Book Journey

Morning Meanderings… Perpetually TIRED

Published on November 14, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning from IHOP. I am back in a booth shaking things up today by not only having coffee and an English muffin… but today I added oatmeal too. Yeah… that’s way I roll… crazy and unpredictable… watch out. 😉

I am tired. Bone tired. I have not had a day of nothingness since October 29th before I left for my Florida trip with my son. I work all day in the bee yard and yesterday I rode along with my friend Amanda 3 1/2 hours to where the bees are going to pick up the rental car and bring it back to the hotel 3 1/2 hours back. I wilted into bed around midnight.

I ache. My hands hurt from lifting bee frames all day and the tiny stings they endure. My back hurts from leaning over the hives. My head hurts from the sun glare.

I dream. I dream of bees. I see them when I close my eyes and not in a creepy Amityville horror way with the flies but they are just there. And Queen bees I see them too… I cant wait to dream of normal stuff like unicorns or space monkeys.

Today I am on my way back to the bee yard. We really have today and tomorrow to finish this part up so I am anticipate another long day. I will be listening to audio today (He’s Gone by Deb Caletti). I am getting a bit of a Gone Girl vibe but we will see where this is going.

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain

Published on November 13, 2014March 30, 2015 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Ok seriously… how have I missed out on this amazing author? ~Sheila

Riley MacPherson was only two years only when her older teenage sister Lisa committed suicide. Although Riley was too young to really remember Lisa, who was on her way to Julliard as a very gifted musician, Riley does know this was about the time her family fell apart. Her mother battled with depression and eventually cancer takes her from them. Her father acts as though nothing has happened at all and refuses to discuss it. Riley’s older brother Danny begins to pull away from the family and continues to be estranged even into his adult life.

Riley, now in her 20’s returns to her childhood home after her father’s passing to take care of the family properties. Through encounters with different local people and finding in her father’s home – evidence leads to the fact that Lisa may not have committed suicide after all…

and if that is true….

What happened? And where is she now? Is she alive?

The Silent Sister absolutely blew me away. So good in fact that I flipped through web pages of this authors other books and while I recognized covers, I feel as though I have read none of her other books. BIG MISTAKE on my part.

The Silent Sister is an excellent take on how far a family will actually go to protect one of their own. While perhaps well-meaning – the MacPherson’s are the definition of dysfunctional. Hidden agendas and secrets from one another leave the two remaining MacPherson children (Riley and Danny) left with a twisted mess that only tangles more as the story goes on. While one might say the plot is too entangled, too messed up – it is that what takes this read to the next level. Let’s face it – we live in a twisted messed up world.

When we practice to deceive…

I loved this book! I listened to it on audio and the amazing Susan Bennett narrated very well. Alternating chapters come in to play as you start to fill in the whole twisted tale.

Absolutely read or listen to this one. This book rates as one of the best I have read in 2014.

Morning Meanderings… MN GIve To The Max Day and HP Hook Up Link

Published on November 13, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

Good morning! I am still in Florida working away with long hours and exhausted sleep. We are working hard to get done and get home and I am all about that – even if it freezing and lots of snow in Minnesota. I miss my hubby, my puppies, my bed 🙂

Today is GIVEMN day where you can link up a non profit charity and of course I am promoting our library. I am not sure if this is a thing for all states or not – I suspect it probably is. Anyhoo – here is our Library link and our goal: Brainerd Public Library Give MN

For the HP Readalongers… the link for your first review is up and if you have not found it yet – add your thoughts here. I need to catch up on House Points so please watch for that soon. Remember you earn points by writing posts and also by commenting on posts.

It is not to late to sign up to join this readalong that started in November and will go to March 2015. Check out all things about this here.

I am off to work for the day. We are still splitting hives. Hope to finish this part in the next few days here so we can get all the bees delivered, queened, and fed.

Bedbugs by Ben Winters

Published on November 12, 2014November 12, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Susan and Alex Wendt believe they found the perfect apartment. Top floor, two bedroom brownstone recently renovated. It is close to a park for their daughter Emma and the price is one they can not pass up. The old widowed landlady is short of a full deck but harmless.

Shortly after moving in Susan starts to notice that some things are just not right. First it is the mysterious lifted floor board that they did not notice when they moved in… then it is the strange smell in the spare room… then it is the bites. Susan wakes up with bite marks on her that are consistent with bedbugs… oddly it is only Susan that is being bitten. Alex and Emma are fine. The house is checked twice by an exterminator with no finding…

so if not bed bugs what is it?

I have wanted to read this book since it came out in 2011. I liked the mysterious cover, and the fact that author Ben Winters also wrote Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters, this seemed like it could be a fun read.

