Tag: BBAW

Morning Meanderings….. Ahhhh SHOOT! I Missed It!

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In BBAW, Meanderings34 Comments

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Need coffee.  Hang on a sec.

Ok back.  MMMMM better.

I used to be soooooooo good at going out and visiting my fellow bloggers.  I prided myself on visiting twenty blogs a day minimum, reading reviews, checking in…. and now, sadly not so much.  I mean to.  I want to. And then I write a review.  Read a book.  Listen to audio while cleaning the house. Work on Library projects.  Go on coffee dates.  Meet friends for lunch.  Connect with my son.  Spend time with my hubby.  Work on business connections. Write proposals.  Create events.  Reflect on what I am going to do with my life….

I am the queen of the time suck.

SO… this morning it surprised me as much as it probably surprises you that when browsing my email (pre-coffee…. maybe that is the trick) I spotted a post title from my good blogger friend Care about Book Blogger Appreciation Week.  I LOVE that week and I clicked to read when it would be only to find out that this is actually the last day of it.

Wait….

what?

out-of-the-loop

Yes.  That really is how out of the loop I am.

I would have loved to participate but because I am now a blogger with my head in the sand I am missing stuff.

Poo.

So this last day of BBAW I am going to quickly catch up on what I have missed and give you my “pretend I have been doing this all week” post.  Ready?  Here we go.

 

Day 1: Introduce yourself by telling us about five books that represent you as a person or your interests/lifestyle.

Well ok… hi.  My name is Sheila and I have been blogging here at Book Journey since June 2009.  CRAZY right?  And let me just say…. TOUGH question.  Let’s see how far I get.

  1.  The Harry Potter series.  These books are a household staple around here.  My boys grew up on them and my son Justin and I really bounded over these books.  We started a tradition of going to Harry Potter world in Florida every November and we were able to do that three years in a row.  These books will always be a big connection to my son for me.  They are a part of my heart.
  2. The Three Sisters Trilogy by Nora Roberts.  Yes Nora Roberts.  The book, Dance Upon The Air was the first book my book club read in August of 2001.  We all loved the magical aspects of the book  and the magic must have worked on us too because that same book club is now 16 members strong and has been meeting every month now for 14+ years.
  3.  READY PLAYER ONE.  OMG I LOVE this book.  I have listened to it on audio three times now and EVERY time I talk about it I want to read/listen again and NOW it’s going to be a movie!  SO EXCITED!  This book brings out the gamer in me.  Yes, I am a girl who loved playing Nintendo, Xbox, Play Station with my kids.  AND….. without my kids.  I mastered all of the Zelda series and still years later find myself drawn to strategic game play.
  4. Hunger Games Trilogy. Ok not sure if I would say these books define me….. but they are kick a**.  I love strong characters.  I love survival stories, fiction and non fiction.
  5. The Bible.  My faith does define me.

Ok…. I wish I could honestly add an impressive title like “Ulysses changed my life”  (In truth I have never read it), or “If I could only take one fiction novel to a deserted island it would have to be Gone With The Wind”, uh…. no. Read it, liked it…but Harry goes to the island with me.  HARRY POTTER.

SO basically what I see here in my choices is that I am a faith driven person who LOVES to read about magical worlds, the “what if’s” in life and strong female protagonists.  And I also love gaming.

 

Day 2: IT’S INTERVIEW DAY!

Missed it!  Love this part.  Ahhh well 🙂

 

Day 3:  Blame a Blogger

Have I ever read a book because of a blogger recommendation?  You bet!  Do I remember those recommendations?  No way.  I can recall a couple big genre moves I have made though because of bloggers.

Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness hooked me on non fiction.  When we were roommates at BEA in 2010 she told me about the book The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks.  That was it.  I was sold.  Non fiction became a big part of what I read.

Candice at Beth Fish Reads, my BEA roommate for 2014 and hopefully 2016 loves to review foodie books and cook books.  Her enthusiasm and great reviews pulled me into finding it hard to resist a good foodie book and I love to make recipes I find in books, especially fiction books.

 

Day 4:  Staying Connected

I used to be so good at this as I mentioned above.  When I first started blogging the rule of 20 blogs a day is how I grew this blog.  I would make a goal of visiting 20 blogs a day and not just my faves. I would click on bloggers who commented on my favorite blogs.  I would always leave a comment and watch to see if they visited me.  Most did.  I made sure once they got here, I had something interesting up so they would want to come back.  It worked.  I have a twitter account for Book Journey but I rarely use it.  I do not have a Facebook page for Book Journey…. just seems like a one-more-thing.  Basically what you see here is what I do.  I talk books, life, food, and try to keep it real.  I do hope to get back to reading more blogs.  I do enjoy it.

