Book Journey

ATTEMPTED BANNING – Of Mice and Men… Under ATTACK

Published on September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)28 Comments

Earlier this week this post was on Books Are My Thing. I am now posting it here as well as it is my personal story about a book banning that hit way too close to home and I think it is important to share the details of how a group can fester into attacking a book. ~Sheila

I am a huge advocate of Banned Books. Ever since I discovered these books about 4 years ago, and what books they are and why they have been banned or challenged… I have come to love them and support them. Which is why – I was all the more disheartened by a happening in my own home town of Brainerd Minnesota this past February.
A friend of mine had called me and said that a mutual person we knew, I will call him Dave, was looking to put together a local team of people who would look at books for our school library. This sounded very positive to me and my friend had said that she had given Dave my name as a possible person of interest in this project. I had visions of helping to promote books for the high school and being President Of The Friends Of The Library as well as on our city Library Board, I was thrilled about the concept.
Then, the phone call came.
Dave had left me a message and as I listened to it, my heart sank. Dave mentioned that this team he was putting together was a team that would take books out of the system that he and his team deemed inappropriate, in fact – they had a book they wanted to tackle right now and hoped I would join in their fight. The book he described as being of poor quality, severe language and idea, and taking the Lord’s name in vain. As his message went on I wondered what book could it be that had him so fired up… could it be 50 Shades Of Gray (a book I have not read nor do I plan to read it so I did not know its exact contents), or maybe I thought it was Hunger Games….
When Doug mentioned the book title, my heart fell.

Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck.

As Dave spoke I quickly googled Of Mice And Men on my laptop to see what the issues were. I had not read of Mice and Men, but had a copy at home on my book shelf with the classics.
When I looked it up I found this:
Why Is Steinbeck’s Work Considered a Controversial Book?
Of Mice and Men offers a wealth of rich themes, insight into the deeper levels of the human mind, and an open doorway into some of the darker issues of life — death, racism, sexism, false hopes, and the harshness of poverty. For educators interested in stimulating the minds of their students and encouraging critical thought John Steinbeck’s controversial book is perfect; so, why was it a banned book? The following are complaints that have arisen in the past, are of concern to parents today, and will probably be brought up in the future:
• Use of the ‘N’ word;
• Some claim it’s derogatory towards African Americans;
• Some claim it’s derogatory towards women;
• Profanities;
• Racial slurs;
• Violence; and
• Absence of traditional values.

Still, the students were High School Students that they were trying to remove this book from. That did not make sense to me. Clearly Dave did not know my stance at all with Banned Books, or my role at the Library. Not only was I not interested in his attack team – I was against what he was trying to do.
In the end, Dave did go ahead and have his day of trying to remove the book from the library and he failed. (See newspaper article)
For myself, it was pretty amazing to see firsthand what people try to do because they feel something should not be read.Honestly, I still get upset when I think about. What Dave and his group should do is check out the banned books list… I know for a fact there is at least one book on that list that they would hate to see not made available to the public. Why is it ok for anyone to think they can pick and choose for all?
Banning books is wrong. Just because you or I choose not to read something does not give us the right to say that NOBODY can read it. Books, like Of Mice and Men are part of our culture and history. I for one will be reading this book this year during Banned Books Week.

*puts away soap box… off to read a banned book*

Note: Commenting on any of my banned book related posts this week will enter you into my giveaway. (one entry per relevant comment)

Also – this posts comments will enter you into a chance to win a copy of Mice and Men. It’s the least I can do. 😉

Morning Meandering… Half Way Through The Banned

Published on September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)17 Comments

Wednesday! I feel…..

good and going too many different directions for sure. Why did banned book week have to fall in such a busy week? Board meetings, helping friends, dinner out, movies, and the book sale. I think next year I need to plan a week at the cabin so I can just read what I want to read…

and really…. isn’t that what banned book week is all about? Being allowed to read what we want to read?

