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Saturday, February 23, 2019

Book Haul

It had been a while since I last visited Half-Price Books, a wonderful book store with fabulous prices. I popped in today, had a nice nose around and came out with several books to add to my 2019 reading list. It is a popular book store, I am sure the greatly discounted prices help, and there is always a long line at the register. I am happy so many people enjoy reading. It is very family friendly, lots of books for children and all at very good prices.


One of my favorite writers is Kurt Vonnegut, he is so succinct, so honest, so funny, and so good at pointing out the futility and stupidity of many things that go on in the world. He is a Hoosier we can be truly proud of. I look forward to reading God Bless You Dr. Kevorkian.

I visit other blogs, and a recent post was about a trip to the thrift store and some books purchased, one being a Maeve Binchy book. As I perused the Half-Price Books book shelves I saw a Maeve Binchy, one I read and enjoyed many years ago, The Lilac Bus, so I purchased a copy.

White Teeth by Zadie Smith, I am looking forward to this, it may be my next book to read. I watched a dramatization of the book several years ago, I enjoyed the twists and turns and the way the characters connected and interacted. I am assuming the book will be meatier than the televised production.

Then I found a DVD copy of My Dog Skip, a wonderful, gem of movie about a boy and his dog. My grandchildren love the movie, it is funny and at times suspenseful with a couple of sad scenes guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye, and most importantly it is good story. I am glad to own a copy, it is popular and oftentimes when I look for it at our local library branch it is checked out. Obviously we are not the only people who enjoy this family classic.


Last week I was listening to the radio and heard about an author who had lost her battle with cancer and died at the age of sixty-nine, her name was Andrea Levy. There followed a very nice discussion about Andrea Levy and the books she had written. Small Island was her "break through" book and won several awards.  My interest was piqued, and a quick search on my library app and the book was on hold. I picked my copy of Small Island up from our local library branch this morning and look forward to reading it soon. The book was made into a television program, and I hope after I read the book I can find a copy of to watch.



Right now I am reading Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I purchased this book for a couple of dollars last year at Half Price Books, it sat on my book shelf until last weekend. I am really enjoying it, and highly recommend it to anyone, it a coming of age book, a journey to self-enlightenment book, a very thought provoking book. It is an easy read, yet well written. I had to google a few terms for definition, Atman - Self, Brahman - God?, Brahmin - priest or holy man, this helped me a lot. This book is well worth reading and I totally understand why it is on so many Reading Recommendation lists.

Quick update: I finished Siddhartha this afternoon, what an absolutely beautiful book, a profound message. My initial take away thought, "As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end, Amen".


The final book purchased is for grandson Ralph, he is two and in the past week or so has come to realization that colors have names, although in Ralph's world all colors are called yellow. I hope he enjoys his book about colors.


And lastly, something that has nothing to do with reading, I made a homemade solution to clean my yoga mat. The concoction is 3 parts water, 1 part witch hazel, and a few drops of essential oil, I chose lavender. Once I week I can spray down my mat and give it a good rub down, keeping it clean and fresh smelling for a long time. 

I mentioned in a previous post that I was doing yoga with a You Tube Channel, Yoga with Adrienne. I started with a 30 day challenge, Dedicate, and tomorrow I will complete day 30. I have committed my time everyday except once, to the Dedicate journey, and I must say I feel stronger, more flexible, and can balance really well now, and this is only after 29 days. I will finish day 30 in the morning and start a new Adrienne challenge on Monday. I am finding the strength training from yoga and the stretching to be a great accompaniment to running, they go together like a horse and carriage!

But the bigger benefit to me is the way I feel after 20 minutes of yoga, stretched, relaxed, calm, focused, ready to take on the day, HAPPY :) It just builds on from the well being generated from a good run.  I think yoga is going to be a part of my day for many years to come.

We are battening down the hatches as we prepare for very high winds tomorrow, sustained winds of forty-five mph with gusts to sixty, yikes, I really, really dislike this kind of weather, it unsettles me and I find it hard to relax.

Well nothing much else to say today.

Peace be with you,

Bean

1 comment:

Pen Wilcock said...

Siddhartha is one of my favourite books of all time!

May you be peaceful and safe through the high winds.