Anyone ever feel like clocking a character? The Christmas Wedding by James Patterson/Richard DiLallo

Published on December 14, 2011December 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)30 Comments

Christmas is in the air, and along with the smells of gingerbread, pine, and holly, there also seems to be something else… a feeling of…

magic.

Gaby Summerhill is filled with a sense of something big is about to happen and through a series of videos to her grown children, 54-year-old Gaby shares a special message:

She is getting married.

Yes, Gaby, widowed for three years now, is asking all her children to come back home to where they had all their family memories and join her as she marries….

well.. that’s the fun isn’t it?

Three men have asked for Gaby’s hand and she is thrilled with the asking, but nobody, including the groom himself knows who will be Gaby’s husband until the wedding on Christmas.

Gaby feels that by generating this excitement it will create an atmosphere worthy of coming home too, and that is what she wants most of all… her grown children, busy with their own lives and the chaos within, have grown apart from what Gaby knew was once a tight knit family. Perhaps they will come to be together for Christmas… for a wedding…

Hmph. Every December our book club (yay Bookies!) chose a Christmas style read for our December gathering. In past posts I have mentioned that I find these books almost impossible as they are usually too light and perfectly (gag me) fluffy to get a real good read out of them.

I really thought we were going to be safe with Patterson.

Personally, I liked Gaby’s grown kids… each dip we had into their lives made me wanting to know more, Claire and her abusive drug addicted husband and troubled teen son Gus, Emily the lawyer go getter who runs from one project to another and has an adoring handsome doctor husband, Lizzie who’s husband Mike is a sweetheart who also has cancer, and son Seth who is a writer and lives his wonderful girlfriend Andie. Each of their stories could have been a book in itself…

But no, the story was about Gaby who had three men on the hook and thought it to be fabulous. My thoughts and the thoughts of the majority of the Bookies was what a selfish woman. Gaby was a little too self-centered for my liking. While the book was meant to be a sweet Christmas read of family coming home, I never got the sense that coming home was hard on anyone. There was no conflict between the siblings or Gaby that made the pull of the mystery wedding a necessity. I got the feeling that they would have come home for Gaby’s if she was mailing the mailman while standing in the front yard (and seriously, I am surprised he also was not a contender…. 😛

Over all the book read like a rush. It felt hurried and pieced together, a dabble into this life, a dabble into that. In the end, while I have to admit it was a lot better than some of our Christmas reads we have had in the past, it was not a book I would recommend to others.

*To give you my true feelings… I actually went to Wal-Mart looking for a pinata that could represent Gaby… I thought it would be fun to smack “her” with a stick. Lucky for her, I could not find one that fit the character – however I do reserve to hold on to the pinata plan for a future read. 😛

Overall the Bookies rated this on a scale of 1 -5, a 2.8. Most of the ratings were low but a couple hit middle 3’s and we agreed that as a Christmas read – we have read a lot worse.

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include The Christmas Wedding

I purchased this book from Amazon.com

Bookies thoughts on Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff (and a picture of our very own Cleopatra!)

Published on November 15, 2011November 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)31 Comments

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 1, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316001929
ISBN-13: 978-0316001922

Though her life spanned fewer than forty years, it reshaped the contours of the ancient world. She was married twice, each time to a brother. She waged a brutal civil war against the first when both were teenagers. She poisoned the second. Ultimately she dispensed with an ambitious sister as well; assassination was a family specialty. Cleopatra appears to have had been with only two men. They happen, however, to have been Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, among the most prominent Romans of the day. Both were married to other women. Cleopatra had a child with Caesar and–after his murder–three more with his protégé. Already she was the wealthiest ruler in the Mediterranean; the relationship with Antony confirmed her status as the most influential woman of the age. The two would together attempt to forge a new empire, in an alliance that spelled their ends.

This was our book club read while I was in Honduras. I had the best of intentions to read it before I left, but life happenings, a very sick dog, and hard decisions made that… ummm… not happen. Upon my return from Honduras I connected with a couple of the girls in the group and they shared not only their thoughts… but also pictures!!!

