S. Lee Spelbring's Blog, page 7
September 16, 2020
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
The Forgotten Door by Alexander Key
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This has to be a book that was my mother’s, it’s from the 60s. The pages are very crispy and brown now. I had to be careful while reading it.
This is a story that was born of the age of Science Fiction. A boy from another world falls through a forgotten door into our world of the 60s. The basic plot is the boy trying to get home and the family that tries to help him. Of course, not everything goes well as the community suddenly becomes very suspicious thanks to a few rotten apples.
I really liked the idea of reading an early example of science fiction, and this was an interesting one, even though it didn’t really depict our world in a favorable light.
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September 9, 2020
Garfield at Large: His First Book by Jim Davis
Garfield at Large: His First Book by Jim Davis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is the original Garfield, and for long time fans you’ll know that he looked different in the early days and that Odie wasn’t always around.
It’s true! Garfield was a bit more chunky, and far lazier as there was no Odie to amuse himself with. He still loved lasagna and sleeping. This tells the story of how Odie ended up living with Jon and Garfield, and of Garfield’s beginnings.
I bought this back in high school, and have reread it a few times. I don’t tend to collect comic book collections, but this one is rather special.
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September 2, 2020
Stories of Fairies, Elves, and Little People by Francine L. Trevens
Stories of Fairies, Elves, and Little People by Francine L. Trevens
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a book from my childhood that I do not remember at all. I know it’s mine since my mother wrote my name in the cover, but I have no memory of this book. So reading this time around was a whole new experience.
These are stories about forest folk, that explain why you never see one, why they live in forests, and what they like to do with their time. There are a few wholesome stories, like “there’s no place like home” stories and such too.
This is a book that I would love to read to my children. There are illustrations of the fairies, and all of the characters are just too sweet. I’m glad I found this book and that it is mine.
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June 6, 2020
Relax, You’re Going to Die by Tai Sheridan
Relax, You’re Going to Die by Tai Sheridan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
If you’ve been following my reviews of Tai Sheridan, this is the third of his little ebooks, and for once I believe I’ve read something in order!
Buddha in Blue Jeans tackles the concept of sitting quietly with yourself, followed by Secrets of True Happiness, which I believe if you sit quietly enough you’ll start to contemplate what true happiness actually means. Beyond that is the concept of life and death, which is what this book tackles.
In another series of chapter-like poems ( I think I have it right this time!) he walks through the connection between life and death, while we are living we are also dying, and touches every so slightly on the role that religion plays in life and death.
Buddhists believe in reincarnation, so there is a whisper of that within the poems, but there is also nature, our ego, and even the universe and cosmos to consider. There are many things going on with our dance from life to death to consider, and this little ebook takes you there.
June 3, 2020
Secrets of True Happiness by Tai Sheridan
Secrets of True Happiness by Tai Sheridan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Another, very short, ebook from the Buddhist author, Tai Sheridan. This one is a little less straight forward than the other book, Sitting Quietly. This is one is more about our outlook onto the world rather than just sitting in it.
Again, with short, poem-like chapters, the author works through some of our greatest fears (death, fear, anger) and puts forth experiencing aliveness and big love into ourselves in order to become truly happy. He also has a short verse on the cyclical nature of “wanting”.
To me, it feels like this book is a step beyond Sitting Quietly, a deeper dive into our thoughts and nature to find deeper meaning and emotion. Or it could be just an interesting little ebook to get you thinking again about life and the meaning of the universe.
May 30, 2020
Buddha in Blue Jeans by Tai Sheridan
Buddha in Blue Jeans: An Extremely Short Simple Zen Guide to Sitting Quietly and Being Buddha by Tai Sheridan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The title is aptly descriptive, it is a short ebook. I think I read it in 15 minutes, but that’s not really the point of this book. This book is a lesson in sitting quietly with yourself, which is something many of us humans have trouble doing, myself included.
This book is separated into tiny, poem-like chapters, the first one essentially explaining the basics of sitting quietly. The rest of the chapters help you work through what happens when you sit quietly, what to do with those pesky emotions, a wandering mind, and existential crises.
It’s written by a Buddhist, but it is written in such a way as to be appropriate for all religions or lack thereof. Anyone could benefit from this and that’s essentially why the author wrote it!
May 27, 2020
Put the Cat in the Oven Before You Describe the Kitchen by Jake Vander-Ark
Put the Cat In the Oven Before You Describe the Kitchen: A Concise, No-Bull Guide To Writing Fiction by Jake Vander-Ark
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I wouldn’t really call this a guide to writing, but I would call it a worthy read. The author puts forth some “rules” to writing, some basic, some more advanced. Most of the rules you’ll find in other writing books. I’ll give an example.
