Tag: Morning Meanderings

Seven school days now since Chance has been with us and still no school bus option.

“Hrumph” (or whatever Grumpy from Snow White would say in this situation…)

It is not that it is so bad – except the delivery of said 14 year old to school each day by 8 am seriously cuts into the meandering time…. especially since said 14 year old loves to chat at night when it is usually my reading alone time.  I sound like a spoiled blogger…. LOL

So this morning I am whipping out a quick message and even Coffee Cup is a bit annoyed with me as I hurry to get ready for my day – drop Chance at School, get to the office, work on payroll, hair appointment at 1:30, pick up Chance at 3:15 and Group Power at 4:15.  Depends on the weather if I will get to bike tonight with the Brainerd Group or not.  Probably depends a bit on me working on the ‘tude as well.  🙂

Anyway – I have a review coming up late today – possibly two if I can finish the wonderful book I am reading, The Sister Pact.

Have a wonderful morning everyone…… 🙂

It is the first day of fall and I finally have a chance to get on line….  it has been a busy morning and now in my office I can crank out a little bit of “Sheilaism.”  Coffee Cup and I have not made it to any blog stops this morning and that is a bit annoying as I love to start my mornings with visits.

However – never fear…. I do have something to chat about this morning so fill up your cup and pull up a chair.

I am so into books that have to do with other countries, and cultures… Dragon House by John Shors, Jantsen’s Gift by Pam Cope,Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin and so many more.  The post I put up last night in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month (and giveaway!) has generated comments with other great book suggestions that I will want to take a look at as well.

So today I want to mention the books that is currently making its way through the blogesphere – Oprah’s latest book club pick, Say You’re One Of  Them by Uwen Akpan.

On Friday, September 18, 2009, Oprah revealed the 63rd Oprah’s Book Club pick Say You’re One of Them by author Uwem Akpan. Her selection of Akpan’s debut collection marks the first time Winfrey has ever chosen a book of short stories. She said, “These stories left me stunned and profoundly moved.”

Told in five separate stories, each from the perspective of an African child protagonist, Say You’re One of Them vividly captures the resilience of children in the face of unimaginable devastation. Published in 2008, this compelling unforgettable work depicts Africa in its glory and grace as well as its horror and pain.

Author Uwem Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. “My Parents’ Bedroom,” a story from his short story collection, Say You’re One of Them, was one of five short stories by African writers chosen as finalists for The Caine Prize for African Writing 2007.

Say You’re One of Them won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009 and was finalist for the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.  In 2007, Akpan taught at a Jesuit college in Harare, Zimbabwe. Now he serves at Christ the King Church, Ilasamaja-Lagos, Nigeria.

I am not one who follows what Oprah picks, but this book caught my attention and has held on.  I think for me this is a read I will have to pursue… and coffee cup and I are on our way to do that right now.

Have you seen any books lately that are calling  you?

Do mornings always come this early?

Up and prepped to take Chance to school (our Kinship Partner who is staying with us for awhile).  He is 14 and I signed him up for the bus last week and they said it takes 5 days to make that happen.  I don’t get that…. bus drives by my our house ever day….  Oh well – I guess it gets me up and actually motivated a little more than when I usually am doing morning meanderings…

I have been sitting here with Coffee Cup this morning hopping around and stopped in to visit Zia at My Life In Not So Many Words.  I love her blog!  I am reading this morning about what she is reading which I think is funny that I enjoy reading about what others are reading…. but I do.  Sometimes it is a fellowship of “wow – we are reading the same book!” and other times it is “That books looks soooooo good I need to add that to the ever growing list of books to read!”

This morning that is exactly what I was doing when I read the post right below her current one and seen she was announcing a winner of The House of Power…. and….

it was me! (I even ran my cursor over the top of my name to make sure it linked to me!)

That was kind of exciting!  Zia has probably already contacted me for info but I use a separate email for all my book related stuff and haven’t opened that email yet today!

So thats my morning news!  I am starting out with a good Monday (I do so love winning books!).  I have much to post this week, a few reviews, BBAW giveaway winners, back to my regular  memes… AND I have some visiting to catch up on too. 🙂

Stay tuned… I will be active with my postings all week!   Oh and thanks for stopping this morning!  Its a bit cool in Minnesota this morning and having coffee and talking books with all of you is just the thing to do……

Good morning.  I took the liberty of giving myself an extra hour of sleep this morning and while I don’t think I am even yet fully awake, I believe the extra hour will pay off as I get going today.

Today is a new day and Coffee Cup and I have even done a bit of blog hopping already this morning.  I am a little surprised I have any hopping energy left as the past five days I have tried to see as many blogs as possible and comment wherever I could.  I have to admit My Friend Amy was right, there is no way you can get around to all of them and believe me – I tried.

I still plan to keep on traveling to blogs during my Morning Meanderings so if I didn’t get to you – I mean too, and if you leave a comment here I will definitely be there,as I do visit everyone who visits me.