We were all surprised by the role of women in Egypt during this time. They had so many rights and were held in such high esteem. They were able to own land and many riches and sometimes the husbands were the ones left at home weaving by the loom. We wondered what created the shift in our culture to relegate women as so far beneath men that we had to struggle in the last century to get some of our rights back. One of the questions in the discussion guide asked if women could ever go backward in rights again and all of us believed it would not happen to us again.

While we still do not know a lot about Cleopatra even after reading the book, what we did learn was fascinating. She was very rich and slightly manipulative. She was charming and even (look at the pictures in the book) kind of ugly.

The Bookies advice to me.. dont bother reading it. Most of the girls did not finish it, finding it hard to get into. However I was also told it is not as long as it looks.. the last 60 pages are pictures.

Overall with 8 Bookies in attendance, the book rating was way below average.

The food however – was fun:

Fig Newtons because Cleopatra called for sweet figs on the day she committed suicide and also Greek yogurt because that is just fun. 🙂

and finally – Amy was our very own Cleopatra:

1aaa — Amy - really gets into the book club book

Which leads me to burst with pride for our AWESOME book club! As I sit here and write this review I am prompted to jot down a few (ok maybe more than a few) reasons I enjoy the Bookies so much:

1. We go the extra mile to make the reviews interesting

2. Special event months like our Summer Queen event, Classic Hat and Read month, and Christmas party

3. Digging deep for bonus info on books and authors

4. We value each others opinions

5. We agree to occasionally disagree 😛

6. Food that is prompted by the books we read

7. An amazing and passionate group of girls that have turned from a group of book lovers to friends

8. Stretched to read books and genres I may not have chosen but found out I enjoyed

9. It’s ok to not read the book. 😯

10. 10+ years of Bookies, started in August 2001 with 3 girls and now 10 years later we have 14.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (A Bookies Review)

Published on October 12, 2011October 12, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)33 Comments

Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have a houseful. Five children, all girls… well, women really, living in a home in Georgia England during the Regency period.

Of the five, Jane is the oldest and the beautiful one, Elizabeth is the fast tongued smart one, Mary is bookish, Kitty is immature and Lydia… oh Lydia is the wild one.

Mr. Bennett is a pretty well put together man especially considering how over the top his wife, Mrs. Bennett can be. Set firmly on doing all she can to help her daughters marry and marry well, Mrs. Bennett will stop short of nothing… even to the length of sending Jane by horse to visit Mr. Darcy during a rain storm in hopes that she would become ill and have to stay at his home until she is better.

Her plan… works to that extent… but not all is she had hoped. 😉

Elizabeth is the one who comes to Jane’s rescue, appalled at her own mothers behavior she nurses Jane back to health,avoiding as much as she can the man who annoys her so much, Mr. Darcy himself.

What follows is a story that is described as a comedy of sorts, of sisters and men in their lives, and really… Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy.

This is my first time reading Pride and Prejudice. My book club started a tradition many years ago that every October we would read a classic. Back then, I was not thrilled by the idea, now… I love it. This gives us all a chance to experience one of the greats… we do not always like them, but they have always been pretty fun to review.

My personal thoughts on the read were I really enjoyed it. While some in the group struggled with the language, I enjoyed figuring it out as I went. The words are different than we use them, and it was fun to see words used differently in sentences and while they were a mouthful to read.. they made sense.

As much as the Bookies loved Mr. Darcy, I was odd man out on this one. I realized he changes throughout the book… but his snottiness (hoo yeah I said it!)in the beginning especially towards Elizabeth rubbed me wrong and I still wasn’t over it at the close of the read. I know this is supposed to be one of the great love stories… and I agree it was a good read, I just didn’t really like Darcy. Yes I know I am in the minority… but remember I do not read romance reads. 😀

I did however really enjoy the book and am so happy to now be able to say I have read Pride and Prejudice! The Bookies had a good discussion over the book, the era, The Bennett’s, fun with the language, and overall it rated a 3.5 rating out of 5.

