Ikigai is a traditional Japanese concept that embodies happiness in living. It is, essentially, the reason that you get up in the morning. This book is about finding your ikigai – identifying your purpose or passion and using this knowledge to achieve greater happiness in your life. Your ikigai doesn’t have to be some grand ambition or highly noble life’s purpose – it can be something simple and humble, like tending your garden or walking your dog.
BR: Frostblood – Elly Blake
Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who has concealed her powers of heat and flame from the cruel Frostblood ruling class her entire life. But when her mother is killed trying to protect her, and rebel Frostbloods demand her help to overthrow their bloodthirsty king, she agrees to come out of hiding, desperate to have her revenge.
BR:Goodbye Things – Fumio Sasaki
Fumio Sasaki is a writer in his thirties who lives in a tiny studio in Tokyo with three shirts, four pairs of trousers, four pairs of socks and not much else. A few years ago, he realized that owning so much stuff was weighing him down – so he started to get rid of it. In this hit Japanese bestseller, Sasaki explores the philosophy behind minimalism and offers a set of straightforward rules – discard it if you haven’t used it in a year; be a borrower; find your uniform; keep photos of the things you love – that can help all of us lead simpler, happier, more fulfilled lives.
BR: A Court of Thorn and Roses – Sarah J. Mass.
Feyre is a huntress. And when she sees a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she kills the predator and takes its prey to feed herself and her family. But the wolf was not what it seemed, and Feyre cannot predict the high price she will have to pay for its death …
Dragged away from her family for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding even more than his piercing green eyes suggest. As Feyre’s feelings for Tamlin turn from hostility to passion, she learns that the faerie lands are a far more dangerous place than she realized. And Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
BR:Choose to Change: It´s your life: 25 steps to self-discovery and peace of mind by Jacqui Penn
Categories: Books, Hobby, ReviewsTag: Self-helpAuthor: Jacqui PennGenre: Self HelpI downloaded this book for free in March of this year on Amazon kindle. Finishing this book, I felt like its one of those self-help books that you read one you’ve read them all. Nothing new here that I’ve never read else where in other self-help books of its likeness. Despite that, I still like to read these sort of books no matter how many time I’ve come across the same advice or idea, simply as a reminder to myself. And as some people would say, sometimes it just takes one particular book that would click or resonate enough for you that would change your entire world. Like how some people would say the book “Think and Grow rich” had changed their lives or how “The alchemist” did that for them or as the book “The color Purple” did for Oprah Winfrey. They all teach about the same thing in different ways. Though I would not say this book gave me the ‘WOW’ effect or changed me inside out, but it did remind me of those life principles worth emulating. The 25 points given are valid and the writing style is straight forward but a bit emotional. As someone else did point this out as well, that you can’t help feel like you are being lectured on. I bet you’ve raised your eyebrows at some of the things I’ve suggested; be honest, I bet you have! But you know what? It doesn’t matter to my life whether you try my suggestions or not, but it does matter to yours. Actually, it does matter to me if you try my suggestions. I want you to know how good life can be, and if you don’t even try, I’ve wasted my time. I haven’t raised my eyebrows till I read that though. 😀With good intentions perhaps but it did come out a bit emotional and strong. I am not sure many readers would be comfortable with such style. As a reminder of what is good for us, I still think it is worth to give the book a go. Though it would have been nicer if it was written in a less “pressuring” way.
