Last book you read/listened to

[bluebell]

49 minutes ago, Rain said:

I think Bunnicula is the book we did in a kid's birthday party theme once.  

That sounds super cute!

[bluebell]

12 hours ago, Tacenda said:

You are the best mom! I don't remember a lot of when I was younger, but do remember my mom reading, "Little Women" to my sisters and I.

Aw thanks.  I had a 3rd grade teacher who would read to us for 30 minutes every day after lunch and it changed my life.  This is my chance to brainwash my kids the same way.  

[Tacenda]

6 hours ago, bluebell said:

Aw thanks.  I had a 3rd grade teacher who would read to us for 30 minutes every day after lunch and it changed my life.  This is my chance to brainwash my kids the same way.  

I had a 4th grade female teacher do the same and she would get back scratches from the students while reading a chapter book, lol! We all wanted to have a turn. Probably wouldn't fly nowadays. 🙄

Edited June 7 by Tacenda

[Rain]

I realize this is a specific situation, but it might help others so I am sharing it.  There is a Kindle book I wanted to buy.  I have an Amazon gift card balance in my account now.  If you have a gift card balance, it automatically applies to Kindle books.  You can turn off 1 click for other items, but not Kindle.  I have a credit card offer that if I use the credit card to buy the book then I will get %20 off.  That card will also give me more rewards points for Amazon right now so I want to use it instead of the gift card.  After talking with Amazon we could find no way to use the credit card instead of the gift card.  I discovered a way though!  There is an option to "buy it for others".   Use that and then put in your own email address.  It will allow you to buy it for yourself without using the gift card balance.  

Edited June 26 by Rain

[Rain]

Just finished  Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West.  A little too angsty for me, but I like the multiple sides it showed and how it ended up.  It's all about the drama of helicopter parents, teachers, and kids at a school. 

It was one of the past nominees for the Salt Lake County Library Reader's Choice list which tries to pick books with strong character development.  I'm trying to read quite a few of them as I find they are often good books.

[bluebell]

Just finished Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaur. It’s his first hand account of the 1996 Everest disaster.  If you like this kind of a book, I highly recommend it. 

[Tacenda]

4 hours ago, bluebell said:

Just finished Into Thin Air by Jon Krakaur. It’s his first hand account of the 1996 Everest disaster.  If you like this kind of a book, I highly recommend it. 

I read and saw the movie.

[bluebell]

5 minutes ago, Tacenda said:

I read and saw the movie.

The movie is really good too. I just watched it again after reading the book (again) because it’s fun to compare them. 

[Malc]

I recently finished the Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy, as recommended by my wife.

I really didn't expect to like it, but I was hooked very quickly. Could have done with a lot less of the romance stuff, though.

We're looking to get the trial of Amazon Prime so we can binge-watch the series.

[bsjkki]

I binged through all the Cormoran Strike detective books by Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling. The last two are long but I enjoyed the murder mysteries and how the clues come together in the end.

[Amulek]

Finally read Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It's a fantasy series but not of the orcs and monster variety. I enjoyed it and was able to burn through it pretty quickly. Hopping to drop by Half Price Books to pick up the next in the trilogy later today. 

[bsjkki]

On 7/4/2023 at 7:26 AM, Amulek said:

Finally read Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It's a fantasy series but not of the orcs and monster variety. I enjoyed it and was able to burn through it pretty quickly. Hopping to drop by Half Price Books to pick up the next in the trilogy later today. 

One of my favorites. 

[manol]

I recently finished reading the ten “channeled” books by Paul Selig. His writings were recommended to me by near-death experiencer Natalie Sudman. It took me a while to get past my own preconceived notions and prejudices and order the first book, and when I finally did so, my intention was to give it a fair “Alma Chapter 32” experimental run. That experiment ended up being extended to his subsequent books.

I wanted to finish all of them before deciding whether or not to mention them in this thread just in case there was some red-flag “gotcha!” hidden in there somewhere. Briefly the books' emphasis is on the internals (thoughts) rather than the externals (behaviors), and the approach is experiential as well as theoretical.