We did dress up as we like to do for our Classic read – hats were requested, but you could go further with the look if you wanted to.

I wanted to. 😀

Here are a few pics of our evening:

A little candid pencil shot while we were setting up for the pictures

Kaydi wore her grandmothers wedding dress!

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been updated to include Pride and Prejudice

I purchased my copy of Pride and Prejudice at Barnes and Noble

Bookies Review/Discussion Of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Published on September 17, 2011September 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)53 Comments

Last week my book club met for the discussion of The Postmistress by Sarah Blake. I had read and reviewed this book earlier this year and was not fond enough of it to read it again. I did consider trying it in audio but my library did not carry it.

As the time drew closer for our review… I have to admit, I was not looking forward to it. I decided to turn my focus towards the food part of our meeting and that is really when it got interesting for me.

The 1940s were all about rationing, protein stretching, substitutions, rediscovering “grandma’s foods”, and making do with less. Home cooks made sugarless cookies, eggless cakes, and meatless meals. Cookbooks, magazines, and food company brochures were full of creative ideas for stretching food supplies. Why the shortage? Food was needed to feed soldiers fighting in World War II.

When entertaining, I learned that finger sandwiches were quite popular, served open-faced (so the bread would go farther). They also drank a lot of tea as coffee was scarce and if you could find it… expensive.

At this point my creative side kicked in…. the book may not be the best for review, but by golly the food was going to make this discussion a success. 😀

The day of the review, I made the open-faced sandwiches, a cucumber one with a spread of cream cheese and ranch dip mix, and a delicious seafood one (see recipe below).

Then I also made a potato chip and tuna casserole, apparently popular in the 1940’s. This consisted of very few ingredients…. cream of mushroom soup, tuna, peas, and potato chips. Yup. I read the recipe and literally said, “ewww!”

other entries that the Bookies brought were Angie’s (By Book Or By Crook) Grandmother’s stand by hot dish of noodles and tomato’s…

the only meat available in the 1940’s was what you could raise and prepare yourself so…

Side dishes were often garden vegetables or a jello or pudding…

Maybe Creme Brulee was not quite the dish of the 40’s…. but after trying it, who was I to complain…. oh YUM! (recipe below) Thanks Sharon!

Between all that and the pickles, potato salad, tea and water with orange and lemon slices… we were set.

It was time to discuss The Postmistress. The surprise is, I loved our discussion and here are some of the things that came out of it. (Should be spoiler free)

We discussed how in the 1940’s your news came mainly from radio. We wondered if the news being broadcasted seemed more real than it does in today’s world of over saturation of all things media. This led to how powerful news was then and led us to discuss the airing of The War Of The Worlds and how people who tuned in late thought that broadcast was real.

When the motto for a journalist to get a story was “get in and get out” we discussed in such a story can you ever fully get out? Would not some of the things we see, hear, and do in life not ever leave us?

We had a great discussion over today’s media of too much immediate knowledge of all things considered “news worthy”. Were we better off then or now? Sure the modern ways of communicating are awesome, but I also believe there is truly such a thing as TMI (too much information). Facebook came up in the discussion of course and how some of the younger generation do not know how to filter what they put out there in the world for all to see. This led us to discuss what could possibly go even further for the next generation as so much is considered not taboo now…

Historical novels were discussed as a whole… love them/hate them… what are the pro and cons? I felt pro for historical fiction as I learn through them in a format that I may have at one time not read or found boring… the novels take me places I have not known.

Over all the discussion was wonderful and engaging. The food was good, except the potato chip tuna casserole which I did not like at all. We ended our discussion close to 9 pm which is unusual as we usually wrap up close to 8 or a little after. Maybe it was the recent anniversary of 9/11, but for some reason I feel even after the ten years of this group being together… we bonded even more on this night.