Today I add another group of fellow passionate Banned Book Bloggers to the mix. Please check out these amazing posts:

Stormi at Books, Movies, Reviews! Oh My! Posted about censorship with some great quotes!

Jenna from Lost Generation Reader has a giveaway for a banned book of your choice!

Vicki at Reading At The Beach has a review of the banned book, The Call Of The Wild by Jack London

Felicia at The Geeky Bloggers Book Blog talks about Book Banning In Texas as well as her super cool library and banned books AND a super cool giveaway too!

Sue at Book by Book shares her thoughts on Book Banning and what she is reading this week – great thoughts on banning!

Holly At Gun In Act One (what a fun blog name!) writes a passionate post about the ridiculousness of trying to protect our kids from reading about drugs, alcohol, etc.. when the outcome of this use in the books is truly a reason to not do any of the above! Seriously – check out this fun and meaningful post!

Ya hoo! Let’s give it up for our great supporters of Banned Books! Ya’ all complete me :). And do not forget to check out those who have posted earlier this week. There are fun posts and giveaways and I would not want you to miss out. 🙂

And since Felicia posted pics of her libraries Banned Books window… I figured I would post mine as well. This is the window currently set up at the library. Note that Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is front and Center… a personal attack on that one right in our town – more on that later today. 😉

Have you picked up a banned book yet this week? If not… are you sure? Chances are you have read a banned/challenged book this year.

*Note: Commenting on any of my banned book related posts this week will enter you into my giveaway. (one entry per relevant comment)

Morning Meanderings… Good Bye Harry Potter

Published on September 23, 2014September 23, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)35 Comments

Good Morning! Happy Banned Book Week Tuesday! I am having such a blast and there is more to come each day! I have a sticky post on the top of the blog this week for the banned book posts and giveaways that fellow book reviewers are posting about the banned! Please check it out as that will have the full list of those participating – great posts and great giveaways too.

Today two more posts go up from:

Tracy at Uncharted Parent is talking about The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and there is a giveaway!

Jennifer at The Book Den talks about her experience reading The Great Gatsby!

Please show both of these reviewers comment love, as well as the other that are linked to Banned book Week (top sticky post on Book Journey).

Harry Potter. If you read me… you know. You know of my unquenchable love of these books and my constant gushing about Dumbledore’s logic, Harry’s capacity for friendship in the worst of situations, JK Rowling’s brilliance from book one to book seven… every time I read them I pick up on something new and clever that ties in later down the story line….

Did you know the Potter books are banned books?

On a website I was reading called info please, I thought they put it very well when they said:

The most prominent objections to Harry Potter fall into three categories: they promote witchcraft; they set bad examples; and they’re too dark. Let’s take a look at each of those.

The Trouble with Magic

One school to ban Harry Potter was St. Mary’s Island Church of England school in Chatham, Kent. Head teacher Carol Rockwood explained that “The Bible is very clear and consistent in its teachings that wizards, devils and demons exist and are very real, powerful and dangerous and God’s people are told to have nothing to do with them.” She added that “I believe it is confusing to children when something wicked is being made to look fun.”

Rockwood is not alone. Her opinion is shared by others who believe that real witchcraft exists, and that all witches are evil. They fear that any books which have good witches or good magic—like the Harry Potter series—will lead people not to take the threat of real witchcraft seriously, and possibly lead them to take the Bible’s teachings in general more lightly. They might even lead readers to become witches themselves.

Others disagree. Some point out that Harry Potter is a fantasy, not a true story, and claim that even children know the difference between the two. Whether or not there is such a thing as evil magic in real life, it has nothing at all to do with the made-up spells and potions found in the books. As an editorial in Christian Century put it, “…critics are right in thinking that fantasy writing is powerful and needs to be taken seriously. But we strongly doubt that it fosters an attachment to evil powers. Harry’s world, in any case, is a moral one.”

Setting a Bad Example

Some people find the Harry Potter books to be inappropriate reading because of the way Harry and his friends behave. Some note that Harry “lies, breaks rules, and disobeys authority figures, including the professors at Hogwarts,” and that he ends up being rewarded and praised for his actions. They feel that heroes should be entirely good people who do as they’re told and respect others.