 

Day 5:  Blogger Burnout

It is true.  Some of the rock star bloggers that were my blogging idols when I started have dropped off.  I was sad to see them go but understand that life happens, jobs change, babies are born, interests change…  This past year for me I thought there was a good chance I was done.  We took a huge hit this past year and it blew my life wide open.  It still does. What I found for myself is that once again Book Journey changed a bit.  I felt safe here to share my heart and my heart ache.  I talked about what was happening.  Honestly – I have met many of you through the book expo.  Others of you from our talks here and reading your blogs, I feel as though I know you.  Book Journey for a while went away from book reviews and instead became a place I could just talk it out.  Honestly when I look back at the things that have helped me get this far, this blog would be one of them.  I don’t want to let this connection go.

My suggestion to those feeling blogger burnout is if it starts to feel like work you either need to change up what you are doing or walk away until it feels right.  It’s your blog.  If one day you feel like writing about burned toast instead of the latest hot read – do it.  If you no longer find that you can post 4 times a week like you used to, change it to what works for you.  It is your corner of the internet.  DO what works for you 🙂

In closing, I wanted to be a part of BBAW because you all matter to me.  It is hard for me to put into words what this past year and your generous outpouring of love for me and my family has meant.  And to think… it all started with a book review and one girls desire to connect beyond her life circles.  Thank you all for being a part of my online book friends life circle.

Sheila

PS Thanks Estelle for putting this together.  Thank you Care for posting about it so I seen it.  I hope to get around to those who participated so I can read their great posts this week.

 

 

BBAW: ANd so… the time has come…

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In BBAW, Book Giveaways, Meanderings23 Comments

 

Wow did that week go by fast or what?  I am sitting here with COFFEE CUP looking at the books I was giving away this week – I still have one more – and well… wow.  This is it.

Todays questions was what did we get out of the week.  This was the first week, yesterday actually – where I was able to actually just sit down and enjoy blogs and blogging.  Usually I am squeezing in a few minutes here, half a post there, drafting when I can..but yesterday I had my first lay low day in a long time and I took full advantage of hanging out with Laptop and pounding out a couple posts and a lot of visits, and you know what?

It felt good.

Today will be a bit the same.  The crew is finally coming today to start my book shelves and I am going to take laptop and the dogs downstairs and do a little reading and writing and stay out of the construction.  (Unless I sneak up to get a picture or two….)

Have a great rest of BBAW everyone.  Be sure to check out the BBAW site and see the giveaways and the posts – and maybe meet a new blogger or two along the way. 😀

My last giveaway is Night Road by Kristin Hannah.  I have two copies of this book.  I have not read it yet but have heard good things.  Leave me a comment today sharing with me what you enjoy most about book blogs. 😀  I will choose a winner and announce tomorrow winner along with my other giveaways going on this blog this week.

 

Happy Friday! 😀

Seconds Away by Harlan Coben ( and BBAW Giveaway!)

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In Audio Giveaway, audio review19 Comments

 

Mickey Bolitar is not sure how trouble finds him… but it most certainly does.  Now, a school friend of his has been shot and the police are not too appreciative of Mickey’s interest in the case.  After all, Mickey is just a teenager with not much else to do but go to school and hang out with his friends, Ema (pronounced E (long E) ma) and Spoon. 

As Mickey gets closer and closer to the truth, the truth is making its way closer and closer to him…

and it wants to shut him up.

Harlan Coben and I New York 2011

Why did I want to listen to this audio?  I always tell people when I was in High School and a few years beyond my “go to” author was Stephen King.  In my twenties I started to find King to be a bit too high on the creep factor so I made my way to Dean Koontz who I found to be a little lighter than King and a bit more sense of humor (plus I love the end of Koontz books where he explains more about the book and the idea behind it).  Then Koontz came out with a few that were more like King and I discovered Harlan Coben.  Coben is lighter than Koontz, has a quick wit that I love and I have not found a book of his yet that I have not enjoyed.  I am also finding it brilliant how he slid into YA reads by creating a nephew for his star series character, Myron Bolitar.

 

First of, I did not realize this was a second in a series and knowing that now, it explains a bit of what I found missing : 1.  how did Mickey come to be living with his uncle?  2.  What happened to Mickey’s dad?

That said, other than those two things I picked up on in the beginning the story flowed wonderfully.  Mickey is a great character that I think will be a great lead in to young adults who enjoy mysteries, as well as connecting to his older character Myron who can keep these same readers moving right from Mickey to Myron (nicely played Harlan Coben, Nicely played!)  And I enjoyed this book too so I will definitely continue on as well as get my hands on that first book, Shelter to catch up completely.