**The food portion of this review is part of Weekend Cooking, a wonderful meme you may find at Beth Fish Reads.

Recipes

The Seafood Spread

This was taken as part of a recipe I usually make as a salad. You will need:

imitation seafood

dill weed

mayo

onion

a generous dose of chopped Cilantro (I am a cilantro junky!)

salt and pepper

Chop the seafood into small pieces and place in medium bowl. I used two packages of the seafood (found in the deli department) for the Bookies. Add the mayo only using enough to coat, it should not be goopy with mayo…. sprinkle generously with the dill seasoning, add the cilantro and chopped fine onion, as well as the salt and pepper to taste. Place in frig until ready to serve. For this event I served it on Rye Bread Squares, buy you could use it on crackers too.

Creme Brulee

Yield – 4 servings
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean split lengthwise
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cup plus 1 tbs sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup white granulated or brown sugar (for topping)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, heat the cream with the vanilla bean for 15 minutes, stirring to ensure it does not burn. Remove from the heat and let it stand for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the vanilla bean. Strain the cream.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer on high-speed for 5 minutes, or until they are light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add about half the cream, a little at a time (to temper the eggs), to the egg mixture, whisking until well blended. Then pour the egg mixture into the remaining cream mixture. Stir until completely blended.

Pour the custard into four 9-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Place the dishes in a large baking pan. Pour enough HOT water into the pan to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the custard is set.

Remove the dishes from the baking pan and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 or up to 24 hours.

To serve, let the ramekins stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the tops with sugar in a thin, even layer over each ramekin. To caramelize the sugar, light a propane torch and hold it so the flame just touches the surface. Start at the center and spiral out toward the edges of the ramekins. If the sugar begins to burn, pull the torch away and blow on the sugar to extinguish the flame.

*Sharon said this recipe took her three tries to get it right and she is an amazing cook so I think this one is not for the faint of heart…. or… errr…. me. 😯

The Devil In The White City by Eric Larson

Published on August 11, 2011August 11, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

When Daniel Hudson Burns was asked to oversee the architecture and development of the World’s Fair, Burns seen this as a way to really make a name for himself. Painstakingly he hired and fired… working hard to get it right to create what would put Chicago on the map… an amazing attraction to celebrate the anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of America that would draw people to it from all over the world.

Not too far from the fairs planned location was H.H. Holmes. Holmes had a dark side that was easily masked by his piercing blue eyes, pleasant demeanor, fine style of dress, and Holmes just had an uncanny way with people. Holmes was a swindler, and a murderer, and actually created a home (later known as the Murder Castle) that was designed to trap people, and hide the bodies – or in some cases, Holmes would plant the bodies of those he had killed so they would be found and be seen as having had an “accident.” As many of these people had trusted Holmes, he had taken out insurance policies on them as “family members” and would collect once the bodies were recovered.

While Burns worked at creating the famous Fair, Holmes made plan of how he would lure people from the fair into his many traps….

Told in alternating chapters between the making and creating of the World’s Fair, and the coinciding happenings that surrounded the man named Holmes, this non fiction read will capture you and not let you go. This well written books reads like a smoothly flowing fiction book, but the fact is – it is not fiction.

I poured over the pages of this book as you could almost feel the tension churning…. first the start of the fair, then over to Holmes as he makes his way into peoples hearts (I am reminded of Jeffrey Daumer), then back to what is happening with the fair, the architecture, the details – all make for fascinating reading. Did you know the first Ferris wheel was built at this fair?

1aaaa — Chicago newspaper with layout of Holmes "murder castle" as it became to be known. Designed with secret rooms, an air tight vault with gas injection and a shoot that led to a basement filled with lye.

Truth really is stranger than fiction. When I was first introduced to this book last month during book club I was amazed I had never heard of this true story of murder and mayhem surrounding the Chicago World Fair. In fact, honestly… I knew little of the fair. Upon reading this book and taking a survey of our book club – no one in our group had heard of the missing people surrounding the fair or the man called Holmes.

Each car held 60 people...a total capacity of 2,160 riders at a timer the man called Holmes.

But before you set your creep factor on high, know that there is more to this book than the spooky Mr. Holmes with the killer looks… and apparently, killer instincts.

