Morning Meanderings – Page 89

Morning Meanderings… Banned Book Week Day Two and I Am Rambling…

Published on September 25, 2011September 25, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)29 Comments

Good Morning! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I sure am. I had a great time yesterday with the kick off to banned books week, doing a little reading, and a lot of Twitter fun. I hope you are able to join in the big giveaway I am hosting… clues are being given out daily during banned book week and I am about to post another one! (If you have missed any – check out the sticky post at the top of his blog)

Our Clue today comes from Heather at Based On A True Story, you will find it with her review of The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier. (Which also involves… a giveaway of chocolate!)

Looking for some bonus entries or just more great stuff on banned books? I have you covered!

Danielle at Mercurial Musings is going to give away the top ten most frequently challenged books of 2010!

Gina at Book Dragon’s Lair has a fantastic post up on Bookbanning In America

In my regular day to day so far not banned life, I had a wonderful dinner with hubby and my aunt and uncle last night. This was sweet as we never do this! We went out to eat and then came back to our house for coffee and chatting. In other random non banned things, College son cut his hand open at work last night and needed stitches. I will spare you all the picture he sent me on my phone. Uhhh…. GROSS. 😛 He was stitched up and back to work in no time and laughed at my desire to drive the three hours to Mankato to be with him 😀

And one more odd and interesting (and there may be a banning on this one)… I woke up this morning and had no less than seven (SEVEN!) young cats on my back deck…. in the tree, in the dog kennel, on the deck, on the grill. We dont own any cats. I think they were all wild. They were cute… cant ban them from the deck…

And this one is just for fun…. but…

Look at this beautiful 1984 version of Little Red Riding Hood. To me, it looks lovely, something I would love to have on my shelf….

BUT…

sharp eyed School Board Members in Culver City, California are quick to question what “Red” is carrying in her basket. Certainly the bread is understandable, and perhaps there is some sort of homemade jam in there as well – but as big as the wolves eyes…. Culver City School Board decided that the bottle of wine apparently in plain sight in the basket was not a good image to set before the youngsters. Raising the alert that this book should not be allowed in the school as it sends a mixed message about alcohol.

“Little Red Riding Hood… we are going to need you to slowly step away from the basket….”

AND for purely FYI…. have you checked out Bonnie’s Banned Books blog? This amazing site is 100% geared towards banned books year around…. if you ever want to know more about a banned book or why it is challenged, this is a great source to check out!

Morning Meanderings… Banned Books Week Kick Off

Published on September 24, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good morning! This is going to be an exciting next 7 days! For the second year in a row I am taking a big part in Banned Books Week. All week-long here, and on other book blogs that I will be sharing with you, there will be banned book reviews, discussions on banned books and why they are banned/challenged, of and did I mention giveaways? Uh yeah… there will be giveaways. 😛

One of the events that starts today is that I have set up a blog a day that will post a review that I will link to each morning. I encourage you to go and check out what they are reviewing and at the bottom of each review they will have a letter to a clue. At the end of the week (next Saturday) you will have 8 clues gathered and coming back here I will have a form for you to put your answer on. Correct answers will go into a drawing for a Banned Book package which you will see here:

All 4 of these books: SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson, Beloved by Toni Morrison, Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston have been on the Banned Books List. All 4 of these books will go one winner next Saturday who gathers all the clues, as well as a $10 Amazon Gift card to hopefully pick up another book that draws your interest over the week.

You will also receive extra entries for commenting on the posts that I will give you links to each morning. My hope is that you are introduced to a great book this week that has been through the ringer by being challenged or banned.

What do you mean be “banned book?”

A banned book is one that has been removed from the shelves of a library, bookstore, or classroom because of its controversial content. In some cases, banned books of the past have been burned and/or refused publication. Possession of banned books has at times been regarded as an act of treason or heresy, which was punishable by death, torture, prison time, or other acts of retribution.

A book may be challenged or banned on political, religious, sexual, or social grounds. We take the acts of banning or challenging a book as a serious matter, because these are forms of censorship–striking at the very core of our freedom to read.

My reviews this week will all be banned books and some will be with giveaways. Pay special attention to my review that will pop up later today as that one will be holding one of the clues you will need to gather…

As for other things happening today banned books wise….

***The awesome Cass at Bonjour Cass has reviewed The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (she also has the clue you will need for today! **Yes, two clues today – one will be here later with my review, and the other is with Cass)

My wonderful friend and fellow Bookie Angie from By Book Or By Crook has reviewed What My Mother Doesn’t Know by Sonia Sones

The great Julie at My Book Retreat has reviewed And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

The amazing Katie at Curse Of The Bibliophile reviewed The Giver by Lois Lowrey

My BEA Audio Book pal Jill from Rhapsody In Books reviewed In The Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak

The super Danielle of Mercurial Musings is kicking off Banned Books Week by posting about the most frequently challenged books of last year, and a giveaway!