Others feel that Harry’s rule infractions are part of a long tradition in storytelling. A bit of rule-bending is necessary to get to a story outside of the ordinary, they say, but children can understand that behavior that makes a good story is different from behavior that’s good in general. They also point out that Harry’s rule-breaking does not go without any punishment. And some note, as Mike Hertenstein does in his review of the first Potter film, that “much of Harry’s rule-breaking… involves the principle of disobeying a lower law to keep a higher one—not to say he’s Rosa Parks, but who could criticize Harry’s violation of the no-fly rule to broom his way over a bully and stand up for his friends?”

Finally, some believe that even heroes aren’t perfect; Harry and his friends may do some things wrong, but they are positive role models on the whole, working selflessly for all that’s good and noble.

Scary Stuff

Some people think that the Harry Potter books—especially the later ones—are too dark and scary for children to handle. The series begins as Harry is orphaned, and he soon learns his parents were violently killed. There are intense battles. Good people die, suddenly and horribly. This, some say, is the stuff of nightmares, not something to be handed to kids as entertainment.

Ahhh…. Harry. What they do not mention of course is how many kids came to love books and reading because of these books. Both of my boys read the books. I read the books to see what my boys were reading and soon, as the series went on – we had three copies of each book in the house as we could not wait to read them.

My favorite Harry Potter story is when we were reading the final book, I was ahead of my son Justin but wanted so badly to be able to discuss the book with him as soon as he read significant parts….

So… I went through his copy and put a post it note on the next page of each BIG MOMENT with something like “Oh wow! Can you believe she just said that?”

When Justin arrived at the first post it note he looked at me (we were both still reading) and said, “Did you do this through my entire book?”

I had.

No Harry Potter books. No super cool memories like that one. I am just saying 🙂

The year that final book came out I had a contest here for someone to sing a song about the ending of the series. I can not sing… but I can write. SO I wrote the words, and put it out there for someone to sing it. Danielle responded to my plea:

I still love that…. that sums it up. Harry Potter was for many of us the books our kids read, the books we read… the books we loved. They are the new classics… and I for one, am so glad I was part of the first generation of Potter readers.

Banned shmanned. You can not put a label on that.

Thanks for letting me rant and rave. Any Harry Potter memories for you? Your kids? Your grand kids? The crazy neighbor next door who looks a lot like Snape?

Pretty sure I am re-reading the whole series over the winter.

Comment on this post as well as any of the banned book related posts here this week and you will be entered into my giveaway for the week. One chance per comment.

The Great Gatsby Movie (Movie From A Banned Book)

Published on September 22, 2014September 22, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)41 Comments

The Great Gatsby: is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922. The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion and obsession for the beautiful former debutante Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties that has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.

The Great Gatsby is on my TBR for Banned Book Week, but honestly I do not know if I will get to it this week… it is the last one on my list. Last night I rented this movie for three reasons… 1) I had not seen it yet. 2) If I can not get to the banned book, I can watch the movie based off the banned book, 3)I needed a good look at the parties… there is a little something up my sleeve I am thinking about.

The movie is powerful. Having never read the book, I was looking up information on the story online while the movie was on. It is an incredible love story, which is normally not my thing but I was caught up in this one.

I found it sad to learn that the original printing of this book the book sold only 20,000 copies. Published in 1925, Author Fitzgerald did in 1940 feeling the book was a failure… sadly, he never knew what it would become…

During WWII the book had new life breathed into it. It became high school curriculum and went on to stage and film adaption.

My take away is that this is a beautiful telling and I personally am anxious to read the book. I recommend you take the time to experience this movie made from a remarkable classic.

So why the banning?

According to the American Library Association, The Great Gatsby was: “Challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC (1987) because of ‘language and sexual references in the book.'”

