Category: Book Shelf

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Book Shelf: Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change

Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change by Pema Chodron

Another great book! I always find such meaningful content in Pema Chodron’s books. – “Living Beautifully”

“Let the power of your emotions open you up … Take your seat in the middle of your home ground and rouse your confidence – your innate capacity to open to your experience.”

Book Information:

Is it possible to live well when the very ground we stand on is shaky? Yes, says everyone’s favorite Buddhist nun, it’s even possible to live beautifully, compassionately, and happily on shaky ground—and the secret is: the ground is always shaky. Pema shows how using a traditional Buddhist practice called the Three Vows or Three Commitments, offering us a way to relax into profound sanity in the midst of whatever non-sanity is happening around us. Just making these simple aspirations can change the way we look at the world and can provide us with a lifetime of material for spiritual practice.

US Amazon: https://amzn.to/2SRLL1q

UK Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Yoio7P

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Book Love: When the Shadbush Blooms

When the Shadbush Blooms by Carla Messinger

A great book about a Lenape Indian girl, about cycles and about tradition and change. We enjoyed it!

Book Information:

My grandparents’ grandparents walked beside the same stream where I walk with my brother, and we can see what they saw.

Today when a Lenape Indian girl ventures to the stream to fish for shad, she knows that another girl did the same generations before. Through the cycle of the seasons, what is important has remained: being with family, knowing when berries are ripe for picking, listening to stories in a warm home.

Told by Traditional Sister and Contemporary Sister, each from her own time, this is a book about tradition and about change. Then and now are not so very different when the shadbush blooms.

US Amavon: https://amzn.to/2NlMc4V

UK Amavon: https://amzn.to/2IY5Hfz

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Book Love: How to Sit

How to Sit by Thich Nhat Hanh

Another wonderful and simple book I read to Thomas and Lillian … We all really liked it!

“Peace is Contagious

The energy of mindfulness can help improve your whole being. Just pay attention to your in breath. Allow it to be the way it is and you will see that the quality of your breathing naturally becomes calmer, deeper, and more harmonious all by itself. This is the power of simple recognition. When your breath is deeper and more peaceful, it will have an influence right away on your body and your mind. Peace and calm are contagious.”

Book Information:

The first book in the Mindfulness Essentials Series by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Sit offers clear, simple directions and inspiration for anyone wanting to explore mindfulness meditation. In short, single-paragraph chapters, Nhat Hanh shares detailed instructions, guided breathing exercises and visualizations, as well as his own personal stories and insights. This pocket-sized book is perfect for those brand new to sitting meditation as well as for those looking to deepen their spiritual practice.

With sumi ink drawings by Jason DeAntonis.

US Amazon: https://amzn.to/2J6oMee

UK Amazon: https://amzn.to/2X5ZneM

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Book Love: The Old Man and The Sea

The Old Man and the Sea

Another I cannot remember having ever read. My interest has been peaked over the years to read this story; yet, it never moved up on my list.

I checked it out from the library after reading “The True Secret of Writing” by Natalie Goldberg and the way she speaks of the book, the story, and Hemingway.

Blessed and happy I did. Beautiful story of courage and friendship. I felt like I was there in the boat with the old man. Wonderful and powerful writing.

Book Information:

The Old Man and the Sea is one of Hemingway’s most enduring works. Told in language of great simplicity and power, it is the story of an old Cuban fisherman, down on his luck, and his supreme ordeal — a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream.

Here Hemingway recasts, in strikingly contemporary style, the classic theme of courage in the face of defeat, of personal triumph won from loss. Written in 1952, this hugely successful novella confirmed his power and presence in the literary world and played a large part in his winning the 1954 Nobel Prize for Literature.

US Amazon: https://amzn.to/2K7tjAm

UK Amazon: https://amzn.to/2KG5COT

US Kindle: https://amzn.to/2WqyOeY

UK Kindle: https://amzn.to/2ZoesVR

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Book Love: Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas

Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas by Naomi C. Rose

Another book that Team TLC (Thomas (my son), Lillian (my daughter), and myself) really enjoyed …

Simple, enchanting tales that give a glimpse into Tibetan culture, sharing inspiring wisdom relating to peace, gratitude and seeing with the heart. I was only going to read one per night. Thomas and Lilian loved it so much they did not want me to stop! We read all three in one night!

Book Information:

Tibetan Tales for Little Buddhas is a 64-page picture book featuring three beautifully illustrated wisdom tales from Tibet. Wise men, dakini queens, and yetis are some of the fun and engaging characters that fill this book. Each story, told in English and Tibetan, offers a fun, enchanting glimpse of Tibetan culture. The book is written and illustrated with full-page, full color paintings by Naomi C. Rose, and has a foreword by the Dalai Lama. The book won the Nautilus Book Award and a Storytelling World Honor.

US Amazon : https://amzn.to/2wnWoi6

UK Amazon : https://amzn.to/2YLL8rG

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Book Love: A Wrinkle in Time

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

I can’t remember that I’ve ever read this. When my son Thomas read it for the first time many years ago; he suggested I read it and that I would like it. He was right! I was hooked and had a hard time putting it down. We’ve seen the older movie; but haven’t yet seen the new movie. Wonderful book! This is a series of five books, with this being the first. I am currently reading book number three.