The first “rule” is: Show, don’t tell. Which is a universal tip for writing better. Showing your audience something is always more exciting than just having a character rattle off a monologue about his/her life. It goes on from there, with a few book recommendations and references to the author’s own work.
I also want to say, that it seems almost every author so far writes a book about writing to help promote their work. Just an observation here. It’s a pretty good book though, short and to the point, without a lot of self-promotion (it doesn’t go overboard).
May 23, 2020
Wonder Woman by Nancy Holder
Wonder Woman: The Official Movie Novelization by Nancy Holder
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I have not watched the movie that this book is based on. Just so we’re clear where I’m starting from. Also, have not watched any other Wonder Woman movie or read any other book. In general you could say I’ve not had any exposure to Wonder Woman or her story. Now that that is out of the way…
I’m a super fan of Greek Mythology, and am interested in Wonder Woman’s backstory more than what she’s doing now. I don’t have to hand the story of Zeus and the Amazons, but I love the connection and origins.
It seems a little too neat that she surfaces during WWII. I guess I’m a little biased here because Captain America surfaced during WWII as well and having two superheroes being “born” at that time is just a little too coincidental and well, easy.
Apart from that, I do appreciate her attitude towards the humans. She’s a no nonsense lady. However, why do we need a love scene between her and Steve Trevor? It adds nothing to the story.
Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised enough that I may have to watch the movie now.
May 20, 2020
Weekend Readathon for May 2020
What is a Readathon?
I found a topic on Goodreads that answered this question really well:
A readathon, for those of you that might be confused, is an event, usually with a time limit, where you set a certain goal you would like to reach. The goal of readathons is to help you read more during that time period than you would any other time.
For me it simply worked better to try a readathon on one of weekends off from work. A time to relax and be myself surround by my books. I didn’t have a complete goal in mind, mostly because I’ve never tried to do a readathon before and wasn’t sure what I would be able to accomplish. I guess you could say I had the basic goal of try my best and see where I end up.
SATURDAY:
I finished reading Wonder Woman by Nancy Holder throughout the morning and afternoon. I had started reading it previously, but had only read through the first chapter before setting it aside. It started pouring down rain by the afternoon, so I made myself a cuppa tea and sat by my bay window for the added ambiance.
That evening I picked up Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes and read until it was too dark for me to see anymore. Leviathan is a difficult read and any little bit I can get in is tremendous progress.
SUNDAY:
I was a bit lazy on Sunday, meaning I slept in and watching a bit of YouTube before rousing myself for more activity. Which means I didn’t get to reading until the afternoon where I read through Put the Cat in the Oven Before You Describe the Kitchen by Jake Vander-Ark, and three ebooks by Tai Sheridan: Buddha in Blue Jeans, Secrets of True Happiness, and Relax, You’re Going to Die. I finished with another round from Leviathan, until is was time for supper.
RESULTS:
I rather enjoyed myself. Usually I just read during my breaks at work, or sometimes in the mornings when I’m not ready to be productive just yet. I never just decide that I’ll go read for an hour.
This weekend showed me that I am capable of making a good size dent in my TBR pile. I read a total of 5 complete books (even though 4 were short ebooks they still count!) and made progress on the monster of a book I’m still trying get through, Leviathan.
I have a feeling that I’ll be doing this again when next I get day or two off from work, and the housework isn’t piling up!
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What about you? Have you tried a readathon before? Do you set aside a specific time to read? Let me know about it in the comments!
May 16, 2020
Movie Mondays Moved
It took me a long time to decide to add movies to this blog, and it took me almost the same amount of time to realize that it wasn’t the right move for me.
What essentially has happened is that Movie Mondays has grown into its own project, something that is bigger and broader than what Movie Monday was originally supposed to be. I am okay with this, but also know that because of this Movie Monday now needs its own space, its own home, its own blog.
This post is not meant to be a self-promotion for another blog, but an update to let you all know what’s going on, and why there will be no more Movie Mondays. For those of you that liked the movie reviews, please know that I have refined the formatting of those posts to give better information and have a better flow.
Movie reviews are now over at 365 Movies which is also hosted by WordPress, so not much has changed except for the blog address.
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Now that I have this sorted out and separated, this blog will continue to post book reviews and book related posts on its original schedule of Wednesday and Sunday. I have many, many ideas for more book related posts and I am still reading when I get the time.
If you are wondering, the hiccup in my posting schedule is due in part to the current world pandemic (I am a healthcare worker and it did turn my world sideways) and in part to the generalities of life. But, be assured that I still enjoy updating this blog and my new movie blog too!
Also, in case you were wondering why you can’t find previous Movie Monday posts on this blog, its because I transferred them over the movie blog so they can all live together as happy little family over there.
I’m pretty sure that’s all the updates I needed to give, but if you have any questions even if it wasn’t something I covered with this blog post, please do leave them in the comments and I will do my best to answer them. And as always, keep reading little book worms!
