Lit List: Top Ten Self-Help Books To Help Make A New Start In The New Year

Lit Top Ten Self-Help Books That Help Make A New Start In The New Year by Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

January is the perfect time to make goals and resolutions towards the New Year. Maybe to get that dream job, spend more time with the family, stop smoking, live a healthier lifestyle or be more spiritually involved. Maybe we don't always follow through those goals or the results aren't what we expect. But each new year brings a promise to start again and become a different person.

I have made a list of 10 of the best Self-Help books to improve our lives. Some offer practical advice and applications on how to get along in the world. Others are more spiritual and esoteric offering inner possibilities in how to feel attuned with one's inner self. Some may work and some may not. The true test of any Self-Help book is within the Reader and whether it works for them. It all depends on you.

10.The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle

Sometimes we get overwhelmed by the guilt from the past and the anxieties of the future. Eckhart Tolle's book suggests that it's too late to change the past and too early to plan for the future, so what we can change is our consciousness, to live in what Tolle calls "The Now."

In his introduction, Tolle writes that this book's Genesis began when a depressed Tolle contemplated suicide. He thought that he couldn't live with himself, then pondered that sentence. There must be two beings Tolle and the "I" Tolle could not live with. The "I", Tolle realized was the Ego, the part to Tolle's soul that contained all of his doubt, skepticism, thought, selfishness that kept him grounded in despair.

Tolle's writing tells Readers that to truly live in the present time, "The Now" without past guilt and future worries, they must slowly remove the doubt and superficial worries and emotions from the mind. Once they ascend to higher consciousness then the spirit can achieve Enlightenment.

Some of Tolle's writing is very esoteric and hard to follow. He helps by formatting the book into a Q and A style. Tolle gathers questions from Readers and students and answers them such as "Nobody's life is entirely free of pain and sorrow. Isn't it a question of learning to live with them rather than trying to avoid them?" Tolle answers "The greater part of human pain is unnecessary. It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind ruins your life." Human pain develops because of the intensity of negativity caused by the Ego's control over the present, making the person think that the pain is insurmountable. The Questions and Answer-format makes Tolle's work a How-to book to achieving Enlightenment.




9. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F$#k: A Counterintuitive Approach To Living A Good Life by Mark Manson

By it's title alone, The Reader can certainly infer that Mark Manson's book is different from the rest of the books on this list, indeed most Self-Help books and they would be right. It is a parody of most Self-Help books but it also gives equally good advice about how we can learn as much through failure as we can with success.

Manson uses humor to maintain his various points such as warning of the dangers of childhood lessons of being told 'you're Special" leading to a sense of entitlement. He cites a friend, Jimmy, who would talk a good game about motivation and business ventures, always positive, but at heart he was a thief, a lecher, a con artist and a deadbeat. Manson sums up the lesson : "Don't be a Jimmy."

While the suggestions like "Don't Try", "The Values of Suffering" and"Failure is the Way Forward", one would think Manson's book is very cynical, but in a way it is just as uplifting as the other books on this list. It acknowledges what most books don't. Sometimes we will fail. Sometimes even when we get what think we want there will be difficulties. (Getting married will lead to a lack of privacy, the dream job could come with weird hours or a toxic work environment.) 

The key isn't to ignore the failures and setbacks, but to accept them and learn from them. Sometimes Manson says, it is the failures and our responses to them that make us better people.




8. The Four Agreements: A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz-

The Toltecs were a group of artists and thinkers who lived thousands of years ago and studied wisdom outside present Mexico City  Even though they went into hiding because of the conquistadors, the generations passed that wisdom by Masters called naguals.
Ruiz, a Nagual from the Eagle Knight lineage shares that wisdom in this brief but simple book about the Agreements one must make with the Universe to be free of suffering and filled with true happiness.

The Four Agreements sound simple enough but Ruiz proves that sometimes the simplest answers are the hardest for Readers to see and to live by. The Four Agreements are: To Be Impeccable With Your Word (Speak with integrity and avoid hateful words and gossip), Don't Take Anything Personally (What others do is a projection of their own reality, so don't let their views bring your reality down), Don't Make Assumptions (Express yourself as clearly as you can. Find the courage to ask questions), and Always Do Your Best (Whatever the circumstances and your health, do the best you can.).

