It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

 

Last weeks winner: West Virginia Red Reads

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!

**Please note I am way behind on sending out books so if you are waiting on a book from me I do apologize.  I am planning on packaging and taking a trip to the post office this Tuesday so be sure if you are waiting on a book from me that you have sent your mailing address (not PO box numbers) to my email at joureythroughbooks@gmail.com

I have still not surpassed that reading slump.  I don’t even think “slump” is the right word because its not that I don’t want to read, its that time has not allowed for reading and by the time I get home from whatever I am too tired.  That should change a bit this week as I leave for Florida on Thursday morning and will have plane reading time and a little down time too while there with College Son visiting Navy Son through the weekend.  😀

Last week here are the posts I put up:

Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner

Building a Pole Barn to survive a Zombie Apocalypse

I Michael Bennett by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

 

 

SO here is what is on the reading plan for this week:

The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love. But for Victoria Jones, it’s been more useful in communicating mistrust and solitude. After a childhood spent in the foster-care system, she is unable to get close to anybody, and her only connection to the world is through flowers and their meanings. Now eighteen and emancipated from the system with nowhere to go, Victoria realizes she has a gift for helping others through the flowers she chooses for them. But an unexpected encounter with a mysterious stranger has her questioning what’s been missing in her life. And when she’s forced to confront a painful secret from her past, she must decide whether it’s worth risking everything for a second chance at happiness.

This is out book club pick for November.

Nashville music star and family man, Cole Michaels, is persuaded to embrace an ‘American Dream’ theology that promises comfort, happiness, and success. But when the unimaginable happens, Cole blames God and abandons his faith. More vulnerable than ever, he is clueless that an evil character with an unspeakable secret is using every available resource to find him.

Can two old sages, a beautiful blonde, a violin called the Mysterious Lady, and a Triumph motorcycle help prepare Cole for his ultimate trial?

Many years ago I fell in love with Randall’s writing – I devoured the three books he had out and waited and waited for more but nothing came…. here is where blogging gets cool – when he wrote this book – he found me, emailed me and asked me to review it.  😛

Based on more than forty interviews with Jobs conducted over two years—as well as interviews with more than a hundred family members, friends, adversaries, competitors, and colleagues—Walter Isaacson has written a riveting story of the roller-coaster life and searingly intense personality of a creative entrepreneur whose passion for perfection and ferocious drive revolutionized six industries: personal computers, animated movies, music, phones, tablet computing, and digital publishing.

At a time when America is seeking ways to sustain its innovative edge, and when societies around the world are trying to build digital-age economies, Jobs stands as the ultimate icon of inventiveness and applied imagination. He knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology. He built a company where leaps of the imagination were combined with remarkable feats of engineering.  

Although Jobs cooperated with this book, he asked for no control over what was written nor even the right to read it before it was published. He put nothing off-limits. He encouraged the people he knew to speak honestly. And Jobs speaks candidly, sometimes brutally so, about the people he worked with and competed against. His friends, foes, and colleagues provide an unvarnished view of the passions, perfectionism, obsessions, artistry, devilry, and compulsion for control that shaped his approach to business and the innovative products that resulted.

Driven by demons, Jobs could drive those around him to fury and despair. But his personality and products were interrelated, just as Apple’s hardware and software tended to be, as if part of an integrated system. His tale is instructive and cautionary, filled with lessons about innovation, character, leadership, and values.

Just a book I have really been interested in.

 

 

 

 

In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn jungles of Laos to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. But lacking a written language of their own, the Hmong experience has been primarily recorded by others. Driven to tell her family’s story after her grandmother’s death, The Latehomecomer is Kao Kalia Yang’s tribute to the remarkable woman whose spirit held them all together. It is also an eloquent, firsthand account of a people who have worked hard to make their voices heard.

Beginning in the 1970s, as the Hmong were being massacred for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War, Yang recounts the harrowing story of her family’s captivity, the daring rescue undertaken by her father and uncles, and their narrow escape into Thailand where Yang was born in the Ban Vinai Refugee Camp.

