Literary Escapes – Page 3 – Creative Meanderings

_Vayu’s Gate_ by Orit Sen-Gupta

Sep 302016

_Vayu’s Gate_ by Orit Sen-Gupta

One of my yoga teacher training required books. I read it on my Kindle app which might have taken away a bit from fully enjoying what this book had to offer.

Sen-Gupta walks the reader through the vayus, pranayama and how they work together within various poses.

It was actually really interesting to read though I did struggle to focus sometimes. 😉

That’s about all I am going to say about this so as not to bore anyone not really interested in these in depth aspects of yoga. 😛

~T 😀

_The Night Counter_ by Alia Yunis

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Sep 162016

_The Night Counter_ by Alia Yunis

Shortly after I arrived in the UAE, I discovered that one of my colleagues and acquaintances had written a novel. She even did a book tour and many people raved about this novel. Me being me put off reading it for a while as I dislike band wagons – issue for another post, no doubt. 😛

Upon going through my Amazon wishlist of books to read, I finally decided to buy this and give it a read. I am very glad that I did. Having just finished reading _Outlander_, I now feel a similar voice to that, but it also has elements of the Latin American literature magic realism. Not knowing enough about Arab culture, I do not know if these elements are influences from these other kinds of pieces, or if Arabic literature and culture share it (or even influenced the other!). In any case, I did enjoy the read.

In the line of 1,001 Arabian nights with a common character of Scheherazade, the novel’s heroine – Fatima – tells her own stories before she passes on. By interweaving stories of the past with contrasts of the present we are shown the changes of life for an Arab-American family from Lebanon. There are themes of lost culture, lost appreciation for the past, lost in life, lost love and presence. In a way, it is a very very sad story.

Overall, I am glad I waited for the hype to die down before reading it as I think I enjoyed it more. It is well-written and engaging. Although a seemingly different kind of book for me to read, it does have common themes of others I had been reading. I guess my contemporary literature profile is growing! 😛

~T 😀

_The Signature of All Things_ by Elizabeth Gilbert

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Sep 152016

_The Signature of All Things_ by Elizabeth Gilbert

Just a couple more books to go before I am just about caught up on past readings. I have been working my way through some more books (more yoga) recently, but want to be sure to get the final books from the past year updated here.

The author of _Eat Pray Love_, which I read in 2010 and wrote about has not written that many books. After I finished this book that won a lot of fame and attention, I read her next book _Committed_, which got less attention, but I also enjoyed.

Therefore, when I saw this title come up a while back and that it was a piece of fiction, I wanted to give it a go. I cannot remember how it was received initially, but I must say that I did enjoy this read. Even though it has been a while since I read it, I can remember the storyline enough to remain fascinated by the scientific world of ants and moss. Her strong female character who dives into the ‘man’s world’ in an age when women should have been different remains a poignant theme in our time now. The heroine’s struggle with love and dedication to her ‘career’ is also a familiar dilemma these days. Gilbert writes an engaging story that intertwines current themes with a past time period for a modern, intelligent woman. Thus, I recommend it as a read – in fact, it reminds me a lot of reading _Greenlanders_ by Jane Smiley or Barbara Kingsolver’s _Prodigal Summer_, both also fascinating reads. 😀

I recently saw that Gilbert has a new non-fiction book out that I may have to put on my winter reading list. 😛

~T 😀

_Hatha Yoga Pradipika_ by Swami Muktibodhananda

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Sep 092016

_Hatha Yoga Pradipika_ by Swami Muktibodhananda

Another one of our required reading texts for my yoga teacher training course was this rather thick text. Most of my yogi-mates have avoided reading these more historical/ancient books, but the nerdy literature academic in me loves these readings the most. 😛 As per my usual routine of breaking down the reading of books, I decided I would finish this book in a month over the summer and so read about 20 pages a day, which was just enough.

This text discusses the root of hatha yoga and how the breath (pranayama) should be done in practice. Hatha yoga is a “type” of yoga that people can do in studio classes. It mostly means there is more focus on breath as opposed to a Vinyasa yoga class, which focuses on the flow of poses or Bikram yoga, which is just really about sweating as much as possible. 😉 Hatha yoga may be generally be considered as an older style like Iyengar.

I really enjoyed reading this despite its length as I gained a better understanding of how to do some of our breathing exercises and sitting positions for meditation. Plus, classical pieces of literature just work for me. I do not think I would recommend it for just anyone to pick up for a quick read; however, if you have an interest in philosophy and learning more about the foundations of yoga, then read away! 😀

~T 😀

_Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika_ by B. K. S. Iyengar

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Sep 032016

_Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika_ by B. K. S. Iyengar

Beware that the next few book write ups will be yoga related. We had quite a few that have been required for my yoga teacher training and even though not all have been assigned specifically, being a reader makes me want to get through them all. 😛

Also, I had quite a bit of time this summer…. So, with my handy organizing skills, I broke down how many pages per day were required to complete a book in a set number of days.

This book is quite popular amongst yogis as Iyengar explains very succinctly but thoroughly how each pose should be performed as well as the benefits. He further levels the poses so that beginners can understand how to modify or know that perhaps it is not yet a pose for them. 😉

It was very interesting to read and I still refer back to certain poses frequently to see how it should look (pics help!) and also to explain their benefits for clients. Or, if my stomach or something is not feeling quite right I can index it to see which poses will help alleviate discomfort. Usually, I feel better shortly after doing a set of relevant poses.

