what I am reading, and some writing stuff

It's been much longer then I thought it would be in between updates my bad.
I can not seem to get too into sci fi or fiction lately and the history book I am reading is a text book. So I've temporarily decided to hold off on the fiction and sci fi and try something else see if breaking it up helps.

I've moved onto "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" By Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan.
I have had the book forever and never gotten to reading it so this should be a change so far, I am enjoying it.
I can only hope this does not mean I am going to have issues with fiction and sci fi for the year.

In a weird turn of events I have had my other creative juices flowing.
I have now begun writing fanfic for a favourite show of mine.
Its like a project in itself because the show is VERY in depth.. and covers such a broad span.

One of the writers also did Gilmore Girls. :)

Its funny because fanfic used to make my head explode and then I moved to indifference and here I am..
I think the only two I would ever do are TBBT and GG.
I seem to have a thing for something thats only insane to take on as a challenge. lol

It's also sent me off running on another story idea I had which is interesting because now I have 3 writing projects on the go and 2 reading challenges.
Added to my own personal study of Islam at the same time.
Phew.

I have yet to start the mini movie one but I think that, that is going to be something that I do just for me. As writing another review would kill me with everything else I have going on right now.

But I guess I should enjoy the focus while I have it.

Book 5 - Yoga Body, Buddha Mind

2.5 outta 5.
Great for someone with no knowledge of Yoga or Buddha..
The class prep pages are also helpful.

I read this book hoping for i don't know. more of the Buddha side of things since my yoga has to be adaptable for disabled people. However, I was disappointed.

There were some good bits..

Chogyam Trungpa "the way to rule the universe is to expose your heart."

and a prayer that I liked.


"May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness
may all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.
may all beings never be parted from freedom's true joy.
may all beings dwell in equanimity free from attachment and aversion. "

The Drowned Book conclusion

The Drowned Book was the latest book I completed this afternoon.
An amazing book. One i found myself scribbling quotes from so that I wouldn't forget them.
I found it to be a bit of a slower read then Rumi but they are indeed of the same linage.

The Story Tellers Daughter conclusion

The Storytellers Daughter
Saira Shah

I went out of my comfort zone with this one, going completely different from everything that I normally pick out for myself. I have read stories of war before but they were older and war was written about differently, the pictures were blurry, the details glazed over to make it more story book like. Not this one. I have been awed by this book since the beginning.

The book itself is divided into 3 books, or journals i guess as she kept them. Aside from the books acknowledgements one book starts and another has ended the writing is seamless and flows right into the next book.

In my brief comments about this book I said that she took you with her on her travels, its not just you reading her account of what happened she has a way of placing you next to her as she walks through war torn areas, going days with out eating and everything else she goes through.

I still stand by that.
The last portion of the book was definitely the hardest, by the time you reach that part you yourself feel you belong in Afghanistan and you want to do something to help.

Definitely a moving book.
One that makes me curious how the world would change if more people read it and (really) understood it.

Book Update

latest book review here
I need to update my list. I lent one out to someone who needed one more then I did.
So my list needs a new one or two.

I can't decide what I want to add until i realized that something from the second challenge list might be wise.

Dickens or Shakespeare ??

Book challenge blog update and Reading updates

Gilmore Girls book challenge/project, and the Mini movie challenge has its own blog now I just thought it easier that way.
So those only interested in those updates can find them with out the rest of the stuffings.

I'm reading The Storytellers Daughter - 70 pages in.
This book is intense, its fabulous, its emotional, it is well thought out, well written, it is one that I have had to add to my to buy list because checking it out is just not good enough.
This book struck a chord with me.

Some extra bonuses with the hard cover are thicker paper, and its not insanely bright white. When you have issues with colour and sight that is a god send.

I converted to Muslim a few months ago, when i found this book, it was one of two with similar titles and I skimmed what this was about before adding it to my list not really thinking anything about it one way or the other.

Saira Shah has blown me away.
She takes you on her journey literally with her, there is no sitting by the sidelines and reading about it.
You are filled with stories of a personal nature, combined with historical fact and legends.. Which is what (living) life is, or rather, what it should be.

