Book Journey

Morning Meanderings… The One In Which I Get Sick

Published on January 3, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)44 Comments

So yeah.

A couple of nights ago I was folding up the blankets downstairs before I went to bed and I sniffled. As soon as I did it I felt that little twinge in my throat, a little soreness. “No!” I thought… not now.

But yes now.

Yesterday I felt it when I woke up… the light sinus pressure, headache, runny nose… I sound like a walking advertisement for some powerful drug (which by the way if you know the name of. I may need it STAT!) I took some aspirin and tried to carry on with my day, a few errands up town lunch with girlfriends, and then I was going to go shopping for the upcoming trip on Monday.

As the lunch went on with my friends I knew I was not going shopping. I was fading into the booth and I was longing for my comfy chair and blanket. So yeah… home I came and I curled up with said blanket… ate dinner with my husband and then was in bed by 9 pm.

For the record… going to bed at 9 for me leads to me up at 3:30 am, cleaning out leftovers out of the fridge so I can fill the dish washer and start it… I read a few emails… thought “this is nuts” and went back to bed until 7.

Today… still sniffly, light headache. sore throat. I am pretty sure it is sinus’s from our funky no snow in Minnesota weather that has been in the 20’s and 30’s and not the temp is dropping and we should not see above zero for a while now.

Any hoo… I ramble. My list of things to do must be worked on today. I need to go and change out the Library window from Christmas to something just wintery… I need to start packing…

and eventually this afternoon I hope to sit down and enjoy my book.

Happy Saturday everyone. 🙂

Pie Girls by Lauren Clark

Published on January 2, 2015December 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Searcy Roberts grew up in small town Alabama and when she married her high school sweetheart, Alton, moved to Atlanta and enjoyed the unlimited funds that his successful career brought them, she swore she would never go back. Living the dream of having a personal shopper, a doorman to carry her bags, and expensive lunches out, you can imagine Searcy’s surprise when Alton says he wants out.

Out?

Suddenly Alton seems to be having a midlife crisis. He decides he does not want his job anymore, is cancelling credit cards, and filing for divorce. He tells Searcy that their apartment will be leased out within the month and he will help her relocate wherever she decides, within means. And then he leaves.

Searcy is shell-shocked. Her beautiful clothes! Her unlimited credit. Her husband who she does truly love!

Unsure of what her next move should be, a timely phone call from her mother asking her to come home and help out with the family business, Pie Girls, is what normally Searcy would say no to, however considering the circumstances, maybe a get away is exactly what she needs.

Pie Girls is a sweet (pun intended) chick lit read that I really enjoyed. Ceecee is an interesting protagonist with a high-class attitude that changes throughout the book as her life as she knows it crumbles before her eyes. I absolutely loved the southern twang of narrator Mary Hollis Inboden, she made the audio fun to listen to! Jobe Cerny is also on this audio as the voices for the men, an interesting fact about Jobe is that he is most known for his role as the voice of the Pillsbury Dough Boy (although there were no “Dough Boy” voices in this book 😉 )

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 8 hours and 27 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Camellia Press
Audible.com Release Date: December 23, 2014

Morning Meanderings… 3 Days and Counting and a Few More Readers!

Published on January 2, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Good morning. 3 days left before I head out of my home and on my way to Australia. Honestly I am anxious. It’s a big trip. I want nothing more right now than to hug my dogs and stay at home. It’s like leaving my kids…lol. I will be fine once we get going but for now I am no nervous about the distance, the lack of communication back here to home, the inability of being able to help if anything is needed….. (ha! There I go thinking I actually can control things again!)

On a lighter note, if you popped in here yesterday you would have seen the pictures of many of the bloggers/ book lovers that sent me a picture of them and their planned book for the first book of the New year. Throughout the morning the bottom picture changed frequently… late pics came in, I accidentally missed one.. and then by the afternoon I had a handful more that I decided I would just post them again today with all the additions.

