The Adventure In Books

Reading… ah what a great adventure. I know what you’re thinking. “It’s just a book, you don’t actually go anywhere”. I know, I know. But books are some of the most wonderful things that we as humans have created. “Why?” you may ask. Because they spark our imaginations!

When we read we work out our brains and get them really thinking. Its like a work out for your mind. Imagine books as weights for your brain. By stimulating the muscles in our brains when we read and use our imaginations, we are actually adding to the capability of our brains and enlarging our brain’s potential. This is the reason why smart people are also referred to as “well read”.

Scientific studies have also proven that reading before bed gives your brain such a nice little work out that it makes it easier to fall asleep. Imagine how you feel after a good workout and that nice rest afterwards. That’s what it’s like for your mind. So if you have trouble sleeping, I would definitely recommend picking up a book and making it a before bedtime ritual.

In short, we bibliophiles do not just live one simple life, we indeed live many through the books we read. Every chapter is the next step forward. Every character is a new persona. Every book is a new adventure!

The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedman

I can see why this book sparked such a movement in it's time. And although most of the content of this book is irrelevant in today's world we can still relate it to other things that are still a problem today that still attempt to shape women in a certain stereotype(s). Housewives of today no longer have the problem of just simply being a housewife and having to settle for that. If you want to learn how to play the violin then go out and buy a violin and learn how to play it. I f you want to go out and work to assist your husband with the finances, then go out and do it! There is nothing stopping women from doing these sorts of things on top of being housewives. We no longer feel the stigma that there's something wrong with us or that we have failed in some way if we feel the need to branch out into other interests. 
The author relates a lot of her information as a sort of piggyback on to work that was already researched and written by both Freud and Kinsey. She states that several times when doing her interviews her interviewees steer the conversation to some sort of sexual frustration and/or empowerment. As the author states "Sex is the only Frontier open to women who have always lived within the confines of the Feminine Mystique." I found it fascinating that so many women revert back to sex in so many different subjects/aspects.
Although this book was written for women in the 40s 50s and 60s, it is still eye-opening to read today. Even though most of it reads as a dull textbook there is still some very good information within it that can be translated to today's feminine issues. I also agree that this is a part of our history such as the Malleus Maleficarum and Mein Kampf and should continue to be read, discussed and studied as a historical text.

A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan

This book was an okay read. It got daunting for me to have to switch through so many different perspectives throughout the book. Though the stories are linked, they are all separate and read like an anthology. I did not care for this style. However, others may not mind it. The stories themselves were entertaining and interesting. I would recommend this as a nice casual read.

Late Bloomer by Fern Michaels

This was such a fun little read! The plot was captivating and held my attention to the very end. Loved the twists and turns. Had very relatable characters. I would highly recommend this book as a nice, casual read!

Femmes Fatal by Dorothy Cannell

Ok, call me a snob if you like but I just cannot stand when British people talk like trashy scullery maids. I do not find it funny, sexy or entertaining in ANY way. This book is wrought with it. I just can't do it. It's like listening to nails on a chalkboard.

The Art of Erotic Massage by Dr. Andrew Yorke

Great reference book! Every subject is accompanied by a photograph so different techniques are very easy to imitate. The author is obviously very knowledgeable on the subject. This was a great read and I'll be sure to put what I've learned here to good use 

Plain & Simple Astral Projection by Osborne Phillips

What is this book exactly? I'm confused... is this a book that is intended to teach others how to astral project? Or is this a book written in the form of a memoir of the author's experiences in mysticism? I believe it is the latter of the two. I think out of all the chapters there are perhaps 2-3 that actually deal with astral projection and how to accomplish it.
This book is extremely boring and daunting to read. The chapters/subjects do not flow at all, the sentence structure is awful and the subjects are blurred and confusing. Not a book I'd recommend at all.

The Classic Guide to Better Writing by Rudolf Flesch

This book is for the absolute beginner in writing. If you've already had instruction on the subject (even just with college English/writing classes)  this book won't advance your skills.
However, for the complete beginner this book is very well laid out and easy to read & follow. The exercises are great and assist in developing writing skills for the complete beginner.

