Tag: Monday What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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:

Joy From Books And Life

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

Happy 4th of July!!!   I had a crazy busy week this past week and seriously am looking forward to DOWN TIME soon! 😀  Here is what I managed this week:

Miss Timmins School For Girls by Nanaya Currimbhoy (A Book tour with a book of great potential!)

Love You More by Lisa Gardner ( Wowza… another great one!  Have you read Lisa Gardner?)

Chicago Hot Dog ( how to make it and I double DOG dare you to not like it!)  😉

Every Last One by Anna Quindlin (whoa!  I mean whoa!  Did I say whoa???)

The Maltese Falcon by Radio Theater (audio)  – Don’t knock it until you try it 😛

So… a strong week for audio, and this one coming up will be too as I am just finishing Candy Freak, Casino Royale, and Bloody Jack. 

For this upcoming week I look to have no book tours on the horizon so I am going to focus on whats next in audio and a bit of totally fun reading…. here is the plan:

After being exposed as a girl, Jacky Faber is forced to leave the Dolphin and attend the elite Lawson Peabody School for Young Girls in Boston. But growing up on the streets of London and fighting pirates never prepared Jacky for her toughest battle yet: learning how to be a lady.

Everything she does is wrong. Her embroidery is deplorable, her French is atrocious, and her table manners–disgusting! And whenever Jacky roams the city in search of adventure, trouble is never far behind. Then there’s the small matter of her blue anchor tattoo. . . .

So will Jacky ever become a typical lady? Not bloody well likely! But whether she’s triumphing over her snobbish classmates, avenging a serving girl’s murder, or winning over a stubborn horse that’s as fast as the wind, one thing’s for sure: Jacky’s new life in Boston is just as exciting as her old one on the high seas.

Ok… to all you bloggers out there that drew me to this series, you know who you are – (Nise’, Heather…) ha ha…. yup you got me… I am now hooked on these audio about a young woman disguised as a boy on a pirate ship.  How did that happen?  😛

In 13th century England, the legendary figure known by generations as Robin Hood leads an uprising that will forever alter the balance of world power and will make one man of humble beginnings an eternal symbol of freedom for his people.

An expert archer once interested only in self-preservation, Robin now serves in King Richard’s army. Upon Richard’s death, Robin travels to Nottingham, a town suffering from a despotic sheriff and crippling taxation. There he falls for the spirited widow Lady Marion, who is skeptical of the motivations of this mysterious crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of Maid Marion and to save the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. Together, they begin preying on the indulgent upper class to correct the injustices of the sheriff.

With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king, and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. This unlikeliest of heroes and his allies set off to protect their country from slipping into bloody civil war and return glory to England once more.

I am working on the audio I have “in-house” and this is another one from BEA from Blackstone audio.

And finally, I have a couple reads I am finishing up and then….

I would like to say I would read them all but I don’t think that is possible right now so first and last are my goal.  I am excited about the first one as I picked it in New York at the exhibit and it is an anniversary copy.  It has narrations from J K about the idea behind the book, the characters, etc….

And that’s it.  I am excited to see what you are reading!  I have not been able to make the rounds to see your reading the past few weeks but with the holiday I am SSSSSOOOOOOO looking forward to doing so this week!  Please add your What Are you Reading post to the link below where it says “Click Here”. 

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😛 Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!!!  😛

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Lisa’s World Of Books

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

I had a strong review week, mainly because I did not write posts on anything last week and have a lot of catching up to do.  I still have posts to write!  😀 

Here is what last week looked like:

The Zookeepers wife by Diane Ackerman ( a non fiction read that will blow you away!)

Forever by Maggie Steifvater – oh yes…. that’s all I can say right now 😀

Bossypants by Tina Fey – audio) Oh wow… I laughed so hard!  😛

A Change In Altitude by Anita Shreve (ughhhh…. we may have a new character to add to the all time worst characters list…)

E Readers – Yay or Nay?  (Because I love sparking conversations!)

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (our June book club read)

Witches Of East End by Melissa De La Cruz ( A BEA pick up on cover love but did not hit a home run with me)

Literary Blog Hop – let me know on the link provided here what book you are wishing for currently and be entered to win one of two gift cards!

Yup.  Told you it was a good week.  😀

As for whats up this week – here is the plan:

With the plague running rampant in London in 1797, Mary’s parents and sister are soon counted among the dead. Left alone and penniless, the eight-year-old is taken in by a gang of orphans and learns survival skills. However, when their leader is killed, Mary decides to try her luck elsewhere. She strips the dead body, cuts her hair, renames herself Jack Faber, and is soon employed as a ship’s boy on the HMS Dolphin. When the vessel sees its first skirmish with a pirate ship, her bravery saves her friend Jaimy and earns her the nickname “Bloody Jack.”

