The Taco Cleanse: The Tortilla-Based Diet Proven to Change Your Life by Wes Allison

Deciding what to eat for dinner was becoming a drag, but luckily for me, the library has an enormous foodie section. I dug through the cookbook collection and discovered this gem- The Taco Cleanse.

Part satire, part traditional recipes, The Taco Cleanse makes you laugh while you prepare delicious, vegan eats.

From the copyright page: “This book contains the opinions and ideas of its authors, plus large quantities of total BS. Although the recipes are intended to be accurate and tasty, all other content is solely intended to be hilarious.” And it is.

This book isn’t just about the food: “Now, we want to be clear that supplementing- that is, drinking beverages that traditionally accompany tacos- is acceptable as long as you are getting all of your tacos in. Margaritas should be added on an as-needed basis for the top levels of the cleanse, but at Fuego (the highest cleanse level) you should be adding them at least a couple of times a week, working up to every day.” pg 4.

To your health. 🙂

My favorite part was the author’s insistence on Taco Journaling: “One of the most powerful things you can do in your taco journey is taco journaling. Writing down your thoughts during your Taco Cleanse now will be like having a time machine for your future. Future You can go back and see how you’ve changed over time, where you had taco successes and taco failures. … Every time you open your journal, you will feel peace in your heart.” pg 26.

They really nailed the self help tone that is prevalent in most “dietary” cookbooks. It is really very clever and worth the read, even if you’re not planning on trying the recipes.

Speaking of which, I personally plan on trying Minimalist Nacho Cheese pg 128, Infinite Fish Tacos pg 145, Smoked Brisket and Jalapeno Mac and Cheese Tacos pg 149, and the Frito Pie Tacos pg 152. Decadent.

Recommended for people who are experiencing a dinner idea slump or anybody looking for an excuse to drink a margarita (or two).

Thanks for reading and happy taco eating!

The Walking Dead, v. 23: Whispers into Screams by Robert Kirkman

I forgot that I was reading this series and only remembered when there was that huge kerfluffle a couple weeks ago by the people who only watch the television show… something to do with a barbed wire covered bat. Those of us who read the comic had already mourned and moved on. Frankly, I think I put the books aside because I was getting a little tired of this series. But, to be fair, after 22 books… it’s natural for enthusiasms to slow down. Whispers into Screams was a great re-introduction for me into the perpetually dark world of The Walking Dead.

The characters have settled down into one place. Rick drives a cart to collect/deliver supplies and has this awesome hook for a hand. Maggie is running one of the settlements and Carl is hanging out with her and Lydia. What could possibly go wrong now? What indeed. As for the other side characters, there’s minor stuff going on but this comic predominantly deals with the Maggie/Carl side of the equation, which is good, because I had a hard time recalling who was involved or crushing on who.

First of all, that Carl Grimes. We’ve watched him grow, shoot people, take horrific injuries, and now- (view spoiler) As a parent, I’m proud of him. He could have become a monster, but he just turned out to have a bad case of PTSD and, from what he’s been through, who could blame the guy. “Everyone still alive these days knows how dangerous it is out there… and what you have to do to survive. Your people…in your group… however large it is, you’ve been surviving for a while.” pg 72ish. Tell us about it, Carl. There has been some major misbehavior going on. It makes one lament the fact that a mild mannered librarian, like me, would never make it through a zombie apocalypse.

“Childhood was always a myth brought about by the illusion of safety… it was a luxury we could never really afford.” pg 57ish. The Walking Dead has always been bleak, this episode goes just a little bit darker. I wish that something good would happen to these people. We cheer for them, follow them through hell and high water, but it never seems to get any better. Unfortunately, for me, this book ended on such a cliffhanger that I’m going to have to pick up the next one, but I may need a stiff drink to get me through it. Let’s play some more favorite character Russian roulette, shall we? Sigh.

Recommended for graphic novel fans who are in for the long haul or really, really enjoy apocalyptic horror. I may have to warn everyone else to steer clear. The Walking Dead is one of a kind, but sometimes, it is an awfully hard road to walk for the perpetually optimistic reader.

Thanks for reading!

Trance Dancing with the Jinn: The Ancient Art of Contacting Spirits Through Ecstatic Dance by Yasmin Henkesh

I read The Golem and the Jinni a few months ago and realized that I knew next to nothing about the mythology of the Jinn. Not that I’m an expert on golems either, but I had at least been exposed to the idea.