The elements that have been cited for reasons for challenging or banning the book in the past are also essential to Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age setting. (Apparently some feel the 20’s best be forgotten…) Jay Gatsby is a bootlegger, bad boy.

Banned Book Week Giveaways (sticky post)

Published on September 22, 2014September 28, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)

Banned Book Week is here! Please check out the giveaways happening around the blogs – and here! Enter the post page here and find all the current giveaways and banned book posts!

*Note: Commenting on any of my banned book related posts this week will enter you into my giveaway. (one entry per relevant comment)

This is a sticky post. All current posts are below – this post will remain on top during banned books week.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Published on September 21, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)75 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! 😉

*Whew!* Big week! I was crazy busy all last week, gone over the weekend to our cabin and pretty much relaxed as much as possible today as this week will be BIG again with helping a friend, movie tomorrow night, a birthday dinner for a friend on Tuesday, City Library board meeting on Wednesday, and Thursday – Saturday the fall library book sale which should be a lot of fun and I have a few things up my sleeve to keep it REAL. Oh, and it is Banned Book Week which I love and we have some exciting giveaways happening here this week.

So what was posted?

Library Friends Networking

Invisible by James Patterson and David Ellis

Early Decision by Lacy Crawford

Banned Book Week is on! Learn about it here!

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding (Banned Book Review and Giveaway!)

Of Mine And Men – a story of banning in my home town posted at Books Are My Thing

And this week will be all about the Banned Books – reviews, other blogs chiming in… it is going to be fun. For Real. 😉

Here is what I have planned:

“Community, Identity, Stability” is the motto of Aldous Huxley’s utopian World State. Here everyone consumes daily grams of soma, to fight depression, babies are born in laboratories, and the most popular form of entertainment is a “Feelie,” a movie that stimulates the senses of sight, hearing, and touch. Though there is no violence and everyone is provided for, Bernard Marx feels something is missing and senses his relationship with a young women has the potential to be much more than the confines of their existence allow. Huxley foreshadowed many of the practices and gadgets we take for granted today–let’s hope the sterility and absence of individuality he predicted aren’t yet to come.

They are an unlikely pair: George is “small and quick and dark of face”; Lennie, a man of tremendous size, has the mind of a young child. Yet they have formed a “family,” clinging together in the face of loneliness and alienation.

Laborers in California’s dusty vegetable fields, they hustle work when they can, living a hand-to-mouth existence. For George and Lennie have a plan: to own an acre of land and a shack they can call their own. When they land jobs on a ranch in the Salinas Valley, the fulfillment of their dream seems to be within their grasp. But even George cannot guard Lennie from the provocations of a flirtatious woman, nor predict the consequences of Lennie’s unswerving obedience to the things George taught him.

On November 15, 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas, four members of the Clutter family were savagely murdered by blasts from a shotgun held a few inches from their faces. There was no apparent motive for the crime, and there were almost no clues.

As Truman Capote reconstructs the murder and the investigation that led to the capture, trial, and execution of the killers, he generates both mesmerizing suspense and astonishing empathy. In Cold Blood is a work that transcends its moment, yielding poignant insights into the nature of American violence.

This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life. A sweeping story of tangled passion and courage, in the pages of Gone With the Wind, Margaret Mitchell brings to life the unforgettable characters that have captured readers for over seventy years.

In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write “something new–something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned.” That extraordinary, beautiful, intricately patterned, and above all, simple novel became The Great Gatsby, arguably Fitzgerald’s finest work and certainly the book for which he is best known. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author’s generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald’s–and his country’s–most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. “Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter–tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning–” Gatsby’s rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.

(ok, I know i can not get through all of these in the week… but these are what I hope to start 🙂 )

For My Ears: (non banned book items)

In 2005, Odeo was a struggling podcasting start-up founded by free-range hacker Noah Glass and staffed by a motley crew of anarchists. Less than two years later, its days were numbered and half the staff had been let go. But out of Odeo’s ashes, the remaining employees worked on a little side venture . . . that by 2013 had become an $11.5 billion business.