Now post BBAW (a round of applause to all who made this event happen!!!) I am planning to get back to meandering and this morning I have a review to share with you from Different Time, Different Place Book Reviews – which I found through BBAW.  Debbie has a review posted for a book called The Road To Unafraid by Jeff Struecker.

What is interesting is that Debbie reviewed this book in April and I probably would have never known about it if she had not put up a quote from this book for yesterdays post.  Seriously – the quote stopped me in my blog hopping tracks and I had to follow up by reading her review.  Here is the link to her post Meek is not Weak.  Powerful stuff.

I encourage you to read Debbies review and the Friday Quote.  Leave her a comment (we all love comments!).  I for one during this past 5 days of BBAW know that there are so many of us out there it is important that we say hi when we visit…. I think it gives each of us a little lift as we read… and we write…..  and we review.  🙂

On a separate note I am excited to be reviewing two books during a dinner I have planned for my hubby tonight for his birthday.  We are grilling and having friends over and I thought this would be a wonderful time to review Mix Shake Stir from Danny Meyer’s acclaimed New York Restaurants (sent to me by Hachette for review) and Make Ahead Meals by our very own Jane Doiron.  These reviews will be up in the next couple days!

Have a wonderful Saturday all!

Coffee Cup and I are on the road again… it is already time to take Chance to school and I am feeling behind before my day has even started.

What is with that?  🙂

Anyway – today I have wandered over to Author Joy Preble’s blog called Joy’s Novel Idea. This author by the way… ROCKS!  She is the author of Dreaming Anastasia and this is the book review that I am putting up today!  (I see on her site she has me set for yesterday and I thought I was today…. I am sure that is my error.)

Reading her post this morning about Rocking The House at Barnes and Noble (see?  I told you she rocks) was incredible.  I was excited for her and for this book….  so read the article…. and in an hour or so come back and see what I have to say about Joy and her book, Dreaming Anastasia.

Good morning!  I am back from the 150 mile bike ride and I am feeling great!  I posted last week what this was about and why I was involved.  If you did not have a chance to read that post, I encourage you to do so here.  The post explains what I knew going into this event… but coming out of it… I am so thrilled to have been a part of such a great cause.

The weather was fantastic!  Sunny and mid 80’s both days of the ride.  I LOVED it!  I met so many wonderful people from our team who bikes to support the camp that Connie started.  Not only is Connie’s story one of true amazement (that is in the post I mentioned earlier) but talking to her throughout the weekend really was an eye opener as she shared her journey with me about what it was like to be a woman with Aids through a blood transfusion for 28 years – from the early days (which were painful and hard to see people turn their back on her) to now….  (Yeah I know that was a run on sentence but I had a lot to say there …LOL)

I had a bit of trouble on Saturday when my bike was hit by another bike.  I was ok but my bike took a serious hit and the back tire rim was all bent up.  At first look the team thought I was done unless I had another bike to ride (which I did not).  Thanks to Pete on our team (who works in Brainerd at Trailblazer Bikes) he was able to fix the tire well enough for me to continue the ride.

Thank  you to those who sent me well wishes on this ride.  I cant even begin to describe how fantastic is was to meet the Team of Rhinos (our team name) and to just hang out with friends for the weekend.  I feel good – a little sore but nothing too bad and I cant wait to be a part of this next year!

Still biking – day two now and as of the time this post is up I should be biking from Hinckley Minnesota to Duluth Minnesota…. the last 75 miles of this ride.  I wonder what I am thinking right now?  LOL  (Read about this ride I am doing here).

During my usual morning stride through the blogesphere with the ever full, ever wonderful Coffee Cup, I had recently read another great review on a blog called Bibliophile By The Sea.  The book is called Half Broke Horses by Jeanette Walls.  This is the author who also wrote The Glass Castle which has been on my shelf for over a year and I still have not read it.  have heard wonderful things about the Glass Castle and now seeing this book – I want to read it too!

Please take a moment today and stop over at Bibliophile By The Sea and read this wonderful review.

**I will be back in town tonight… hopefully after a successful (and not too wet) bike ride and a little reading time as well!  ~Sheila

I am out of town… by the time this post is up I should be on my way Biking from Blaine Minnesota to Hinkley Minnesota.  (see post about this here).

I wasnt sure if I was going to be able to 1) Have time to post anything and/or 2) Have access to internet, so I have prepped a morning meandering for today and tomorrow and if I do get time to post again that will be bonus!

Recently in my meanderings (which can usually be described as an early morning – pre shower but not pre coffee, slipper clad version of me traveling with oversized steamy coffee cup in hand around the blogesphere) I came across a book that sounded… well…

powerful.

Over at Jo-Jo Loves To Read I found a review for a book called The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne.  I found myself rushing through the review trying to see where it was going with almost a sense of anxiety.  I had to go back and read it again more slowly.

Stop over at Jo-Jo Loves To Read and see this book, the review, and of course another lovely blog!

For those wondering…. “Did she take a book with her on this bike ride?”  The answer is absolutely!  I have brought with NORTH!  Or be Eaten (which is appropriate as I am biking North…. and I also brought Dreaming Anastasia – both of which are blog tours I am doing next week.

~ Sheila