All in all, between the pictures, and the posts, we had over 70 participants in this one day meme. I was thrilled with the turn out.

Today I have lunch with friends and then I will do a little shopping for the trip. Having that part done will be a step in the right direction. I am getting there… baby steps…. but I am getting there. 🙂 Reading my first book Station Eleven and so far really enjoying it!

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

Published on January 1, 2015December 30, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Sarah Nickerson. Married. Mother of three. Home owner. Career driven. Vice President of Human Resources at Burkley Consulting. Between the shuffling of husband, home, kids, sports, family/friends obligations, and her job of 80 hours per week, she is nothing short of…

super mom.

Sarah thrives on keeping a tight agenda and there is little room for error. On the days when she wins the rock,paper,scissors for who does not have to take the kids to school, she loves the rush of being able to go directly to work.

On one such of these days Sarah decides that her drive time is an excellent time to catch up on a few phone calls and while dialing a number – in the blink of an eye, everything goes…

white.

When Sarah awakens she is in the hospital having been in a horrible car accident that has left her with a brain injury that has erased the left side of her world. She can not feel or see her left arm or leg, and her brain acts as though they do not exist. Suddenly Sarah who prided herself on being fiercely independent now finds herself at the mercy of those around her for all her needs including flossing her own teeth.

As Sarah struggles to make herself whole again with visions of returning to her job and her life she once had, that vision begins to fade and a new vision may very well be taking its place.

Left Neglected was an amazing audio book to listen to. I was fully engaged in this story line of a woman whose life was too full… too busy… and then it all came to an end. Who hasn’t at least for a time had a schedule like that? And who hasn’t made a phone call or talked on the phone while driving? I sure have.

Lisa Genova really did her homework on this book. I had never heard of left brain neglect but it is a real thing. For Lisa to place herself in this characters world of relearning how to find her left side, how to see things on her left and how to use her left side is amazing. I can just imagine the struggles of this independent woman who has to retrain her mind just to engage in simple things like eating and walking. I can imagine her struggles as people visited her and she wanted so much to appear whole… to appear healing… to be complete.

Narration by Sarah Paulson, another new to me narrator. Sarah was a wonderful easy to listen to narrator who captured the essence of this book.

Fantastic read! I recommend Left Neglected highly.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 9 hours and 12 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
Audible.com Release Date: January 4, 2011

Happy New Year: Reading Around The World 2015

Published on January 1, 2015January 1, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)78 Comments

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful night and now here we are on January 1st 2015. YAY to a new year!!!

This is the second annual First Book Of The Year Meme where I have offered book lovers around the world to send in a pic of themselves with the first book they will be reading this New Year. For myself, that first book has always been a big deal… a book I have been wanting to read for a while, sometimes it is a comforting re-read… whatever.

The past few days my email has been a treasure of fellow readers sending in that first book. It is always exciting to see what everyone chooses as their first read, and it is fun to see people from all over the world join in.

Here are this years participants:

There they are! If you see me in the bottom left corner, I have been so eager to read Stations Eleven after hearing all the great reviews of it. I will be in my cozy chair today digging into this one. There are many great titles here and thank you to all the book lovers who sent in a picture! I seriously tear up when I see how many get behind this idea.

If you wrote a post to go with this First Book Of The Year Meme please link it here where it says Click Here 🙂

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

Happy New Year from…

Kristin – Always With A Book

Chelsea- You Should Have Seen It In Color

Donna – Writer Side Up

Kathryn – Book Date

Nise – Under The Boardwalk

Laura – Book Snob

Ann – Ann’s Reading Corner

Laurel Rain – An Interior Journey

Sue – Book by Book

Kim – Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Katherine I Wish I Lived In A Library