 Ruiz shows how people can relate to others and what long-term effects can form from  following or not following these Agreements For example, a mother angrily told her daughter that she couldn't sing. Using the mother's choice to not be impeccable with her word and the daughter taking what her mother said personally led to years of discomfort and the girl's fear of singing based on a few short angry words. A good example of following the Agreements is of a Guru Master telling his student that if he does his best by meditating four hours a day, he will achieve Englightenment in ten years. But any longer, say 8 hours and the man will forgo joy, life, and happiness-things that make life worth living and grow tired of only following a spirit-centered life.

The Four Agreements use such principles as honesty, kindness, strength, and courage to produce wisdom allowing Readers to communicate in a way that spreads true love and happiness in others and themselves.

7. The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life by  Deepak Chopra

We couldn't get through this list without mentioning at least one book by Deepak Chopra. The physician-turned-alternative medicine- advocate's books have been an inspiration to many people. The Book of Secrets offers various secrets that use both scientific and spiritual concepts to help Readers receive more fulfilling meaningful life.

In various chapters, Chopra uses his medical and scientific background to illustrate the more esoteric spiritual ideals. In the chapter "The World is In You", Chopra explains how the cells in the human body adapt, change, and work together to Illustrated how people can work with each other and adapt themselves to create a better world.

In another chapter, Chopra cites various mysteries in nature such as albatrosses locating their babies among similar chicks or identical twins separated at birth but living similar lives. He uses these natural mysteries to reveal the awareness around us and how we can use that awareness that comes from thought, instinct, history, and knowledge to receive Wisdom.

Matching Science with Spirituality, Chopra uses both sides of the philosophies towards the Universe and shows that the secrets of living a better more fulfilling life are all around us.





6. Sail Into Your Dreams: 8 Steps to Living a More Purposeful Life by Karen Mehringer

Some Self-Help authors have gone through such a transformation that they want to share it with their Readers in hopes they will learn from their experience and follow a path to happiness and fulfillment. Such an experience happened to Karen Mehringer, psychotherapist and author of Sail Into Your Dreams: 8 Steps to Living a More Purposeful Life. She and her husband, John left their corporate lives in Seattle to take a 6 month journey by boat. This journey and living in their preferred environments of the mountainous Colorado and the coastal California gave the Readers a beautiful journey to read and steps on how they can achieve their dreams.

Some of Mehringer's writing gives evocative descriptions of her voyage. A suspenseful night of sailing through the ocean away from the shores recalls the advice of leaving the Comfort Zone. A moment where she sees a bird on still water leads to advice on living simply without distractions provided by TV, cell phones, and the Internet.

The book isn't just about Mehringer's journey but all of ours as we seek to accomplish our goals. Mehringer includes exercises in which The Reader can account the many self-doubts, addictions, and nay-sayers that hold them back and visualizations in which they can project themselves living their dreams, happy and fulfilled.

Mehringer's book provides tools for Readers to follow their dreams and a beautiful journey to picture while they achieve it.

5. A New Earth: Awakening To Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle

Tolle's book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose is a continuation to his The Power of Now. The previous book identified the conflict between the Self and the Ego. A New Earth builds on that book. It gives us the various ways that the Ego tries to take control of our lives and how we can challenge it to discover our life's purpose.

The chapters identify the various traps the Ego falls into such as attachment to things and the illusion of ownership ("Many people don't realize until they are on their deathbed and everything external falls away that no thing ever had anything to do with who they are."). Complaining, resentment, and jealousy are other traps that the Ego falls into because they fall into hatred and name calling. ("Name-calling is the crudest form of such labeling and of the Ego's need to be right and triumph over others.") Another is to carry previous pain and hurt with you to what Tolle calls the pain-body. ("Every thought feeds the pain-body and in turn the pain-body generates more thoughts. After a few hours, a few days it has replenished itself and returns to it's dormant stage ")

Once those Ego Traps are removed, Tolle writes that we can see our inner purpose and that we can use it to create A New Earth , not a Utopia Tolle insists. But to recognize your inner purpose is whatever gives a person fulfillment and can be passed on to others. The New Earth is created, Tolle believes when we recognize the spiritual self in ourselves and in others around us.

4. Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom by John O'Donohue

The words Anam Cara mean "Soul Friend" in Irish. It is a beautiful concept in which one friend acts as a confidant and confessor to another. The friends share secrets, wishes, guilt, and desires. John O'Donohue captured the concept of "Soul Friend" to give wisdom to the Reader so they can be their own Anam Cara.