My Secret Garden by Nancy Friday

Warning: if words like cock, fucking, cunt & prick in being used to describe sexual body parts and/or actions, then this book is not for you. This author is VERY blunt (which in my opinion you have to be when being honest about sex). I can honestly say that after reading this book I feel better about myself as a woman as well as a sexual being with sexual thoughts, needs and even... dare I say... fantasies! I agree wholeheartedly with the author that women's sexual fantasies have been repressed, surpressed and denied for far too long. By the way guys, our fantasies don't stop short of a cliche rape scene 😉 I HIGHLY recommend this to women who seek to validate their sexual urges and definitely to men who wish to understand the female side of sexuality a bit more. We have a lot more in common than it seems guys. 💘 Great (and VERY hot) read!

Nora Roberts aka JD Robb

Ok I can't. I'm sorry but I just can't do it. I have tried reading Nora Roberts because so many people like her and she is a very popular author. But I just can't get into her books. I've even tried reading books under her pseudo name JD Robb and still it's a no go.
Let me explain...
All of her books seem to have the same feel to them. It's that whole cloak-and-dagger/cops and robbers type of feel. These types of mystery books hold absolutely no interest to me whatsoever and are extremely boring in my personal opinion. I find that all of her books even the ones that are not written as mysteries have this very same feel to them when I read them.
Now please don't get me wrong, I am not saying that there is anything wrong with her writing per se or that she is a bad author in any way. I am simply saying that I cannot get into her writing style and that no matter how hard I try I simply cannot get myself to like her books.
Ugh 😒 It's just maddening to me to try so very hard to like an author but despite my best efforts, I have failed. This will be my final try. I am now done and moving on. I guess I need to remind myself that I don't have to like what everyone else seems to like. If I did I would not be so unique 😉

As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner

What an incredible book! I'm still very much awe-stricken. The author had such amazing story telling capability in this book. This book is both beautifully written and easy to follow each person's point of view as it is written from 4 different person's points of view. Great build up to an absolutely heart breaking climax then down again to prepare you for a great ending that truly shines "as bright as heaven". This book made me laugh, made me cry, I got mad, I felt fear for the relatable characters in their precarious predicaments and felt hope that through all they'd been through there would be that beautiful silver lining. A truly amazing piece of fiction. BRAVO! 🌹👏👏👏🌹

Goodreads Giveaway Win ✨🎉

#GoodreadsGiveaway #winning #GiveawayWinner #Bibliophile #BookLover ##Bookish

New arrivals! PBS

Winter Reading

TBR Pile

Goodwill Finds

So my husband, son and I had some time to kill tonight. So we decided to walk around inside our local Goodwill store. I went over to take a peek at the book section. All the fiction books looked a little uninteresting to me. I was just turning to leave when BAM there it was... the cook book section! I gave it a good once over and made out with these 2 gems! I've been wanting a good bar book or 2. And I've been actively searching for a nice Chinese food cook book. Very happy with tonight's finds
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My Fav of 2017

Well, 2017 is now over and done with and 2018 is here with a bang ( or… ball… depending on where you are). So let’s talk about what we read in 2017.

I am the type of eclectic reader that always likes to keep my attention in reading by choosing many books of many different genres. I don’t just read novels! I literally read everything!

In looking over my Goodreads page, I see that my most read authors last year were: Anne Rice, Julia Donaldson, Roald Dahl and Clive Barker.

I dove head first into The Vampire Chronicles last year. I made it all the way up to number 5 Memnoch the Devil before we had to move and the remaining books got shoved into a box and I lost track of them for a short time. I will definitely be finishing this series up this year.

My son and I love Julia Donaldson. She is the author of The Gruffalo series and we just LOVE her books! My son has an adorable starter boxed set but we check out any books not included in the set from the library every chance we get.