Trance Dancing with the Jinn is a book about kinetic meditation (trance dancing) but it also documents the history of the Jinn as written in the Quran and other sources as well as the biological and historical reasons that humans go into trance.

In addition to the mythology and biology, I learned about how trance dancing at meetings called “zars” is an outlet for women who have very little control over any other aspect their lives in Northern Africa.

The author is clearly a believer in the existence of “the Invisibles” but, if you don’t share the same beliefs, this book still has plenty of fascinating information for those interested in cultural, religious, or feminist studies and ritual dance.

The author asks the reader to have an open mind: “Do you believe in Invisibles or do you consider them an outdated tradition from an ignorant past? What if you had a safe, drug-free way to see for yourself? Would you be curious enough to try it- even though the method takes practice and you probably won’t succeed on your first attempt?” loc 200.

Yeah, I’m down for that.

I don’t think it is that difficult to entertain the idea that there may be intelligences that exist that can’t be perceived in normal states of consciousness.

As Henkesh reminds us: “According to NASA’s website, “Everything on Earth, everything ever observed by all our instruments, all normal matter- adds up to less than 5% of the Universe… The rest is a complete mystery, but an important one. Roughly 68% of the Universe is dark energy, while dark matter makes up about 27%.” This energy and matter are called “dark” because they do not reflect light… or interact with electromagnetic forces. We only know they are there by their effects on gravity…” loc 233, ebook.

Only 5% has been observed- that leaves a whole lot that we haven’t even looked at yet.

Western researchers are still discovering how and why trance works, but they at least acknowledge that it exists: “Neurologist Oliver Sacks once wrote, “Normal waking consciousness, rational consciousness as we call it, is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the flimsiest of screens, live entirely different potential forms of consciousness.” loc 267.

The most fascinating part of this book was the emotional outlet that trance dancing has allowed women for hundreds of years: “… thousands of women in Egypt still turn to the zar when modern medicine fails them. If doctors cannot find the cause of their physical or mental ailments, they assume supernatural forces are involved. … Diagnostic zars can last anywhere from a day in Egypt to a week in Sudan and Ethiopia.” loc 2530-2548

I had never heard of this and looked up some examples of zar/trance dancing on YouTube. Go ahead, take a look:

I can see how such flowing, uninhibited movements would feel therapeutic now, so I can’t imagine the relief I’d feel if I was not allowed to have a job or leave the house without a male by my side. I’d probably be trance dancing non-stop.

Some further reading/listening for those interested in trance: Ecstatic Body Postures: An Alternate Reality Workbook, Seeking Heaven, or Brainwave Journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Llewellyn Publications for a free digital copy of this book! And, thank you for reading.

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Axl and Beatrice are an aging married couple in the time of King Arthur. They’re on a quest to visit their son and face otherworldly threats like ogres and pixies as well as more regular dangers like Saxons on the road. They meet a boy named Edwin, who has a secret, and a warrior named Wistan, who is on a quest of his own.

Making matters even more difficult, there’s a mind-fogging mist covering the land that makes people forget things that just happened to them moments ago and the past is a puzzling blank. Axl and Beatrice would also like to solve the mystery of this mist, but first, they need to remember where their son lives.

This fantasy novel tackles the themes of love, forgiveness, and war- but, be warned, this is a ‘love it or hate it’ kind of read and will not appeal to everyone.

This is the first book I’ve read by Ishiguro and my feelings about it are complicated.

At first, I hated it because of the plodding pace and the fact that, although the author hinted at plenty of magical creatures and cryptic places, he didn’t do anything with them. But then, Ishiguro layered the themes on each other and brought the novel to a conclusion that I can’t stop thinking about… so I’m torn.

Depending on where I was in the book, this was either a one star or a five star- so I’m going to come down right in the middle with three.

The mist is so pervasive throughout this story that it almost a character all of its own: “It’s queer the way the world’s forgetting people and things from only yesterday and the day before that. Like a sickness come over us all.” … She had said this while looking away into the mist-layered distance, but now she looked straight at him and he could see her eyes were filled with sadness and yearning.”pg 21, ebook.

A life lived without memories makes day-to-day living more simple, but remembering and appreciating the good times, almost impossible.

Throughout this story, I was cheering for Axl and Beatrice to remember their shared past. They’re my favorite characters in this tale.