Ok – ok… I have heard enough raves about these audio through the blogs I frequent to have to try them for myself.  I started this one today.

When Uncle Gary mysteriously disappears, all he leaves behind is a mountain of sawdust and a nightstand that his eleven-year-old nephew, Billy, inherits. When Billy is awakened at night by noises from inside the nightstand, he takes a closer look and discovers a hidden panel that opens to an antique maze of wooden corridors. He and his sister Sophie believe that Uncle Gary is hiding somewhere in the nightstand. As Billy, Sophie, and their two friends, Chris and Maggie, begin to explore the ancient hallways they discover far more than they expect. Billy must make a terrifying choice: let the police handle things the conventional way, or escape to the nightstand and try one last time to find Uncle Gary before it’s too late.

Oh come on, doesn’t this sound fun?  😀 

Long before selling secondhand belongings on Ebay and Craigslist was the rage, a preteen Chitoka Webb sold what others saw as junk to the residents of her neighborhood and made a profit. At the age of thirteen, she talked her way into a job as the youngest checker at a local grocery store. Without a college degree, through tenacity, grit, and a healthy dose of faith in herself, Chitoka became the owner of several businesses before the age of thirty.

In Something Inside of Me, Chitoka Webb shares her poignant, funny, and inspiring life story, from her humble beginnings in the Nashville housing projects to her rise as the CEO of several companies. Through stories of the many struggles she faced, from poverty to racism to the loss of her vision, Chitoka demonstrates the amazing human ability to triumph over extreme adversity through willpower, faith, and a constant love for oneself.

I met this lovely lady at BEA this year and her story was one I wanted to know more about!

Introducing James Bond: charming, sophisticated, handsome, chillingly ruthless, and licensed to kill. This, the first of Ian Fleming’s tales of Secret Agent 007, finds Bond on a mission to neutralize a lethal, high-rolling Russian operative called “Le Chiffre”—by ruining him at the baccarat table, forcing his Soviet spymasters to “retire” him. It seems that Lady Luck has sided with 007 when Le Chiffre hits a losing streak. But some people just refuse to play by the rules, and Bond’s attraction to a beautiful female agent leads him to disaster—and to an unexpected savior.

Mmmmm hmmmm, wondering where this came from?  It is part of The Shaken Not Stirred party that I won an audio book to!  Twitter party is Sunday June 26th under the hashtag #shakennotstirred at 9:30 pm EST followed by the watching of Casino Royale at 10 pm.  Should be interesting… I have never watched a 007 movie in my life 😀

The first in a projected trilogy about the lives of three Irish sisters, Born in Fire gets the series off to a fine start, telling the story of talented glass-artist Maggie Concannon’s contentious relationship with Dublin gallery owner Rogan Sweeney. Country-dwelling Maggie is otherworldly, prickly and outspoken, while Rogan is an urban sophisticate; nevertheless, the attraction that springs up between this unlikely pair is both believable and compelling, thanks to Roberts’s (Private Scandals) skillful character development.

Ok – do not laugh at me!!!  Ok… laugh a little 😛  Here is my story – for some reason I have wanted to read this trilogy forever.  Really probably 10 years – oddly enough, I had books 2 and 3 and never picked up the first one.  I found this on audible.com and thought lets see where this goes…

Ok – before you say “holy heavy schedule batman”, know that three of these are audio and they are done…. when they are done 😀

A little update on my injury from a couple of weeks ago.  I had a doctor’s appointment this past Tuesday and I was so sure I was going to get a smaller easy to function with (what I mean is easier to Blog but don’t tell my doctor) cast.  Instead, after the x-rays I was given a bigger cast… one that now covers my left hand fingers.  GAH.    You may wonder how I am still typing… totally right-handed peck peck pecks and I use my left thumb for capitals.  Yes…. it is a lot of work…. but I really like to write these posts 😀 

Anyway – my point of sharing all this is that I really want to get around and comment, please know that…  it just takes me longer to do so and I am not as quick and my hand tires so know that once I am “cast free” things will return to my nosing around your posts more :razz:.  I have a doctor’s appointment again Monday afternoon so I am hopeful for a change although he did tell me it could be 6 weeks.  😦

Please add your link to your What Are you Reading post below where it says “click here” so others (hopefully me too!) can stop in and see your reading happenings 😀

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Nancy at Amusing Reviews

(**By the way I was nosing around Nancy’s blog earlier when I was working on this link and find her posts delightful!  Her Amusing Mother blog had me laughing…)

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

What a week of pretty much nothing on the book front.  I am putting up a pathetic goose egg for the week.

Yup.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada. Nothing.  ZIP.