BR: Vengeance of the vampire Bride – Rhiannon Frater
Categories: Books, Hobby, Reviews Tags: Book review, Bram Stoker, Gothic Horror, Historical Romance, Rhiannon Frater, Vampire Author: Rhiannon Frater Genres: Gothic Horror, Historical Romance Series: Vampire Bride After listening to the audiobook version of the first book, I went and downloaded the second audiobook of the series. However, I ended up going for the ebook instead, which, I will tell the reason why later on. Just like the first book, it is a continuation of the diary of Lady Glynis Wright as she embraced her life as the Countess of Dracula. In this second installment of the series, she tells her story as she fights on for her freedom and also save whatever humanity that it left in her. I still like the Bram Stoker, Victorian times vibe of the novel and the fact that the story sets in Buda Hungary in the early 1800. I have to admit that living in Budapest helps me to imagine the old city described in the book. From the very beginning I was much impressed that the author did make effort to make references to something Hungarian – Like the Margit Island and Szilvásgomboc (prune dumpling). Hungarian Parliament The novel introduced us with more characters and a little bit more history of the vampires but I find it nothing much more was added. Also there seemed to be an error in the creation of her progeny, Laura that I cannot shake off. From the first book I understood that to the point of death of the dying person, if he or she drank vampire blood directly from the maker, then only he or she will become one of the undead. But in Laura’s case, Glynis took 3 sips of her blood and Laura died. And yet she became a vampire. Like how?? Glynis even mentioned that her bite only hasten Laura’s death. I don’t describe myself as a stickler for details but for the creation of a character as important as Glynis’s first progeny, I do care for this. I am not much into cruel characters, but throughout the book Vlad did mellowed down a lot of notches. And how he could forgive her and save her after what she did to him showed something that could be called as love. Perhaps I am suffering from the Stockholm syndrome or just like the bad boys gone good type, that after a while I kind of preferred Vlad more to be with Glynis😆. I just don’t like the way how the bad ass, Vlad the Impaler could be reduced to a ‘beggar’ after being rejected by Glynis, right after he saved her ass. It is just a contradiction of what his initial character was depicted in the first book. I managed to finish the book in a couple of days and as to why I had preferred the book instead of the audiobook is the narrator’s style of reading annoyed me. This time the narrator is Rebecca McKernan instead of Carol Hendrickson. I couldn’t…
BR: Tale of the Vampire Bride – Rhiannon Frater
Categories: Books, Hobby, Reviews Tags: Book review, Bram Stoker, Gothic Horror, Historical Romance, Rhiannon Frater, Vampire A few days ago I started to listen to the audiobook. This is the first time I have listened to or read one of the books by this author. Now lets see what I think of it, but thread carefully, as there may be a bit of a spoiler ahead. Lady Glynis and her family were invited by the Count Dracula himself to his castle in Transylvania. She was of the age ready to be married and her parents were desperate to find her a husband despite her many protests. So much so, that when Count Dracula extended his invitation to them and had made known of his interest to court Lady Glynis, both the parents were excited to meet him. Little did they know what were in store for them. I have to admit that the Bram Stoker vibe really kept me on the edge of my seat, and it was engaging from the beginning till end. It indeed kept me coming back and wanting to know what is going to happen to Lady Glynis. I read that it was supposed to be a Gothic horror but being a historical romance fan I appreciate that it has a touch of romance in it as well, with not only one but two love interests for Lady Glynis – Vlad Dracula and Father Ignatius. I like that it doesn’t stray away from folklore like many vampire novels do – the vampires in this book can’t walk in broad daylight, nor they sparkle, and they are afraid of crucifixes – The one of a few reasons I never read any of the Twilight series nor watched any of the movies. The author didn’t waste too much time going into details about the architecture and deco. Good Lord, how many a times I had simply skipped through those lines in some other books. But I am glad we are spared of that in this one. A bit of a detail is good, but not too much in my case. Now that what I like about the book is out of the way, I will share my opinion about what I dislike about it. I must say that I do not have many bad things to say about this book considering that I gave it 4 stars on Goodreads. But like people, books are not perfect and so here I state what I thought was some of the imperfections I felt. The heroine, Lady Glynis just ‘stomps her foot’ way too may times in this entire book that it got a bit irritating. I want to think that this heroine is a mature and strong woman with a will of her own. But honestly, every time she ‘stomped her foot’ to show her indignance I just felt like slapping her silly. All I could imagine is a spoilt brat. Something about the storyline didn’t make sense to me….
You were born rich program review (Part 2)
We finished part 6 of 6 of the “You were born rich” seminar on youtube. It was an amazing journey for the family and myself. It’s a lot to take in for sure that I do not think it is enough to watch it once. But after watching the program for the past 6 days,…
You were born rich review (Part 1)
About 4 days ago my husband and I started to watch ‘You were born rich’ collection of seminars uploaded by Bob Proctor. He is very convincing and one heck of a sales man I have to admit that. I bet he can sell a toothpick to someone who wasn’t even looking to buy one in…