Carole's Sunday review: A fistful of love

Author: Om Swami

Title: A Fistful of Love

Genre: Nonfiction, Humor, & Philosophy

Pages: ebook

Published: Feb 2016

Where I Got It: My shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

Wisdom and Humour from a Monk's Bowl A man was sitting with his friends in a local inn. After a couple of drinks, he asked his friends, "Do you love me?" "Of course, we do," they replied. "So do you know what I need?" No one answered. "If you don't know what I need then how can you say you love me?" To love and to be loved is the most basic human need. No wonder we are attracted to people who give us attention, care about us, and love us. Yet, love also remains the greatest challenge in most relationships. Why? A Fistful of Love is a collection of insightful, thought-provoking nuggets of wisdom appreciated by millions around the world. This book is full of humour and narratives most beautifully woven into learnings of life that will make you stop and think. A must read. Om Swami is a mystic living in the Himalayan foothills. He has a bachelor's degree in business and an MBA from Sydney, Australia. Prior to renunciation, he founded and ran a multi-million dollar software company successfully. 

Not sure why but I really love books like this. I love looking at life through another's eyes. I love learning about other people's philosophy and view on life and everything in it. This was a no-brainer for me to pick up and read. 

I am so glad I read this. This was awesome and I loved it! Lots of wisdom, but it had humor too which made me really like the author. The author seems so wise but also so down-to-earth that the words on the page really struck a chord with me. 

I soaked this book up and all of the pages. The author was honest and made amazing points. Sure there were a couple of points where I had my own opinion and might not change my viewpoint, but it gave me a chance to see something different. 

I think the quote that really struck me was: 

"Life does not know what you want. It only sees what you do. And even if it could understand what you want from it, it is too unattached, too wise, to take you seriously. Have you ever noticed how a split second flies? This is the life we dearly hold, protect, cherish, and cling to for decades."

Life waits for no one.

The little anecdotes made the points really shine. Also, I really think the format and organization of the book made it better. 

In the end, this was a wonderful book. I really connected with this book on a lot of levels and just reading it gave me a sense of calm. The sprinkles of humor made this even better. In a way it symbolized how you should live your life....yes, take it seriously but you need to have some laughs and good stories too. Highly recommended. This gets the shiny 5 star stamp. 

Carole's Saturday Review: A Minger's tale

Author:  R.B.N. Bookmark 

Title: A Minger's Tale: Beginnings

Genre: Autobiography, Nonfiction, & humor

Pages: ebook

Expected publication: March 2016

Where I Got It: My Shelf (Given to me by the author/publisher for my honest and unbiased opinion)

If only he knew where God lived, he would urinate in his letterbox! Growing up is a difficult time in the life of Ribban Bookmark, this book traces his journey down a Minger Highway, signposted with humour and littered with roadkill oneliners.

I really had no idea what I was getting into when I picked this book up. I wasn’t even sure what the title meant, so this was bound to be interesting. And interesting it was. 

The story follows Ribban and his journey to adulthood. Each chapter centered on certain themes such as “Childhood” and etc. I liked the setup, it was okay and easy to follow. I think it would’ve flowed better if it was in chronical order. There was a lot of time jumping between stories. BUT the format still worked and it was easy to follow. 

Ribban was a little snot! Which was funny! He had me laughing at his antics and rude ways. There were some times that he really wasn’t being a jerk, but it still came back and made him look bad. Like the scene with the priest in the confessional. Poor Ribban! LOL He said he “hid” from his mom, but the priest heard “hit”. Sounds like something that would happen to me. But scenes like those were the funniest. 

There were some unrealistic scenes, but hey…weird things happen to people. They were fun to read. 

I do wish some of the scenes were more played out because I wanted to read on and see what happened next. There were some strands of stories I feel were left unfinished. Maybe it was done intentionally? 

Now, this is a funny book. However, if you are easily offended, then this is not the book for you. I point this out because I read one review where they were all a fluster about the offensive jokes and scenes and blah blah blah. A lot of this is British humor and they are not as sensitive over there. There are British terms not used here in the States (just Fyi). With humor like this, you need to not be sensitive or easily offended. I thought it was hilarious myself. Anyways…I digress….

I wish I could say more, but there are a lot of spoilers that I don’t want to give way. 

Overall, this was an interesting and funny book. It certainly was different and the character was fun to follow. I do encourage people like a humorous book to give this a shot. People who are easy to offend should avoid this. Out of five stars, I’ll give this 4.  

Sunday Discussion: Nothing to Envy - Barbara Demick

First book of the year! *cheers* We will be discussing 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick. We've changed the format a hair. Blodeuedd is in blue and Carole is in red/brown.

Author: Barbara Demick

Title:Nothing to Envy

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: ebook

First Published: December 29th 2009

Where I Got It: On my Shelf (Amazon)

Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick follows the lives of six North Korean citizens over fifteen years--a chaotic period that saw the death of Kim Il-sung, the rise to power of his son Kim Jong-il, and a devastating famine that killed one-fifth of the population. Demick brings to life what it means to be living under the most repressive totalitarian regime today--an Orwellian world that is by choice not connected to the Internet, where displays of affection are punished, informants are rewarded, and an offhand remark can send a person to the gulag for life. Demick takes us deep inside the country, beyond the reach of government censors, and through meticulous and sensitive reporting, we see her subjects fall in love, raise families, nurture ambitions, and struggle for survival. One by one, we witness their profound, life-altering disillusionment with the government and their realization that, rather than providing them with lives of abundance, their country has betrayed them.