I don’t think that has happened since I have been doing this meme 92 weeks ago (yup… that’s an accurate count)… it’s not that I have not been reading it’s that there has been no time to write posts.  Let me do a brief recap of my week this past 7 days:

Last Sunday – came home exhausted after the MS 150 bike ride and my accident that took me and my bike out of the tour

Monday:  Worked until 2 pm… ran errands, doctor visit, and then to help with registration for our Summer Kids Camp at church from 4:30 – 7:30 pm

Tuesday – worked until 3 pm, ran to grab a couple of things after work, 5:30 back to do registration again, stayed until 7 pm, ran late to my book club and then home at 9 pm to pack for Chicago.

*Note:  Remember I am doing all of this in an arm cast and pain meds. 

Wednesday:  Girls (Cindy, Sara, and Heidi) meet at my house at 7 am where we leave for our Chicago road trip.  Drive all day (I sleep a lot of it) and arrive in Milwaukee Wisconsin at 9 pm.  We find a hotel, eat dinner at 10:30 pm and then to hotel to bed by midnight.

Thursday:  Drive the hour and a half more to Chicago and spend the day on the Navy Pier, walking, touring, boat ride…  find hotel at 9 pm for the night, again eat dinner about 10:00 pm and back to hotel – exhausted.  (post and pics here)

Friday: up and back to Navy Pier where we leave the car for the day and take the Double Decker Tour bus which is a lot of fun to all the sites and stops.  Spend entire day touring Chicago – eat lunch at Gino’s pizza and get back to car about 7 pm, drive back to hotel by 8:30 pm… too tired to do anything, we all pass out by 10:00 pm.  (post and pics and FOOD here)

Saturday:  Up and drive to Wisconsin Dells…. a little shopping along the way, we make it to the Dells around 6 pm.  Find hotel and walk the strip from 7 – 10 pm taking in the shops and sights.  Grab dinner on the way back to hotel, get to sleep around midnight.

Sunday – Up and packed, out of hotel by 9:00 am, hit the cheese store and Dunkin’ Donuts on the way out of town.  Drive back to Brainerd Minnesota and get here around 5:20 pm. Spend time with hubby for Fathers Day!

I read most of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater in the car today and plan to finish it yet tonight. 

So…. uhhh…. yeah.  Honestly – I found no time to post.  Shoot, I still have audio posts to do from audio week.  (Yes, that was not two weeks ago)…  😯

BUT – I think things will settle down again now.  My traveling is over for the next couple of months.  I will see the doctor tomorrow to see if I can go to a smaller cast.  With my arm all banged up, I have suspended my kick boxing account and will not be doing Group Power at the YMCA anytime soon….  I am going to resort to tread mill, elliptical and rollerblading for a while and hopefully soon my bike which is currently being loved on at the bike repair shop. 

All that said…. here is what I would like to do this week:

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave–“Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”–wasn’t about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because “time is all you have…and you may find one day that you have less than you think”). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

Yes.  This was my book club read for June.  Yes…. book club met last week.  I was behind.  With New York and the accident…. I could not find a copy, then it came into the library in audio the day of our review.  I picked it up, but have not finished it yet.  It is only 4 CD’s and I am through one….

The three Beauchamp women–Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid–live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret–they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there’s Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.

For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it’s time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.

Yup…. this was on my list last week.  Did not even touch it.  Try try again this week 😛

With buoyant humor and incisive, cunning prose, Rahul Mehta sets off into uncharted literary territory. The characters in Quarantine—openly gay Indian-American men, while struggling to maintain relationships with their families and cultural traditions. Grappling with the issues that concern all gay men—social acceptance, the right to pursue happiness, and the heavy toll of listening to their hearts and bodies—they confront an elder generation’s attachment to old-country ways. Estranged from their cultural in-group and still set apart from larger society, the young men in these lyrical, provocative, emotionally wrenching, yet frequently funny stories find themselves quarantined.

Rosalind is not your typical princess she and her pet dragon, Sparkler, are very rude. “What’s the big deal with manners anyway?” the princess asks. “Why do we always have to say please and thank you? And who cares how we use a napkin?”

Appalled by this behavior, the queen banishes the impolite pair from her castle until they find Good Manners. Percival, the wizard, sends them on their quest with the help of a magic fork, facing several challenges along the way. Not until the final test do Rosalind and Sparkler discover the real secret behind Good Manners.

Manners are more than mere rules of etiquette good manners make others feel at ease and are the foundation of compassion and gratitude. It is a never-ending quest for parents and teachers to instill in our children the importance of good manners.

I met this author at BEA last month.  She was struggling to find bloggers who reviewed children’s books.  I do not do many, mainly because I do not have them (the books or the children), but I do love a good children’s read.  I do have a few now in my possession that I hope to start reviewing on a more regular basis. 