** Comment on any or all of the above links and you will have extra entries available on the form I post next Saturday for the Banned Books Package Giveaway. *One extra entry per comment

In other Banned Books happenings…

I Am A Reader Not A Writer has kicked off today with a Banned Books Week blog hop and the giveaways are everywhere!

And it is not too late for you to jump on the Banned Wagon! Click the picture below if you want to be added to my review list for banned books this week and feel out the form. 😀

Morning Meanderings…. I Got A Feeling….

Published on September 23, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)10 Comments

Good morning!

*BIG sip out of coffee cup.*

I was pleasantly surprised to wake up to real sun today… not that hazy gloom of overcast dreary sky – nope… honest to goodness clear skies, and a WARM sun (I tested it when I let the dogs outside). HA! Take that fall… we are not spiraling down to winter yet! 😛

I have today off *SSQQUUEEE!!!!) but plenty to do around my home and around the blog. I have some banned book week things to still put into place – stay tune for kick off tomorrow on that – I think it is going to be a LOT of fun. I know I am looking forward to it.

Also- I am about to hit a lot of review prepping at once as I finished The Ask and The Answer last night (awesome awesome awesome), Robin Hood is about to finish up on audio in my car, and In The Woods should finish up here quickly too when I finish the lawn today.

I plan to stop by my library today to see what is happening for banned books week – I am hoping they do a cool display like they did last year. Also going to the library with me is an audiobook that I super excited about when I came home last night and seen someone sent me audio *SSQQUUEE!!!) and then I realized the audio was something I had signed up for to go to my library. I am excited to take it to them… and then get in line to check it out 😀

I may possibly have two book reviews up today and I apologize in advance for that. Forbidden by Ted Dekker may go up late today as starting tomorrow I only want to post banned books and reviews for the week and the group that was reading Forbidden are posting their reviews over the weekend. .

I hope you will pop in and visit often throughout this next week…many book bloggers will be participating and there is a fun Banned Book contest that I will be kicking off tomorrow morning. 😀

I leave you with this… “Tonights Going To Be A Good Night with Flashmob…. someday… someday… I am taking part in a flash mob…. I will find one… I will. 😛

Morning Meanderings… and A Virtual Read-Out

Published on September 22, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

Good morning!

Lets just say…. my hair… currently is everywhere. 😛

It was a long night. I worked, I helped out with a student event last night, came home and watched a little tv with hubby…. nothing really unusual except I feel WIPED OUT. I thing I am going to blame this dreary wet and cold weather we are having here in Minnesota.

And today will be no better…. I have another full day at work and then off to a pre-meeting, before an actual meeting that will bring me home a little after 8 PM tonight.

GAH.

Not a good way to start my day…. pre- ornery. 😯

BUT – this part does make me feel good. I have been chatting up banned books week (Sept. 24- Oct 1) for the past few weeks here, and today I want to let you know about the Virtual Read-Out. A You-Tube station has been dedicated to two minute clips of people reading from a banned book. I think it is BRILLIANT (quoting Harry Potter…. yup…busted).

Now if You Tube is not your thing…. consider doing it on your blog if you have one, or sending a video to me of you reading our of a banned book and I will happily post it for you. You never know what may pop up here during Banned Books week …. I am just saying. 😀

Got to run… duty calls… 😀

Morning Meanderings… Favorite Spam Of The Week

Published on September 21, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

Good Morning! I am back on the work schedule today and glad to be. I actually really enjoy my job and the people I work with. I have a lot of fun and love seeing the results of what we do together as a team. The additional time off this week was nice, but I am ready to get back at it. 😀

I have never understood why people spam. The comments are crazy and I just don’t get the point. Do these actually get through to blogs? Are there people who actually click on the links therefore creating some sort of “hit power” to the spammer?

Anyway… I love how WordPress snatches up all that spam and saves it for me to review without it ever touching my blog. I go through it once every couple of weeks just to make sure no real comment was caught in the spam trap… if so,I set it free. 😀

So yesterday I am cleaning the spam filter when a couple of spam just crack me up. I love it when they come right on the verge of making sense and then… they blow it. These two “comments” were on my interview with Laurel *waves Hi Laurel!* which I did back in June of 2009:

“Fantastic goods from you, man. Author Interview With Laurel-Rain Snow Book Journey I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely magnificent. I really like what you have acquired here, really like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it enjoyable and you still care for to keep it wise. I cant wait to read far more from you. This is really a tremendous Author Interview With Laurel-Rain Snow Book Journey informations.”