Thus, anyone who is serious about yoga must have this book. There really is no way around it unless you have a teacher who can just recite the information in the book freely… 😛

~T 😀

_From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction_ by Robert Olen Butler

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Aug 272016

_From Where You Dream: The Process of Writing Fiction_ by Robert Olen Butler

Sooooo I must admit that I have little recollection of reading this book. I recall the title and author’s name, but even when I looked at a review to try to refresh my memory, I do not remember it at all.

I imagine it was suggested either by a writer friend or just popped up from a Goodreads scan. I do like to read books about writing and am always looking for ways to refresh my skills. However, it is a bit sad to think this was a recent read that I do not recall. Perhaps if I flip through some of the pages it will come back to me.

Thus, I am afraid that I do not have more to share on this other than the fact I read it and the title remains memorable even if the content does not. 🙂

~T 😀

_The Power of Your Subconscious Mind_ by Joseph Murphy

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Aug 242016

_The Power of Your Subconscious Mind_ by Joseph Murphy

This summer really required some reading to get a handle on my mind and my reactions to situations that were beyond my control. Rather than focus on what I could not control, I decided to look into the areas that I can.

Our subconscious minds are very powerful and attract what we spend most of our time thinking about. Therefore, learning to focus on not only positive thoughts but also results rather than NOTs took some work. For example, repeating to yourself “I will not eat bread” generally causes one to eat bread, because the mind is attracting the salient part of this sentence – eat bread. 😛 So, it took some restructuring of what my mind says. However, over time I found that creating thought patterns like this were effective and not only brought about a sense of calm within myself, but also to those around me.

Dr Murphy walks through the various areas of life that we generally worry – finances, relationships, business, etc. – and offers alternatives to thought patterns that do not serve us. He also discusses taking out “I” in mantras where it may be difficult for us to visualize a reality such as “I am wealthy.” There are lots of variations to wealth and for each person there would be a debate on how much is required to fulfil this. Instead, he recommends simply saying “wealth” to attract it in limitless amounts.

I found that using a series of mantras was effective whilst swimming as it can sometimes be a bit tedious to do laps, but with mantras being repeated so as to create the new positive thought patterns, the laps went by quickly. 🙂

Since I was doing this for most of the two months of the summer that we were staying at our friends’ place, it has now become a bit of habit to think in this way that I no longer focus on ‘mantras’ per se, but remind myself to calm my mind.

If you have interest in the mind, brain and patterns this is a very interesting read. Some might find it dry, but it is actually written in a way that it is quite easy to flip the pages. 😉

~T 😀

_One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Aug 022016

_One Hundred Years of Solitude_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This was a beautiful story of three generations of the Buendia family in their hometown. While the town changes, the family’s complex relationship, characters and connection do not. The story has everything from war, love, drama, death and mystery. Using Latin American culture and mysticism beliefs, Marquez creates such a lovely story.

Like his other stories, I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I wish I could read his works in Spanish to fully appreciate the language as I imagine it is beautiful. Still, I enjoyed the English version fully.

Not much more to say about this. 😀

~T 😀

_Outlander_ by Diana Gabaldon

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Jul 292016

_Outlander_ by Diana Gabaldon

For the past week or so I have been consumed by this 850-page novel. I came across it on the bookshelf where residents at PR leave unwanted books for others to take freely. Although I already have a long list of books I want to read, including ones I am still reading, I took a few more from the shelf.

Most of the summer I have been needing a piece of work that would take me to another world and engage me fully. It helps release some stress temporarily and also gives me writing examples. While I have read almost a dozen books already since the end of May, I was still searching for a story to suck me in.

Since my eldest step-daughter had been reading this last summer and the tv series has been popular, I thought I would move it up on my reading list. After all, there was obviously some reason I found it on the free bookshelf, right? 😛

Well from the first page to the last I was absolutely engrossed. Even when I started to doubt the main character a bit, my doubts were quickly resolved a few pages later. While I still have questions about some parts, these do not affect the story or, in fact, enhances it because I am still thinking about it!

When I did a search for how many others there are in the series I was quite surprised to find there are quite a few. Given the length of this one I am impressed that the series goes beyond a trilogy. 😉

In any case, I will definitely put the tv series on the top of my “next watch” list and after I finish up some of my other already-started books, I just might not let too much time pass before delving into the next one.

~T 😀

_David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants_ by Malcolm Gladwell

Literary Escapes No Responses »

Jul 282016

_David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants_ by Malcolm Gladwell

Over three years ago, I posted upon hearing about this new title by Gladwell. No doubt, he already has another one out, but I do not yet know about it. 😉 I have really enjoyed just about everything he has written and this one did not disappoint.

Gladwell takes this well-known Biblical story and challenges us to reconsider just why David beat Goliath. Although we enjoy the story of the ‘underdog’ winning over all odds against him, Gladwell retells the story in a way that makes us rethink that perhaps it was not such an amazing feat that David accomplished. Using related stories from history and making social commentary, the writer takes us on a journey to learn how to give credit to circumstances for the winning of what seems impossible.

If nothing else, we can discover that no matter how impossible things may look, it is just a matter of perception and understanding of the situation. If we shift perspective, then even the biggest challenge can be made small.

Even though I read this quite some time ago and am just now getting to writing about it, I find that the message of the book is even more appropriate now than it was before. So, it is timely to finally get to writing about this Gladwell book now. 😛

~T 😀

Older Entries Newer Entries

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)