Book Information:

This is Book 1 of the Time Quintet Series

It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.

“Wild nights are my glory,” the unearthly stranger told them. “I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I’ll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract.”

A tesseract (in case the reader doesn’t know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L’Engle’s unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O’Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg’s father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.

A Wrinkle in Time is the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal.

US Amazon: https://amzn.to/2EyumF8

UK Amazon: https://amzn.to/2HYanjR

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Book Love: Visiting Feelings

Visiting Feelings by Lauren Rubenstein

Great and very basic book about emotional connection and mindfulness. Perfect for kids with a useful parent section too!

“If you listen to what your body can say, you’ll find that your feelings are really okay. With a bit of attention, a little more care, they might even tell you why they are there. Some feelings are tough, and some are more fun …. So whenever a feeling comes by to play, welcome it in, and let it stay for as long as it likes, …. Treat your feelings like friends, talking to you.”

Awesome!!!

Book Information:

Do you have a feeling that’s visiting today?
Can you open your door and invite it to play?

Visiting Feelings harnesses a young child’s innate capacity to fully experience the present moment. Rather than labeling or defining specific emotions and feelings, Visiting Feelings invites children to sense, explore, and befriend any feeling with acceptance and equanimity. Children can explore their emotions with their senses and gain an understanding of how feelings can lodge in the body, as conveyed by common expressions like “a pit in the stomach” or “lump in the throat.”

Children can cultivate this emotional intelligence and nurture a sense of mindfulness. In essence, mindfulness is tuning into yourself and paying attention to the present moment without judging or analyzing what you are thinking or feeling. Practicing mindfulness can enhance many aspects of a person’s well-being, help develop insight and empathy, and enhance resiliency.

Taking the time to practice mindfulness as a family is a remarkable gift for parents to give to their children, and will help children as they navigate the teen years and adulthood.

Includes a “Note to Parents” to provide more information about emotional awareness, and suggests ways to seamlessly incorporate mindfulness practices into your child and family’s daily routines.

US Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Emsuz1

UK Amazon: https://amzn.to/2VDp5l0

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Book Love: Lily and Dunkin

Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart

What a great story! I’m having a difficult time finding juvenile fiction books that cover mental health. This was a beautifully written story. I loved learning about each of these characters and feeling the strength and courage of Lily.

The hard parts were hard to feel; but once I got over half way into the book, I could not put it down. Much kindness, strength and love. Dunkin has bipolar disorder and at thirteen is the new kid in the neighborhood and at school. Lily is a girl born into a boys body and one who gets bullied at school.

Book Blurb: Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. But being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy. Especially when you’re in the eighth grade.

Dunkin Dorfman, birth name Norbert Dorfman, is dealing with bipolar disorder and has just moved from the New Jersey town he’s called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse.

One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change.

US Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2YDIlRA

UK Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2WdBMaL

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Book Shelf: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – a novel by Rachel Joyce

I could not wait to read this book once I discovered it through social media. The author had me with the title. I deeply enjoyed the journey with Harold Fry and learning about he and his wife. I wasn’t at all suspecting the twist that unravels near the end of the journey. Whoa!

I found it to be a journey of self-discovery and healing for Harold and his wife, Maureen. Along with a varied mix of characters ebbing and flowing throughout the journey. I was inspired by Harold’s listening to the pull to do something absolutely remarkable; without even understanding why he felt the need to do it.

Book Blurb: Meet Harold Fry, recently retired. He lives in a small English village with his wife, Maureen, who seems irritated by almost everything he does. Little differentiates one day from the next. Then one morning a letter arrives, addressed to Harold in a shaky scrawl, from a woman he hasn’t heard from in twenty years. Queenie Hennessy is in hospice and is writing to say goodbye. But before Harold mails off a quick reply, a chance encounter convinces him that he absolutely must deliver his message to Queenie in person. In his yachting shoes and light coat, Harold Fry embarks on an urgent quest. Determined to walk six hundred miles to the hospice, Harold believes that as long as he walks, Queenie will live.

US Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2LJwHmv

UK Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2W13NCk 

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Book Love: The Miracle of Mindfulness

The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh

Great basic book about mindfulness. My daughter, Lillian, was writing a report about mindfulness so we checked this out for her, yet I secretly got it for me too.

“If you cannot find joy in peace in these very moments if sitting, then the future itself will only flow by as a river flows by, you will not be able to hold it back, you will be incapable of living the future when it has become the present. Joy and peace are the joy and peace possible in this very hour of sitting. If you cannot find it here, you won’t find it anywhere.” -Thich Nhat Hanh

from the book … The Miracle of Mindfulness is a classic guide to meditation that has introduced generations of readers to the life-changing beauty of mindful awareness. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers gentle anecdotes and practical exercise as a means of learning the skills of mindfulness. From washing the dishes to answering the phone to peeling an orange, he reminds us that each moment holds within it an opportunity to work toward greater self-understanding and peacefulness.

US Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2W6KkAl

UK Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2WEMOmp