I think that is enough for this week.  I know many of you told me to rest and heal last week and honestly it was probably my busiest week of the year next to my week at BEA in New York.  I can honestly tell you I feel the exhaustion and plan to take it easier this week.  I have a meeting Wednesday evening and a gathering where I am supposed to be kayaking on Thursday but we shall see…. 😀 

Anyway – I hope to get around to see most if not all of you through your Monday post so please add your link below to where it says “click here”.  It’s now your turn to share It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading?  😛

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Lori at Dollycas’s Thoughts

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

If you read the post I put up last night you will understand why this one is later than usual.  A bike ride for charity turned into an emergency room visit that was both painful (broken finger, dislocation of another one…) and encouraging (everyone was so nice – the staff of Sandstone Minnesota Hospital were kind and sweet to a very banged up version of me,

Anyway…. I really am ready to talk books.  😀

Last week was audio book week and it was so much fun.  I still have  a couple posts I had planned for that week that did not get posted yet, BUT here is what did get posted and audio book fan or not – I think you may find them interesting:

My Journey With Audio Books and a giveaway to go with it!

Rococo by Adriana Trigiani (oh wow!!!  This is an audio review and I laughed my way through it!)

Jerusalem Maiden by Talia Carner (oooh awesome book tour review)

One Good Dog by Susan Wilson (audio review and ssssoooooo good!)

The Blogiversary!  (Yes!!!  What a week right?)  This event was so much fun and thank you all who visited, if you want to read a fun post and see great and imaginative comments – check this out.  Totally laugh worthy.  😛

The Hobbit By J R R Tolkien ( an audio review from both myself and Heather from Age 30+ A Lifetime of Books)

A bike, an ambulance, a great team, a cast and a really bad “pull my finger” joke

That was the week.  A pretty active one with a sad anniversary, a good anniversary, an event, and an injury.  Really…. I don’t need a repeat of this week anytime soon. 

Moving forward here is what I have happening:

From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation.  The chaos of Fey’s life is best detailed when she’s dividing her efforts equally between rehearsing her Sarah Palin impression, trying to get Oprah to appear on 30 Rock, and planning her daughter’s Peter Pan-themed birthday.  Juggling way too many things in her life and laughing her way through them.

Oh I am enjoying this audio.  With only the occasional – ok you went too far – Tina is hilarious, quick witted, and really reminds me a little of myself (except again… for the went to far moments)  😀

With the plague running rampant in London in 1797, Mary’s parents and sister are soon counted among the dead. Left alone and penniless, the eight-year-old is taken in by a gang of orphans and learns survival skills. However, when their leader is killed, Mary decides to try her luck elsewhere. She strips the dead body, cuts her hair, renames herself Jack Faber, and is soon employed as a ship’s boy on the HMS Dolphin. When the vessel sees its first skirmish with a pirate ship, her bravery saves her friend Jaimy and earns her the nickname “Bloody Jack.” Told by Mary/Jack in an uneven dialect that sometimes doesn’t ring true, the story weaves details of life aboard the Dolphin. Readers see how she changes her disguise based on her own physical changes and handles the “call of nature,” her first experiences with maturation, and the dangers to boys from unscrupulous crew members. The protagonist’s vocabulary, her appearance and demeanor, and her desire to be one of the boys and do everything they do without complaint complete the deception. This story also shows a welcome slant to this genre with an honorable, albeit strict Captain, and ship’s mates who are willing and able teachers.

I have heard so much about these audio books and while I think Nise started it ;), audio book week brought it up again so I finally broke down and have the first in this series. 

The three Beauchamp women–Joanna and her daughters Freya and Ingrid–live in North Hampton, out on the tip of Long Island. Their beautiful, mist-shrouded town seems almost stuck in time, and all three women lead seemingly quiet, uneventful existences. But they are harboring a mighty secret–they are powerful witches banned from using their magic. Joanna can resurrect people from the dead and heal the most serious of injuries. Ingrid, her bookish daughter, has the ability to predict the future and weave knots that can solve anything from infertility to infidelity. And finally, there’s Freya, the wild child, who has a charm or a potion that can cure most any heartache.

For centuries, all three women have been forced to suppress their abilities. But then Freya, who is about to get married to the wealthy and mysterious Bran Gardiner, finds that her increasingly complicated romantic life makes it more difficult than ever to hide her secret. Soon Ingrid and Joanna confront similar dilemmas, and the Beauchamp women realize they can no longer conceal their true selves. They unearth their wands from the attic, dust off their broomsticks, and begin casting spells on the townspeople. It all seems like a bit of good-natured, innocent magic, but then mysterious, violent attacks begin to plague the town. When a young girl disappears over the Fourth of July weekend, they realize it’s time to uncover who and what dark forces are working against them.

Out of the BEA box comes this gorgeous cover mysterious read….

I am still finishing up Forever, and hoping to clean up a couple of others as well this week so that is what I am putting on the table.  I leave for Chicago on Wednesday with three friends for a bit of a road trip we have been talking about doing for years and now… here we go.  😀  Seriously, I think life will slow down a bit once this weekend is over.