“Yet are you so certain, good mistress, you wish to be free of this mist? Is it not better some things remain hidden from our minds?” “It may be so for some, father, but not for us. Axl and I wish to have again the happy moments we shared together. To be robbed of them is as if a thief came in the night and took what’s most precious from us.” pg 113, ebook

Wistan is a Saxon warrior beyond compare, but he does not love Britons: “It was Britons under Arthur slaughtered our kind. … We’ve a duty to hate every man, woman and child of their blood. So promise me this. Should I fall before I pass to you my skills, promise me you’ll tend well this hatred in your heart. And should it ever flicker or threaten to die, shield it with care till the flame takes hold again.”pg 172, ebook.

Despite his efforts to remain detached, he develops a soft spot for Axl and Beatrice (Britons). Perhaps if he didn’t label people under blanket terms like “Britons” then he’d feel more kindly disposed towards them. Blind hate softens when you get to know someone and understand who they are. I think that is part of Ishiguro’s point… maybe.

There were plenty of confusing moments in The Buried Giant for me.

What’s with the old lady slaughtering small animals in that ruin? What’s with the island where people go to live entirely by themselves? (Metaphor for death or a trip to fairyland?) What’s with Edwin’s memories? Or the priests who feed themselves to the vicious birds for things they can’t remember?

Or that ending? (Geez, that ending!)

I can see how this would make an excellent book club choice because there is so much that can be interpreted different ways and discussed.

Picking read alikes for this novel was tricky because the tone, pacing, and complexity of this book is so unique.

The Last Unicorn is a fairy tale with layers, like this read, but for young adults. Mythago Wood might be another solid choice, but it takes place in the modern era rather than the distant past. Or you could try: Suldrun’s Garden. I read that a long time ago and didn’t like it much, but it is a classic fantasy book set close to the same time as The Buried Giant.

Thanks for reading!

Dying to Wake Up: A Doctor’s Voyage into the Afterlife and the Wisdom He Brought Back by Rajiv Parti

Rajiv Parti was living a materialistic dream with the house, car, and beautiful wife to prove it. But, the many things in his life didn’t bring him comfort when he developed prostate cancer and a bunch of unfortunate side effects from the surgery to remove it.

Addicted to pain pills and disconnected from the people around him, Dr. Parti underwent emergency surgery and experienced something so incredible, that when he woke up, he completely changed his life, developed a new form of holistic health treatment, and gave up many of the possessions that were weighing him down.

This is the memoir about that experience and Dr. Parti shares it in the hopes that it will change the reader’s life or at least bring comfort to those who are struggling in their current life experience.

Like many of the other memoirs I’ve read by medical professionals, Dr. Parti talks about the completely scientific view he had of the soul, which is to say, if you couldn’t see it and measure it, then it doesn’t exist.

Also, working on the technological edge of medical breakthroughs in the treatment of various diseases, had given him an invincible feeling.

This experience blew that attitude away: “Feeling like a master of the universe is easy in the world of modern medicine. … Maybe it’s a sense of cheating death for others that gives us cardiac surgical teams the vague feeling that we can overcome our own death. Of course that isn’t true. … Reality popped that myth for me.” pg 10

In his near death experience, Dr. Parti not only encountered his father, but also a huge crowd of his ancestors.

They shared messages of forgiveness and love: “Love is the most important thing there is, my grandfather communicated to me. I am glad to let you know that simple truth while you can still make change in your earthly life.” pg 44

But his time on the other side wasn’t all light and love, Dr. Parti also had the (fairly rare) experience of seeing hell and the suffering souls within it.

This is entirely my opinion, but I think that the detached manner in which Dr. Parti was living his life brought forth a major wake-up call from the spirit world. He saw hell first and then heaven and, in a way, that could be a metaphor for his life experience.

I don’t believe in “hell” myself other than the nightmare that people can create in their own minds and lives, but, I didn’t experience it like Dr. Parti did. This memoir does not focus on the hell portion of the narrative, but, with the rarity of that experience, it could have. That, in itself, says something.

When Dr. Parti “comes back”, he knows that he wants to start a new life and a new focus, but he doesn’t know how.