“Fantastic goods from you, man. My Journey With Audio Books – and a GIVEAWAY for you! Book Journey I’ve understand your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely excellent. I actually like what you’ve acquired here, certainly like what you are stating and the way in which you say it. You make it entertaining and you still care for to keep it wise. I can’t wait to read much more from you. This is really a terrific My Journey With Audio Books – and a GIVEAWAY for you! Book Journey informations.”

My gosh this is great stuff for the ego… I mean really, extremely magnificent? *puffs chest up* 😛

2aa — My goodness... look how big my head has become! 🙂

Ok enough… I am out of here… enjoy your day! 😀

Morning Meanderings… Where Art Thou ______________?

Published on September 20, 2011September 20, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)22 Comments

Good morning! 😀

See what happens when I get a bonus day off… I come in late… taking my own sweet time, padding around my house doing things I usually do not have time for in the mornings I work like… reading all my emails, standing on my deck with COFFEE CUP and enjoying the fall morning, and then finally… sitting down to write my morning meanderings.

So I am at the grocery store… hmmm… probably three times since the weekend, and if that makes you shudder… well, it does me too. I do not like grocery shopping (thus the reason I am in there almost every other day) and with it just being hubby and I at home… I usually do not need much.

However these past few days as I walk through the aisles I know I am forgetting something and it is a necessity item. I find myself walking through the toothpaste and bathroom items aisle hoping something will catch my memory… and then I am in the cleaning supplies…. is it dish soap? Laundry soap? No… well stocked in both…

Garbage bags? Toilet paper? Shampoo? No…. no…. and no….

Then… it is when I get up in the morning (errr…. the last two days) that I remember. It is…

COFFEE FILTERS

Yup. Me. Without coffee filters. It is pretty tragic really.

I have been using a paper napkin … probably not the best thing to do is run hot water and coffee through the blue flowered napkin die and the drink it… but… eh…. whats a girl going to do? 😛

I have today off from work because I had too many hours accumulated the last two weeks so I will be taking today off and next Tuesday is well. This is good as I have a few house projects to catch up on, my lawn, and I am working on setting up my spread sheet for Banned Books Week which I am having some fun with. 😀 If you are interested in participating you can check it out here… there are still some banned books I would love to see reviewed during the week like:

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Charlotte’s Web, EB White

Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison

Native Son, Richard Wright

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum

Howard’s End, EM Forster

A Room with a View , EM Forster

Bonfire of the Vanities, Thomas Wolfe

Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

The War of the Worlds, HG Wells

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein

All The Harry Potter Books

The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Enrenreich

Twilight by Stephanie Meyer

Just to name a few. 😉

Have a great day – I will be back this afternoon with a review of a book that BLEW ME AWAY. I borrowed it from the library on audio but know I must own it…

Morning Meanderings… Whole Lotta Fun Stuff Coming Soon!

Published on September 18, 2011September 18, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)18 Comments

Good morning!

*yawn*

*stretch*

Ahhh…. I am so glad it is Sunday! I have a few commitment s at church today but by noon it is smooth sailing home do not pass go and collect your $200! (Ok… maybe I dont get to collect money but that would have been cool. 😛

Last night we went out to dinner with some friends for my hubby Al’s birthday. It was a lot of fun but out poor waitress had her hands full. The place was paced they were understaffed and when we ordered our food it took FOREVER to arrive.

BUT – it really was about hanging out with the friends and I did have a blast doing that! We caught up and I took a picture of my hubby and two of his good friends. (I also would have taken a picture of us girls but that was about the time my camera decided that it had a low battery. GAH!!! So my friend Amy took a pic and when I get it from her I will post it.)

No… I did not tell everyone to wear gray so it was not a theme party… even though the girls wore gray too, except me… I wore black. 😀

In other more bookish news – today I want to prep a few things coming up. Banned Books Week is coming so soon and I have contacts to make on that yet today. I also made a sidebar link (upper right) for anyone who may want to get involved…. lets just say we are going to have some fun up in here, up in here. (Just go with me today…. lot of songs in my head…..)

I made a new Review Policy button (left sidebar) mainly because I am receiving emails from authors and publishers saying they could not find my review policy. It has always been on the sidebar and it used to be along the top tabs but now I see it is gone so that apparently is a lie… I will fix it. 😀 I also updated my policy which was a little outdated.