When she was six years old, Yang’s family immigrated to America, and she evocatively captures the challenges of adapting to a new place and a new language. Through her words, the dreams, wisdom, and traditions passed down from her grandmother and shared by an entire community have finally found a voice.

I met Kao this past week at a literacy conference and she blew me away… I could not wait to read her book!

 

 

 

That’s the plan – what is yours?  I would love to see what you are reading and what you read this past week as well.  Please link up your What Are You Reading post below where it says click here.  I am going to try to get around to your posts as I can this week. 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

Morning Meanderings… New Books In Da’ House!”

Good morning!  I am here this morning with coffee and listening to Rick Springfield’s book Late Late AT Night… read, by him.  It’s not bad.  After a nap on Sunday afternoon, an embarrassing nape yesterday afternoon and then another one a couple hours later… I think I am caught up form the hustle of last week.  Now I play catch up!

For starters this morning I really wanted to post about the books that have graced my mailbox and my door step the past two weeks. 

OOH right?  I think it is kind of funny that I got a book on beer and a book on wine i the same week. 😀   I can not wait to have some good reading time!!!

Today I work and then I should run some errands as tomorrow is busy and Thursday morning I leave for the Library Sessions… more on that later this week. 

Any of these books look interesting to you?  Have you read any of them? 

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

 

Last weeks winner: Mardel from Rabid Reader

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!

:D

It’s been a crazy week and even now I am still tired.  I wont bore you with the details I will just say that my week and weekend were extremely busy and still tonight I am feeling like I have sand in my eyes.  Saying this, the unimpressive week I am about to post is this:

Hobbit Book Club – have you heard about this?

 

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

 

Wonder by R J Palacio

 

 

Yup.  That’s it.  In fact as log as we are confessing here… I have not read one page this week.  Nope.  Not one.  Even today I say with a book next to me all day to pick up and I just never felt like it.  I am hoping as we move into this next week that will change. 

With that being the case, I am not going to post any new books/audio foe this week.  I have commitments Monday and Wednesday evening and will be out of town Thursday and Friday for a Library seminar and will take a book with me there since this will involve one night in a hotel.

So lets get right to the – What Are You Reading part of this!  😀  Link your own post below – I am curious… what did you read last week… what will you read this week?

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

Last weeks winner: Joy from Joys Book Blog!!!

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!   :D

 

What a busy and great week!  I am sitting here EXHAUSTED but in a good way.  I just returned Sunday afternoon from a craft weekend on the North shore.  We crafted, we watched movies – it was a good time!  I did manage to read a bit too:

 

A Wilderness Of Error by Errol Morris (True Crime)

 

 

The Wizard Of Oz by Frank Baum – a Bookies review and some fun dress up pics!

 

Telestrations – a fun new board game!

 

 

Titanic’s Last Secret’s by Brad Matsen

 

You’ve Been Warned by James Patterson

 

 

Not too bad a week and here is what is happening this week:

 

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them-not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all-family money, good looks, devoted friends-but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys.

 

 

 

Stalin’s Soviet Union strives to be a paradise for its workers, providing for all of their needs. One of its fundamental pillars is that its citizens live free from the fear of ordinary crime and criminals.

But in this society, millions do live in fear . . . of the State. Death is a whisper away. The mere suspicion of ideological disloyalty-owning a book from the decadent West, the wrong word at the wrong time-sends millions of innocents into the Gulags or to their executions. Defending the system from its citizens is the MGB, the State Security Force. And no MGB officer is more courageous, conscientious, or idealistic than Leo Demidov.

A war hero with a beautiful wife, Leo lives in relative luxury in Moscow, even providing a decent apartment for his parents. His only ambition has been to serve his country. For this greater good, he has arrested and interrogated.

Then the impossible happens. A different kind of criminal-a murderer-is on the loose, killing at will. At the same time, Leo finds himself demoted and denounced by his enemies, his world turned upside down, and every belief he’s ever held shattered. The only way to save his life and the lives of his family is to uncover this criminal. But in a society that is officially paradise, it’s a crime against the State to suggest that a murderer-much less a serial killer-is in their midst. Exiled from his home, with only his wife, Raisa, remaining at his side, Leo must confront the vast resources and reach of the MBG to find and stop a criminal that the State won’t admit even exists.

 

 

 

 

At first my eyes wouldn’t make sense of the letters. Finally, they unscrambled. Loving a Larger Woman, said the headline, by Bruce Guberman. Bruce Guberman had been my boyfriend for just over three years, until we’d decided to take a break three months ago. And the larger woman, I could only assume, was me.

Cannie Shapiro never wanted to be famous. The smart, sharp, plus-sized pop culture reporter was perfectly content writing about other people’s lives on the pages of the Philadelphia Examiner. But the day she opens up a national women’s magazine to find out that her ex-boyfriend has been chronicling their ex-sex life is the day her life changes forever.

Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world, Bruce has written. And Cannie — who never knew that Bruce saw her as a “larger woman,” or thought that loving her was an act of courage — is plunged into misery, and into the most amazing year of her life.

 

 

 

 

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny—one she could never have imagined…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

 

 

 

Thats the week.  How about you?  Add you Its Monday What Are You Reading link to where it says click here below.

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

 

Last weeks winner: Lori from Escape With Dollycas!!!

 

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!  And for those of you waiting on a win, the book room as you will see below is now done so I can find the books to mail you :D

I am coming in a little later on this one today.  Usually I post on Sunday evening for all of you who live outside the US and my Sunday is your Monday… however,

I am currently in Mankato Minnesota where yesterday morning I biked with friends for the Mankato Ramble, and then I spent the rest of the day with College Son and stayed at his place.  I never get to Mankato – it is a 3/12 drive from my home in Brainerd coming this weekend to ride bike one last time this year and see my son was so worth it.  We went out to dinner last night, and then to a movie.  By the time we got in I was wiped out and knew this post would have to wait…

BUT  – here it is and if you hung out here at all last week didn’t we have a great time with Banned Books Week?  And if you did not hang out here last week then this is all the awesome stuff that was going on:

PREP by Curtis Sentenfield (Banned book with a giveaway!)

 

The Giver by Lois Lowry (banned book with a giveaway copy!)

 

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky ( banned book and now a movie!)

 

Sad Desk Salad by Jesse Grose (a book tour)

 

The Chocolate Wars by Robert Cormier – a banned book and a giveaway

 

The LORAX by Dr. Suess (discussed for Banned book week – yup – it is banned!)

 

October Mourning by Lesea Newman -(a book surrounding thoughts on the terrible murder of Matthew Shepard)

 

 

If there is one thing banned books do for me, is they give me an incredible reading list for a week each year,  There are so many great books to chose from and if you scrawl through my posts of last week you will see all the wonderful book bloggers and authors who also tied into banned books week with reviews, talks, and giveaways.

So this week is going to particularity crazy – today when I get back to Brainerd I need to change out the Banned Book Window in the library.    I think I am going with a theme of “Spooktacular” Reads and going with a shelf of good books for October – one shelf for kids, one for MG, one for YA, and one for adults.  Any thoughts on what those titles may be – please feel free to give me ideas in the comments 🙂

Then tomorrow is book club – we are dressing up and reviewing The Wizard of Oz! Wednesday I work with students after work until 8 pm and Thursday I am leaving for the cabin with friends to have a crafting weekend.  Coming back on Saturday evening.  😀

So – knowing that I will not get a lot of reading in this week – here is my lay out:

 

 

I never liked jazz music because jazz music doesn’t resolve…I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened.In Donald Miller’s early years, he was vaguely familiar with a distant God. But when he came to know Jesus Christ, he pursued the Christian life with great zeal. Within a few years he had a successful ministry that ultimately left him feeling empty, burned out, and, once again, far away from God. In this intimate, soul-searching account, Miller describes his remarkable journey back to a culturally relevant, infinitely loving God.

I have heard this is excellent and I have had the audio for a while.  It is my “listen: on the way home today.  It is also a movie now!

 

 

 

 

The brutal murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming, brought violence based on sexual orientation to public view. His mother, determined that Matthew’s life should have meaning, has become an activist for the inclusion of sexual orientation in hate crime legislation (the federal act, named for Matthew, was enacted in October 2009) and for gay rights in general. Judy Shepard’s narration is consistent with her statements in the book that in various public situations she is determined not to break down–as she wants the focus of the story to be Matthew, not her. Matthew’s father delivers the statement he made at the trial of one of the assailants. Both parents read in tightly controlled voices that are poignant and, by the absence of dramatization, tell a haunting story.
This past Saturday was the anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s beating that led to his death.  Above, I had read October Mourning but thought it was going to be more about his life and story – it was poetry and I did not know that going in.  However, I have had this one on my shelf for awhile, written by Matthew’s mom. 

 

 

 

That is probably all I am going to list from Mankato.  😀  Once I get home I may see something in my notebook that I am supposed to read this week so I am going to keep this the way it is. 

Now it is your turn!  What are you reading these fall days?  Has your reading style changes as summer came to a close?  I would love to know!  Please link up your Its Monday What Are You Reading here below where it says click here:

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

Last weeks winner: Lisa from Lisa’s World Of Books!!!

Congratulations!  Please choose a book or bookish item from the Reading Cafe!  And for those of you waiting on a win, the book room as you will see below is now done so I can find the books to mail you 😀

What a great and crazy week!  The construction finished on Wednesday for the book room, I set up and had a family reunion at my house on Saturday and I am tired but now geared up for Banned Book Week!

Here are the posts worth checking out from this past week:

 

We Need To Talk About Kevin – book and movie reviews – I read this book so long ago but it still haunts me

 

There And Back Again by Sean Astin – an interesting take on being a hobbit and the working behind the scenes of the Lord Of The Rings

 

Defending Jacob by William Landay – OOOHHHHHH lets just say….oooooohhhhh!!!!

 

Back Seat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson – wow!  I think I found another author to wacth!

 

SSSQQUUEEEE  The book shelves are finished!!!!  Here are the pics and the final room look!

 

PREP by Curtis Senterfield – my first banned book review and a giveaway of a gift card!  (OOH – everyone likes gift cards!)

 

Banned Book Blog Hop is going on and I am doing a giveaway as well as many MANY more blogs check it out – its a good week to win some great books!

 

Banned Book Week kicked off on Sept 30 and I will be hosting blogs and giveaways all week long!  Here is the first post and amazing book giveaways you will not want to miss!

 

 

It was a great week but thank goodness for audio because I have been not getting any book time lately.  I set the book room, cleaned the house and garage all to audio.  Because of this I am ahead for banned book week with two more banned audio books to review and a third being listened to right now.

So as I said, it is banned book week and if you know me – you know I love chatting Banned Books!  Here is what I will be reading/listening to this week:

 

In a world with no poverty, no crime, no sickness and no unemployment, and where every family is happy, 12-year-old Jonas is chosen to be the community’s Receiver of Memories. Under the tutelage of the Elders and an old man known as the Giver, he discovers the disturbing truth about his utopian world and struggles against the weight of its hypocrisy. With echoes of Brave New World, in this 1994 Newbery Medal winner, Lowry examines the idea that people might freely choose to give up their humanity in order to create a more stable society. Gradually Jonas learns just how costly this ordered and pain-free society can be, and boldly decides he cannot pay the price.

A banned book and one that has graced me shelf way too long unread.

 

 

 

Long before saving the earth became a global concern, Dr. Seuss, speaking through his character the Lorax, warned against mindless progress and the danger it posed to the earth’s natural beauty.

One of the funnier banned books – I want to review book and movie.

 

 

 

On the night of October 6, 1998, a gay twenty-one-year-old college student named Matthew Shepard was lured from a Wyoming bar by two young men, savagely beaten, tied to a remote fence, and left to die. Gay Awareness Week was beginning at the University of Wyoming, and the keynote speaker was Lesléa Newman, discussing her book Heather Has Two Mommies. Shaken, the author addressed the large audience that gathered, but she remained haunted by Matthew’s murder. October Mourning, a novel in verse, is her deeply felt response to the events of that tragic day. Using her poetic imagination, the author creates fictitious monologues from various points of view, including the fence Matthew was tied to, the stars that watched over him, the deer that kept him company, and Matthew himself. More than a decade later, this stunning cycle of sixty-eight poems serves as an illumination for readers too young to remember, and as a powerful, enduring tribute to Matthew Shepard’s life.

On October 6 I am going to break away from the banned books to review this sad book about Matthew Shephard on the anniversary ate of his brutal murder.

 

Ok I plan to fit in more banned books but we will see how this week goes.  Now I am so excited to see what you are reading!  Please add your link below where it says click here.  😀

 

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

 

Last weeks winner: Martha E!!!

It was a fairly decent week this past week.  I had no construction in the house except for early in the week, and now we are on hold waiting for a wood order to come in that has me hoping (Fingers crossed!) that it will be early this week so I can finish my book room before the family gathering on this coming Saturday. 

The things I posted here on Book Journey this past week were:

 

 

The Snow Child By Eowyn Ivey – audio review

 

What DO You Do With All Those Books?  (Early shots of the book room partially finished and discussion over the books…)

 

This One Is Mine by Maria Semple – Bookies Book Club read for Sept and probably the snakiest review I have written in a long long time

The Meryl Streep Movie Club is born this coming Thursday at my house – and on the blog!  Stop in and check it out and maybe chat along 😀

AND it is the last week to sign up to participate in the Banned Book Week Party here!

 

As for this week, any moment now I am going to realize that I did invite over many many relatives for next Saturday and I do need to prep my home, the garage and figure out what I am going to cook.  When that happens, I suspect I will be moving like a mad woman and that will requite either 80’s music (do not judge!) and/or audio books 😀

SO….  for this week… my plan is:

 

As I am participating in this wonderful idea – my priority book is 47 for this week:

 

The intense, personal slave narrative of 14-year-old Forty-seven becomes allegorical when a mysterious runaway slave shows up at the Corinthian Plantation. Tall John, who believes there are no masters and no slaves, and who carries a yellow carpet bag of magical healing potions and futuristic devices, is both an inspiration and an enigma. He claims he has crossed galaxies and centuries and arrived by Sun Ship on Earth in 1832 to find the one chosen to continue the fight against the evil Calash. The brutal white overseer and the cruel slave owner are disguised Calash who must be defeated. Tall John inserts himself into Forty-seven’s daily life and gradually cedes to him immortality and the power, confidence, and courage to confront the Calash to break the chains of slavery. With confidence, determination, and craft, Tall John becomes Forty-seven’s alter ego, challenging him and inspiring him to see beyond slavery and fight for freedom.

 

 

And in preparation for Banned Book Week I will be listening to:

Does Jerry Renault dare to disturb the universe? You wouldn’t think that his refusal to sell chocolates during his school’s fundraiser would create such a stir, but it does; it’s as if the whole school comes apart at the seams. To some, Jerry is a hero, but to others, he becomes a scapegoat–a target for their pent-up hatred. And Jerry? He’s just trying to stand up for what he believes, but perhaps there is no way for him to escape becoming a pawn in this game of control; students are pitted against other students, fighting for honor–or are they fighting for their lives?

 

 

 

 

What is most notable about this funny, touching, memorable first novel from Stephen Chbosky is the resounding accuracy with which the author captures the voice of a boy teetering on the brink of adulthood. Charlie is a freshman. And while’s he’s not the biggest geek in the school, he is by no means popular. He’s a wallflower–shy and introspective, and intelligent beyond his years, if not very savvy in the social arts. We learn about Charlie through the letters he writes to someone of undisclosed name, age, and gender, a stylistic technique that adds to the heart-wrenching earnestness saturating this teen’s story. Charlie encounters the same struggles that many kids face in high school–how to make friends, the intensity of a crush, family tensions, a first relationship, exploring sexuality, experimenting with drugs–but he must also deal with his best friend’s recent suicide. Charlie’s letters take on the intimate feel of a journal as he shares his day-to-day thoughts and feelings:

 

I walk around the school hallways and look at the people. I look at the teachers and wonder why they’re here. If they like their jobs. Or us. And I wonder how smart they were when they were fifteen. Not in a mean way. In a curious way. It’s like looking at all the students and wondering who’s had their heart broken that day, and how they are able to cope with having three quizzes and a book report due on top of that. Or wondering who did the heart breaking. And wondering why.With the help of a teacher who recognizes his wisdom and intuition, and his two friends, seniors Samantha and Patrick, Charlie mostly manages to avoid the depression he feels creeping up like kudzu. When it all becomes too much, after a shocking realization about his beloved late Aunt Helen, Charlie retreats from reality for awhile. But he makes it back in due time, ready to face his sophomore year and all that it may bring. Charlie, sincerely searching for that feeling of “being infinite,” is a kindred spirit to the generation that’s been slapped with the label X.

 

 

 

Oh and lets not forget that next weekend is also the Bloggiesta which I am going to squeeze in around the family thing because Bloggiesta is really that AMAZING and sleep is truly… overrated.  😛 

It should be a pretty great week.  I want to know about yours!  Are you participating in Bloggiesta?  Banned Book Week?  And what are you reading?  Be sure to use the hashtag #IMWAYR if tweeting on “The Twitter”  😀

AND be sure to link up your What Are You Reading post below! 

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please ALSO link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

 

Last weeks winner:  Lori from Escape With Dollycas!

 

Wow what a whirlwind week.  I had something every single evening for the past seven days and today – (Sunday) I did pretty much nothing other than I visited a friend this morning and then vegged at home watching two movies and playing a little online scrabble which is a total time suck…. and I really should have written the reviews I still have pending.  😛

Anyhoo, this past week was BBAW (Book Blogger Appreciation Week) and that was a lot of fun.  I did not get to participate to the level I had wanted to due to my heavy week, but this is what I did manage to post:

 

My interview with a twelve year old blogger!

Seconds Away by Harlan Coben review and giveaway!

What my book room looked like… and what it is looking like now.

The Bel Canto party has started!  Have you read it?  Come chat with me about it!

Hanging out with Author Sandra Brannon!

 

Oh and I am still taking participants for the awesome Banned Book Week!

 

Sadly, I am about 4 reviews behind… I just havent had time to write them – but this week looks mellower and promising 😀

As for this week, here is what I am planning on reading:

 

Rose Mae Lolley is a fierce and dirty girl, long-suppressed under flowery skirts and bow-trimmed ballet flats. As “Mrs. Ro Grandee” she’s trapped in a marriage that’s thick with love and sick with abuse. Her true self has been bound in the chains of marital bliss in rural Texas, letting “Ro” make eggs, iron shirts, and take her punches. She seems doomed to spend the rest of her life battered outside by her husband and inside by her former self, until fate throws her in the path of an airport gypsy—one who shares her past and knows her future. The tarot cards foretell that Rose’s beautiful, abusive husband is going to kill her. Unless she kills him first.

Hot-blooded Rose Mae escapes from under Ro’s perky compliance and emerges with a gun and a plan to beat the hand she’s been dealt. Following messages that her long-missing mother has left hidden for her in graffiti and behind paintings, Rose and her dog Gretel set out from Amarillo, TX back to her hometown of Fruiton, AL, and then on to California, unearthing a host of family secrets as she goes. Running for her life, she realizes that she must face her past in order to overcome her fate—death by marriage—and become a girl who is strong enough to save herself from the one who loves her best.

I started listening to this a few days ago… its actually kind of hilarious…

 

 

 

 

The third Liv Bergen mystery picks up right where the second one left off: the murder of Liv’s sister-in-law has been solved, but an older rancher has been bludgeoned to death in a style eerily reminiscent of a long-inactive killer known only as the Crooked Man. FBI agent Streeter Pierce, still on assignment in Sturgis, South Dakota, must now turn his sights on tracking down the killer, who happens to be his nemesis from ten years earlier. Pierce doesn’t complain, though; he’s falling in love with Liv Bergen and sets in motion an unconventional way to recruit her for the FBI’s training camp in Quantico, Virginia, as they work the case together. But is Liv falling for the brilliant, exotic-looking agent Jack Linwood instead? Once again, Liv’s vast knowledge of the Black Hills of South Dakota–the territory General Custer made famous–and the modern day ranchers and environmentalists who live there leads her to unearth critical clues about the Crooked Man. Aided by her elfin sister with rainbow-colored hair, a sad-eyed bloodhound, and a terminally ill Norwegian widow, Liv ultimately identifies the deranged killer. But will her barrage of questions be enough to fend off a fatal blow from the very cane he used to crush the skulls of thirteen other victims?

I adore Sandra and I am excited to dive into her third installment of the Liv Bergen mysteries!

 

 

 

 

Prentisstown isn’t like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else’s thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee — whose thoughts Todd can hear, too, whether he wants to or not — stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden — a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives. But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

Yes, I have read this before…. but man… I loved it so much!  Now I am going in a second time in audio.

 

I am looking forward to what you are reading.  Please add your link below where it says click here and please, it you Tweet be sure to use the hashtag:  #IMWAYR

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please also link your post here:

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

Welcome to It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from!

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.  I offer a weekly contest for those who visit 10 or more of the Monday Meme participants and leave a comment telling me how many you visited.  **You do not have to have a blog to participate! You receive one entry for every 10 comments, just come back here and tell me how many in the comment area.

Since I was out of town last weekend I never got the previous winner posted so this is the two week ago winner and this past weeks winner using random.org (because that is how I roll!)

 

Two weeks ago winner:  OOH Jenkies!

Last weeks winner;  Julie at Knitting and Sundries!

 

Ok, bear with me today.  I had a crazy busy work week planning for todays tailgate party and a meeting I have coming up this Wednesday.  After being in “tailgate” mode from 6 am this morning until 3 this afternoon… I am a bit tired and goofy.  I am relaxing as much as I can now because my next week looks like this:

 

Monday – work out, work, set Banned Book Week Window at Library, participate in Book Blogger Appreciation Week, Friends Of The Library Meeting

 

Tuesday – work out, work, pick up secret book club item, hope that books shelves are coming today, make dinner for Al, Book Club

 

Wednesday – work out, work, big meeting that may just keep me at work all day through the evening

 

Thursday – Day Off!  WOO HOO!!!  work out, Birthday dinner with friends

 

Friday – Day Off!  WOO HOO!!!  work out, Al’s (hubbies) birthday, out with friends

 

Saturday – morning meeting, leave for cities to have dinner with Sandra Brannan

 

 

Yeah….  So I dont want to think about this coming week right now so here is what is true of this past week:

Banned Book Week!  Looking for Blogs to participate in this awesome event that takes place Sept 30 – Oct 6.  I think this could be out best year yet, many are signing up to read a banned book and I am offering prizes!  Please check it out and help Banned Book Week this year be AMAZING!!!

 

Heading Out To Wonderful by Robert Goolrick – fantastic audio book and I bet it is just as good in book format!

 

DRAMA by Raina Telgemeier – a wonderful middle grade read!

 

September came and the book blogging world exploded, BBAW, Bloggiesta, Diverse Universe, Banned Book Week, and more all happening in September – check out this post to see what you may want to get involved in!

The Unfinished Garden by Barbara Claypole White – A wonderful read!!!

 

 

Not a bad week – most of the reading I completed over last weekend but I have read a couple more as well, out book club read that will go live this week and the Bel Canto Read A long which is coming up this week too!

For this week I am planning:

 

Early on the morning of February 17, 1970, in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Jeffrey MacDonald, a Green Beret doctor, called the police for help.  When the officers arrived at his home they found the bloody and battered bodies of MacDonald’s pregnant wife and two young daughters. The word “pig” was written in blood on the headboard in the master bedroom. As MacDonald was being loaded into the ambulance, he accused a band of drug-crazed hippies of the crime.

So began one of the most notorious and mysterious murder cases of the twentieth century. Jeffrey MacDonald was finally convicted in 1979 and remains in prison today. Since then a number of bestselling books—including Joe McGinniss’s Fatal Vision and Janet Malcolm’s The Journalist and the Murderer—and a blockbuster television miniseries have told their versions of the MacDonald case and what it all means.