It was.

And creepy too.

I enjoyed this read! I learned a bit about bedbugs and while the book is a bit creepy it is leveled out with other interactions to keep it from going full on itchy!

The narration of Elisabeth Rodgers is good. She does a great Emma! You route for this family while at the same time there is enough suspicion to go around to keep you guessing as to what is really happening. I am glad I finally fit this one in!

Like a little creepy? A little edgy? Something that would make a good movie? Give Bedbugs a try!

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 6 hours and 54 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: September 6, 2011

Paperback: 256 pages
Publisher: Quirk Books (September 6, 2011)

Morning Meanderings… Back To The IHOP

Published on November 12, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Good Morning. Since Donna from Writer’s Side Up likes hat I am in IHOP every morning… thought I would take a picture. 🙂 Here are my discoveries about 4 am IHOP:

1. A lady that works the early shift at IHOP, also works at the hotel I am staying at. She is very nice.

2. Some people… should not dress themselves.

3. When a man walked in this morning wearing all camo from head to toe (and no not a hunter)…. I wanted to say, “Oh! I almost didn’t see you there!” But refrained as I thought he may not get it. 😉

4. 50’s music. I did not know that was an IHOP thing. I like it. Wish I had packed my poodle skirt.

5. I wish I had an IHOP attached to my house at home. I would go there every morning… coffee and an English muffin. Life would be so simple…

Getting ready for work this morning… or more honestly… I am ready for work just caffeinating myself for another 11 hour + day. I am tired. I have not had a day to myself since October 19th, before vacation with my son. That is a lot of days of being “ON”. As an introvert that takes its tole. I am spent. 🙂

Hop Skip Jump – Order This Book Today and pick it up for FREE!

Published on November 11, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)2 Comments

I posted a couple of days ago that I was reading this book.I signed up as one of 75 blogs to chat up this book. If you know me (and I hope if you read Book Journey you feel as though you do 😉 ) you know that if I can find a way to make something fun – that is the way I am going to go.

Today, November 11th, if you order the book you will receive a $15 ecard which will cover more than the cost of the book. Use this link to learn more about that! There is also a quiz you can take on that page to see

The 75 techniques in this book will guide you to be more playful and productive as you move through three vital phases of the manifestation process: dreaming (Hop), experimenting (Skip), and taking action (Jump). Discover your Play Personality and learn how to use it to create more experiences in which work feels like play, and struggle gives way to momentum, ease, and joy.

Includes a FREE downloadable Productivity Pack

Read it and want to chat about it?

Twitter: @hopskipjumpbook as well as @ArtellaLand.

Facebook: Hop Skip Jump

In the meantime… what do you do to make your work fun? I will share more on this during my review 🙂

No Land’s Man: A Perilous Journey through Romance, Islam, and Brunch by Aasif Mandi

Published on November 10, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)4 Comments

Aasif Mandvi and his family moved to America mainly because his father was fascinated with an incredible United States tradition…

BRUNCH!

You may know his from his work on The Daily Show, or in movies such as Die Hard With a Vengeance, Analyxe This, and Spider Man 2…even a Domino’s Pizza commercial.

Aasif narrates this incredibly funny audio from his early years of dancing to Michael Jackson to his first kiss; to later when he screws up Brook Shields party to receiving tv and movie rolls beyond “here, wear this turban,” and “”get on this flying carpet.” Aasif shares his lifes ups and downs of being an Indo-Muslim-British-American actor.

This audio was a lot of fun to listen to. I always enjoy actors and tv personalities that narrate their own audio books. It only seems right that they should be telling their story. Aasif narrates with a high energy and fast talking manner that you think he is hopped up on coffee (or perhaps that brownie he mentions along the way…).

Honesty, I did not know much about Aasif going into the read, but after listening to this book I have a whole new appreciation for the talent of this man who never stopped doing what he loved and made his way to who he is today.

Highly enjoyable! Fans of Aasif are not going to want to miss out on this up close and personal look of his life.

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 4 hours and 23 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Audible Studios
Audible.com Release Date: November 4, 2014

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on November 9, 2014November 10, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Hey there! Welcome to It’s Monday, What Are You Reading!

I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme I love to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. Fair warning… this meme tends to add to your reading list! 😉

Well hello from Florida again! This time I am working – long hours, in the heat with the bees. Life… is never dull. Where I am staying the internet is a solid maybe so I post when I can, but if you notice my absence I am either exhausted or can not get on line. 🙂

Here is what I did post this week:

Accidents Of Marriage by Randy Susan Meyers

Movie Review – Nightcrawler

The Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

The Vineyard by Michael Hurley

Yes Please by Amy Poehler (have been waiting for this one!)