Pat – Posting For Now

Mary – Bookfan

Freda – Freda’s Voice

Paige – authenticme

Elizabeth – Silver’s Reviews

Stacy – The Novel Life

Brook – Brooke Blogs

Cynthia – Binging On Books

Wendy – Beautiful Day

Martha – Reviews by Martha

Andrea

Susie – Home With Susie

Jennifer – Librarian Eats

Connie – The Prairie Mom

Sharon – Faith, Hope, and Cherrytea

Melissa – Jayne’s Books

Laura – Brainonlaura

Sheree – The Eclectic Reader

Laura – Crafty Booksheeps

Jackie – Jackie’s Bookbytes

Earl – The Chronicles Of A Childrens Book Writer

Beth – Fueled By Fiction

Emma – Words and Peace

Jackie – Jackie’s Forget Me Nots

Heather – Based On A True Story

Beth – Beth’s Book Nook

Kimberly – Costa

Marcee – A Nurse and a Book

Judy – Busy Hands are Happy Hands

Karen – bookertalk

Ann – Books on The Table

Shannon – The Most Happy Reader

Tanya – Girlxoxo

Leslie – Under My Apple Tree

Laura – The Book Junkie

Nicola – Back To Books

Marcilia – Reading In The Tardis

Kai – Fiction State Of Mind

Janet – My Shore Lines

Brona – Brona’s Books

Josh – Just A Guy Who Likes To Read

Emma – Once Upon A Littlefield

MrsK – MrskBookstogo

Shannon – Shannon’s Book Bag

Laurie – Bay State Readers Advisory

Melissa – Melissafirman

Diane

Shanny – Shanny Reads

Maddy – Symphony Of Words

Suzanne – Chicks With Books

Lory – The Emerald City

Deb – Readerbuzz

and Me 🙂

Good Night June by Sarah Jio – Audio Review

Published on December 31, 2014March 30, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

June Anderson is a professional. Her job as Vice President of Finances at her bank is fulfilling and she has found that she has a gift for being able to close doors on struggling businesses saving her bank a lot of money. It’s not personal, it’s business, is her motto and struggling mom and pop shops do not have a chance to win her over.

When June receives a letter that her beloved Aunt Ruby has passed away she is devastated. Ruby owned a Children’s Book Store called Blue Bird Books in Seattle and June is surprised to learn that the store has been left to her. Taking a planned short leave from her job, June heads to Seattle to plan the selling of the book store. However, the quaint book store floods her with memories from her childhood… and June soon finds out that Ruby still has a few surprises for June as well. Perhaps June’s future is not at all what she thinks.

What a beautiful listen! I absolutely love books with book references and Goodnight June is filled with them. Plant the setting in the center of a beloved book store and you have me hooked! Reading this book was like spending a day with a dear friend. At the spa. In Jamaica. 🙂

Goodnight June reminded me of the movie You’ve Got Mail, another struggling book store and every time I see the movie I cry when they have to close the doors. In fact I tear up as I type this… egads… what a wimp!

The storyline is sweet and feels real in today’s economy and struggling small businesses. Put a good-looking guy as owner of an Italian restaurant next to the book store and we have the makings of a pretty amazing read.

Sarah Jio is a fairly new author to me but one that I want to spend more time with. This is my second book by her and I loved them both. Narration of this audio book was by Katherine Kellgren and was a smooth fit. Kellgren had just the right mix of vocal skills to make this an excellent listen. I do not think I have heard Kellgren’s narration before but found I enjoyed her very much.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 8 hours and 30 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Audible.com Release Date: May 27, 2014

Morning Meanderings… The Trip Unveil

Published on December 31, 2014December 31, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)60 Comments

Good morning! It is the Morning of New Years Eve and I am honestly happy to see 2014 go. It was not an easy year and I am looking forward to a fresh year and see what it holds in its days.

One of the things I have been hinting a bit at is that my hubby and I are taking a trip. And not just any trip, for us, probably the trip of a lifetime. On January 5th we are going to Australia and will not be back until January 23rd! It’s crazy not like us. In fact we have not ever been on a vacation together without the kids. I am torn between exhilaration and anxiety.