Let us begin.

Yes, let us begin….first I want to say that poor North Koreans!! The ending was hopeful-ish that many are realizing that things are not that great, but they still have to pretend to live.

I found it sad, since this book was written a few years ago and they had hope then that their country would change. But, they will surely all be dead before then :/

Super sad. I just can’t even imagine living there.

The sad part is not even the camps, the starvation, or the fear of being ratted out by a neighbor. The scary part is how people believed because they are being brainwashed since birth. Every freaking person. That is just messed up. Our glorious leader will save us. HA, your glorious leader is eating great food and driving around in a fancy car and living in a mansion.

Agreed. The brainwashing is the scariest part. It happens everywhere though and that is even more scary. Luckily in “free” countries we do have those that use their brain and don’t let the brainwashing happen. However, in North Korea they have to believe in the lies in order to survive. It’s so tragic. :/

The part that hit me was when the doctor escaped to China and saw a bowl of rice just sitting there, and then she realized that all those things she had heard were wrong. The rest of the world was not a hellhole. Instead dogs ate better than people in North Korea :/

That got me too. All the moments of the characters when they realized, “Crap...this place is crap and I gotta get outta here.” Hit me hard, because it’s hard to leave.

Yes, all those moments were tough one. They realized this was hell, they were told the rest of the world is crap, but no other choice than to actually go and take a look. So they did.

I think my favorite story was the doctor’s. I felt so bad for her with all those sick kids. I wouldn’t be able to handle it, because there is zero you can do.

I liked the lovers too cos they were so caught up in their own world, and the woman who believed, but then she realised she had to survive, and to survive, she had to change. She made a real change in her life.

Yes, they were all good. I do wish I didn’t read chapter one, because I feel it was more like a prologue and it gave away the ending to the lovers, so I wasn’t that into them because I knew it was going to break my heart.

That is why prologues suck. I do wish it had been about one person so we could have looked deep or whatever. But at the same time I liked that it was about different people from different background who all came to leave that forsaken land.

I go back and forth about how I feel. I liked having different views during the same time period and how things impacted them. However, like you, I do feel like I would’ve liked a more in depth background of a character.

In-depth would have been good. I am not saying this was an awesome story. BUT, it was an interesting book about life in a miserable country. And I wanted to know what happened.

Very interesting and I learned a few things. I think my biggest issue was that it felt like a history book. Yes, yes, it is a nonfiction, but the writing was lackluster in my opinion. I felt like I was reading this for a class in some instances.

Sorry journalists, but it did feel like a newspaper article, and that was what it had been. She did not write as maybe an author would have. She writes well, but not ...compelling? Hmm, dunno what it was. I have only read one NK book before and that was one actually not as good, it felt like a YA book. It did not touch on what people did to survive, it touched no bad things. It was too clean. Here we saw the bodies in the streets. I felt this one was more real in that aspect.

You could tell this was written by a journalist. Interesting, lots of information, you get the facts, and it makes you think/feel. However, it wasn’t compelling and pretty. No pretty words or anything like that.

At least I feel it was one of the better ones I have chosen lately ;) Cos I did read it in almost a day.. It is a fascinating country. And an evil one.

Hahaha it was for sure worth the read. I read it in a couple of sittings. I do encourage others to read this. You know what scares me? How people predict North Korea will crumble and fall apart in X amount of years and they still haven’t. They still keep going and surviving. I wonder if they will ever crumble and those people can finally be free.

Everyone is just so scared so even when things are bad, they go on, they die. As long as the Leader is there, I fear it will not fall. It would take a drastic regime change.

This book also made me think how people can be so taken by a leader, and even though he has flaws, they do not see them.

It’s sad and scary. You can see that even in the modern world too. People are so easily fooled.

There are so many silly things, like how he invented hamburgers, how he is a god. How his dad would risen from the dead if they just believed hard enough. That is brainwashing for sure. Something about a unicorn too, sigh.

LOL yeah there are so many things that they actually believe in. I just don’t get it myself. I do want to read more and try to understand.

So, we can agree it was good with a nonfic for once then? :) I do also say that if not this one, then others should really read something set in North Korea.

Yes! It was also a good shake-up to our normal discussions. And yes, people should read a book like this set in North Korea. It truly made me appreciate the things we have.

Like food! Or that I can say that my own government sucks without being sent to a camp. Oh and my government does suck ;)

OMG yes food. I can’t even imagine….that is not how I would want to go. Oh! Please. My government is WAY worse now ;)

But still not as bad as North Korea...yet.

Oh gods, both of our governments are way better than that. If we were in North Korea just saying what we just said would end with us disappearing and being killed. *shudder*

II can not even imagine!

So...the end?

Your turn next.

The end I suppose. Honestly, this is a topic that can be talked about all day. LOL But I need to go digging for a good choice.

Yeah, it would never end. Oh and I am hungry, dinner is ready. Could not say that in north korea….

I am going to go eat lunch myself!