Along with some other books such as The Boxcar Children, Winnie the Pooh, The Wizard of Oz and Dinotopia, my son and I also delved into the world of Roald Dahl. Some of which we really liked and some which we really didn’t care for. We really liked James and the Giant Peach (my son’s name is James), along with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. However we did not care for The Fantastic Mr. Fox and we just plain didn’t like The Witches. I fee very much that Dahl’s book are hit or miss cause when they hit, they hit big but when they miss they dive bomb!

And then there’s Mr. Clive Barker. He holds a very special place on my book shelves along with H.P. Lovecraft. I mean, being the horror freak that I am, the writer and creator of The Candyman, Nightbreed and Hellraiser is definitely most special to me. He has a way of telling his horror tales that is very unique from every other horror writer/creator. Most of his tales have a bit of eroticism to them which adds a nice little cherry on top for the reader. However his children’s books (like The Thief of Always) are amazingly told as well and deserve a special place on the shelf in their own right.

But with all these in mind and with all the other books I’ve read last year the question still remains: which was my favorite? As difficult as it is to choose a favorite amongst the many, the one book that truly sticks out to me is Stephen King’s IT. Let me explain… when I was a child (around 7 years of age) I happened upon my father watching the TV series on television and I decided to post myself at the end of the hall where he couldn’t see me but I could see the tv set. I watched the film in secret and now I wish I hadn’t. As captivating as it was, it really traumatized me as a young child. I decided last year that now I am an adult and it is time to put childish things behind me. In so doing I challenged myself to read the book and watch the TV series before going to see the new film just released late last year. It was a VERY emotional process. I laughed, I cried, I was too scared to sleep many nights but I was determined. And by the gods I did it! I succeeded in finishing the book and even rewatched the series that traumatized me so terribly when I was a child. I accomplished what I set out to do and faced one of my ultimate fears… my own childhood fears! For this reason, this book stands above the rest I’d read and has earned a permanent place on my book shelves (whether I read it again or not is inconsequential).

And so I would have to place Stephen King’s IT as my favorite read of 2017!

What was your favorite read of 2017? I’d love to hear about it in the Comments Section! 

Where To Buy Books

This is a silly question right? I mean, I’d go to a book store of course!

Ok for real now, let’s answer this question. So if I had to go to an actual store I would first go to my local used book store before a big chain like Barnes and Noble. I like to help out the privately owned shops and give them business before the big chains. I feel the privately owned stores are more willing to please their customers and their prices are much more affordable. The down side of this being that you can’t always find the new additions/new releases in these stores. So if you’re searching for the new addition of that text book you need for your history class, be prepared to buy new $$$ or… shop Amazon rentals.

However, if the parameters involve me being able to use and online store, I would DEFINELTY be on either Book Outlet or Thrift Books. Both of these sites are amazing for getting inexpensive and good quality used books. I will stand by them all the way! Their prices are more than reasonable and so is their shipping.

Another great book buying (sort of) site that I will stand by to the end is Paperback Swap. This site allows you to post books that you have available for swap. When someone requests one of your books you ship it out. When they receive the book, you receive a credit which allows you to choose your own book from a batch of thousands of books available from hundreds of other members just like you! It’s an amazing idea and it works great! If you haven’t already signed up (it’s free by the way) then I highly recommend that you do!

The last online spot I’d like to talk about would be Book of the Month. This site is extremely easy to navigate. How it works is, you pay a monthly fee to receive a credit. 1 credit = 1 book. You can pay the fees in advance to receive a half a year or a year’s worth of credits. These credits can be used any time. An example would be: You can one month use 3 credits to receive 3 books, then skip the next month and not use any credits, then the next month use one credit to order 1 book again. BOTM gives you the freedom to get the books you want when you want by having their credits roll over if not used. You also get first looks at brand new releases BEFORE they’re released for sale to the public in bookstores! That’s awesome! The only down side to BOTM is that it can get a bit pricey. The monthly fee for 1 book credit is just under $10 and a full year subscription (12 credits) is $150. Still, it may very well be worth it to get your hands on those coveted new releases. Yum!

