Book Journey

TEN by Gretchen McNeil (Spooky Reads!)

Published on October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

A party weekend.

When both Meg and Minnie receive the invite to an amazing house party on a remote island, it is hard to pass up. While Meg is a bit resistant of keeping her whereabouts from her parents, Minnie’s contagious excitement, as well as the thought of a whole weekend at a luxurious house with cute boys is admittedly hard to pass on.

Dropped off by the ferry as a storm settles in the girls find that the host will not be arriving until the next day as she missed the last ferry over. The ten guests, a mix of girls and guys – including the guy that Minnie is crushing (is that still what they say?) on, and Meg secretly likes as well.

Then things start to go wrong. As the wind howls and the rain beats the windows… one of the ten dies. Scared and trapped on an island the remaining teens have no options but to wait out the storm and hopefully the arrival of help in the morning…

… and then another one dies.

TEN was creepy good. It made me think of good old 80’s type scares like Friday the 13th or Halloween. Ridiculously filled with holes if you look to closely at the story line, but you are having such a great time reading that you choose to let that pass.

I enjoyed the old school feel that TEN contained within its pages. Not gore… not horror… but a good old fashioned scare. The book keeps you guessing… I had several ideas throughout the book of who was behind it all and each of my guesses were wrong. This is the kind of story that makes you wonder who is really a friend.. and who is a crazed killer, and what a wild yearbook this will make.

The friend who is most likely to murder.

Fans of good scares that don’t gross you out will enjoy this book. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Balzer + Bray; Reprint edition (September 17, 2013)

Morning Meanderings… Something This Way Comes

Published on October 28, 2014October 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)14 Comments

Good morning! It is Halloween week! I have some reviews I have been saving for such a time as this! I will be in Florida for Halloween this year, not so much of a plan .. but who knows 🙂 I am excited to spend time with Justin (College Son). This is our third annual trip.

Bookish news… I am reading this dark road to mercy by Wiley Cash for our bonus book club read from Harper Collins. I will not be here for book club this month (hate that!) so will want to email in my thoughts on this book, and our regular read, The Aviator’s Wife.

19 people are signed up so far to join in on the Potter Re-Read Readthon! I am so excited about that! A nice mix of houses represented and fun things coming up. Don’t miss checking that out if you have not already!

Working today. Cooking meals tonight for my hubby to prep while I am away. Packing for the two trips.

What are you reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on October 26, 2014October 26, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)59 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! 😉

Hey! Hold smokes where did October go? Our weather this past couple of weeks has been pretty sweet so not complaining here. We hit over 70 for the weekend 🙂 Gorgeous out really! Here is what I posted this week:

Cheese Deluxe by Greg Palmer

Delancey by Molly Wizenberg

Dead Poets Society… Thoughts On A Powerful Movie

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Four Friends by Robin Carr

Looking For Potter Heads! Winter Re-Read Readalong (come and play along! Prizes and fun!)

I am flying around getting ready to leave Thursday morning for Florida with my college son. SUPER EXCITED about that! We will be hanging out, hitting up Harry Potter World and more…

So... what shall I be reading and listening to during this upcoming week?

For my Ears

Maddy is a social worker trying to balance her career and three children. Years ago, she fell in love with Ben, a public defender, drawn to his fiery passion, but now he’s lashing out at her during his periodic verbal furies. She vacillates between tiptoeing around him and asserting herself for the sake of their kids—which works to keep a fragile peace—until the rainy day when they’re together in the car and Ben’s volatile temper gets the best of him, leaving Maddy in the hospital fighting for her life.

Randy Susan Meyers takes us inside the hearts and minds of her characters, alternating among the perspectives of Maddy, Ben, and their fourteen-year-old daughter. Accidents of Marriage is a provocative and stunning novel that will resonate deeply with women from all walks of life, ultimately revealing the challenges of family, faith, and forgiveness.

Bacon. McDonalds. Cinnabon. Hot Pockets. Kale. Stand-up comedian and author Jim Gaffigan has made his career rhapsodizing over the most treasured dishes of the American diet (“choking on bacon is like getting murdered by your lover”) and decrying the worst offenders (“kale is the early morning of foods”). Fans flocked to his New York Times bestselling book Dad is Fat to hear him riff on fatherhood but now, in his second book, he will give them what they really crave—hundreds of pages of his thoughts on all things culinary(ish). Insights such as: why he believes coconut water was invented to get people to stop drinking coconut water, why pretzel bread is #3 on his most important inventions of humankind (behind the wheel and the computer), and the answer to the age-old question “which animal is more delicious: the pig, the cow, or the bacon cheeseburger?”