We will be heading to Sydney, staying a couple of nights there and then boarding a cruise ship on January 10th. We have stops in Australia and New Zealand. We are going with 4 other people and I will be sending pictures as I can and posting as I can.

In the meantime, of course I am packing and planning, house sitters, dog sitters, wood stove sitters, and even…

blog sitters.

After the 5th, I have asked a group of regular chatters here on Book Journey to host a morning meandering. I have had a positive response to this and am excited as their posts have already started coming in. I think you will enjoy the visitors here at Book Journey… they will be nosing around my archives, chatting books and movies, and some will be sharing how we “met”. It looks like it will be fun and I will pop in as I am available.

I am planning the books I will be taking and few real books will make this trip so I am planning on loading up the Kindle. I suspect between the LONG plane rides and the sea time I will have plenty of time to enjoy books.

It’s all a little crazy for this small town girl. 🙂

This will also be the last day that you can send me your pictures of the first book that you will be reading into the New Year. At this point you do not need to fill out the form to join. If you want to be part of the “Reading around the world” collage, send a picture of you with your book today to: journeythroughbooks@gmail.com and I will add you. This New Years post will go up tomorrow morning.

Have a super last day of 2014!!!!

Confessions The Paris Mysteries by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Published on December 30, 2014December 27, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)Leave a comment

The Angel children all live with a relative in Paris now that their parents are dead. While looking around their new surroundings, Tandi Angel finds boxes marked with her older sisters name, the sister who was killed. Suspicious items found within these boxes makes Tandi question everything she thought she knew.. and wondering is she and her brothers are really safe at all.

First off… I clearly did not do my homework on this read. I did not realize this was part of a series called Confessions. This left me feeling that I had been dropped into the middle of a story line. By the time I enter this book, the Angel children’s parents are dead and it clearly feels that I am missing some back story… which I was. 🙂

I would say that even knowing I was missing part of the story line I do not feel this is a series I would have stuck with even if I had started with book one. There are some very weird components to the book including mind altering drugs that were given to the Angel children by their parents. Something they now try to avoid, but I am picking up some sort of “the kids were an experiment” vibe. I found the direction the story was going in to feel choppy and I finished it mainly because it was a short listen.

Narrated by Lauren Fortgang who has a wonderful accent that fit well with the book.

Confessions is a YA series.

Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Series: Confessions
Audio CD: 4 cds
Publisher: James Patterson -Young Readers; Unabridged edition (October 6, 2014)

Morning Meanderings… Archived! (and a bit about Libraries ;) )

Published on December 30, 2014December 30, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Good morning (or afternoon or evening depending on where you live).

Over the weekend I got it in my head that I was going to go through all my old posts and make an alphabetized page of all my book reviews for easy reference. For the record… it was a bigger project than I had anticipated. I worked on it in afternoons while listening to audio, and in the evening while watching movies, and off and on throughout the days…. and it took me three days to complete it. It is however… done.

While it was a LOT OF WORK (I have been reviewing since early 2009), it was also quite the walk through Book Journey history. As I made my way into the older reviews I actually discovered a lot.

I had forgotten many of the older titles that I had once reviewed and was surprised by some of the earlier titles that I had accepted. There were a lot of so-so books in the early years, but there were also great reads such as this one and this one . And this one. Ok there were a lot. I also discovered that I have reviewed Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone between book and audio… 4 times. Yes! 4 times! I interviewed many authors in the early days and almost every review had a giveaway. I also read a lot more James Patterson and Kristin Hannah than I had thought.