All of these places are amazing spots to get books from and I would definitely recommend any of them. But getting back to the original question, needless-to-say, my answer would be books… yeah lots and lots of books LOL

A Secret History of Witches

Paperback Swap 🤘

I had to get a new copy of Dragon Tears because mine was missing the first 28 pages 😳

Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary

I like this book far less than the previous two. This one seemed a lot less entertaining and the boys seemed a lot meaner than in the first two books. The things the boys did to Ralph were rather cruel and mean. It almost reminded me of Lord of the Flies in a sense. Was an ok read. The author's sentence structure is a bit hard to follow but maybe that's just me. All-in-all I liked the first 2 books much better than this one.

A History of the World by Hugh Thomas

A rather dry piece of text, this book delivers the history of the entire world within 618 pages. Naturally, this text only glides over the major highlights of history and doesn't go into depth on many of it's subjects. The narrative, though very blunt, is relatively easy to follow however tedious the information may be. This book is for the person who wants to learn world history overnight.

The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook by Matthew McKay PH.D., Jeffery Wood PSY.D, & Jefferey Brantley MD

I have BPD & this is an amazing workbook! I took my time and worked through it slowly letting the skills & exercises sink in. Everything is well laid out and arranged. The subjects are all very well explained. The exercises are easy to follow but really make you dive into yourself. They make you think and challenge yourself to make changes in the way you handle yourself in many different situations.
The book has helped me be more present in the "now" and to be much more mindful of my actions, my surroundings and my emotions and reactions to said emotions which for someone with BPD (like me) can be extremely overwhelming. I would definitely recommend this workbook to anyone needing DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) help. ✨✨

Book of the Month January 2018

Just arrived! PBS 1/8/18

Bubbles 11/22/2017

Water flows down

Bubbles fizz and churn

Nice and hot on your skin

But not so hot it burns

Oranges to make you happy

Witch hazel to keep you young

Lavender to sooth you

Rose petals for some fun

Candles give a soothing glow

Pretty music flies

Light dances with the shadows

To make flowers and butterflies

Sink down in the water

Close your weary eyes

None are here but you

In this lovely paradise

Getting out now, time to dry

Soft towel over silky skin

Now you’re ready to go forth

And slowly begin again

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

This book is so depressing! Poor Rachel... so bitter and empty. Trapped between 2 world's, both of which she hates. Her feelings of worthlessness and nothing essentially cut the reader so deep it makes the reader themselves want a drink! She hates the world & everyone in it. Especially herself. ⚠️This book is severely triggering for anyone with serious depression/anxiety issues. I DO NOT recommend this to anyone having said issues.⚠️ I can see why people call it "intense" as the ending surely is just that. It has a good climax. However to get there seems so daunting you feel you want to just give up. Reading this book is like Atreyu & Artex drudging through the terrible thickness of The Swamps of Sadness. I seriously just want to curl into a ball and cry. I know exactly how Rachel feels, so this book was extremely difficult for me to read. READER BEWARE!

Paperback Swap

I just 💖💌💖 swapping books. Don't you? Book mail is without a doubt the BEST mail! 😄

Naughty Neighbor by Janet Evanovich

Ugh, this book was annoyingly cute. It's one of those romance books where "I just met you, but I love you and want to marry you". Completely unrealistic even for fiction in my opinion. It's like an hour Lifetime TV special. My head seriously hurts from rolling my eyes so much. I think I  might have whiplash. Total romance cheese.
However, Evanovich writes very simply and her writings are easy to follow and get into. As much as I was annoyed by the story itself, I was still able to finish the book. I would recommend this book as a quick casual read to the romance/fiction reader.

Paperback Swap

Can't wait to dive into theses!😀

At Dawn We Slept by Gordon W. Prange

Holy cats! This text is such an incredible source of historical information regarding Pearl Harbor. The book is written in an easy-to-follow narrative and all is easy to understand (not too many nautical/aeronautical terms thrown everywhere). This text covers the building up to, the attack itself and the aftermath of Pearl Harbor. It includes all the planning and trials, the espionage and war games, the powder keig build up, the devastation, and the consequences and trials that followed. This is an amazing piece of literature that should definitely earn it's place next to classics such as War and Peace. Highly recommend!

Happy New Year!🍓