Amy Poehler is hosting a dinner party and you’re invited! Welcome to the audiobook edition of Amy Poehler’s Yes Please. The guest list is star-studded with vocal appearances from Carol Burnett, Seth Meyers, Michael Schur, Patrick Stewart, Kathleen Turner, and even Amy’s parents—Yes Please is the ultimate audiobook extravaganza.

Also included? A one night only live performance at Poehler’s Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Hear Amy read a chapter live in front of a young and attractive Los Angeles audience.

While listening to Yes Please, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll become convinced that your phone is trying to kill you. Don’t miss this collection of stories, thoughts, ideas, lists, and haikus from the mind of one of our most beloved entertainers. Offering Amy’s thoughts on everything from her “too safe” childhood outside of Boston to her early days in New York City, her ideas about Hollywood and “the biz,” the demon that looks back at all of us in the mirror, and her joy at being told she has a “face for wigs”—Yes Please is chock-full of words, and wisdom, to live by.

For my Eyes

Remy Galway and her daughter Olivia are rebuilding their life after a failed marriage in a 300 year old cottage in historic Cold Spring Harbor, Long Island. Little do they know, another occupant is lurking in the haven of their own home. Will the After House be their shelter or their tomb?

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry, an orphan, lives with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley.

One day just before his eleventh birthday, an owl tries to deliver a mysterious letter the first of a sequence of events that end in Harry meeting a giant man named Hagrid. Hagrid explains Harry’s history to him: When he was a baby, the Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, attacked and killed his parents in an attempt to kill Harry; but the only mark on Harry was a mysterious lightning-bolt scar on his forehead.

Now he has been invited to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where the headmaster is the great wizard Albus Dumbledore. Harry visits Diagon Alley to get his school supplies, especially his very own wand. To get to school, he takes the Hogwarts Express from platform nine and three-quarters at King’s Cross Station. On the train, he meets two fellow students who will become his closest friends: Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

Harry is assigned to Gryffindor House at Hogwarts, and soon becomes the youngest-ever Seeker on the House Quidditch team. He also studies Potions with Professor Severus Snape, who displays a deep and abiding dislike for Harry, and Defense Against the Dark Arts with nervous Professor Quirrell; he and his friends defeat a mountain troll, help Hagrid raise a dragon, and explore the wonderful, fascinating world of Hogwarts.

But all events lead irrevocably toward a second encounter with Lord Voldemort, who seeks an object of legend known as the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry, I think will be my airplane read 🙂 Yippy! SO what are you reading this week? Please add your It’s Monday What Are You Reading to the link below where it says click here:

Powered by Linky Tools

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

For those of you who read mainly children and middle grade books, please also feel free to add your link here:

Morning Meanderings… Ready For Take Off (almost)

Published on October 26, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Happy Sunday! I am in go mode – so much to do to prepare to be gone much of November. If you missed my post earlier this week, I just found out this week that after I get back from my Florida trip with my College Son (Oct 30 – Nov 3), I will be leaving again on the 4th – 20th, back to Florida to work with the bees. I have much to prepare in my home and for the trip…. today, once back in Brainerd I will be focusing on prepping for the time away by preparing meals hubby can heat up.

On another more zen like note, I am hosting a Harry Potter Re-Read to get us through the winter months. Check out the post!

Here is what came in this week:

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris (audio)

A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks (audio)

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (audio)

Confessions by James Patterson (audio)

Food, A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan (audio)

The After House by Michael Phillip Cash

Scorched Eggs by Laura Childs

Must run for now. Enjoy your Sunday!

Looking For Potter Heads! Winter Re-Read/Readalong

Published on October 24, 2014November 3, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)67 Comments

Are you a Potter Head? Do you….

Sometimes find yourself whispering a spell under your breath at a family member, co-worker, or friend?

Get excited every time you see one of the movies playing on TV?