I also know a few of you are chomping at the bit to get into the fall read a long with Word Shakers and I plan to prep that today too so this week I can get info out to those interested in participating.

SO you get it things to do…. but it is miserable and rainy outside which for once I think is awesome as I can stay in and play all day on Asus (Laptop) and read! 😀

Morning Meanderings… I Went To Bed With Patrick Ness Last Night

Published on September 17, 2011September 17, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)46 Comments

Oh! Good morning! 😛

Sorry about that post title… I couldn’t resist….

hee hee

Oh and if you are a newbie to Book Journey and popped over because of the post title… welcome. Coffee is on, help yourself. 😀

I am hoping most of you are familiar with Patrick Ness, author of the Chaos Walking series. These books have pulled me fully into them. When I read The Knife Of Never Letting Go, I could hardly put the book down. Now I am making my way through The Ask and The Asking and finding it just as brilliant. I can’t even put into words what this author has created within these pages…

so to get to the point of the post title… at 7:00 pm last night (hey I know it was early… I am not proud! :razz:) I decided to go lay down and read since hubby and the new upstairs tv was bugging me (tv, not hubby) and I did not want to go downstairs. Once in bed and covered with a warm blanky (yes Minnesota has turned cold on me), apparently I was a little too comfortable and by 7:30 I was asleep, book open and tucked under my hand.

This all explains why at 5:00 am this morning I was wide awake, up and chatting on Twitter with COFFEE CUP, trying to pretend I was a sane person. 😀

As for today’s Saturday Snapshot *waves to the amazing Alyce from At Home With Books* you would think with all I have been up to lately I would have lots of pictures to choose from (Tailgate party on 9/11 for Fallen Firemen, two birthday parties, the North shore a few weeks back) but sadly… I do not. However, I did go out to dinner with three of my friends this past week and our food looked so delicious I could not resist…. (kudos by the way to friends who understand when I whip my camera out to take pics of odd things like ummm… what we are about to eat.)

Sliced avocado and grilled chicken sandwich w/ sweet potato fries

Grilled Salmon covered in Rum Sauce (SO GOOD!) w/ a sweet potato and brown sugar

Ok if you think this food is making your mouth water… wait until I post my book club review later today with the food we served. 😛

Stop over to At Home With Books to add your own Saturday Snapshots to the group. It is a lot of fun!

Finally before I go get ready to start my day I need to announce my final BBAW winner for yesterdays giveaway of The Night Circus! Using random.org for yesterdays post comments our winner is:

Jeanne at Necromancy Never Pays

Jeanne, email me your address and I will have this shipped to you right away!

Morning Meanderings… A CRAZY Week and let’s give away another copy of The Night Circus

Published on September 16, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)92 Comments

I can’t believe I made it…. holy smokes what a big week…

It wasnt just work, although that was busy too… it was several days of big evening plans with little gap between work and other commitments. Pretty much I dragged myself home after 9:00 pm three times this week and my body feels it. Workouts went to the wayside… no time for that, laundry has been washed but not dried and put away, and books…. have not been read.

BUT…

today is Friday and I am off (off off off…. it echo’s nicely don’t you agree?) I have no plans today, no commitments… and there is a real good chance I may not leave my house. (Probably not true… I do want to mail some books today and maybe stop at the library….)

Mostly though… I am hanging out. I am writing a couple of reviews, I am making plans for Banned Books Week, and I am reading. Ahhh… such a great word. 😛

In other random news…. Audible.com is having an AMAZING sale on their audio with over 200 titles now at $4.95 each. Oh my goodness, I am so excited and found several great titles for myself and I bet if you pop in, you will too. I picked up The Kitchen House, Outlander, Night Road… all for $4.95 each. If you want to check out the sale the link is on this banner below.

AND – this is uber exciting! I also seen that The NIght Circus on audible is being read by …… wait for it…. wait for it….. Jim Dale! Yes, Jim Dale who narrated for the Harry Potter books… Jim who is totally totally totally scream worthy….. (did I say totally?)

Anyway because I am sooooooo excited about The Night Circus, and because I see so many of you are as well… I am going to offer up another hard cover copy today for the last day of #BBAW. To enter you just need to be anywhere Amazon delivers, and answer this question: (*when I put my BBAW post up later today you can get a second entry by commenting on that one as well)

Todays BBAW topic is about blogging. As a book blogger yourself, or as a reader of blogs, what do you like to see the most on blogs. Or in other words, what keeps you coming back to certain blogs (layout, memes, book topics, variety, the writing, giveaways, etc…)

And finally – my winners of the last two days of giveaways…

Vicki (I’d Rather Be Reading At The Beach)

Alexia’s Books and Such

Yay to both winners!!! Now don’t forget to enter todays for The Night Circus!!!!!