The book is filled with tibits that you will find yourself stopping to record for your own reflection later.
It's definitely added to my to buy list. I am amazed my library had it and saddened I appear to be one of the few whose checked it out.

"The legends we choose to tell reflect the message we wish to preserve."
"If you have a myth you can be proud of where you come from. You can not be proud of a shred of a tent in the dust bowl that is a refugee camp in Pakistan. If you have a myth, you can hold your head high when the lowliest locals call you a dirty afghani and accuse you of trying to take their jobs.
If you have a myth you can quote back at them the great Afghan poet Jalaluddin Rumi: " A royal falcon landed owls, they hooted at him in anger. He replied Oh foolish ones, - "you think I am trying to unsurp your homes, but my true place is on the wrist of a king!"

(Sa'adi)"Do not become attached to something that will not endure"
He decided to create a garden that time could not destroy. He built his rose garden, his great work "The Gulistan" out of stories. It has survived for eight hundred years. "Roses" he said, "live but for days. My Rose Garden will never die"

"Towering above me, unchanging, eternal are the mountains. Down in the valley, a city of towers, and minarets sparkles in the late-afternoon sun. Kabul jan -- beloved Kabul--
lies like a jewel at my feet. I know by now that its beauty is an illusion: close up., the city is in ruins as shattered and broken as this garden, I have missed teh golden age, I have come too late.
But only because of the myth - the map of tales my family drew for me all those years ago-- can I recognize the beauty in this ruin."

This book has changed the way I think about a lot of things and identified some things I have been wrestling with lately. Things I have been trying to find on my own spiritual journey to Allah and know I know now more about what it is that I am seeking along the way.

***

I've also come to realize that one of the other books on my booklist is a scam..
I won't link the scam because I don't want anyone to think I am supporting that crap.
"A promise of hope : [the astonishing true story of a woman afflicted with bipolar disorder and the miraculous treatment that cured her]" Four chapters in and I want to set it on fire.
Seriously. But since its a library book, i shall return it. Mentioning that its part of an online med scam..
It reminded me of twilight as i read the bit I have fluffy and vague. Horrible writing.

***
I am also reading The Drowned Book.
Another AMAZING book. A library book added to the Buy list.
I stop to scribble quotes as i read because you just can't read a "Rumi" book and not.
An essential read for any Muslim or non alike.

""perfection in the mystery" whatever we love in this visable world we are sure to discover its flaws."

"I was a hidden treasure and I desire to be known." - a hadith

Gilmore Girls Book series.. and my book challenge update

So I was sitting here adding books to my good reads site when it hit came to mind again, my desire to read ALL the Gilmore Girl books (yes, the entire series is also in book form)
I've wanted to read them forever...

Have I mentioned I am currently doing two challenges and their are only a small number of cross overs? Plus, I have a life, I am also trying to downsize my apartments contents, [while putting all my books into a spread sheet so i can keep better track] going through some serious cognitive therapy to deal with my bi polar, depression and other mental illness, trying to get on to writing my own book, memorize the Quran and learn Arabic, get back into my physio training and deal with a very messed up personal life.

All the while trying to keep myself stable... I honestly have no idea how I end up with so much that i want to do and have going on but there you have it.

Ya wanna know whats sad about that? I will likely end up reading them while I am trying to do the other two challenges. Lol. I just can't help myself.
They're not big by any means so it will likely be one an evening possibly one every two if I am realistic with my other two challenges because there are some definite books on their that mean business.

I started on the book challenge last night at 12:05am.
I was on hold (on the telephone) lol. When the call ended a short time later I read a bit more before turning out the light.

I have to say its a beautiful little book, the classic edition that i found in the clearance aisle. Hardcover with a ribbon sewn in as a book mark with the ends of the pages done in the gold to make it all nice. Its also pocket sized.
Love it.
Useful when you always have a book tucked in a purse or a a bag.

I am reading Emma Jane Austen. to start.
I can't say too much because well I haven't read enough of the book to be able to but from what I have read I will say I dislike Emma as a person/character but I love the setting, the writing and where the story could go because of that.

Now hopefully I can just get over wanting to smack her into next year.