The book, Anam Cara, is filled with beautiful poetic wisdom that O'Donohue gathered from literature, folklore, and his own observations traveling through his home country. O'Donohue's writing is descriptive and fills the Reader with a spiritual connection to the words. In describing light on the dawn, he writes, "When you attend to the way the dawn comes, you learn how the light can coax the dark. The first fingers of light appear on the horizon, and ever so deftly and gradually, they pull the mantle of darkness away from the world."

The book explores the concepts of Friendship, The Senses, Solitude, Work, Aging, and Death in little passages that elaborate on the concepts. For example, The Senses chapter has sections which elaborate on the gifts of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. These passages make the Reader take a moment to explore the world around them with each sense.

O'Donohue also is familiar with Irish folk tales and uses them to illustrate his concepts. The tale of Fionn Macchumail gaining the gift of wisdom from a magical salmon that another man had been looking for for seven years shows how the linear mind can sometimes miss a gift. Sometimes the gifts come when we aren't looking for them.

Though a small book, Anam Cara is filled with beauty, love, wisdom, and gentle reminder on how to accept love around us.

3. The Creative Process: Reflections on Invention In The Arts and Sciences Edited by Brewster Ghiselin

Some Self-Help Books guide by teaching offering suggestions and advice on how to live a better life. Others guide by doing, showing how the author changed their lives thereby leading by example. The anthology, The Creative Process, falls into the latter category.

This informative book is filled with essays, letters, and excerpts from various people to show how they create. The chapters are written by mathematicians, scientists, composers, artists, novelists, and others who discuss how they created their works and how their minds worked in the process.

Some claim their creations came divinely inspired with little correction. In a letter to a friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart said that he didn't know where his musical inspiration came from. He only knows that he heard a tune in his head and put it down to paper and that what he composed was never different from what he imagined.
Poet, Samuel Taylor Coleridge says that the inspiration for his poem, Kubla Khan, came from a dream. He wrote most of the lines down verbatim from his dream. If not for a persistent and pesky salesman, he would have remembered more of the dream and wrote down more of the poem.

Some of the authors recount their creativity, not from Divine Inspiration, but from hard work and constant revision. In writing a poem, Stephen Spender, wrote of visiting a Confederate graveyard for inspiration. He then wrote of the details in determining the poetic form, word choice, and editing until he was satisfied.
In his essay, Henry Miller, wrote about how he refined his own writing talent by studying other writers. However that proved to be a trap when Miller tried to recreate Dovsteovsky, Mann, and Niestchze. He realized he needed to find his own style and his own voice to be a writer.

Among the best essays is that of Carl Gustaves Jung who analyzed the Creative mind. He believed that creative people were closer to the unconscious imaginative thoughts than most people. That creative people are able to tap into those thoughts to bring about those works.

This anthology proves that a person doesn't have to be a writer, artist, or a composer to be creative. They can use the advice from these essays to find their own voice and imagination to be creative thinkers and find original ideas in their own lives.

2. Sacred Contracts: Awakening Your Divine Potential by Caroline Myss

Some may only know archetypes through the writings of Carl Jung. Some may not know who they are. (For those that don't, they are figures who are common in film, literature, mythology.) We would never think that they exist in our lives but think about it. How many times has someone long-suffering been described as a Martyr? Or an adult with a child-like nature been called an Eternal Child? Or a flirtatious person been called a Don Juan or a Femme Fatale? Not only do they exist within us, but author, Caroline Myss says that every day we exhibit parts of our Archetypes and they can help us fill our Sacred Contracts, an agreement that our souls makes of who we are and what we want to be in our livesand how our lives influence others.

Myss uses the Archetypal lives of Jesus, Muhammed, Buddha, and Abraham, those Myss dubs The Masters, to show the various steps people go through when they encounter their Sacred Contracts: Contact, Heeding the Call, Renaming, Assignments, and Surrender.

While our Sacred Contracts may not be as world-changing as the Masters, Myss', writing suggests that the Contract is in play with our aspirations, whether we strive to be teachers, business people, writers, or even spouses and parents. The steps come through as we shape our lives as we work in the field that is our best fit and use that work to help others.

The most interesting part of the book is the Glossary which describes the various Archetypes and how they help and sometimes hinder us with their and our personality traits.