The historical facts in this book are … well, amazing. If you have never read up on the Chicago World fair there is so much more than meets the eye. This fair was responsible for new architectural creations never heard of prior. The first Cracker Jacks were at the fair, also new was Aunt Jemima pancakes, Juicy Fruit Gum, Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, Shredded Wheat… also The Pledge Of Allegiance is known to have its first recital here at the fair, having been written earlier this same year.

I really could go on and on about what this book offers. Erik Larson has written this so well that it never feels heavy with the Holmes dealings weaving in and out of the progress of the fair. The chapters flow smoothly between the two story lines and it never felt choppy. Once into the book, I had a hard time putting it down. I look forward to giving Eric Larson’s book In The Garden Of Beasts.

The book will capture those who enjoy a good murder mystery, it will also hold those who like history. In the end, I really found this book to be one I enjoyed immensely, highly recommend and will remain on the keeper shelf.

*Note that this book is due to come out as a movie in 2012/2013 starring Leo DiCaprio as Holmes. While the book really is about the fair and Holmes is a secondary story… I believe the movie will reverse this and make Holmes the prime story line.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads review

Movie thoughts:

The 2011 WHERE Are you Reading map has been updated to include The Devil In The White City

I purchased this book at Amazon

Bookies rated this read a solid 4 (on a scale of 1 -5)

Morning Meanderings… Celebrating 10 years with the Bookies!

Published on August 10, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Good morning all!

After yesterday mornings “I am in limbo” post… this one excited me to write!

Last night was my August book club meeting, but this time it was more than that. It was also a surprise birthday party for Sharon in our group who turns 50 today, and it was also our 10 year anniversary.

I am pretty sentimental when it comes to my book club. Bookies was started in August of 2001 as a way to bring people together. At the time I had worked for Wal-Mart about 10 years and thought it was sad that many of us who had worked together for so long really didn’t know anything about each other.

The idea of a book club came out of the air. I figured I like to read… maybe others do too. So I posted a book title by the time clock (Dance Upon The Air by Nora Roberts) and put a date, place and time to meet in a few weeks. And….

crickets.

Yup. No one said a word to me about it.

The night we were to meet I thought I would show up at the meeting place, have a diet Pepsi and then go home if I was all alone. So I showed up. And a few minutes after me, Angie showed up (Angie now runs the book blog By Book or By Crook!) and Karen showed up. And we reviewed the book and I had brought another book to suggest for the next month (Mr. Perfect by Linda Howard). We agreed to meet again the second Tuesday of September. This was 2001.

On that second Tuesday of September… it was the 11th and we had the terrorist attacks on the world trade center. It was a day that filled with a lot of emotion and turmoil, and that evening I told my husband I was going to show up at book club. I did not know if we would have any new people, I had not heard from anyone… but I did not want them to show up and be alone so I went. The amazing thing was, the other two showed up as well as one more. We all agreed that there was nothing we could do at home about what was happening in the world, so we shared our thoughts on the days events, brokenhearted for the world, and yes, we reviewed the book.

Now it is August 2011 and we are currently 17 members. Walking into the Boardwalk Bread and Bagel last night was amazing to look at all the book lovers there… all a part of this group we call Bookies. We no longer can fit into a booth like we did that first meeting (although I did suggest we try :razz:)

Last night we reviewed Devil In The White City by Eric Larson. I can not wait to share with you my thoughts as well as the Bookies. We celebrated a milestone birthday with Sharon, and ate together. Coming home, I just could not get over how blessed I feel to be a part of such amazing women. It started out to be a few girls that worked together… then we added a few friends… and then it grew from there. We never said we were an all girls group… it just turned out that way.

Next month we are reading The Postmistress bu Sarah Blake. I read and reviewed this one a while back but think I will refresh myself by trying it on audio….

Morning Meanderings… A New Queen and The Next Book Club Pick

Published on July 13, 2011July 14, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)24 Comments

Good Morning! 😀

Another lovely book event last night. We had our annual Queen Event which is always a blast. Every July we have a “free read” month. We do not have a book we all discuss, instead we potluck together and share what we read and what we recommend.