That much is widely known. But the full story of Twitter’s hatching has never been told before. It’s a drama of betrayed friendships and high-stakes power struggles, as the founders went from everyday engineers to wealthy celebrities featured on magazine covers, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show, and Time’s list of the world’s most influential people.

New York Times columnist and reporter Nick Bilton takes readers behind the scenes as Twitter grew at exponential speeds. He gets inside the heads of the four hackers out of whom the company tumbled…

Darcy Anderson’s husband of more than twenty years is away on one of his routine business trips when the unsuspecting Darcy looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a hidden box under a worktable and in it she discovers a trove of horrific evidence that her husband is two men—one, the benign father of her children, the other, a raging rapist and murderer. It’s a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends “A Good Marriage.”

Thats the plan 🙂

What is your plan this week? Are you finding time to add a banned book to your list? There are so many – and in all sizes…. you can read one! 🙂 Please add your It’s Monday post below where it says click here:

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

Lord Of The Flies by William Golding (Banned Books Week 2014)

Published on September 21, 2014September 21, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)47 Comments

Originally published in September of 1954, a dystopian type novel where a group of British boys are stuck on an inhabited island who try to given themselves while waiting for rescue with disastrous results. Lord Of The Flies has been called an early Hunger Games.

When a plane full of English school boys crashes onto a deserted island with no adult survivors, the boys ages 6 – 12 have to figure out a way to survive.

When Ralph, one of the older boys is voted to be their leader, and the runner up to his leadership Jack, a boy who will put in charge of the other boys and call them “hunters”, it looks like they are off to a good start. They are each assigned duties like building a fire (so a passing boat might see the smoke), gather food, make shelter, and eventually hunt the wild pigs they find on the island.

Of course, boys will be boys, and the system quickly deteriorates as most of the survivors would rather swim and lay in the sun. When Jack takes a team of boys hunting instead of maintaining the fire as he was supposed to things start to change for the worse. Soon Ralph is being challenged by his authority and Jack feels that perhaps since he can provide food that he is the better choice for a leader. The boys split into two different areas of the island.

While Ralph maintains Piggy, a heavier but also brilliant boy who with the help of his glasses can make fire, Ralphs team are not hunters. While Jack leads a team that is fed well by the hunt, they are unable to make fire. Unable to work together the two groups of boys turn savagely against each other; crazed from the heat and lack of basic survival needs with no adult supervision, the boys go too far…

and there is no turning back.

In my quest to read all banned books during banned books week, this is a small (202 pages) book that has been on my classic shelf for a couple of years, waiting its turn to be chosen. As I left for the cabin on Thursday afternoon, I grabbed this one off the shelf.

At first Lord Of The Flies took a few pages to sink into the rhythm. The book starts out after the crash. (Think LOST). You do not receive a lot of back story here as to where they were going, but you do pick up that they are a choir.

As the book starts to movie forward you have Ralph who is mainly given leadership because he has the conch shell which calls the wandering group together. Piggy, who is constantly and sadly made fun of throughout the book, is a young voice of wisdom. Jack, comes along as a stronger boy one who wants recognition and quickly finds he is skilled at hunting which impresses the other boys.

According to author William Golding, Lord Of The Flies was written to trace the defects of society back to human nature. (There is a wonderful back story to the book in the final pages)

I read the book in the space of a couple of mornings at the cabin. The book easily held my attention as the frustrations quickly rise when Ralph discovers that it is a lot of work to try to get things done hen only a few are doing the work. When the boys turn against each other and start acting live savages (one group turning to wearing face paint made from berries and mud on the island, all society acceptances seems to flow away.

Towards the end of the book my eyes were flying across the pages wondering what was going to happen.

I am so glad I had an opportunity to read this book called by Time Magazine in 2005 “One of the top 100 books of all time” and having won many awards.

SO why was this book banned?

