book notes, thoughts and reviews

The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra My rating: 2 of 5 stars This book was so idealistic with no facts behind it. Often disagreeing with what was being said in the book, it showed me that the author really likes to hear himself speak. Or read his own words. I still found some inspiring quotes but I'm taking them with a grain of salt because I truly disliked this book. It's worrisome that people who are looking for guidance will try to seek it in this book. There's no evidence, no rebuttals, no data to back anything Chopra writes up. When a self-help author writes how someone can change their life according to their "laws", there should be reasons as to WHY the readers would be compelled to follow his ways. Yet throughout the book, it was non-stop overuse of the same words, same phrases, with different objectives for each fitting chapter. I couldn't help but physic...

Happening by Annie Ernaux My rating: 5 of 5 stars Doctors back then were brutal towards women who tried to get abortions or unwed mothers giving birth, being rough and hurling insults at them. The author’s writing style lets us into her current thoughts about her past. The reader then knows how Ernaux feels about the circumstances that were had. I’d like to read more personal accounts of what happens to women who go through with abortion or even contraceptions throughout history. This book made me reflect on my own experiences and how closely we think alike. How we feel alienated from normalcy, an outcast hiding a secret. In today’s world, I feel that medical professionals still slyly judge your answers to their questions. It’s felt throughout the book as well. This was incredibly hard to get through due to the brutal ways she was treated, and how she hid the pregnancy. The book was only 100 pages long but was so deep that it felt like I read a lif...

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka My rating: 3 of 5 stars Notes/Takeaways/Spoilers The setting of the whole story takes place in Gregor’s family home. Mostly from Gregor’s bedroom as he’s somewhat trapped there due to his family locking him away as they fear him. He eavesdrops and hears what his family does when he hasn’t had a single word spoken to him since the morning he went through his metamorphosis. The way he kept going to the window and the more often he did, he started to just see grey, nothing to look at anymore. I liked Grete in the beginning since she cared for Gregor even though she said nothing to him. Just cleaned and helped him in his room. However as time went by, she didn’t see Gregor as Gregor anymore. Personally, the biggest impact on the plot was when describing how Grete looked and acted the morning Gregor was found dead. It changed the story of her being a helpful yet scared little sister to something more sinister. I was a litt...

The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces by Courtney Cook My rating: 5 of 5 stars this book is like reading an autobiography. the ocd, bpd, anxiety, depression, it all aligns. it makes me feel seen and that i’m not crazy for feeling this way. i was diagnosed with bpd two weeks ago and it felt like there’s finally a word for the way i am. i thought it was all of my other diagnoses but this one really made sense of everything. however, it made me even more upset since i read threads online how bpd people are hurtful, abusers, not good people. it made me sick to my stomach, that i was this way. but this book has made me feel normal?¿ in some sense. the picking, the how do i tell people this? the self shame of how i look, but also the way medication really does help. im taking mood stabilizers and the realization of this diagnosis has helped me so much in the past month. THANK YOU COURTNEY COOK for creating a book that is so re...

Out by Natsuo Kirino My rating: 5 of 5 stars If true crime/mystery is your genre of choice, this book is definitely for you. There are GRUESOME details in this book so fair warning. It’s dark, sinister, and it intertwines everyone’s stories all together. It’s also sick, twisted and perfect for a Halloween read. View all my reviews

The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown My rating: 3 of 5 stars Brown is a "research professor who spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy (qtd. on her website)". She recalls a lot of anecdotal times in her personal life that tells us how she overcame obstacles that she didn’t expect to happen. Her human side came out first, wanting to revert back to self-sabotaging ways. By talking to her close friends and her husband Steve, she was reminded of her research to use her own tools to work through the rough times. She interviewed many interesting people, but the ones that stood out are the people who numb themselves and knowingly do it. I relate to this aspect of knowing exactly what I’m doing is wrong by self-medicating yet continue to harbor resentment towards myself for doing it. She humanizes her research, so it is easy to understand for people that aren’t used to reading scholarly articles. It’s almost like an abs...

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie My rating: 5 of 5 stars My favorite type of book, minimal descriptions of place, almost all action, thriller and mystery. First two chapters are kind of hard to read because this was published in 1939, so different words and things I had to look up. But once the characters reach the island and have their first dinner together, you’re in for a wild ride. It really reads like if you’re in an escape room. Fast paced and set to the tone of the child’s poem, you’re in the minds of everyone there, and everyone there believes they’re innocent and tries to see who is the maniac behind this whole ordeal. Don’t read the last page, I was spoiled because I was looking ahead lol. I can’t wait to read more Agatha Christie. View all my reviews

The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle My rating: 4 of 5 stars “I have lived with several Zen masters -- all of them cats.” my thoughts: if you’re stuck in a unworthy situation, he states “any action is often better than no action”. even if it’s a mistake; you will learn, then its “not a mistake anymore”. “denial of the present. Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry - all forms of fear - are caused by too much future, and not enough presence. guilt, regret, resentment, grievances, sadness, bitterness, and all forms of nonforgiveness are caused by too much past, and not enough presence.” not enough presence! we spend our whole lives trying to achieve “happiness or meaning” like finding a job or person to fulfill our needs and wants. yet again, this is a denial of the present. if we are grateful right here and right now, (maybe journaling about what today brings and what you can do for yourself, without stripping meaning by extending ...