Oh…

and did I mention we dress up in fun dresses and choose a Bookies Queen?

Huh…. you think I would have mentioned that. 😛

Five years ago we read a book by Cassandra King called Same Sweet Girls and picked up a little idea from that book to do this event. We thought it would be a fun one time thing…. dress up and choose a Queen…. instead it became an annual event.

So what does one do to be Queen? We give little speeches, or sing, or read a poem, any thing to encourage others to vote for us. It’s really all in fun. And the things we come up with…. well…. hilarious.

What does the Queen do? The “Queen” breaks all book nomination ties. If we vote on a book to read and come up with a tie, the Queen chooses the book. Same with where to meet or special meetings. She also becomes the proud owner of the crown, the scepter, and uh…. the royal throne ( a gold spray painted toilet). 😛

So last night we had a wonderful get together with food, and dresses…. we discussed what we have been reading and then we voted on our August book club read which will be: The Devil In The White City by Erik Larson. We also chose our classic read for October Classic month and the book that won is Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (yup – never read it).

We ended our evening with the vote and…. our past Queen Lori, called up the Queen and runner up…. Sharon and Amy…

Congratulations Amy! Sharon is the runner-up and will fulfill the Queen duties when Amy is not available to do so.

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

Published on June 25, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)13 Comments

Randy Pausch was young, an inspiration, hard-working, family man. He was a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon… and he had terminal cancer.

When asked to give a lecture about life and act like it is your last lecture… Randy did not have to pretend. He knew very well this would be his last lecture. Yet instead of lecturing about dying, he chose to talk about LIVING. Randy’s lecture included dreams from his childhood, over coming obstacles, not taking no for an answer when you really want something, enabling others to dream, and seizing each moment as none of us know which will be our last.

With humor, brutal honesty, and a sprinkle of intelligence, Randy pours his heart into a lecture he hopes will be a life lesson for his small children who would grown up without him, but not without what he stood for and believed in. Randy’s lecture, is a love letter to his family – and a message of hope and strength to the world.

What I love about my book club, response #2049. 😛 I jest, but you all know I love my book club. Smart, incredible women who gather once a month to talk on one of my favorite subjects…. books.

In May, this was the book that was chosen for our June read. What I love about this is that a few years ago… this group of

009 — Part of the Bookies Book Club (14 of us total)

women would not have touched this book. It would have never won the vote. Why? One its non fiction and we do not do a whole lot of that as a group. Two, it is a pretty serious and the potential to be a sad read and my book club – at least a few years back, would have avoided that for something lighter.

By review time – I did not have this book read. Since they picked it I had been to New York for a week for BEA, two large bike rides on the weekends, and a nasty injury that threw me off my game. I also could not find it in my library and really did not want to order it, not knowing much about it. When it did come in for me at the library it was in audio and it was also the day of the review.

There is always food at Book Club :) — There is always food at Book Club 🙂

Their discussion… made me want to read it all the more.

So finally – after a crazy trip to Chicago, I had time to tune in and catch up and here is what I thought of The Last Lecture.

My thoughts…

Randy Pausch has a gift of words. I entered into this read knowing very little about Randy, or this lecture which apparently is now quite famous. What I learned quickly is that Randy did not lack for self-esteem. He saw what he wanted and went after it. End of story. He speaks of this in The Last lecture as “brick walls”, advising that when we come up against a brick wall we are to keep on trying to get over it, be it a personal opportunity, a job deeply wanted, or, as in Randy’s case – a death sentence.

Yes, I can see where Randy may come off as arrogant, but as I ended this reading…. I didn’t think so. It’s probably a fine line between arrogance and drive and Randy rode it right down the middle. Where most of us would probably wilt under the weight of Randy’s diagnosis, Randy seemed to be energized. In the 18 months from diagnosis to passing, Randy used this time to prepare his family for life without him, including moving the family to a home closer to his wife Jai’s family so she would have help with the kids after he was gone.

This book was a firm reminder that life is what we make of it, we choose our responses in every situation… Randy lived life to the fullest as long as he was able. With a quick wit and sharp mind he reminds us to never give up on our dreams, seize the moments, overcome all obstacles.