Challenged at the Dallas, TX Independent School District high school libraries (1974).
Challenged at the Sully Buttes, SD High School (1981). Challenged at the Owen, NC High School (1981) because the book is “demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal.”
Challenged at the Marana, AZ High School (1983) as an inappropriate reading assignment.
Challenged at the Olney, TX Independent School District (1984) because of “excessive violence and bad language.” A committee of the Toronto, Canada Board of Education ruled on June 23, 1988, that the novel is “racist and recommended that it be removed from all schools.” Parents and members of the black community complained about a reference to “niggers” in the book and said it denigrates blacks.
Challenged in the Waterloo, IA schools (1992) because of profanity, lurid passages about sex, and statements defamatory to minorities, God, women and the disabled.
Challenged, but retained on the ninth-grade accelerated English reading list in Bloomfield, NY (2000).

Leave a comment on this post and not only be entered to win one of the banned book week prizes, but also one commenter on this post between now and next Sunday will be entered to win a copy of this book sent directly to your home from Amazon.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts on the comparisons to Hunger Games?

If you have not read it, would you consider reading it? Why or why not?

Mass Market Paperback: 208 pages
Publisher: Perigee Books; Reissue edition (July 27, 1959)
Language: English

Morning Meanderings… Books in and Banned Book Week is ON!

Published on September 21, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)49 Comments

Good morning – happy Sunday… all of that 🙂 It has been a wonderful weekend away at our cabin with my friend Wendy – watching movies, exploring the area… waiting for the roofer dude. Now home and prepping for this amazing week (the fall book sale is at the Library!) and I had books and audio come in this week:

You can see there are two books there with the word Christmas in them as well as a book called Winter Falls. Eep! I am so not ready for cold and snow! 🙂

I am super giddy excited about today because it is the official kick off to Banned Books Week which you know I LOVE and take a huge part in every year. I will have guest posts going on here, linking up other Banned Book Week posts each day, writing about banned books and banned book reviews as well as the occasional giveaway. YOU will not want to miss out on a post – this is going to be FUN.

AND It is not too late for you to check out about this fun week and join in!

Each year during this week I only read banned books. So much fun and I read such great books – classics, and more. I think this week is so important to be educated on what constitutes a banned/challenged book that I have also decided to make it a tab at the top of Book Journey so you can read all my banned book reviews through the years! I think you may be surprised by what books are considered banned. In fact, this morning you can read about a personal banned book experience that happened right here in my home town this year over at the amazing Krystal’s Books Are My Thing. She as well will be having a lot of fun things happening for banned books week so please stop over and see what she is doing as well.

It drives me absolutely batty that I can not find an all-inclusive banned books list that I can link too, but here is one and perhaps one of these days I will start my own banned books list as I run across them.

I hope you plan to read a banned book this week (at least one!) in honor of banned books week! They are not hard to find and they do not have to be long (Charlotte’s Web, Little Red Riding Hood, The Giving Tree, Winnie The Pooh, Harriet The Spy, Alice In Wonderland, Where The Wild Things Are, The Lorax, Green Eggs and Ham, The Wizard Of Oz…)

All comments this week will go on banned books posts (including this one) will go into a drawing at the end of the week for you choice of:

$10.00 towards a Banned book of your choice.

So what are you waiting for? Jump in and join the banned!

Early Decision by Lacy Crawford

Published on September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Anne is an admissions coach for students preparing to start the process of getting into the college of their choice. Or, in some cases I should say their parents choice… This book is a fictional telling on the authors non fictional 15 years of being a college admissions coach, helping students (and parents) come to terms with that next step.

In Early Decision, Anne is starting another season of coaching as her students she has accepted line up from all walks, parents for the most part, eager to make sure their child has the best possible chance to get in the ever narrowing gates of admission to the big name colleges.

Hunter, a kind boy trying hard to reach his parents level of expectations for him, but really has his own dream of his future. Sadie, the daughter of wealthy well-known parents who feels her future is all cut out for her no matter what she does. William, a brilliant young man who is constantly dodging his father’s anger. Alexis the overachiever from Minnesota (Minnesota!), and Christina who has everything it takes to succeed.. just not the means to do it.