Have now or ever in your past used a Harry Potter type of ring tone (this also counts if your phone case has now or ever been Harry Potter)?

Own(ed) any sort of Potter paraphernalia – IE. Article of clothing, movies, costumes, a wand, board game, posters, bookmarks, signs… ok – you know what I mean ;).

Ever went to Universal Studies in Orlando mainly because of Harry Potter World?

Recited movie lines or profound Dumbledore quotes with a sense of superiority?

Well… if you said yes to any of the above. YOU are a Potter Head. And this post is for you. AND if you are new to the whole Potter literacy PHENOMENA, well, first I take a moment of silence for you…. and then I offer you to read on as well, as an opportunity awaits you as well. (you will be known as First Years)

Starting in November I will be hosting a Harry Potter Re-Read that I am SUPER EXCITED about. Pull those books off the shelf, or pick them up at your local library, download on your e readers, or listen to on audio (also super fantastic with either narrator I am just saying!). However you decide to join in… all are welcome.

Throughout our 5 months allowed for the Re-Read there will be dates to discuss the book, add your posts, or add comments to the new tab I will have right below the Book Journey Header. You can pop in whenever you want to add your thoughts, look for new contests, etc… check back often – not everything will be posted and I want to keep this as lose as unstructured as possible as that is where I thrive best.

If you want in… and I hope you do… please grab one of the following memes from below for your own blog. If you do not blog, see below for further instructions.

Once you have chosen your House, please write a post about your involvement in this project as well as what year you are (see years below to help you). By writing a post you will be helping to pass the word about this Re-Read so more may hear about it and join in. You may also choose to leave a comment here about which House you are in and what year you are. *This will also be where those without blogs can can leave a comment of how they are participating.

So… here is how you decide on what year you are:

First Years: You have read The Sorcerer’s Stone or you have not read and Harry Potter books

Second Years: You have read Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets

Third Years: You have read the two mentioned above as well as The Prisoner or Azkaban

Fourth Years: You have read the three above as well as The Goblet Of Fire

Fifth Years: You have read the four above and the Order Of The Phoenix

Sixth Years: You have read the five above and The Half Blood Prince

Seventh Years: You have read all of the Harry Potter books

Now, some of you may be unsure what house you may fall in. So we will pull out the sorting hat. Click below on the sorting hat to have the hat choose a house for you… but know this… what you desire is also considered, so you may choose your own house as well.

The “loosely applied” reading of each book will look like this:

Nov 1 – Nov. 16 – The Sorcerer’s Stone

Nov 17 – Dec. 6th – Chamber Of Secrets

Dec. 7 – Dec. 29th – The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Dec 30th – Jan 20th – The Goblet Of Fire

Jan. 21st – Feb 13th – Order Of The Phoenix

Feb. 14th – March 7th – The Half Blood Prince

March 8th – March 31st – The Deathly Hallows

There you have it! All communications will be under the tab under the Book Journey Header called “Harry Potter Re-Read”. As I mentioned check it often as surprise posts and giveaways will be added by sponsors as we go.

Special note: You will win “House Points” by participating in commenting, giveaways, and more (all of this will be revealed thought the Harry Potter Re-Read tab). Your house point totals will show under tabs as well. It s going to be good fun! Really!

To commit (and so I can communicate with you if you win anything) please sign up using the form below:

I will personally be kicking off with a trip to Harry Potter World in Orlando Florida. I will send some posts from there and give you a peek at some of the items that may be coming home with me for giveaways!

The hashtag for the read-a-long on twitter is #hpreadalong

Hope you will join me!

Morning Meanderings… The Last Friday I Will Be Home For Three Weeks

Published on October 24, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)6 Comments

Good morning! It is Friday and I am sooo excited about that. Today I have a no commitment day and I plan to take full advantage of it. These days, as you seen by the title of my post are going to be few over the next weeks so I am trying to prepare for them.

I leave next Wednesday afternoon for ST Paul to stay with College Son and then we leave on the 30th for Florida for our annual trip. I am so looking forward to this as I do every year. Yes yes, Universal Studios here we come!!! Then we come back home on Monday November 3rd…

and then I leave back to Florida to work with the bees on the 4th through the 20th.

Yup.

I will be helping to split hives which makes more hives, and well, you can bet there will be a whole post on this once we get going.

