Buddhist BootCamp

Buddhist Boot Camp by Timber Hawkeye
Published by HarperOne on February 19, 2013
Pages: 160
Goodreads

A collection of short journal entries and letters sent to friends over the course of an eight-year journey to mindful living. Buddhism is all about training the mind, and boot camp is an ideal training method for this generation's short attention span. The chapters in this small book can be read in any order, and are simple and easy to understand. Each story, inspirational quote, and teaching offers mindfulness-enhancing techniques that anyone can relate to. You don't need to be a Buddhist to find the Buddha's teachings motivational. As the Dalai Lama says, "Don't try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are."
So whether it's Mother Teresa's acts of charity, Gandhi's perseverance, or your aunt Betty's calm demeanor, as long as you're motivated to be better today than you were yesterday, it doesn't matter who inspires you. Regardless of religion, geographical region, race, ethnicity, color, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, flexibility, or vulnerability, if you do good you feel good, and if you do bad you feel bad.
Buddhism isn't just about meditating. It's about rolling up your sleeves to relieve some of the suffering in the world. If you are ready to be a soldier of peace in the army of love, welcome to Buddhist Boot Camp!

Hey!
I’m back with yet another book review and I might be getting closer to my book goals for the year. I’m also working on my physical TBR list, which is also good news.

I’ve had this book on my TBR list for a long time in both a physical and list form for a long time. Which is unfortunate because when I met Timber Hawkeye in 2016 or so I had intended on reading his book then. I had also heard him speak at a reading of his book before that too. That only brings us here to the review and reading of this book.

This book is a collection of essays that Timber Hawkeye wrote during his time in Hawaii and some of it after. I loved that each essay can stand on its own or together with several others as shown in the book. The book is broken down into chapters dealing with life and giving the reader practical advice based on the writer’s experience.

I would recommend this book for someone looking for a quick easy to read book that might be interested in Buddhism or are trying to supplement their faith a bit more.

Let me know if you have read this book or have read something similar. How are your reading goals going this year since we are now about halfway through? Are you going to make it? Did you set a reading goal for the year? I’d love to know all your thoughts. I hope to see you again soon.

The Oracle Code

7 / 7 / 207 / 2 / 20

The Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp, Manuel Preitano
on March 10, 2020
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
three-half-stars

The #1 New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp (This Is Where It Ends) and artist Manuel Preitano unveil a graphic novel that explores the dark corridors of Barbara Gordon's first mystery: herself.
After a gunshot leaves her paralyzed, Barbara Gordon enters the Arkham Center for Independence, where Gotham's teens undergo physical and mental rehabilitation. Now using a wheelchair, Barbara must adapt to a new normal, but she cannot shake the feeling that something is dangerously amiss. Within these walls, strange sounds escape at night; patients go missing; and Barbara begins to put together pieces of what she believes to be a larger puzzle.
But is this suspicion simply a result of her trauma? Fellow patients try to connect with Barbara, but she pushes them away, and she'd rather spend time with ghost stories than participate in her daily exercises. Even Barbara's own judgment is in question.
In The Oracle Code, universal truths cannot be escaped, and Barbara Gordon must battle the phantoms of her past before they swarm her future.

Hello Everyone!
I’m back with yet another book review. Overall this year has been a slow reading year for me, but we are still pushing through in hopes that I will be able to make it to my reading goals at the end of the year. Today’s review is on The Oracle Code. This is another book in the DC Icons series, which I have been reading through in the past year. Overall I like that YA authors are trying their hands at writing for graphic novels though there are a few out of the series that are less than stellar.

This book was an average book for me, it was overly flashy in the way they handled the story of Barbara Gordon because if you know anything about DC this story can be a bit controversial. It was a bit unpleasant that Barbara spends most of the book not being believed for how she feels about the hospital. In a stereo typical fashion it comes out with a nice ending. I hope that we get a few more graphic novels about Barbara Gordon because I would like to see what she does next.

Let me know what you have been reading lately and if you read graphic novel. I hope to see you again in another post soon! 🙂

Review: Series of Unfortunate Events

7 / 2 / 206 / 29 / 20

Hey!
It has been a minute since I wrote a tv show review here. While in quarantine or this time of social distancing , I’ve had time to catch-up on shows and alleviate my Netflix queue of some of its burden or the older ones at least.