So time for you to share what you are reading!  Add your own Monday What Are You Reading post below in the linky space where it says “click here”

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Samita at Book Purring

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

Wow…. it probably looks like I have not been reading this week but I have.  😀  I have just been posting like crazy all things BEA related while they were fresh in my mind and before it was all old news.  Believe me…. I have posts backing up over here which is kind of exciting.

So speaking of the crazy posts I put up this week…. you really will want to check some of these out:

From Books To Broadway – a review of Mary Poppins

Dinner with Beth Hoffman (Author of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt)

Almost Home by Mariah Stewart (yes – a book review!!!)

The Crocodile Hunter meets BEA Box #1 (If you want to hear me make a complete idiot of myself… you have to see this…)

Delirium by Lauren Oliver (yes – an actual book review!  :D)

Box 2 from BEA and what was in it

What I Learned at Book Blogger Con (BBC)

Touring Greenwich Village and Lunch With Adriana Trigiani

Harry Potter Exhibition and why I can’t let go (I can’t… I just can’t… I’m not ready yet… *sob*)

Weekend Cooking:  Spiced Almonds (a treat from New York!)

BEA – That’s a Wrap – The Final Post of BEA 2011

So as you can see – I have been busy posting posting posting about BEA.  😛

Moving forward for this week I think the biggest thing I want to tell you is that Thursday is my 2 year Blogiversary.  If you attended last year, you know I go all out – as you the readers are what makes me want to share bookish stories and reviews.  If you want to see what was given away and what fun happened here (of the comments are as fun as the post) check it out here.  And know that this year will be more of the same – big giveaways, and hopefully a lot of fun comments from the party attendees and you are all invited!!!

Other than the blogiversary – it is also Audio Book week!  I have many audio reviews and audio related posts lined up for this week, and even if you are not a fan of audio I am going to ask that you check out what I am posting, you just never know :D. 

Mary Beth Latham is a happily married woman entirely devoted to her three teenaged children. When her talented daughter Ruby casually announces she’s breaking up with her boyfriend Kirenan, a former neighbor who’s become like family, Mary Beth is slightly alarmed, but soon distracted by her son Max, who’s feeling overshadowed by his extroverted, athletic twin brother Alex. Quindlen’s novel moves briskly, propelled by the small dramas of summer camp, proms, soccer games and neighbors, until the rejected Kirenan blindsides the Lathams, and the reader, with an incredible act of violence. Left with almost nothing, Mary Beth struggles to cope with loss and guilt, protect what she has left, and regain a sense of meaning.

I had this one at reserve at the library and have already started listening to it.

With her older sister, Emma, planning a wedding and her younger sister, Sophie, preparing to launch a career on the London stage, Lulu can’t help but feel like the failure of the Atwater family. Lulu loves her sisters dearly and wants nothing but the best for them, but she finds herself stuck in a rut, working dead-end jobs with no romantic prospects in sight. When her mother asks her to find a cache of old family recipes in the attic of her childhood home, Lulu stumbles across a collection of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. In her letters, Jo writes in detail about every aspect of her life: her older sister, Meg’s, new home and family; her younger sister Amy’s many admirers; Beth’s illness and the family’s shared grief over losing her too soon; and the butterflies she feels when she meets a handsome young German. As Lulu delves deeper into the lives and secrets of the March sisters, she finds solace and guidance, but can the words of her great-great-grandmother help Lulu find a place for herself in a world so different from the one Jo knew?

I was soooo excited to pick this up at BEA!

I don’t know a lot about this one and Amazon did not have a good description.  I picked it up at BEA from my good friends at Blackstone audio and thought I should really give it a try for audio week. 

I think that is about as much as I will get done this week unless I get into more audio.  I have a bike ride this coming weekend – a 150 mile for MS and I will be leaving Friday for the cities for that ride which will take place on Saturday and Sunday – 75 miles each day.  HOPING for good weather 😉

In the mean time – I am UBER excited to see what you are all reading as we enter into June.   Please add your link to your Monday What Are You Reading post below where it says “click here”. 

Have an awesome week!  😀

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Sabrina from Thinking Out Loud

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

Last week is kind of a blur as from Sunday evening on I was traveling to New York from the Book Expo (BEA). running around BEA, and then the Book Blogger Convention, and then dragged a very tired version of me back home yesterday afternoon.  All this next week I will share with you posts on authors and bloggers I met, two author events, Publishing events, and the Book Blogger Convention with highlights.  I hope you will tune in for some of these posts as I am a huge fan of BEA and if I can generate enough excitement for you to consider going as well…. I will have succeeded.  😀

With my running around New York this past week while I am on the verge of ending two audio and a couple of books, I have very little to show reading wise for the week.  Here is what I did post:

BEA – Update 1 and a story about overtaking the Info Booth + dinner with Beth Hoffman (TRUE STORY (razz))

Small Update from New York (and a picture with Harlan Coben – SSQQUUUEEE!!!)