The first book has a weird title: “I am the Word.” My understanding is that creation or transformation is enabled as one deliberately focuses one's thoughts into words, though arguably words are just the packaging while the focused spiritual energy is the actual transformational aspect. Transformation occurs over time as the person becomes acclimated or attuned to a higher spiritual level through deliberate and as-consistent-as-they-can choice, such that their default mode (or can-go-to mode) is no longer mucking about in the darkness but rather is presence within the light.

While there is no outward link between Paul Selig's books and the paradigm(s) suggested by near-death experiences, imo the concepts and experientials presented in his books are among the closest approaches I have found (along with A Course in Miracles, which is a considerably more difficult read).

Paul Selig's books aspire to enable the reader to first visit and then abide at a spiritual level arguably analogous to the Celestial Room, though obviously different wording is used. While the reader may at times be challenged, the content is egalitarian and deliberately uplifting; the tone is peaceful and non-judgmental; there is nothing coercive, and no condemnation of anyone nor of anyone else's path.

I have pre-ordered his forthcoming eleventh book.

Edited July 9 by manol

[Rain]

Listened to The Music of Bees and loved it. About a beekeeper who took a couple of young men in and the healing that comes to all of their hearts.

Also finished The Bullet Journal Method. I had heard about bullet journals for a long time and always thought they were journaling like this:

• spoke to mom on the phone

• John, my oldest graduated from high school

• Made chicken soup for dinner

You know, journaling in short, bulleted points

Then a few weeks ago I listened to the creator speak and realized it was much more than that. It is helping you be more "intentional" with what you are doing rather than just have a daily to do.  It helps you really choose what will make life better instead of trying to do it all.  Hard to explain.

So I have been doing a bullet journal for about a week and a half now and have not only been getting more done, but feeling more inspired of what God wants of me (totally not a church book).

 

[bluebell]

3 hours ago, Rain said:

Also finished The Bullet Journal Method. I had heard about bullet journals for a long time and always thought they were journaling like this:

• spoke to mom on the phone

• John, my oldest graduated from high school

• Made chicken soup for dinner

You know, journaling in short, bulleted points

Then a few weeks ago I listened to the creator speak and realized it was much more than that. It is helping you be more "intentional" with what you are doing rather than just have a daily to do.  It helps you really choose what will make life better instead of trying to do it all.  Hard to explain.

So I have been doing a bullet journal for about a week and a half now and have not only been getting more done, but feeling more inspired of what God wants of me (totally not a church book).

 

I'm intrigued.

[Rain]

Finished "Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence--The Groundbreaking Meditation Practice".

Mixed feelings about this.  Loved the concept.  Loved doing the meditation he had in it.  Loved the use of science to show how things worked.

Especially loved one part where he differentiated empathy from compassion - that you need empathy to have compassion, but not not the other way around.  Empathy without compassion causes stress.  Empathy with compassion keeps you at peace.

My struggle was I found it difficult to read.  Some of it was a higher level of language than I usually deal with.  Some of it was all of the science - it even talks about quantum physics! I thought that was great for people who have an easier time with it all, but wished there was some kind of for dummies summary after so many of the sections.

[bluebell]

11 hours ago, Rain said:

Finished "Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence--The Groundbreaking Meditation Practice".

Mixed feelings about this.  Loved the concept.  Loved doing the meditation he had in it.  Loved the use of science to show how things worked.

Especially loved one part where he differentiated empathy from compassion - that you need empathy to have compassion, but not not the other way around.  Empathy without compassion causes stress.  Empathy with compassion keeps you at peace.

My struggle was I found it difficult to read.  Some of it was a higher level of language than I usually deal with.  Some of it was all of the science - it even talks about quantum physics! I thought that was great for people who have an easier time with it all, but wished there was some kind of for dummies summary after so many of the sections.

How does empathy without compassion work?  I'm not sure what that would look like.  All I can think of is that it's when you share the hurt feelings of another person but you don't care, but that doesn't make any sense to me.  And I also don't know how it would cause stress.

[Rain]

21 minutes ago, bluebell said:

How does empathy without compassion work?  I'm not sure what that would look like.  All I can think of is that it's when you share the hurt feelings of another person but you don't care, but that doesn't make any sense to me.  And I also don't know how it would cause stress.

It was a huge, eye opening concept to me and I'm not sure I can explain it well as the book didn't go into depth, but I intuitively understood it.

