hollow (Gilmore Girls people… if you haven’t watched the show you must – all episodes are now available on Netflix). The bells are sweet sounding and I clearly wanted to write about them today….

Time for more coffee. Lunch date, projects to work on, and reading this evening. I will try to be a bit more sane tomorrow.

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

Published on January 28, 2015January 27, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Retired Cop Bill Hodges was pretty proud of his career record. Most of the crimes he was involved in solving were brought to completion.

Most.

One crime, still unsolved, still haunts Bill. Months earlier, a group of people waiting in line at a job fair were plowed down by a man driving a Mercedes. Not only did he run over the people with no mercy… he backed up and hit them again leaving 8 dead and 15 wounded. The driver was never caught.

Now, Bill has received a letter. A letter from the man who claims he committed this crime and egging on Bill about leaving this crime unsolved.

Well… retirement was boring anyways.

Stephen King is an author that I seem to be surprised that I still read. I read him often in High School, but after graduation found him to be a bit too much for me and I moved on. In recent years, mainly due to his surprise hit of 11-22-63 (so good – do not miss it!), I tend to drift back to his newer writing… cautiously testing the waters. While his writing is still King, his writing seems some what smoother… still spooky topics, but either I have mellowed…. or he has.

Perhaps… it is both of us.

I think Mr. King tested me a bit on this one. While a pretty good story line (hit and run criminal contacts retired cop and taunts him about being unable to find him), I struggled with some of the actual situations in the book. Think Norman Bates awkward relationship with his mother but more…more. Ugh more.

The story line is what held me to this audio, I did want to know what would happen in the end. Yet even more than the story line, Will Pattons narration was a home run for this audio. I am pretty sure if not for the excellent narration I would have probably let this one go as a DNF. Will Patton had just the right voice for narrating a retired cop. I really enjoyed listening to him.

Over all… Mr. Mercedes is not a win for me. This is supposed to be a trilogy buy I can not imagine that I will carry on with the story line… however, I never say never.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 14 hours and 22 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Audible.com Release Date: June 3, 2014

Morning Meanderings… What Is Happening Now?

Published on January 28, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Good morning! I have been home now for 5 days. The weekend was me doing pretty much nothing. The time change had us all goofed up… staying up until 1 am and then sleeping until 8 or 9 (so not like me – I am an early riser!) Then… I would spend afternoons reading or online while sitting in the recliner and then falling asleep in the chair.

The motto of Princess Cruises is “Come Back New”, and as much as I wanted that to be true… I did not want “new” to mean…. lazy. 😉

My hubby Al (left) riding while our friend Ray drives (right). This is opposite of how we drive in the states.

Then finally Monday came… and it was like my brain turned on. I made a to-do list. I started working out. I bought the groceries we needed, made the phone calls I needed, and took a couple of freelance jobs. *whew* I think I am coming back!

Yesterday I started looking for our Wine and Words authors for 2015. I sent out emails, and hope to have a few yes’s before our Friends Of The Library Annual Meeting next Monday. I like the mystery reveal of it all. At this writing…. I have two yes’. YEAH. Three more to go.

Today, I listen to audio and have some things to work on for that annual meeting. I am starting to get my mojo back. I am still a little tired but getting back to the norm…

and yes,

I think I came back new.

I think this is the day after I burned my bottom lip (before it was really bad) but that… is another story. 😉

In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson

Published on January 27, 2015January 25, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)40 Comments

If You have heard of the book/now movie A Million Ways To Die In The West than you must also know there are a million ways to die in Australia; or at least according to humorous author Bill Bryson there is. Crocodiles, poisonous spiders, sharks, and lots of miles of hot desert with no relief in sight are just to name a few.

Bill Bryson shares his adventures of visiting the Land Down Under mixed with true experiences of a killer sun burn, scary hotels, miles of driving to look at famous (or not) spots, as well as a good dose of history in this amazing area; In A Sun Burned Country will give you a pleasant mix of what Australia is like today, and how it was discovered.

When this book showed up in Candace’s guest post about books recommended either about Australia or with Australian authors, this is the one that caught my attention. Why not read a book about the country I was about to visit by an author that was known for his humor. I liked the fact that I was not about to read a dry commentary on Australia and I dug in.

Bill Bryson is definitely an author to experience. Not only did I learn interesting facts about the country of Australia and the places it is known for, but I also laughed along the way as I read. (You must read about the history of the Opera house and what happened to the man who designed it. EEP!) I found myself quoting this book frequently through the trip including reading passages out loud to my fellow travelers.

I read this one on the plane to Australia, and while on the cruise ship. I found it interesting, insightful, and full of fun – exactly the type of book you want to read on vacation. I highly recommend it to anyone who is going to experience (or has experienced) Australia.