The information for developing a new type of medicine comes to him slowly during meditation: “What is (the new mode of healing) anyway?” “…It is how nonpharmacological treatments in combination with drugs can heal things like depression and addiction and other diseases. It’s about searching one’s own soul to fight back against the hollowness that pharmaceuticals alone or alcohol and illegal drugs create or don’t really fill.”pg 91.

He eventually develops meditations and lifestyle changes as well as a manifesto for treatment.

To me, the most fascinating part of this memoir was the communication between himself and the spirit world once he was back.

For readers who are unfamiliar with near death experiences, Dr. Parti provides a broad background with some of the major historical figures who went through it.

Like Jung: “(Carl) Jung’s NDE led to a split with Sigmund Freud, who believed that spiritual experiences were fantasies. Jung, however, considered spirituality an important part of our well-being saying that life has purpose beyond material goals and that our main task, the path we should all be on, is the one that leads to our own connection with the universe.” pg 124

Ultimately uplifting and empowering, Dying to Wake Up is another excellent entry into the literature about near death experiences.

Recommended for anyone who questions why we are here or what comes after. Some further reading: Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart, Dying to Be Me: My Journey from Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing, or Wisdom of Near-Death Experiences

Thanks for reading!

The Space Within: Finding Your Way Back Home by Michael Neill

No matter how many books I read on meditation, I always seem to learn something new when I pick another one up.

The Space Within is one of the more excellent books that I’ve discovered- not pushing any particular way of being, just quietly encouraging the reader to go within and embrace what’s there.

On separating our consciousness from the universal energy that surrounds it, Neill compares the mind to a book and I’m sure most Goodreads users, like me, could easily connect with the metaphor:“Think of ‘quiet’ not as an absence of thought but as the space inside which the noise of your thinking arises. What makes this tricky, at least to begin with, is that at first glimpse the noise is more interesting than the quiet …look at the white background of this page. Chances are you can still see the words, and even read them, but without noticing it, at some point you will once again become absorbed in the words and stop seeing the white of the page.” loc 192, ebook.

Why bother to meditate? : “There is a space within you where you are already perfect, whole, and complete. It is a space of pure Consciousness- the space inside which all thoughts come and go. When you rest in the feeling of this space, the warmth of it heals your mind and body. When you operate from the infinite creative potential of this space, you produce high levels of performance and creative flow.” loc 207

And more, promises Neill. I’ve meditated for many years and I’ve experienced some extraordinary things. It wasn’t always easy and it didn’t happen all at once, but I can say, from personal experience, that this particular claim is absolutely true.

Photo by Samuel Theo Manat Silitonga on Pexels.com

Thoughts are incredibly powerful things. I think we forget just how life changing your personal perspective can be: “… we live in a world of unrecognized thought. Thought is the architect of both hope and despair, the source of every color in the emotional rainbow. … But unrecognized thought demands our attention and fills our consciousness. And when we get caught up in thought, we lose our way.” loc 324, ebook.

And also: “We live in a world of thought, but we think we live in a world of external experience. The mind is not a camera, it’s a projector. We can’t tell the difference between an imagined experience ‘in here’ and what’s going on ‘out there’- and that confusion creates a lot of confusion.” loc 375, ebook.

You create your own reality- but it’s easy to forget that and blame other people for your circumstances.

When I read this next passage, I thought of How The Secret Changed My Life and the incredible importance that people placed on feeling good.

Neill points out that it isn’t anything to get wound up about: “There’s no such thing as a solution to a feeling. Because we don’t recognize this fact, we spend huge chunks of our time and energy trying to ‘solve’ our feelings by changing them to ‘better’ ones or eliminating them altogether. … When it’s okay to feel good when you feel good and bad when you feel bad, recognizing that as thoughts change, the feelings change with them, there’s no need to prefer one feeling over another, let alone attempt to fix it. And when you really see that for yourself, you being to experience more of the deeper feelings that make life worth living.” loc 457, ebook.

This is a great place to start if you’re just learning about meditation/mindfulness but it’s also appropriate for more experienced practitioners- if you breathe or think, you could probably learn something from this book. Some suggestions for further reading: Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom, Meditations for Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, or Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hay House Publishing for a digital copy of this book! And, thank you for reading.