The narrator of this audio was Nick Podehl and I am nowhere near a narrator snob (YET) but as I was listening to this one I swore I knew that voice.  Once home I checked it out and sure enough, Nick has narrated some of John Green’s books and I see he also narrates the Chaos Walking series of Patrick Ness which makes me want to pick up that first book again but this time in audio because I hear they are WONDERFUL.
This book will be released September 18th, normally I do not review before a book is released but I did not notice I was ahead of the game until I was writing this post – so note that it will be available soon!  😀

I have a new copy of this audio in my home that I would like to put up for giveaway in honor of BBAW this week.  Please leave a comment here letting me know if you have read Harlan Coben before and if so which book(s).  This winner will be announced Saturday morning. 

BBAW: Pimp That Book

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In BBAW, Book Giveaways, Meanderings24 Comments

Good morning.  Yesterday totally got away from me… I started writing a poem for yesterdays BBAW post and then I had to go to work… it was a big day – annual meeting day and I am in charge of special events so between working, texting my son in Florida who has gull bladder surgery yesterday, and then finally coming home last night at 9 pm from work… I was exhausted and was hardly on-line at all.. let alone write a post.

However – here we are on Thursday the sun is shining and due to my busy work hours this past week, I have a bonus day off – today!  SO… you are getting me chatting for BBAW and let me warn you… I know how to pimp a book.  😛

I have two books that came to mind right away… both are YA, and there was a time (and there still might be) where I was going to write a post called “I am Patrick Ness’ Baby Mama.”  Ok, ok… totally not true and probably border line inappropriate, but you have to admit… that post title would catch your attention.  😛  My point is – have you read his Chaos Walking Series?  If not… you must!  They are The Knife Of Never Letting Go, The Ask and The Answer, and Monsters Of Men and yes all three are available and yes, you do want them all at once because when one ends you will be all like “HOLY COW!!!!!  WHA???????” and you will want to jump into the next book right away. 😀

(Oh and look how nice of me to link those titles to my reviews….. ahhhh. Sheila.  So thoughtful.  LOL 😆 )

When I first was drawn to the books Monsters Of Men had just hit the shelves.  People told me I needed to have all three at once so I ordered all three at once. 

Then… I worried about that.

I thought that was a bit extreme, what if I am into book one and I am thinking “ugh” and not I have a beautiful “ugh” set?  Well, no worries there, awesome awesome awesome series that I have pimped out to all my friends – told them not to get scared about the talking dog in the early pages…. its different, but you will find out it works. 😀

Ok…I, am not finished.

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green led to perhaps my only 2012 (so far) book melt down where I loved that book so much I have been pushing John Green like crack – and I guess, devouring his books in much the same manner.  (No, no-no, I am not a crack user, I just play one on this blog.  :razz:)

So there is my input on today’s topic. 

 

 

In other news, I wrote a post on Community on the BBAW site.  It sums up my past three years on book blogging and how it is the community of awesome book bloggers that keeps me going. 😀

Be sure to check out my BBAW giveaways if you have not already.  I have this one going, and a giveaway for Gods Of Gotham as well as another one coming up in my review later today. 😀

I have a nice fairly lazy day planned of reading blogs, writing a review and reading. I have a birthday dinner tonight and will be making cupcakes later but for the next few hours… I think I will be right here in this chair. 😀

BBAW: Introducing Benji The Non Reluctant Reader

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In BBAW20 Comments

Today I am thrilled to participate once again in the BBAW Interview Swap.  Amy from My Friend Amy has put my name in with a bunch of other book bloggers mixed us all up and drew out someone for me to interview.

Meet Benji!

Now to start out let me confess that I did not know Benji or his blog until this swap and isn’t that just the beauty of this?  I truly was missing out because if you go over and look at this beautiful blog you would never guess that Benji is twelve years old AND has been quoted in several books (see his about me page).  Shoot, at twelve, I was still watching MTV and trying to learn the dance moves to Thriller by Michael Jackson.  😯
So with no further jibber jabber….  welcome Benji!!!!

1.  When did you start book blogging and how did it all begin?

Benji:  I started book blogging back in January of 2011, though it took me a couple months to get into it. The reason I started book blogging? In a nutshell: my friends were bored of me rambling about books to them. 

Benji’s hamster Tris, and a few of those amazing books!

 

2.  What do you enjoy most about Book Blogging?

Benji:  Definitely all the awesome people. I’ve had the pleasure to meet a lot of them in person, and those times are the best.

Benji with authors Lish McBride, Marissa Meyer, Jennifer Bosworth, Leigh Bardugo, Anna Banks, and Emmy Laybourne at The Fierce Reads tour stop in Seattle

 

3.  Where do you enjoy reading?  

Benji: My favorite reading spot is this one chair that is super comfy and within a 10 second walk of the kitchen (for reading food).