Yes it is definitely a long time away from home and I am honestly not thrilled about that. However, we have to have all splits done by November 15th and together we believe we can get ‘er done. 🙂 On the bright side, once I get through this crazy bump in activity, December should be extremely low-key and I will not be doing anything but focusing on writing and staying out of the cold 🙂

I also need to announce the winner of the bookmarks! Thank you to all who commented on the post and looked at the cool website for In My Book. What a fun gift idea! I will be mailing out a card to two different lucky winners! Using random.org. the winners are….

Kathy at Bermuda Onion!

Krystal at Books Are My Thing!

Woo hoo!!! I will email the winners for their addresses, however if they see this before I do so, they are welcome to email me the information at journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

That’s it! I have a friend coming over this morning to try on dresses for our Monster Dash in the cities tomorrow morning. I have been looking forward to this run for years!!! This is the first time I have been able to make this one work and it is supposed to be the biggest run in Minnesota! NICE!

She is going to be a princess and I am either doing the same or going with 50’s girl – which is a costume I already have on hand and it is fairly easy to run in.

So that’s it. Planning for a meeting on Monday, prepping all things I need to do before I leave next Wednesday and breaking up the anxiety with books and audio 🙂

Four Friends by Robin Carr

Published on October 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Great neighborhoods are hard to find, but Gerri, Andi, and Sonja have one. These three ladies meet up every morning at 6 am to take their morning walk, catching up and starting their mornings right! It is good to have friends, and the morning that Andi kicks her cheating no good husband to the curb, Gerri and Sonja are there for support. Gerri with her steadfast ways, and Sonja with her perfect remedies like fen-shui and oil scents that can take away the negative feelings a bad marriage can leave behind.

But no one in this group of friends is safe from hard times.

Gerri has a wonderful marriage and partnership with her husband and father of their three children Phil. So when she learns of cracks in what she thought was an uncrackable union, she battles anger as she tries to repair the damage – unsure if she can.

Sonja’s constant pursuit of the balanced life between health, eating right, and keeping to a non bending schedule, is enough to drive her husband right out the door. This leaves Sonja feeling like she just blew a fuse because in her world, she should have known this was coming.

And Andi, now looking at the remains of failed marriage #2, wonders what about her attracts cheating losers. With an adult son who is battling his own issues, Andi is just not sure is she can let anyone in again.

And then there is BJ. The neighborhood runner. She keeps to herself; but when tragedy strikes in the neighborhood, she steps in to help – and the girls find that having a new voice in the group is refreshing, even though they can tell that BJ comes with her own mix of troubles as well.

First up, the title caught me right away (if I was British I would say straight away, but I am not and I don’t know why I mentioned that here…). I love books with strong female character friendships. I think it is because I value those strong friendships in my own life and I know how much they have helped me through hard times.

Four Friends is a great read for people like me who like friendship stories. This is not a wishy-washy lite chick lit book – the women in this book deal with very hard and very real issues. I thoroughly enjoyed the diversity of Gerri’s strong independent nature, Andi’s worries about trying to find real love, Sonja trying to overcome her perfectionism, and BJ’s dark past.

Robyn Carr writes a great friendship book. One I was engaged in right from the beginning. I would not mind at all if these women popped up in another of her books. If there was a home available on their street I would love to move in and hang out with them!

Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (March 25, 2014)

Morning Meanderings… Winners! (And it smells like poo)

Published on October 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning! Holy smokes I slept! I was semi awake at 5 am and thought I would sleep one more hour after Al went to work.. next think I know it is 7:45 am! That’s crazy for me! SO briefly, I need to catch up on some winners, and remind you of one giveaway still going.

Ready?

For the Dewey Read A Thon that took place this past Saturday, I was offering a giveaway to a commenter…

And the winner is: Leslie from Under My Apple Tree! She receives choice of these books! Woo Hoo Leslie! For a closer look at the titles, see the original giveaway post.

Also – The winners for the Best Of Me Movie Tie-In Book are….

Elaina!

Martha from Martha’s Book Shelf!

I also still have the Book Mark Giveaway from In My Book. Please check out the post about the book marks and see them – they are pretty sweet! Two winners will be drawn for those tomorrow!

And finally…

the poo.