Errol Morris has been investigating the MacDonald case for over twenty years. A Wilderness of Error is the culmination of his efforts. It is a shocking book, because it shows us that almost everything we have been told about the case is deeply unreliable, and crucial elements of the case against MacDonald simply are not true. It is a masterful reinvention of the true-crime thriller, a book that pierces the haze of myth surrounding these murders with the sort of brilliant light that can only be produced by years of dogged and careful investigation and hard, lucid thinking.

By this book’s end, we know several things: that there are two very different narratives we can create about what happened at 544 Castle Drive, and that the one that led to the conviction and imprisonment for life of this man for butchering his wife and two young daughters is almost certainly wrong.  Along the way Morris poses bracing questions about the nature of proof, criminal justice, and the media, showing us how MacDonald has been condemned, not only to prison, but to the stories that have been created around him.

Starting this one tonight, it is for a book tour on Wednesday.  I have always enjoyed (ugh.. thats seems like the wrong word) true crimes and this one shocked me when I read about.

 

 

 

 

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than 20 years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: his 14-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, and as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own – between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis – a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control.

I have been wanting to read this one for awhile now!

 

 

 

Lee Fiora is an intelligent, observant fourteen-year-old when her father drops her off at the prestigious Ault School in Massachusetts; she leaves behind her affectionate family in South Bend, Indiana, her head filled with images from the school’s glossy brochure, in which boys in sweaters chat in front of old brick buildings, girls hold lacrosse sticks on pristine athletics fields, and everyone sings hymns in chapel. As Lee soon learns, Ault is quite unlike anything she has previously experienced, a self-enclosed world populated by jaded teenagers whose expectations, values and social rituals are utterly unfamiliar to her. At first an observer of, then a participant in the hyper-vigilant, intricately demarcated life of the school, Lee eventually finds her own place in the pecking order – until a single act of spontaneous folly shatters her carefully honed identity.

I started this one over a year ago in book format, got busy… didnt pick it back up.  Found the audio at a garage sale this summer, going to try again 🙂

 

 

There is is, thats the week.  How about you?  How was your reading this past week?  How does the week to come look?  What books are you eagerly awaiting to dive into?  Add your What Are You Reading link below where it says click here.  I get so many great read ideas from what you post about!  😀  Also, when you Twitter about what you are reading be sure to use the super awesome hashtag #IMWAYR

 

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and those of you who read mainly children’s through YA reads – please also link your post here:

Morning Meanderings…46 Degrees…. Feels Like Fall


Good morning.  I know many of you are waiting for fall and love the cooler weather but for me…. I already am missing summer.  My house is a little cool this morning as I sit here in the chair with COFFEE CUP and a blanket.

The one good thing about fall is that I suddenly do not wish to go outside in the cool weather so that means more blogging and boy.. do I need that!  Thank goodness Bloggiesta is at the end of this month because I am behind on reviews, challenge updates, and well… everything!  😀

Life is still busy here.  Tomorrow I am organizing our annual tailgate party for about 250 people at church.  I have a great team of helpers so I am pretty relaxed about it and how it will go.  On Monday I am meeting with the library after work and setting the Banned Book Week window.  Then that evening I have a library meeting.  Tuesday is book club and while I found the book HORRID (oh yeah, I said it….) I have a fun plan for the food.  Wednesday is out Church Annual Meeting, I think I have a good handle on that right now, Thursday is dinner with friends, Friday is out for Al (hubbys) birthday, and Saturday I go to the Cities with some Bookies to have dinner with Sandra Brannan and then attend her book signing.

Yup… life has not slowed down.  😯

For this mornings Saturday Snapshots (Hello Alyce!!! 😀 )  I though I would post some memories from a year ago… I opened up my picture files this morning and looked at last August September and thought it would be fun to reflect on a year ago:

 

Fall 2011: We went riding with friends (hubby in picture)

 

 

Fall 2011: Brad was home for two weeks from the Navy!

 

 

My friend Amy and I had finished our first mud run – The Warrior Dash

 

 

We took a trip to the North Shore!

 

Stop by At Home With Books to see other participants of Saturday Snapshot.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!  Doing anything fun today?