 

 

4.  If you were to make a guess, how many books are in your home right now?

Benji:  I live in a family of readers, so all together I’d say at least 3,000.

 

 

5.  Whoa.  Pause for a moment of awe after that last question!   Where do you keep your books (or most of them)?  

Benji:  They’re all so cluttered! We’re remodeling where I keep the bulk of them, so they’re all in boxes right now.

 

 

 

6.  If I had a magic wand (and who’s to say I dont?) and you could be any fictional character for a week – who would you be, what would you do, and why?

Benji:  That’s a toughie. Maybe Simon from The Mortal Instruments… he’s a pretty cool dude.

7.  What one book that you have read in the past 12 months would you recommend for me to read and why?

Benji:  I’m going to go with a book that isn’t so well know: Envy by Gregg Olsen is a fantastic read. One of the best mysteries out there.

 

 

8.  What do you enjoy doing with your time when you are not reading?

Benji:  I live in a seaport town, so I love to sail. I also am a huge soccer fan, so every game day I’ll be cheering loud and proud for my boys, Seattle Sounders FC.

Benji with authors Kendare Blake, Amanda Hocking, Marta Acosta, and Lisa Desrochers!

 

 

9.  What advice would you give to a new book blogger?

Benji:  Just be unique and don’t get involved in the drama. It’s pathetic and stupid. When the drama queens come out to play stay away!

 

 

Thank you Benji for hanging out with me today and sharing your blog story!  😀

Morning Meanderings… Late Start to BBAW, but a start :)

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In BBAW, Book Giveaways, Meanderings16 Comments

 

Good morning.   Mondays are always hard for me to post anything beyond the Monday What Are You Reading meme because I really want that one to hold for the day… however there are occasional exceptions. 😀 

My plan was that when I came home yesterday afternoon I was going to write-up my Appreciation post.  Instead… I was at the library from 11- 2 building the Banned Book Week display, then I had a few errands to run, picked up my dog from the groomers, started making my dessert for book club that is tonight, whipped up a quick dinner for Al and went to a Friends Of The Library meeting. 

I never did get that post done.

This morning, I thought I would touch on it as my post this afternoon will be my interview swap with a new (and impressive!) book blogger to me, Benji from The Non Reluctant Reader (who in turn, is interviewing me and already has the post up!

 

So Appreciation.   It is always so hard to narrow down the blogs and bloggers I really appreciate.  For one, there are so many bloggers I love – they crack me up…. (Jill at Fizzy Thoughts, Trish from Love, Laughter, and a touch of Insanity, Jenners from Life With Books,… and those I like to read their thoughts on books ( and inevitably buy books off their recommendations) :  Kathy from Bermuda Onion, Alison from Alison’s BookMarks, Ryan from Wordsmithonia, Laurel from many book blogs :D, Reagan from Miss Remmers Review, Alyce from AT Home With Books…

Of course, inevitably I will be driving into work today and do the hand to the forehead thing and realize someone else I surely should have added to this list and how did I forget and *sigh*  Know that you are ALL LOVE and ALL APPRECIATED.

Truly – If you stop by Book Journey and read my nonsense, comment on my reviews, share in my work out woe’s, give advice, play along in the read-a-longs, meme’s, challenges…. I adore you and I thank you – because without you stopping in and making me smile when I open up my laptop and I see your comment…. I dont know if I would do this.  Seriously, the readers, make the experience.

Thank you again – and Happy BBAW to everyone.  To celebrate – here is my giveaway for today:

 

I have not read it yet… I know I need too, but I have two copies so one lucky winner will walk away with this baby this week (winner announced on Friday morning.  To enter, leave me a comment here telling me either of a blog/blogger you really enjoy OR what you love about either being a book blogger or a book blog reader.  😀 

 

Also – don’t forget I have the all week giveaway going on as well.  Click here to see how to win an Amazon Gift Card just be popping in all week-long and chatting with me about…. mmmm…. books and bloggers!  😀

 

Book Blogger Appreciation Week: Sept 10 – 14

On By Sheila (Book Journey)In Audio Giveaway, BBAW, Book Giveaways40 Comments

Welcome To Book Blogger Appreciation Week!  As part of this exciting week I will be offering a $15  gift card to Amazon to one lucky commenter this week.  To enter just comment on any post I write this week starting with the Monday What Are You Reading (and yes, including this post too) all the way through Fridays posts.  You will receive one entry per comment so if you comment on seven posts, you will have seven entries (note, the comment does need to be an actual comment that contributes to the discussion – not a one word “sweet” or “awesome”).  😀

Also continue to watch for other giveaways throughout the week – you will know when I post them but here is a sample of what I will be giving away throughout this week, just watch for the posts: