Tag: Review

Where is God In Your Life by Susan M. Provost

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)7 Comments


As Christians, our spiritual journey constantly brings us back to Jerusalem, to the death and resurrection of Jesus, which gives meaning to all that we do. Strengthened by God’s Spirit we join on the walk to wherever, we share meals, and we tell our stories. We remember. God, as we go along our life’s way, will help us to be aware of His presence with us. He will open our eyes, makes us expectant, eager to be met by Him. We will never complete our spiritual journey. “Your life is a sacred journey. And it is about change, growth, discovery, movement, transformation; continuously expanding your vision of what is possible, stretching your soul, learning to see clearly and deeply, listening to your intuition, taking courageous challenges at every step along the way. You are on the path… exactly where you are meant to be right now… And from here, you can only go forward, shaping your life story into a magnificent tale of triumph, of healing, of courage, of beauty, of wisdom, of power, of dignity, and of love.”



This book while broke into three sections, really is about getting closer to God and using this book to develop meaningful two-day retreats.  In past years I have participated in organizing women’s retreats for our church as well as have led some small group sessions.  This book is a wonderful study for developing ideas and/or entire programs around what Susan Provost has put in her book, Where Is God In Your Life.

I enjoyed the topics from prayer, spirituality, community, God’s presence and more.  This book read  more like a reference book and not really a book to just read through and be done with it, but come back to again and again.  I enjoyed the workshop sections and they already had my brain churning up ideas for future ways I can use this book.  I also liked the schedule samples within the retreats, this is something I could use for planning.

I would recommend this read to be a part of any church library and a handy tool to be used for retreat and small group leaders and organizers.

Amazon Rating

392 pages

I received my review copy from Pump Up Your Book Promotion

The Evolution Of Shadows by Jason Quinn Malott

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments


It’s the summer if 1995 and Gray Banick, an American News Photographer disappears somewhere in the Bosnian war zone.   He leaves behind his  love interest, Lian Zha, Emil Todorovic, his interpreter and friend, and Jack MacKenzine, the mentor who taught him how to hold a camera steady between himself and the worst the war presented.

Now move forward to the year 2000, and Lian who’s Chinese American heritage caused her to bow to her parents wishes and marry another Chinese American.  This union results in a loveless marriage and Lian continues to pine for Gray and search for answers to what happened to him.

Lian connects with Jack and together the two of them meet up with Emil who is still in Bosnia, to see if they can not search out answers together of what happened to Gray.  From here the story goes into the three sharing stories of old times, as well as what has happened to each of them since that fateful time years ago.


This book read with such reality that I admit I went back and checked to make sure it was fiction.  Well written, to the point that it felt so real to me, I entered into this emotionally charged book, unprepared for the emotions it would bring out in me.

The Evolution Of Shadows, while surrounding itself with the story of a war, is more about friendships than bombs.  Sure there is the taste of war among the pages and you do feel this, but for me the war was within the three people who longed for answers; Lian, Emil, and Jack.  Not sure if they are looking for the man Gray, or the remains of Gray, you feel that each of these characters has a longing and a fear of both.

Beautifully titled, these words “evolution of shadows” comes out of a sleepless night in the book.  I love how that was weaved into the words.

Breathtaking and hard to put down, I pushed through the pages wanting to know the answers that each was seeking.  What did happen to Gray?  Would they ever know?  What would they find?  What if he is alive, how will they all react?  What if they find what they fear the most?

For these answers – you will find not from me….. but from this book.

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading map to include The Evolution Of Shadows

Apparently if you are in the Bosnia area you will not want to miss the ambiance of Zlatna Ribica, a place to have a nice meal and a great cup of coffee – it is described as having the menus written in real books and attached by telephone cords that hang from the wall.

253 pages

Cover Story:  I don’t really follow where the cover is trying to go.  I would believe it is dark to reveal the shadows, but this is not a cover that would call me to pick up this book without first having some information about this book.

I received this book for review from Caitlin of Unbridled Book Tours

auf Wiedersehen by Christa Holder Ocker

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)12 Comments

auf Wiedersehen means:  Good-bye, farewell, until we meet again.  This is something Christa at a very young age learned again and again.  It was during WWII in Germany and Christa’s family was always on the move trying to stay safe.  Christa’s dad served in the German Army, her mother is left to take care of Christa and her sister.  This book, is Christa’s story.


This book was a look into a sad time of war, poverty, and hardships.  Through Christa’s young eyes, we experience what it was like to be a part of this world that should have been a time of innocence for her.  Christa never knew how long they would be staying at a place or where there next move would be.  Sleeping on beds of straw, and eating whatever could be made available (including a beloved pet horse), as a reader we get a real feel of what this life must have been like.

What I found almost refreshing is that book was not a heavy read.  There are lighter moments of Christa and other children putting on a puppet show, there are moments that made me smile.  What this book was is a read about WWII that could easily be a Young Adult read.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey 2010 reading map has been updated to include auf Wiedersehen

Rumor has it that Germany has fantastic coffee… while mostly imported – they do brew a good cup.  A place to start for your own taste would be Berhard Benecke Coffee

142 pages

Cover Story:  I like the cover, I think it is a good look at what you are going to get within this book, while you see the girl she is not afraid, she is holding the puppet and smiling.

I received my book for review from author Christa Holder Ocker

Between Sisters by Kristin Hannah

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)27 Comments

I was thinking I had not read Kristin Hannah before this read but then recalled that yes I had.  I had read Firefly Lane in early 2009 while I was in Honduras.  I was curious if her characters could speak to me like the ones in my first read of hers did.

Sheila

30 something Meghann Dontness is a divorce lawyer in Seattle and doing quite well for herself.  Clare Cavenaugh, Meghann’s younger half-sister, is a single mom to a five-year old daughter in a small town in the Pacific Northwest who helps her father run a small resort.

The girls, coming from a disrupted childhood of a mother who chose Hollywood to raising her children.  Meghann who pretty much single-handedly raised Clare still keeps an eye on her from afar but finds some of Clare’s choices to be annoying (like falling for the country singer and planning to marry him), but the differences between the girls are all pushed aside when Clare is diagnosed with a brain tumor and Meghan may have the connections needed to make amends in more ways than one…


This was a smooth read of two sisters who lives had become far from each others.  Hardened Meghann had grown up too fast and drover herself too hard to be the best she could be.  Opposite to this is Clare who lives life in the slow lane enjoying each moment.  It takes a tragedy to bring these two together to work out things of the past.

It’s no secret that I enjoy books on friendships and this book is no exception.  Written in a way that seems consistent with what little I have read of Kristen Hannah, I found the characters to be well-developed with life breathed into them.

My only complaint is that the plot occasionally felt a bit stretched, a little too much of several things coming into play that made it feel unreal and took away from the read for me, but was not a deal breaker.

A good breezy summer read.  In the end I closed the final page feeling satisfied and will admit that this was a three kleenex book for me – so do not say you were not warned. 🙂

Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading Map to include Between Sisters

If you are in Seattle looking for a good lawyer like Meghann – or for that matter a good cup of coffee, your stop would be Bauhas Books and Coffee.

Cover story:  I do like my cover, but actually prefer the one I seen online – it is lighter and more summery looking which appeals to me.

I purchased my copy of this book from our local Library sale.


Thumbing Through Thoreau – compiled by Kenny Luck

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)21 Comments

Years ago my book club dabbled in the words of Henry David Thoreau’s within the pages of Walden.  What a treat it was to have an opportunity to experience him here in this book, Thumbing Through Thoreau.

Sheila


On July 4, 1835, when Henry David Thoreau moved into his cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, he was probably unaware that his abode in the woods, and the impact and influence of that endeavor, would forever echo through time. Thoreau was an uncompromising idealist; “The mass of men,” he famously wrote,”lead lives of quite desperation.” Yet the scope of Thoreau’s message is much wider than social criticism. He speaks of spiritual transcendence in Nature and the unbound potential of the individual. Thoreau is a dreamer and he speaks to dreamers. In a word, shun dogmatism and demagoguery; see beyond the immediate conventional religious explanations to reap a higher understanding. In our commodified contemporary American Society, with the rise of religious intolerance and fundamentalism, materialism and mass consumerism, Thoreau’s message is needed more than ever. Author Kenny Luck has thumbed through Thoreau’s voluminous journals, correspondences and other publications to make this the most comprehensive collection of Thoreau aphorisms available.

If you enjoy quotations , poetic words for thought, this book is worth your time.  Created from Thoreau’s journals and various writings, all placed into one book.  We all know Thoreau’s work even if we did not know it was his.  These quotes have stood the test of time and you will still find throughout modern literature today.

"What Nature is to the mind she is also to the body. As she feeds my imagination, she will feed my body..." page 166
“What Nature is to the mind she is also to the body. As she feeds my imagination, she will feed my body…” page 166

Reading through this book was a refresher course in Thoreau.  I enjoyed reviewing my memories of quotes from Walden and was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this as I am not a big  poetry style reader.

This is a lovely gift book, or a coffee table book.  Its one that you will want to pull from the shelf again and again.


My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 Reading map to include Thumbing Through Thoreau

I received my review copy from Tribute Books



White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)25 Comments


It is 1967 and Kate and Frankie are sisters from America, growing up in Hong Kong  while their father is a war photographer for Time Magazine.  The girl’s mother, often overwhelmed with the war, and reality itself, seeks comfort in painting.  In her paintings she created an alternative “now” and she fully embraces it and wishes her daughters would too.

The girls are watched mainly by their amah (a woman employed as a servant) and find it quite easy to escape beyond her attention, and do exploring of this world they live in on their own.  While swimming they find a floating body of a Chinese girl and at that point their innocence seems to take a turn.  As the summer progresses, Frankie becomes more reckless and an incident causes someone to die and younger sister Kate becomes the keeper of secrets.

♦     ♦     ♦

Taking a deep breath, I have to honestly say it took me a couple of times to get going into this book.  While written in almost a poetic manner (page one was beautifully written), I found it to almost drone on and I was lost within the words – and not within the story.

The book is told by younger sister Kate. Kate is 12.  The sisters left under so little supervision get into a lot of trouble, especially Frankie who lacks the parental attention she needs, starts to find it in the male friends of her fathers.  I found myself on one hand angry at their mother for being so absent, buried in her paintings while her daughters strayed into dangerous areas, and on the other hand taking pity on the woman who was obviously overwhelmed by all that had become of her dreams.

While I never found the book riveting, in the end I have to say I am glad I read it.  My favorite part of this read was the incredible detailing.  Author Alice Greenway writes of a Hong Kong that I could see with vivid colors and descriptive smells that made me feel as thought I was standing outside the bakery myself peering in at two sisters, Kate and Frankie.

A poetic type read that I am glad I picked up and finished.  In reality, a wonderful first novel.

My Amazon Rating


Book Journey has updated the 2010 reading calendar to include White Ghost Girls

When in Hong Kong, check out some of the trendy coffee shops

168 pages

Cover story:  Very captivating.  This is a book that tells a story from the first look at the cover.

I picked up this book locally at a sale.  This is from my personal library

What Does Is Mean To Be Present by Rana Diorio

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)16 Comments

A wonderful look into a young childs book on being happy where you are at, being present in life – not living in the past or waiting for the next thing…. seizing those little moments!

Sheila

Being present means... listening carefully when others are speaking.

Today is a gift - that's why we call it the present!

Beautifully illustrated this book was a joy to flip through the pages.  I keep saying I want to review more children’s books, and this is a great example of why.

What Does It Mean To Be Present is a wonderful way to remind the children in our lives that every moment has something to offer, whether it is sunny or rainy, hanging out with your best friends, or your family… there is always – ALWAYS something to take away in that moment.

A positive outlook in a book that I found to be wonderful in a time when it seems people are always looking for the next best thing,  there are lessons in this book that even as adults we can apply.


I am also excited to announce that Little Pickle Press is having a giveaway where kids can win posters and books!  All they need to do is answer the question, “What does it mean to be present?”   Click the picture below to go to the contest site.

If you are looking to purchase books from Little Pickle Press, you can get two books and a poster for $29.95 if you use the coupon link and put in the word:  JOURNEY


I received my copy of this book for review from Little Pickle Press

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hollows (AUDIO)

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)38 Comments


The seventh and final entry to the Harry Potter series we start this audio with Voldemolt (gah!  He who shall not be named!) coming and taking over the Ministry of Magic.  These are dark days, and Harry, Ron, and Hermoine, have all dropped out of school to do what they can to put a stop to Volde… He Who Shall Not Be Named’s rule.


What was once a series of light-hearted fun reads with a little “spooky to them” but a lot of magic, has now entered the seventh season and the books have become much more serious, and quite darker as they progressed.  Volde…. He Who Shall Not Be Named (HWSNBN)started out a scary guy but beatable and as we enter into the Deathly Hollows , HWSNBM is a force to be reckoned with and really – I for one had no idea how it would all end.

If you have been following my audio reviews of the Hatty Potter series you will notice that I somehow skipped many books and wound up in book 7.  This is true, and was a total error on my part.  I have been picking these up from the library and I requested the wrong one… I should have been on Goblet Of Fire.  Yet, once I had these cd’s in my hand, I could not give them up and so just started listening.  (I have read all the books so really…. there was no spoilers!)

I will rave forever about Jim Dale’s narration of this audio series and have to tell you if you have not experienced these books on audio you are truly missing out.  Jim voice takes you right into the reading and he does the voices so well that I actually get goose bumps as he booms out the voice of Hagrid, Snape, and the others….

I am always so impressed with JK Rowling too.  Every time I listen to one of the books, especially the early ones, I am amazed at how many seeds were planted early on that would come up later; many books later.  I had forgotten until I listened to them after all the books were out and especially in this final book you see pieces of other books coming into play.  (A great blog to check out for super detailing on each of the books is The Zen Leaf, Amanda’s eye for detail astounds me!)

So for me – this was an excellent experience and I hope to one day own all these cd’s for myself.  Maybe, this was the audio I was meant to listen to as this movie (at least part of it) will be out this November.  I truly cannot wait!


The seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter series, left many of us Potter heads (*raises hand*) with a bitter-sweet feeling.  I remember I was so excited for the final book to come and see what JK Rowling would do to tie everything together – and at the same time, you didn’t want to finish it because in your heart you knew it was the end.   I had hoped that JK would leave it somewhat open in case she changed her mind years down the road, but for those of you who have read this book, you know that she did her best to close the doors to that hope.

However – rumors have sprouted around the internet that maybe…. there may be another Harry Potter book.  J K is quoted:

While Rowling said that she has no immediate plans to write any more Potter books, she didn’t rule the possibility out altogether. Instead, she suggested that “maybe 10 years from now” it could happen.

She also told one child she does want to write more books, adding that, “I’m quite sure in the not-too-distant future I will bring out another book.”

Marjorie Kehe, April 6, 2010

So I leave you with this….. do you think there should be another Harry Potter book?  Or should J K just leave the series as is?  If there was another book, what could/would it be about?


Hearts On A String by Kris Radish

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)23 Comments


Holly’s life has not always been the easiest.  Yet through it all she has clung to a story her grandmother had told her a long time ago when she was a little girl,

She tells of the precious string that connects all women.  She tells her great grand-daughter that the string is so pure and light that most women cannot see it.

“The string is a powerful force my sweet girl.  It allows women to lean into one another and find a sister when they need one.  The string can never be broken.  You can use it to pull yourself up, to pull yourself forward, or to steady the place where you must remain.”

Page 4, Hearts On A String


When a storm hits that strands Holly in an airport with four other women all from very different walks of life, they agree to share one of the women’s (Nan’s)  luxury hotel suite.  As the story unfolds the women meet some interesting characters along the way.  What starts out as an inconvenience becomes a life changing experience for each of the women as they share stories, admit their fears, and start to see the strings that bind friendships.


I do enjoy books on women’s friendships and that was the draw for me to this book.  Reading the synopsis and knowing how important my friendships are to me, I really wanted to sink into this book.  Plus…. of course, total cover love.  It looks like bubble gum or cotton candy…  🙂

And how do you bring together a motley crew of women such as Nan who is in Banking Investments(and owner of the cell phone and toilet scene that brings the women all together (oops…. did I say too much?  ;)), Cathy the sexy blond, Patty the Lounge Singer, Margo the mom, and of course Holly, who is a hairdresser together?  That is the story that is about to unfold…

It took awhile for this book to really get started.  In the beginning you learn quite a bit of each of the women and the conversations during this part of the book didn’t flow for me and somehow felt choppy.

That being said, once you get through this bumpy section, the book picks up a pleasant pace that left me overall satisfied with this read.  I appreciated the ending of the book and felt it wrapped up nicely and made me consider those bonds, or strings if you will, of friendships that I am thankful to have in my life. Hearts On A String is the perfect title for a book about opening your heart up to others and letting in the possibilities.

My Amazon Rating

Book Journey has updated the 2010 reading map to include Hearts on A String

When in Tampa Florida, be sure to stop in for a great cup of coffee at Sacred Grounds

318 pages

Cover story:  As I said in my review – the cover stopped me in my tracks and made me want to know more about this book… and that – is what you really want in a cover.  Fun and lively – it fit my mood.

I received this book for review as part of the TLC Tour


The Wildwater Walking Club by Claire Cook

Published on by Sheila (Book Journey)37 Comments

Noreen has just left her job of 18 years and her boyfriend mysteriously disappeared with it.  With a year and half of severance pay, she is in no real hurry to take another misstep… but has no idea exactly what her next move should be.  Soon Noreen finds herself in the company of two of her neighbors, Tess and Rosie and the three of them start walking every morning for fitness, for bonding, for fixing what they didn’t even really know was broken.


Author Claire Cook recommended this book to me when I interviewed her a couple weeks ago and she did not lead me astray.  While at first glimpse of this fun summary cover and the synopsis above you are probably thinking chick lit…. light and summery, a fun and easy read.  AND – you would not totally be mistaken.  However, as I flipped through the pages of this smooth book, I found a deeper message that as I closed the final page, actually caused me pause.

While Claire has once again brought together a read of wonderful women friendships, she also sneaks in a message about self-worth – and not finding your worth through a job, or through someone else s eyes – but through creating you… to be who you know you can be.


Laugh if you will,” Brick said.  “But your ability to tell the world who you are is the first step in figuring out what you want your life to be.”

page 64 The Wildwater Walking Club


And while the message at the time I read it didn’t stick and hold, it did later as I read on and watched how Noreen, as well as her friends grew through the strength of each other.

Another enjoyable read by Claire Cook.  My second of hers this summer and there is another one sitting in the Library Sale box that I may just have to pull out yet.

And, apparently in my Claire Cook review fashion – I once again have decided to duplicate the cover:



My Amazon Rating

Book Journey had updated the 2010 Reading map to include The Wildwater Walking Club

While in Massachusetts visiting Noreen and her friends, be sure to check out Cool Books and Coffee … a must for any coffee/book lover!

239 pages

Cover story:  Perfectly perfect!  This is a great cover that truly drew me to the book.

I purchased my copy of this book from Amazon