BEA update 2

What Do You Look For In A Book Review?

Stop over and see my interview with the Minneapolis Examiner by the wonderful Linda White

So as you can see uhhhh…. not a whole lot of reading going on.  This week however I am hopeful to do a  little catching up with some great reading.  Here is the plan:

In the waning days of the Ottoman Empire, a young Orthodox Jewish woman in the holy city of Jerusalem is expected to marry and produce many sons to help hasten the Messiah’s arrival. While the feisty Esther Kaminsky understands her obligations, her artistic talent inspires her to secretly explore worlds outside her religion, to dream of studying in Paris—and to believe that God has a special destiny for her. When tragedy strikes her family, Esther views it as a warning from an angry God and suppresses her desires in order to become an obedient “Jerusalem maiden.”

But when a surprising opportunity forces itself on to her preordained path, Esther finds her beliefs clashing dangerously with the passions she has staved off her entire life—forcing her to confront the most difficult question of all: To whom must she be true?

This little gem is for a book tour on Wednesday… I met author Talia Carner at the Harper Collins Book Blogger Reception and look forward to reading her book. 

D.D.’s former partner and one-time lover, Det. Bobby Dodge, of the Massachusetts State Police, asks her to look into what appears to be a clear-cut homicide case. The evidence suggests that Tessa Leoni, a state trooper colleague of Bobby’s, shot and killed her abusive husband, Brian Darby, who may have kidnapped her six-year-old daughter, Sophie. But Tessa won’t talk about her bruises, her husband, or what might have happened to her child. D.D. examines every detail about the family, while Tessa uses her skills to manipulate the investigation. From Tessa’s point of view, we learn about her and Brian’s courtship, his affection for Sophie, and how the marriage began to disintegrate.

I know.. thats a pretty bad synopsis that I pulled from Amazon.  In my own opinion, I adore Lisa Gardner and look forward to this suspense novel on audio.

And finally… drum roll please….

In Maggie Stiefvater’s SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

Uhhhh thats right… super SSSQQQUUUEEEE!!!  Look what I picked up at BEA!!!  I can not wait to read this.  AND (and this is important!) I have an extra copy that I will be giving away on June 9th (mark your calendar!) for my Blogiversary!

That is the reading plan for the week.  As I said above I have a few I am finishing up so I am hoping to have a bit review week as well as the BEA posts.

Now….. I want to know what you are reading!  Add your What Are Your Reading post to the linky below (where it says click here!)  I can not wait to come and visit you!  😀

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Meg at Bookish Affair

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

As many of you know, I am heading to the cities tonight (Sunday) and am on my way to New York (BEA!) in the morning (Monday).  I will keep this pretty short and sweet this week as honestly… I can not imagine I will get a lot of reading done other than my audio in the car to and from the cities and my NOOK on the plane 😀

Last week looked a lot like this (well… actually… it looked EXACTLY like this.)  😛

Who Do You Write Your Book reviews For?  (A question to book bloggers…)

Word Shakers On line Book Club is going again!  Join in this read a long!

The Last Time I Saw You By Elizabeth Berg – Word Shaker Review discussion

Their Eyes Were Watching God – book and movie review – both are not to miss!

Crooked Letter Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin – TLC Tour read

The Brainerd Police Blotter – is every town this embarrassing?…LOL

Mmmmm…. fairly active week.  I still have books I wish I had read but for some reason life fills in much of my spare time with other “to do’s” where I am really beginning to wonder…is it spare time at all?  😛

So…. for this week…. here is my small plan of attack:

Lena Haloway is content in her safe, government-managed society. She feels (mostly) relaxed about the future in which her husband and career will be decided, and looks forward to turning 18, when she’ll be cured of deliria, a.k.a. love. She tries not to think about her mother’s suicide (her last words to Lena were a forbidden “I love you”) or the supposed “Invalid” community made up of the uncured just beyond her Portland, Maine, border. There’s no real point—she believes her government knows how to best protect its people, and should do so at any cost. But 95 days before her cure, Lena meets Alex, a confident and mysterious young man who makes her heart flutter and her skin turn red-hot. As their romance blossoms, Lena begins to doubt the intentions of those in power, and fears that her world will turn gray should she submit to the procedure.