AND don’t forget the HP readalong just started – its not to late to get in on the fun – posts, prizes, badges… check it out – tell your friends! 54 are signed up now!

Reading and audio have slowed down since Tuesday. With my long hours I am too tired to read. I listen to audio when I am in the hotel room. Here is what I am working on this week (I will still be working in Florida all week):

For My Ears:

“My father moved our family to the United States because of a word. It was a word whose meaning fascinated him. It was a singularly American word, a fat word, a word that could only be spoken with decadent pride. That word was . . . Brunch! ‘The beauty of America,’ he would say, ‘is they have so much food, that between breakfast and lunch they have to stop and eat again.'”
—from “International House of Patel”

If you’re an Indo-Muslim-British-American actor who has spent more time in bars than mosques over the past few decades, turns out it’s a little tough to explain who you are or where you are from. In No Land’s Man Aasif Mandvi explores this and other conundrums through stories about his family, ambition, desire, and culture, stories that range from dealing with his brunch-obsessed father, to being a high-school-age Michael Jackson impersonator, to joining a Bible study group in order to seduce a nice Christian girl, to improbably becoming America’s favorite Muslim/Indian/Arab/Brown/Doctor correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

This is a book filled with passion, discovery, and humor. Mandvi hilariously and poignantly describes a journey that will resonate with anyone who has had to navigate his or her way in the murky space between lands. Or anyone who really loves brunch.

FOR RENT: Top two floors of beautifully renovated brownstone, 1300 sq. ft., 2BR 2BA, eat-in kitchen, one block to parks and playgrounds. No broker’s fee.

Susan and Alex Wendt have found their dream apartment. Sure, the landlady is a little eccentric. And the elderly handyman drops some cryptic remarks about the basement. But the rent is so low, it’s too good to pass up. Big mistake.

Susan soon discovers that her new home is crawling with bedbugs… or is it? She awakens every morning with fresh bites, but neither Alex nor their daughter Emma has a single welt. An exterminator searches the property and turns up nothing. The landlady insists her building is clean. Susan fears she’s going mad – until a more sinister explanation presents itself: she may literally be confronting the bedbug problem from Hell.

*In hindsight, Bedbugs may not be the best choice while staying in a hotel room 😉

For My Eyes:

Most of us view work and play as mutually exclusive opposites, but now you can blend them together in your new route to joy-filled success. The 75 techniques in this book will guide you to be more playful and productive as you move through three vital phases of the manifestation process: dreaming (Hop), experimenting (Skip), and taking action (Jump). Discover your Play Personality and learn how to use it to create more experiences in which work feels like play, and struggle gives way to momentum, ease, and joy.

That’s the plan anyway. What are you reading? Add your link to your own It’s MOnday What Are You Reading below where it says click here:

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

Looking forward to what you are reading!

Morning Meanderings… Shoddy Internet

Published on November 9, 2014November 9, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)11 Comments

Good morning! Live from Florida day 6 on my Bee Keeping trip. Splitting hives has been interesting. I planned on writing a whole post about it yesterday but the internet is so spotty here and I could not get my pics to load. I will try to post the whole process next Saturday.

In the meantime I can give you one picture:

Yeah that’s me. Behind me are some of the hives we are working on. I have to run – work starts in 4 minutes and I am still sitting in IHOP. Have a super Sunday!!!

Yes Please by Amy Poehler

Published on November 8, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)8 Comments

I have had this one on pre-order for weeks! ~Sheila

Amy Poehler. You probably know her from Saturday Night Live or Parks and Recreation. She has also been in movies: Blades Of Glory, Mean Girls, Deuce Bigalow, and Baby Mama just to name a few. She is funny… from her days of growing up in a safe area outside of Boston to breaking into improv, this is Amy…and this is her story.

I listened to Yes Please on audio as I always try to do when it comes to biography’s being narrated by authors. I love to put the voice behind the story. Amy is an excellent narrator, she narrates like she talks and you feel like she is in the room with you and you are having coffee and talking about… well, Amy.

I enjoyed getting to know Amy a bit more. The chapters regarding improv, Parks and Rec making it or breaking it, 80’s references – were some of my favorites. There was much to this listen that I enjoyed. There was also some I did not enjoy… the other chapters by people such as her parents was awkward. The chapter on how she was born was sweet… but made the book feel topsy-turvy – some funny… some sweet… I don’t know how to describe it. I enjoyed it, but it was not all I had hoped it would be…

and maybe that is on me. 🙂

If you enjoy Amy Poehler I think this is worth a read (I hear there are great pics in the book!) or listen. I would love to hear other opinions on this one.