Many of the books that I reviewed in the early days were my own, from the library, and often for book club. I used a lot of color in my writing then… blue, red, green… and I bolded my entire posts. My first book sent to me from an author was Dragon House by John Shors. It was an excellent read. My first book tour was a book called A Will To Love by Kim Smith and I used a little picture to represent the tour:

Some of the non book review posts I ran into were the very first Morning Meandering was in August of 2009. I also discovered that in 2009 I was signed up to participate on another Harry Potter Readalong! I had also created a meme called Word Verification Balderdash (Ryan from Wordsmithonia will remember this one, he was great at it!) We would create meanings for the fun word verifications we had found while commenting on blogs. Some of them were hilarious! My favorite non bookish post was one where I interviewed myself as the Wicked … err sorely misunderstood witch of Snow White (I have no idea why I did this and had actually forgot about it), the post is actually a bit funny…

So over all the project was a success. It was more work than I had anticipated but it was fun to go back through every post I have written. I laughed and I eye rolled. It was all good. 🙂

Before I go today I wanted to share another Library Challenge. I had started a Library Challenge here for 2015 and forgot that Felicia from Geeky Bloggers Book Blog hosts one as well. I would encourage those of you interested in the library challenge to take a look at hers too… in many ways they are the same (so its really no more work), but she has a cool link to join in a Goodreads group which is pretty cool. Also… check out her challenge pic…. SO COOL. I am joining in and will do this one along with my own challenge. On hers I think I will go for Thrifty Reader which is a goal of 24.

Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (#hpreadalong)

Published on December 29, 2014December 18, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)20 Comments

Book 3 (already!) for the Harry Potter re-readalong. It is now the summer before the 3rd year of Hogwarts. Harry is once again at home with the Dursley’s nothing has changed… in fact now that they know that Harry is not allowed to perform magic outside of school, things have become a bit worse. When things do go terribly wrong, Harry finds himself on his own trying to get to Diagon Alley two weeks before school starts and discovers there is a Knight Bus for witches and wizards in need.

When the third year begins Harry overhears that a recent madman has escaped from Azkaban, and for some reason he has his sights set out for Hogwarts, and more importantly Harry. Dementors are now protecting the school… but not always the students. While the teachers are over protective of Harry for this reason, they will not give him the details as to why this man would be coming after him.

Hogwarts for Harry….. NEVER easy.

Of course Harry is hanging out with Ron and Hermione again… a particularity tense year as Hermione now has a cat who really would like to sample Ron’s rat Scabbers. Hermione also disappears a lot – returning usually looking disheveled and worried constantly about her studies.

It is a year of once again trying for the Quidditch cup, avoiding Malfoy’s sneering and jeering, a new (yet familiar) magical creatures teacher, and of course yet another new Dark Arts Teacher.

Harry works hard to keep himself safe all the while worried about sighting of this man named Sirius Black. Why would someone he had never heard of want to kill him?

The Knight bus at Universal Studios Orlando

Inside of the Knight Bus – Universal Orlando

The Prisoner Of Azkaban is the first of the books where you start to feel that Harry is growing up a bit. He is no longer a scared little newbie to the wizarding world and is growing into his own. It is funny to think that I do not recall every really enjoying this book that much but found this time around that I really got into it.

Harry’s friendship with Ron and Hermione is solid… although Hermione causes quite a bit of drama in this book, they are still friends…angry friends, but not like in the first book where she cries in the bathroom and is attacked by a troll…. no nothing like that. 🙂 Harry also holds his own on the Quidditch field, an important part of the team he loves being the Seeker (you will see that even comes with trials this time around).

I think what I love the most about the book is the introduction of the Mauder’s Map and the 4 students who had created it. This group of rebels that once ruled the school have passed their knowledge on and it is in Harry’s hands. I love that so much and I love the connections that he has tot he map that he does not even know about.

Great introduction of key characters take place here as well… we are introduced to Sirius, Lupin, and even Peter…. (well played JK, well played). This casual introduction will play out as the books continue.

I found this particular read to be so engaging I could not wait to get back to it. Not sure if it is the season, the mood, or what… but I fully wanted to engage this magical works and not come out. Feeling a little bit like Harry in the end, not ready to go back to everyday life… but knowing there is the promise of more to come.