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee

At first, I thought that Zeroboxer was just Rocky in space, but as the story developed, I realized that it was more than that. Zeroboxer is also an examination of genetic ethics and, like most science fiction, poses some serious ‘what if’s. What if humanity begins to settle the universe- will they divide themselves into different races depending upon their planet of origins? What if the settlers develop their own system of government- how will humankind negotiate the potentially choppy waters of intergalactic politics? What if humanity could use gene therapy not just to eliminate disease but also to create a sort of super human? Fonda Lee has imagined a future filled with flawed but well-meaning people that feels very similar to our own and is, perhaps, not as far into the future as one may imagine.

The style of boxing in this story incorporates mixed martial arts with the added hiccup of no gravity: “To inflict any bare-handed damage to a person in zero gravity, you had to establish a brace or a point of leverage- preferably a vulnerable part of your opponent’s body- to keep them from floating away while you hurt them. Or you had to treat space itself as a weapon, using the infinite angles of movement to strike and rebound, strike and rebound, faster and harder than the other guy.” pg 13, ebook. Fans of MMA may enjoy this story more than I did- I don’t particularly care for violence but it was never too graphic or more than I could handle.

The colonists who settled on Mars (the Martians) embraced zero gravity sports while the people who stayed behind on Earth (the Terrans) didn’t. Luka, the main character in this story, is from Earth and he’s part of a group that is trying to popularize the sport on Earth- with mixed success: “I left Mars twenty-five year ago, saying I was going to grow the sport with the Terrans. I was practically laughed off the Red Planet. All the best zeroboxers in the Martian system… you know what they said to me? ‘Everyone on the old planet is a planet rat. The most daring and inventive Terrans left generations ago to build Mars and the other settlements. Why would a place with countless gravity-dependent sports want anything different?” pg 27, ebook.

The story becomes even more complicated because the Martians have accepted gene therapy as a way to improve and expand their race, while the Terrans only use it to keep children from developing poor eye sight or asthma. The Martian fighters are so dominant at the sport because not only were they born into a world that encouraged zero gravity sports, but also they were partially engineered to be that way. When the boxers from Earth face the boxers from Mars, it is more than planet vs planet- it is also a match up of nature vs science.

Luka doesn’t want to consider the complexities of it all and just wants to fight: “Two guys go into a Cube. They fight. One of them beats the other. How much simpler can it be? People don’t have to make it more than it is.” pg 176, ebook. Will Luka get his wish?

This book should appeal to fans of Ender’s Game or Red Rising (which is a much more adult examination of these themes). Thanks for reading!

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady’s Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill

Unmentionable made me truly appreciate how good I have it compared to my female ancestors.

This clever little book examines the gross, disturbing, and, at times, hilarious “unmentionable” facets of a Victorian woman’s life and also, their powerlessness in society when compared to their male counterparts.

The women’s rights portion sounds grim, but Oneill’s writing keeps it light. I learned so much and was entertained too.

For example, I don’t consider modern cities to be very clean, but Oneill explains in her book, that they are shining examples of cleanliness compared to what came before: Some would argue that the nineteenth century was one of the filthiest times in all of Western history, particularly in any urban, developed area. … Ankle deep in filth, I said, but forgive me, I was inaccurate. You will wish the filth terminated at your ankles. Foulness is everywhere. Grime and rot cling to the very air, the buildings, the people; even the soap is made out of lard and poison.” pg 20, ebook.

All that dirt, but bathing was considered bad for your health and even, depending upon your religious upbringing, immoral! I’ve never read a historical fiction that describes the foul stench of the streets or the crowd upon it… now, I know better. Thanks Unmentionable!

Make up and other personal care products used to be either oily goop or filled with poisonous substances that could kill you or permanently wreck your face.

With this in mind, Oneill gives us a new take on the story of Jezebel: “She painted her face, and tired her head [fixed her hair], and looked out at a window.” “Some think this means Jezebel planned to seduce her way out of this problem; others think she was facing death with composure and dignity. At any rate, her eunuchs saw that they were on the wrong team and shoved her out the aforementioned window, and dogs ate her face. Which reinforces the assumption that her face was coated in sinfully delicious animal fat.” pgs 67-68, ebook.

Because women really had no other choice, being the ideal wife and mother was no laughing matter: “Your only job now that you are a nineteenth-century wife is to do everything within your power during every waking moment to make his life so sweet and full that he will literally dread the glory of Christ’s return, if only because it will mean parting from your secret strudel recipe and the unmatched craftsmanship of your trouser hemstitch.” pg 130, ebook.

So, unreasonable expectations of perfection abounded at home.