After I finished up all the seasons of NCIS on Netflix, I needed another show to binge. Matt & I agreed to binge Series of Unfortunate Events , since it had been a minute since we watched the series. The series is actually easier to understand if you binge it all at once. We ended up binging the whole series in roughly a week. While I never did end up finishing the book series though it is on my list to read through at some point I enjoyed the series thoroughly. I found that Netflix series was much better than the movie, don’t get me wrong Jim Carrey is a good actor, but Neil Patrick Harris did a far superb job playing Count Olaf. I did see the movie in theaters and while I thought it was good, it just didn’t do the books justice.

Daniel Handler, Lemony Snicket’s real life alias has been fortunate enough to get 2 iterations of his novels brought to life. Though each episode is an hour long I found that they covered most of the in depth detail the books cover making them loveable for both children and adults. I did read that the final episode of the Netflix series does change the ending versus the ending of the books, but that is fine with me.

If you haven’t already seen this series I would highly recommend that you watch it. If you have seen the series I would recommend that you give it a rewatch during this time, it is seriously so good. There are so many songs that will get stuck in your head. Also to note if you are one of the people that like to skip intros of shows because that is an option that Netflix gives you, I would recommend not skipping these intros because that give you small snippets of what will happen in the episode and a mini wrap up of what has happened also.

I hope to see you again soon in another post!

June Monthly Wrap-up

6 / 30 / 207 / 5 / 20

Hey!
It’s finally July! I have been feeling a bit listless lately and I can’t help but wonder when things will really get back to normal. Though I know the new normal is a bit strange around here since there isn’t a vaccine for Corona yet. Here’s a short list of things that I have loving and hating during the month of June.

Loving: having more time to read and finding time to craft. I’ve also gotten back into journalling more regularly since I feel that it has been a good way to clear my head of all the things I have been feeling.
Watching: Matt & I just finished up watching Series of Unfortunate Events (review coming soon). I’m also finishing up the last few movies for Scaretober, so look forward to that. W also took sometime this month to watch several of the recommended films during this month. We started watching Doogie Howser, MD on Hulu but are also looking for another show to watch before the end of July, so leave your recommendations below!
Reading: it’s been another month of slow reading, but I do have a few books that I am super close to finishing in the next couple of days. I am also hoping to start The New Jim Crow Law and White Fragility which Matt & I will be reading together since they are on a list of books that were recommended to read during the #BlackLivesMatter Movement.
Over: I’m definitely over being inside all the time. I’m over racism, but I’m still doing my part and my work. I’m missing real summer and spending time with friends.
Looking Forward to: Sunny days, working out of the house again, and doing more normal things. Also looking forward to finally seeing Hamilton on Disney + and Umbrella Academy.

What have you been up to lately? How have your quarantine days been going? What blogs have you been reading? Have you been doing anything else out of the ordinary? I look forward to sharing more things with you in the coming month and hopefully I will be back here on a more regular basis.

Shadow of the Batgirl

6 / 18 / 206 / 12 / 20

Shadow of the Batgirl by Sarah Kuhn, Nicole Goux
on February 4, 2020
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
four-half-stars

Out Spring 2020.

Hey!
I’m here with yet another book review. I might actually be catching up with my reading goals for the year, but we will see if that actually happens. It has been hard year so far so I hope that things are beginning to look up.

Today we are here to discuss a graphic novel that I have read recently. If you followed me for the last year, you will know that I have gotten into the graphic novel series that DC began publishing. You can read a review of a few of the other graphic novels here, here, here, and here. This is another graphic novel in the series though none of the books are connected, so feel free to read them in any order you want.

In this novel, we meet Cassandra Cain and she struggles to identify who she is and her role in society for most of the novel. It takes her a while but she identifies with the stories of Batgirl and wanting to save people though she might not know who Batgirl is.

I love that in this graphic novel you get to see Cassandra Cain portrayed as asian and to see how that adds to her struggles with her identity. I also loved the illustration throughout the novel being a little more sketchy and the panels a little more disjointed at times as it appears that Cassandra’s thoughts are also disjointed.

I would recommend this novel if you like any of the DC characters and are a bit familiar with Gotham City. I would also recommend this book if you are familiar with any of Sarah Kuhn’s work in literature. I definitely think that this is a fun read and adds to the beautiful work that DC is creating in their ink series.

I hope to see you soon in another post.