Sometimes when you feel empathy you don't know what to do with it.  Some people who feel those emotions take them on as their own instead of using it to help the other person. They misunderstand, though probably not intentionally, and think if they take it on it helps the other person.  It doesn't.  It just doubles the trauma in their own lives. 

For whatever reason they don't become compassionate about it - maybe they freeze up because they have excess trauma now.  Maybe they just think, "there is nothing that can be done".  For whatever reason they don't feel the compassion. 

It is so hard to see because compassion is so strongly linked to empathy that it is hard to unlink them.  But it is not a same level link. It is a step up link - that the first step is empathy and the step up is compassion. That's why it was such an eye opening thing to me - the link was so strong that I never even thought that they could be unlinked.  

The book talks about even having an intention to be compassionate helps - reminded me of the Book of Mormon where it says "I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give." That the intention changes something in our brains or minds. 

So some people may feel the empathy and not feel compassion out of self protection, lack of energy,  selfishness, or hopelessness.  

[Tacenda]

24 minutes ago, Rain said:

It was a huge, eye opening concept to me and I'm not sure I can explain it well as the book didn't go into depth, but I intuitively understood it.

Sometimes when you feel empathy you don't know what to do with it.  Some people who feel those emotions take them on as their own instead of using it to help the other person. They misunderstand, though probably not intentionally, and think if they take it on it helps the other person.  It doesn't.  It just doubles the trauma in their own lives. 

For whatever reason they don't become compassionate about it - maybe they freeze up because they have excess trauma now.  Maybe they just think, "there is nothing that can be done".  For whatever reason they don't feel the compassion. 

It is so hard to see because compassion is so strongly linked to empathy that it is hard to unlink them.  But it is not a same level link. It is a step up link - that the first step is empathy and the step up is compassion. That's why it was such an eye opening thing to me - the link was so strong that I never even thought that they could be unlinked.  

The book talks about even having an intention to be compassionate helps - reminded me of the Book of Mormon where it says "I give not because I have not, but if I had I would give." That the intention changes something in our brains or minds. 

So some people may feel the empathy and not feel compassion out of self protection, lack of energy,  selfishness, or hopelessness.  

I like this poem I rounded up just now while looking for one that I used as a VT'g message years ago. Cannot find the one I used but really like this one.

Sympathy says you are weak,

Empathy says roar and you will get support,

Sympathy and Empathy are connected with pathy,

Pathy enlightens the path,

Path of peace,

Path of hope,

Path of love,

Path of scope,

Love Love Everywhere No reason to Hate,

Blessings Blessings Everywhere No reason to Rate 🙂

[Navidad]

On 7/9/2023 at 1:28 PM, Rain said:

Listened to The Music of Bees and loved it. About a beekeeper who took a couple of young men in and the healing that comes to all of their hearts.

Also finished The Bullet Journal Method. I had heard about bullet journals for a long time and always thought they were journaling like this:

• spoke to mom on the phone

• John, my oldest graduated from high school

• Made chicken soup for dinner

You know, journaling in short, bulleted points

Then a few weeks ago I listened to the creator speak and realized it was much more than that. It is helping you be more "intentional" with what you are doing rather than just have a daily to do.  It helps you really choose what will make life better instead of trying to do it all.  Hard to explain.

So I have been doing a bullet journal for about a week and a half now and have not only been getting more done, but feeling more inspired of what God wants of me (totally not a church book).

 

Based on your recommendation, I just ordered my wife the Kindle version of the Music of Bees. She loves all the bees everywhere around our house in her flowers and gardens. Every size and type of bee is here. thanks.

[Rain]

Just finished The Lonely Hearts Book Club. This one just wrapped itself around my heart.  One of my favorite books.

[jkwilliams]

In the middle of the second volume of Michael Burlingame’s “Abraham Lincoln: A Life.”

[Rain]

19 hours ago, jkwilliams said:

In the middle of the second volume of Michael Burlingame’s “Abraham Lincoln: A Life.”

Are you liking it?

[jkwilliams]

1 hour ago, Rain said:

Are you liking it?

Yes, very much. At first I thought it was way too detailed, but you definitely get an understanding of who he was.