I laughed a little, I cried a little and am glad to now know a little of who Randy was.

Pausch died from pancreatic cancer at his family’s home in Chesapeake, Virginia on July 25, 2008, at the age of 47. He is survived by his wife, Jai, and their three children, Dylan, Logan, and Chloe

Good Reads Review

I have updated the 2011 WHERE Are You Reading to include The Last Lecture

Borrowed from my local Library

ROOM by Emma Donoghue (Revisited by the Bookies Book Club)

Published on May 11, 2011May 11, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)26 Comments

Five-year-old Jack and his Ma live and eat and play and sleep in one room–an 11×11-foot space that is Jack’s world… and Ma’s prison. Ma was abducted at the age of 19 by Old Nick 7 years ago. 5 years ago, Jack was born. All Jack knows of the world is in ROOM. He has never seen sky, grass, a dog, a store…. he knows TABLE, BED, SPOON, RUG, WARDROBE, TV… and everything that has been in the room since he was born. Jack is very satisfied with what he believes to be a normal life…. but each day brings Ma to another level of how is she going to get free and save her son who does not know he needs saving?

Last September I read and reviewed ROOM. At the time of that reading I was really impressed with this book. As time went on, I found the book really stuck with me and that …. made it all the more impressive.

Last month, my book club the AWESOME Bookies, chose ROOM to be our book club read for May, and last night we had our potluck around the book and discussion.

Much of what we discussed in the book could be considered spoilerish to someone who has not read the book so I am going to make a spoiler page (my second one for ROOM) to allow those who have read the book to go to and see what was discussed.

Now – for those of you who have not read the book, this is my advice for you. Read it. I recommend it. I have heard many of you say that you don’t think you could handle the book, but seriously – the book is pretty tame. Yes Ma was abducted. Yes Jack is a result of that abduction. BUT note this – all that is pre-ROOM. When ROOM opens, Jack is five and ROOM is told entirely from Jack’s perspective. Things are not going to get too crazy when a five-year old is telling the story. And that too is brilliant of Emma Donoghue…. what could have been a harsh hard book is told by hmmm…. let’s say, Ma, is mellowed and innocent as told by Jack.

The Bookies overall ratings were mixed. We are on a scale of 1 – 5 (5 the best) and most came in around 4 and 4.5… a few around 3. Angie and I, who had both read this book before encouraged them to sit on their thoughts of the book for a while. We both agreed that after reading, we found we even liked it more.

Oh…. and anytime we have a home meeting for Bookies, there is food. I LOVE planning food around our book reviews… our group is so creative, and here is what we had last night in celebration of ROOM:

005 — People who have read the book will understand this.... I actually didn't get too many groans at book club when i came up with this one. 🙂

009 — Wouldnt you ask for this for "Sunday Treat?"

016 — Ahhhh.... this one speaks for itself. 🙂

My original review of ROOM is here

Sundays At Tiffany’s by James Patterson and Bookies Review

Published on April 15, 2011April 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)32 Comments

Jane Margaux is a girl who lives in a fairy tale world. Her mother is the head of a powerful New York Theater and their home is filled with riches.

Yet Jane is a very lonely little girl… her mother, the powerful and feared Vivian, makes time for her daughter once a week where on Sundays they go and admire the jewelery at Tiffany’s.

Jane has one friend who she can confide in and that would be Michael. Michael listens to everything Jane says. He hears and encourages her dreams and he shares with her the sorrows. Michael is everything you would want in a best friend.

Except…

Michael isn’t real.

And then on her 9th birthday, which is an epic disaster of its own, Michael tells Jane that he has to leave her. He tells her while it hurts this day, when she wakes in the morning she will have forgotten him…. that’s the way it works…. that’s the way it has always worked.

But for Jane it doesn’t work that way… she misses her friend every day of her childhood and even into adult life. Now producing her own play, a play about a young girl and her imaginary friend….. she is still under her mother’s thumb. And then one day out of the corner of her eye she sees him….

could it be….