Morning Meanderings… Burning the Candle at both ends (and a giveaway!)

Published on September 15, 2011 by Sheila (Book Journey)48 Comments

Why why why did BBAW have to fall on such a busy busy busy week?

Uhhh…. I mean….

good morning! 😛

Really though, I had to laugh last night when I finally was able to sit down with New Laptop (Asus) and do a little Twitter, and a read the comments on my post about Community. How funny that I put the fun and importance of commenting, when I was way too tired to do it myself.

I dont even know how to explain this craziness but thought it might be fun to try…. I will start with Tuesday:

Tuesday 6:00 am up

have coffee, write a morning post

work by 7:30

work like crazy getting ready for a weekend group fair

leave work at 2:45 to return cotton candy machine from this past weekend event

at 3:15 stop in to Best Buy just to “look” at flat screen wall mount tvs as a possible gift for hubbys birthday (which was Wednesday)

3:45 leave Best Buy with (you guessed it!) flat screen tv and mount and an appointment with a dud to come out to house on Wednesday afternoon and hang it on wall for me. (YAY!!!) (BEST Wife ever award I am sure! :razz:)

4:00 make stop at grocery store for a few items I need for book club

4:20 home, tv unloaded and hidden in spare bedroom, now vac house for book club

4:50 start cooking my 1940’s style food for review of Postmistress ( post will be up for this event yet this week)

5:30 downstairs setting up chairs, now looking for my review notes… which I do not find until the next day and they were in my car the whole time

6:10 first Bookie arrives and helps cut up oranges and lemon for the water.

6:20 second Bookie arrives and helps me cut rye bread into squares for finger sandwiches

6:30 – 6:45 the rest of the Bookies arrive with food and books as it is our annual book sale for charity

6:45 – 7:00 we drool over books, “shop”, grab food and head downstairs

7:00 – 9:00 have an awesome discussion about the book and WWII

9:10 pm the last Bookie leaves

9:10 – 10 Try to read posts, try to leave comments….. TIRED.

10 – BED

5:15 am – (Now it is Wednesday) I went to bed earlier than I usually do so now I am up early. Start coffee, write morning post after checking out BBAW topic

6:30 am – pull myself away from laptop and get ready for work

7:30 am I am at work and start my day

work consisted of two meetings, creating check ins for evening event, phone calls, prepping paperwork for students, copies, more class schedules…

at 2:40 pm the tv dude calls and I hurry home to let him in and so he can put the tv on the wall (it is Al’s birthday!!!)

3:00 – 4:30 pm the dude hangs the tv, relocates the cable, while I rearrange the room by stitching out the couch for the recliner, a little table for Al to put his work magazines and relax in style.

4:45 – on my way back to work to finish up what I was working on and prep for a meeting at 6:30 the same time I am due to help the students check in, then I need to pop back upstairs to talk about an upcoming Honduras opportunity.

7:30 pm – I am still at meeting when hubby Al texts me and says he is home… GAH! He beat me home! Friend Wendy offers to take Chance home for me at 8 so I can go now…. thank you Wendy!!!

7:40 arrive home, thankfully he is still going through mail and has not seen said “AWESOME BIRTHDAY GIFT!”

Now I show him the living room which in my typical husband fashion, comments on how he likes how I arranged the room…. does not notice tv. I assist in the observation.

Wala!!!! He sees it. Hubby happy – he watches TV until 9 and then goes to bed.

I again try to read posts and blog. Not happening.

Bed by 10 pm.

I know… right?

Today will be much the same… work (soon actually) until 3:30, grab hubby something for dinner and at 5:30 I have dinner with friends for Sandi’s birthday. *Note to self – do not forget gift!*

Briefly – I know have to pick a winner yet for yesterdays giveaway and I will post that tomorrow morning as I have run myself out of time… in the meantime… NEW giveaway starts right now for today in honor of BBAW.

This one is a book yet to be released – but it is one that is creating BUZZ:

Serious…. cover crush here… this book is released on September 27th and II will have this shipped to you directly from Amazon. SO – anyone who access to an Amazon delivery is welcome to enter for this one.

Here is how…

Respond in a few sentences an answer to todays BBAW topic…

Book bloggers blog because we love reading. Has book blogging changed the way you read? Have you discovered books you never would have apart from book blogging? How has book blogging affected your book acquisition habits? Have you made new connections with other readers because of book blogging? Choose any one of these and share your thoughts today!

Winner will be announced tomorrow along with the winner from yesterdays giveaway as well. 😀