I really appreciated Lauren Oliver’s first book, Before I Fall.  Even after I finished reading it… I still kept thinking back to it which only deepened my appreciation.  I have been meaning to read this one for a while and hope that this Nook version will finally get me moving on this one 😀

On a rainy spring day in Seattle, young software tycoon Micah Taylor receives a cryptic, twenty-five-year-old letter from a great uncle he never knew. It claims a home awaits him on the Oregon coast that will turn his world inside out. Suspecting a prank, Micah arrives at Cannon Beach to discover a stunning brand new nine-thousand square foot house. And after meeting Sarah Sabin at a nearby ice cream shop, he has two reasons to visit the beach every weekend. When bizarre things start happening in the rooms of the home, Micah suspects they have some connection to his enigmatic new friend, Rick, the town mechanic. But Rick will only say the house is spiritual. This unnerves Micah because his faith slipped away like the tide years ago, and he wants to keep it that way. But as he slowly discovers, the home isn’t just spiritual, it’s a physical manifestation of his soul, which God uses to heal Micah’s darkest wounds and lead him into an astonishing new destiny.

Ok… so I have wanted to read this one for awhile now and just now had it downloaded to my NOOK.  I am really hopeful about it as I just seen a review say it was like Ted Dekker’s HOUSE – which I hate to use the word hate…. but…. yeah.  SO we shall see 😀

Even on their wedding day, John and Irene sensed that they were about to make a mistake. Years later, divorced, dating other people, and living in different parts of the country, they seem to have nothing in common—nothing except the most important person in each of their lives: Sadie, their spirited eighteen-year-old  daughter. Feeling smothered by Irene and distanced from John, Sadie is growing more and more attached to her new boyfriend, Ron.
When tragedy strikes, Irene and John come together to support the daughter they love so dearly. What takes longer is to remember how they really feel about each other.

Out of the four books I was considering for the New York trip I had agreed to take only one and a couple of days ago I put the vote on you the readers…. this is the one that won that vote with a close following on City of Bones (maybe that one will have to be my next road trip read 😀

I am finishing up Zoo Keepers Wife on my way to the cities today, and One Good Dog is on my IPOD which will also be tagging along.  😀

I am sure that is more than enough to keep my busy 😀  It’s time for me to finish this up and get my last second packing done… by the time this post goes live on Sunday I will hopefully be in the cities tucked safely away in my hotel for the night preparing for tomorrow mornings flight.  😀 

I will be on as I can to check in on you and what you are reading – and I will be on throughout the week updating you on what is happening in New York and with BEA (Book Expo America). 

Be sure to link your What Are You Reading post here so I as well as others can pop in and see what you are reading.  Literary minds want to know.  😛

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Joanne’s best

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

Here is what I was doing this past week:

“Potato Marley” (When good vegetables… go bad)

Cloaked by Alex Flinn ( a modern fairy tale…)

ROOM by Emma Donoghue – revisted by my book club The Bookies (with fun food to go with the review!)

The Island Of Lost Girls by Jennifer McMahon (mmm hmmmm… same author as I read last week….)

The Painted Veil – Movie VS. Book (You will never guess who wins!  :razz:)

Not My Daughter by Barbara Delinsky (I liked it… and I didn’t…)

How Do You Choose What To Read Next?  (The question that haunts me…..)  😛

As for this next week… I am going to take it easy as there are a few books I would love to clean up on this week before I leave on Sunday for BEA.

The true story of how the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw, and the city’s zoo along with it. With most of their animals dead, zookeepers Antonina and Jan Żabiński began smuggling Jews into empty cages. Another dozen “guests” hid inside the Żabińskis’ villa, emerging after dark for dinner, socializing, and, during rare moments of calm, piano concerts. Jan, active in the Polish resistance, kept ammunition buried in the elephant enclosure and stashed explosives in the animal hospital. Meanwhile, Antonina kept her unusual household afloat, caring for both its human and its animal inhabitants —otters, a badger, hyena pups, lynxes— and keeping alive an atmosphere of play and innocence even as Europe crumbled around her.

I know…. I said I was tired of war stories… and I am… but somehow I keep finding my way back to them.  My friend Heidi recommended this one a while ago and when I recently found it at my library on audio I thought I would give it a try. 

Margaret and Patrick have been married just a few months when they set off on what they hope will be a great adventure-a year living in Kenya. Margaret quickly realizes there is a great deal she doesn’t know about the complex mores of her new home, and about her own husband.

A British couple invites the newlyweds to join on a climbing expedition to Mount Kenya, and they eagerly agree. But during their harrowing ascent, a horrific accident occurs. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Margaret struggles to understand what happened on the mountain and how these events have transformed her and her marriage, perhaps forever.