Women, especially single, unmarried ones, weren’t supposed to go anywhere alone: “Etiquette for Ladies reminds us that no woman has any business being alone in a museum, a library, or any other such den of unwholesomeness. Wherever you are going, your behavior once you arrive should remain every bit as self-aware-but-pretending-not-to-be as when you were in transit.”pg 165, ebook.

The library is a “den of unwholesomeness”… ha!

But the worst of the era, in my opinion, was the medical community’s attitude towards women. At that time, we hadn’t figured out how the female body worked and didn’t connect the idea that people need intellectual stimulation and purpose for a life well lived.

That lead to the lumping of every female complaint under the title, “Hysteria”: “First I would like to tell you what hysteria actually was. Which is incredibly difficult. Because the only honest definition I can give you is “a misdiagnosis.” Epilepsy, diabetic shock, neural disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, postpartum depression, and bipolar disorders do not necessarily cause similar symptoms, but they were all commonly diagnosed as hysteria.” pg 173, ebook. So, pretty much, everything then.

Oneill reminds the reader that many of the rights, and indoor plumbing, and personal care products that we enjoy today are because of the demands for a better life by women who lived during the Victorian era.

I am so very grateful and humbled for their contributions to society and the sufferings that they endured so that their children’s children’s children would have it better. Some further (non-humorous) reading: Spinster: Making a Life of One’s Own or Artemis: The Indomitable Spirit in Everywoman.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for a digital copy of this book & thanks for reading!

Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm and Focused All Day Long by Jeffrey Brantley, Wendy-O Matik, Wendy Millstine

Things have been stressful in my neck of the woods, so I picked up Five Good Minutes to help me cope.

I’m in the fourth month of having my house on the market and my husband has been looking for employment for over a year. Yeah, I’m feeling it…

Five Good Minutes is simple enough for beginners to the mindfulness/meditation practice and filled to the brim with suggestions for ways to focus in the morning and get your day off on the right foot.

The best part of this book is that there is something for everyone- it is that broad. The techniques that it uses varies from visualizations to mindfully drinking your morning cuppa.

The worst part of the book is that, because it covers so much, that it doesn’t really talk about anything in depth. If you’re looking for detailed methods of meditation and relaxation, this is not the book for you.

Why the focus on early in the day?: “The morning is the best time to break away from old habits of thinking and feeling and to set a new direction for yourself and how you will be in your day. Any exercise in this book- done in the morning- has the power to impact greatly on your experience throughout the day, if you allow it!“

Personally, I’ve found that I’m at my best in the mornings- well, once I blink the sleep out of my eyes. My mind is clearer and I can focus for longer periods of time.

But, if you’re more an afternoon/evening type person, don’t let the title of this book stop you. I think that these practices could be beneficial at any time of the day.

My favorites were- the Five-Fingered Peace pg 32: In which you use your hands almost as a rosary and remember awesome things that have happened to you.

Freedom from Tension pg 58: In which you scan your body and focus your relaxation on the stressed out bits.

Photo by Alexandr Podvalny on Pexels.com

Your First Sip of Tea pg 94: or coffee, for me. Take your time and mindfully drink your morning pick-me-up.

A Shot of Faith pg 186: You use visualization to picture a problem turning out perfectly.

And finally, Cultivate Gratitude pg 206: “This practice invites you to turn toward the good in your life and to express gratitude as recognition grows.”.

If none of those spoke to you, there are 95 others for you to choose from.

Recommended for stressed out people everywhere and those who are interested in bringing a bit of mindfulness or meditation to their day but don’t know where to start. Some further reading: Thank & Grow Rich: A 30-Day Experiment in Shameless Gratitude and Unabashed Joy, Meditations for Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, or 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works. Peace and thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

The Walking Dead, v. 23: Whispers into Screams by Robert Kirkman

Trance Dancing with the Jinn: The Ancient Art of Contacting Spirits Through Ecstatic Dance by Yasmin Henkesh

The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro

Dying to Wake Up: A Doctor’s Voyage into the Afterlife and the Wisdom He Brought Back by Rajiv Parti

The Space Within: Finding Your Way Back Home by Michael Neill

Zeroboxer by Fonda Lee

Five Good Minutes: 100 Morning Practices to Help You Stay Calm and Focused All Day Long by Jeffrey Brantley, Wendy-O Matik, Wendy Millstine

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