As Anne works with each of these students as they write their first drafts of their college essays, she helps them realize who they really are and what they really want to say – not always to the parents approval. Anne meets with the students and talks them through the possibilities as they continue to work on the application essay that will hopefully set them apart and provide that acceptance letter into the college of their choice; but not always.

As Anne works with this latest group of students she finds herself contemplating her own life. Is this where she thought she would wind up? Was this her big plan for after college… thirty is just around the corner for her and some how she feels like she has never taken the steps she is coaching the students to take, herself.

Early Decision is a look into the world of college acceptance and the students applying as well as the parents prodding anxiously behind them, in many cases as though the decision of acceptance defines them as parents as well. Anne’s job comes with high expectations on her from all of the above.

I found Early Decision to be very interesting. I, myself did not take the college route, and sometimes really wish I would have. At the time of my own graduation, my mom had been raising me alone for years after my father’s early death due to an accidental fire, and my goal was to make my transition from High School to the real world, as easy on her as possible. Now reading about how intense parents can be about the process was fascinating and a little scary all rolled into one. In this book, you get a real taste of where the parents are with their dreams for their children – but you also get a real look at what the children want for themselves.

What is interesting is that author Lacy Crawford wrote this book based on her real life experience as a college admissions councilor. While this book does not point out actual people – the results of this book is a combination of her years in this position and the tiger moms and the helicopter parents are all too real.

I enjoyed looking into this world of intense college application prep; a world I knew little about. I felt for the students being pushed and prodded. In some cases I felt for the parents as they wanted what was best for their child…. but mostly I felt for Anne, who had her work cut out for her between working with the students and battling the parents who were either too pushy, or too needy…

A wild look into the college side that I feel would be a great read for parents and students alike as they approach that time of college decision. In fact, I think both the parents and the students should read this book before they start the process – hopefully giving each an insight into the other side and therefore taking on this step with a little more empathy for each other – and a little more understanding.

A fun and thought-provoking read.

Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 26, 2014)

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for allowing me to tag along this road to College applications and acceptance. It was truly an interesting adventure in reading!

Invisible by James Patterson and David Ellis

Published on September 16, 2014September 16, 2014 by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

Emmy Dockery knows there is something more to the rash of fires across the states what all have a similar feel to them:

1. They are always in the bedroom

2. They always result in a death

The problem is, no one else believes that they are anything more than unfortunate accidents and carelessness on the home owners part. As more and more fires happen Emmy picks up on a pattern but she is more or less on her own. Even her ex-fiance field agent Harrison “Books” Bookman who would love to be on her side on this, just does not see it.

Emmy is starting to wonder if maybe she is pushing something to far… perhaps they are just off coincidences and maybe because one of these fires hit too close to her personally she just wants it to be something other than an accident…

but

what if there really is a crazy killer out there?

I absolutely adore Patterson’s books on audio. Honestly, I believe his books were my first real dabble into audio and I was wowed on what audio could be. They are of superb quality. If you are an audio listener, or would like to try – I highly recommend picking up one of his books on audio.
When I seen a chance to review Patterson and Ellis’ new book, Invisible on audio I did not hesitate to say yes. It has been a while since I have listened to any of his work and I was curious if he had maintained what I loved about his books on audio.

He had.

Invisible was set at a perfectly creepy level without ever becoming gory. Told in alternating viewpoints from Emmy, and then from our killer as he records himself in what he calls “Graham sessions”, a recording for the police or FBI to get a sample of who he is and what he does.

I personally found this book on audio to be superb listening. I have said it before, Patterson audio is high quality, this one added a lot of background tot he audio that took it to the next level. This book has not been receiving the best ratings (I just seen this today), and I am wondering if it would have come across as well in book format as the audio.

I recommend the audio version of Invisible for a great chilling read that kept my guessing and even as I finished this one and it all started to rapidly come together I was chilled to discover what was fully going on.