This one has been on my shelf for far too long… I have started it and it does seem to take forever to get to the heart of the story but it seems to be picking up a bit now…

A Canticle for Leibowitz opens with the accidental excavation of a holy artifact: a creased, brittle memo scrawled by the hand of the blessed Saint Leibowitz, that reads: “Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels–bring home for Emma.” To the Brothers of Saint Leibowitz, this sacred shopping list penned by an obscure, 20th-century engineer is a symbol of hope from the distant past, from before the Simplification, the fiery atomic holocaust that plunged the earth into darkness and ignorance. As 1984 cautioned against Stalinism, so 1959’s A Canticle for Leibowitz warns of the threat and implications of nuclear annihilation. Following a cloister of monks in their Utah abbey over some six or seven hundred years, the funny but bleak Canticle tackles the sociological and religious implications of the cyclical rise and fall of civilization, questioning whether humanity can hope for more than repeating its own history.

This is our Faith N Fiction group read and I am just getting into it… it’s different from what I would choose for myself to read but think it will make for good discussion.

Adam March is a married father and successful businessman poised to become a CEO—that is, until the day his troubled past catches up with him. Soon Adam has lost his job, his family, and his house and is living in a lonely apartment working off his community-service sentence in a local men’s shelter. Adam’s story alternates with that of Chance, a former fighting pit bull who has escaped, lived on the streets, and is now back at the animal shelter. When circumstances require Adam to adopt and care for Chance, he comes to realize the joy and comfort of animal companionship.

Ok… this is the audio that is going on after I finish Their Eyes Were Watching God which should be yet this week.  When I chose this, I wanted something lighter after I looked at what I am currently putting my brain through from the looks of the books above.  I hope and pray that this dog does not die at the end…. Hey, it was either this or Bossy Pants by Tina Fey.

That’s my week – it is mostly audio as that I can listen to while doing other things (like packing!) I hope to get around to all of you this week and see what you are reading so please be sure to link up your Monday What Are You Reading here below where it says “click here”.  And yes, there will be a post next week as well… I am not leaving for the cities until Sunday evening and will be available throughout the plane rides to catch up on what you are all reading 😀

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It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  D  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.

Jesse from Elle Lit.

WOO HOO!!!!  Please choose an item out of the Reading Cafe Grab Shelves  and email me your choice with your mailing address as well!   journeythroughbooks@gmail.com

**Updates have been made to the Reading Cafe Grab shelves!

I know I am coming in late on posting this Sunday night.  I have been cleaning all day which may sound weird for Mother’s Day…. but really I have been so excited to dig into some spring cleaning.  I cleaned up a spare bedroom,painted a bathroom, dusted all furniture, hung new shower curtain, two loads of laundry, cleaned kitchen, vacuumed all carpets, cleaned entryway, shampooed all carpets. 

Basically…. I smell like a combo of cleaning supplies.  I am pretty sure I am sanitized.  😛

BUT – lets talk books as that is what we are really here for right?  My week was not impressive…. I really don’t know what happened but here is my meager offerings:

The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs (a perfect Mothers Day read!)

The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham (wowza…. I was pretty impressed with this one!)

Promise Not To Tell by Jennifer McMahon (spooky good!)

I also finished The Last Time I Saw You by Elizabeth Berg – (about time I know!!!)

And that is it!  True story…. I tanked out this week. 😀

So… here is my cautious plan for this week:

A deeply moving story by a survivor of the commercial sex industry who has devoted her career to activism and helping other young girls escape “the life”

At thirteen, Rachel Lloyd found herself caught up in a world of pain and abuse, struggling to survive as a child with no responsible adults to support her. Vulnerable yet tough, she eventually ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. It took time and incredible resilience, but with the help of a local church community, she broke free of her pimp and her past.

Three years later, Lloyd arrived in the United States to work with adult women in the sex industry and soon founded her own nonprofit—GEMS, Girls Educational and Mentoring Services—to meet the needs of other girls with her history. She also earned her GED and won full scholarships to college and a graduate program. Today Lloyd is executive director of GEMS in New York City and has turned it into one of the nation’s most groundbreaking nonprofit organizations.

I am really excited to read this one!  This book sounds like it is a great fit for me!

Recent college grad Rhonda Farr witnesses a child abduction in front of a convenience store in Pike’s Crossing, Vt. Ernestine Ernie Florucci willingly leaves her mother’s car because her six-foot-tall abductor is wearing a rabbit suit. Rhonda remembers her best friend Lizzy’s father entertaining her and Lizzy in a rabbit costume in 1993, and vanishing soon after. Three years later, Lizzy disappeared en route to high school. Guilt over her inability to stop Ernie’s abduction spurs Rhonda to join the search for the girl. She recalls the summer that Lizzy’s older brother, Peter, had them all perform Peter Pan, which was a great success, but there were dark secrets beneath the makeshift stage.

Ok… the cover did not bother me until… now.  Now its a little creepy… I think it is the frog.

I have my eye on a couple more but am going to keep it at that just to see where I land.  😀  I should be finishing up some audio this week too but I have no idea what is next…. maybe after peeking at your Monday What Are You reading posts I will know…. 😀

Please add your Monday link below to where it says click here.  I can’t wait to see what you are reading!  😀

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