“Michael?”

1aa — Did you know Sundays At Tiffanys is also a Lifetime movie? I would like to see it.

My book club chose this book for our April read. As you know from a recent post, I take no issue with Patterson and have found many of his books to be well written. I have read him before when he wrote in this style and was impressed, his book Suzanne’s Diary For Nicholas was read in one sitting and left me in tears of joy and sorrow – all rolled into one.

This was the first time I listened to a book club book rather than read it. I was going to purchase the book but Kerri in our book club has picked up the audio at the library and was done listening to it and offered it to me. I thought, why not? What was funny was with the female narrator (who was very good!) I forgot who the author of the book was. And it read on and the chapters flew by I remember thinking one day while I was driving through town, “wow this author has short chapters just like Patterson does.” Then had to laugh – as I remembered, “Oh yeah… .this is Patterson.”

For most of the audio/book I adored the story. I liked Jane, she starts out a little weak, but she is meant too – after all growing up in a household where you are constantly badgered by your mother on how to look, what to wear, what to eat…. yeah, that is going to leave a mark. BUT – Jane is not all weak and you can see a flicker of her own personality start to slowly flicker and then burn brighter within her as the book goes on.

I even really liked Michael – he is just a sweet guy and when the impossible happens, they find each other again, there is a sweet tone to the storyline – and I was still fine with the book…

Then somewhere along the line it hit me… when Jane was 9…. Michael wasn’t…. he was 32. In fact he is 32 throughout the whole book being whatever he is (my book club tried to figure it out – an angel? A spirit? ) and never ages. Now when they get back together Jane is very close to his age and its all cool – but I could not let go of the 32-year-old imaginary friend when Jane was a little girl. I guess I just believed that when she was 9 so was he and that he just aged along with the rest of the world until they met again with adults.

Ok…. that whole scenario – put a creepy factor in my had on a scale of 1 – 10…. at about a 7.

Overall – the book is a good read. I did like the characters and I thought while the ending was all too neat and tied with a bow, it was still a respectable ending for a Patterson book that gave off a Nicholas Sparks vibe.

The 2011 WHERE Are You Reading Map has been update to include Sundays At Tiffany’s

Bookies Review

My book club met on Tuesday of this week to have dinner together and discuss this book. I love it when we theme the foods to the book and Sundays at Tiffany’s is a dangerous book to do that with as the book is fulled with delights from Jane (and Michael’s) sweet tooth. Thank you to Amy M’s hubby Paul for the delicious chocolate cake (this man can bake!) topped with truffles! AND Laura brought an oreo ice cream cake as Jane’s favorite food is Oreos. We also had a delicious chicken dish served on noodles or rice and Thai Chicken, a salad, and another chicken hot dish. Amy served wine and lemonade, I brought cheese to go with the wine.

I wanted to start out our discussion with everyone sharing if they had an imaginary friend when they were little… turns out, out of our group – I was the only one. I was really surprised and through we would have a big discussion over this but it was just me. her name was Julie…. I guess I was probably around that 8 or 9 age. I remember walking with her at my grandmothers home in town, and I remember her in our home when I would talk to her about everything. The group thought that maybe because I was an only child until I was 7 that may be why I had a “Julie” where they were all surrounded by siblings or other kids. I found that very interesting as I had never thought about who has imaginary friends and who does not and why….

Over all the Bookies found the book to be a slightly higher than average read. Only one other girl in our group found the Michael (32) and Jane (9) friendship to be creepy. They looked at is as Jane’s replacement for the absence of her father in her life. I can see that…. (ahhh the beauty of a book club discussion – you can things differently through others opinions!) 😀

We really did have fun discussing the book and that is one great thing about the Bookies, no matter what the book is like – we just enjoy getting together and always find a way to discuss the book and have fun. We finished up our review with what our “can not pass up” foods are and they were all over the board: Chocolate cake, popcorn with cinnamon sugar and real butter on it, dill pickle sun flower seeds, toast with cinnamon and sugar and butter on it, cheese, anything chocolate….)