When I got up this morning and opened the sliding glass door to the back deck as I do every morning to let the dogs out and to get a nice breeze in the house, I got a whiff of something not so pleasant. So unpleasant in fact, I looked under the table. When it did not go away I walked around the house… and eventually outside. I think the neighbors have fertilized their field. Egads… they must have upgraded to some premium stuff. 😉

Anyhoo… that’s whats in my head this morning 🙂

The Iron Trial by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare

Published on October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)3 Comments

The hot combination of Holly Black (Spiderwick Chronicles and Coldest Girl In Cold Town) and Cassandra Clare *Mortal Instrument Series) … Magic is about to happen! ~Sheila

Most kids would do anything to be a part of the Iron Trials.

But not Callum Hunt. His father has warned him that magic is dangerous and the Professors at the Magisterium are not to be trusted. When Callum does his best to fail the tests to be chosen for the Trials he is chosen anyway from the many who tried to get in. Now Callum, with two other students to be taught the ways of the Iron Trial.

But what tests await these first year students… what triumphs and what tragedy’s will they face? While Callum tries to figure everything out, he starts to uncover deep truths about the Magisterium as well as himself.

As I started listening to The Iron Trials I sensed, as you may imagine by the synopsis above, that it carries essence of Harry Potter. As any book that tackles the magical platform of Potter, I am thrilled to think that some day that book may be created… one that as of yet, has not.

You will see the similarities in the two friends that Collum has in school, but the similarity ends there. This is no Ron and Hermione. Yes they are in a magical school. Yes while Harry has a scar, Collum has a bad leg.

I like the concept of the Iron Trials as (like the Potter books) each book will be a grade. The current year for beginning student is Iron Trial, followed by:

Copper Gauntlet

Cosmos Blade

The Golden Boy

The Enemy Of Death

While I enjoyed this Middle Grade story line, I am not sure that it grabbed enough to continue with the series. (Note that I said this same thing when Clare’s Mortal Instrument series came out and I read the first one thought I called it quits… and a year later devoured the whole series one after another).

Fans of such books as Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, and other series aimed towards kids with magical powers should find this series worth taking a closer look at. With two rock star authors leading the way of this series, I would not be surprised if a movie does follow.

Age Range: 10 and up
Grade Level: 5 and up
Series: The Magisterium
Audio CD
LIstening Length: 10 hours and 37 minutes
Publisher: Listening Library (Audio); Unabridged edition (September 23, 2014)

Morning Meanderings… Dead Poets Society

Published on October 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)19 Comments

Good morning 🙂 Coffee on? Me too!

Last night I watched one of my favorite all time movies, Dead Poets Society. I have wanted to rewatch this one since the sad passing of Robin Williams, however it was not on Netflix and I did not own it. Finally I broke down and bought it off Amazon and then last night I finally felt I was in the right frame of mind to watch it.

I debated if this was a separate post or a morning meandering, and due to the fact it is an older movie I went with meandering.

I hope you know the movie. If you do not know it, I hope after this post you will find it and watch it.

This is a 1989 movie starring Robin Williams as the new college English teacher, Mr. Keating, in an all boys school. Mr. Keating has a unique way of teaching that gets in the students heads and makes them thnk, yet hs unusual teaching is frowned on by the powers that be at the school.

One of Mr. Kreatings students, Neil, is particularly passionate but has an overly strict father who wants Neil to stick to the studies and nothing to do with fun or the things that interest Neil. When Neil and his friends find out that Mr. Keating was once in a group called the Dead’s Poet Society. When the boys question Keating, he tells them about the group he once was in and that they met in the caves beyond the school yard reading poetry from the greats. Of course the boys at first thought this was ridiculous but slowly they get behind the idea of this secret society.

The movie embraces individual thinking, the power of words (LOVE that!), and how both can open up people to be better and stronger individuals.

I can not tell you how much I love this movie. I even get emotional as I type. It is an excellent example of how constant conforming can kill the spirit. It was also a look back at a younger full of life Robin Williams, in his prime, and I enjoyed watching him so much. I wish Robin could have always seen himself as the person we seen him as. He will always be missed.

Today is a work day, tonight is the Library Board meeting. Tomorrow morning I will announce the winner of my Dewey read a thon giveaway…. I need to choose a winner!