For example, The Artist Archetype inspires people to be creative whether it's in painting, writing, composing, or even being one that promotes such work-like a gallery owner, an arts patron or (ahem) a blogger/book reviewer. However, the dark or Shadow side of that Archetype is living with the mental illnesses such as depression or anxiety that are often found in creative individual or the fear of only being recognized after death. Readers will recognize the various Archetypes in themselves, thinking "Hey that's me and that, and that one too. Hey that one reminds me of my Mom. I work with someone like that."

Sacred Contracts explores the various parts of our personality and how they shape us, our careers, our relationships, and our placements in the world.

1. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons In Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey

The reason this book is number one on this list is because it combined practical and spiritual advice to provide a holistic approach on life. Stephen Covey's book encourages the Readers to live principle-centered lives and practice effective leadership to bring about change in themselves and the people around them.

Many of the principles are centered around our feelings towards others and how interdependent we are towards each other. In one of the most haunting exercises "Begin With the End in Mind," Covey advises the Reader to imagine they are at their own funeral and they are hearing speeches from a friend, family member, co-worker, and community member. The Reader is supposed to visualize what kind of person that the speakers will describe. It is a wake-up call so the Reader can live their lives in the most meaningful way possible.

Another exercise Covey suggests to compare the different centers of our lives: spouses, family, work, friends, and most importantly their principles. Covey suggests living accordineg to principles creates a self-respecting,  knowledgeable, and proactive individual who can show effective leadership.

Effective Leadership is different from Management, Covey writes. Management is putting together the workplace, arranging schedules, heading meetings, and making the products. Leadership is more internal relating to how people work together, whether they are in a business or a family. The habits include listening and understanding before giving an opinion or offering advice or visualizing outcomes that benefit all involved. They also involve working together in synergy and doing further things like writing, studying, and communicating with others to continue to be effective people.

Stephen Covey's book tells us how we can be better leaders, workers, and people. Those are some good habits to get into.





Honorable Mention: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale, To Be and How To Be: Transforming Your Life Through Sacred Theatre by Peggy Rubin, Awareness: Exploring, Experimenting, Experiencing by John O. Stevens, Who Are you? 101 Ways of Seeing Yourself by Malcolm Godwin, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra, When I Say No, I Feel Guilty by. Manuel Smith, Key to Yourself by Dr. Venice Bloodworth, Learning to Love Yourself by Gay Hendricks, Co-Dependant No More by Melody Battle, What Color is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus by John Gray, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield, Simple Abundance: A Day Book of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach, You've Got to Read This Book: 55 People Discuss the Books That Changed Their Lives Edited by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks.

Weekly Reader: The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble; A Great Book About the Importance of Reading and Friendship

Weekly Reader: The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble; A Great Book About the Importance of Reading and Friendship
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: Reading Groups and Book Clubs are great ways to share a love of books and also great ways to build friendships based on a mutual love of reading. Elizabeth Noble captures that friendship in her novel which explores a year in the lives of five English women as they discuss books and deal with the problems with the men, children, and other family members in their lives.

Each chapter begins with a synopsis of the book that the women are discussing and their spirited discussions about the books. The books that are discussed vary from Heartburn by Nora Ephron, My Antonia by Willa Cather, I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, to The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier among others.

The women are honest, frank, and up front about the books, what they like and don't like, and how they relate to the books.
Their opinions differ from "I think she is definitely the most vivid, the most extraordinary woman character I can ever remember reading."(The Woman Who Walked Into Doors by Roddy Doyle) to "It had everything, drama, tension, mystery, rugged hero, arch villain." "You're making one of the great Gothic novels of all time sound like James Bond." (Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier) to "I want a word with the twenty million people whose lives were changed by reading this book, according to the blurb on the back."(The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho-ouch).

Besides being simply a catalog of other books and other people's opinions of them, Noble doesn't lose track with her characters and their stories. The members of the group come to these books with their own baggage and concerns which they relate to the other members of the group.

There's Harriet, a mid-30's wife and mother who feels suffocated by her seemingly happy marriage and wondering for another life out there. Nicole, a stylish book editor and Harriet's best friend is suffering from an unhappy marriage with a frequent philandering husband. Polly is a 40ish single mother who has to deal with a rocky engagement and her daughter's pregnancy. Susan, Polly's best friend, is in conflict with her aging mother and estranged sister. Clare, the daughter of Susan's co-worker, is a midwife who longs for a child of her own.

Noble's characters are identifiable and relatable. They could be people we know like Harriet who has definite opinions about what she reads (Books about women by women) and the men in her life (exciting with some drama) and don't realize how good they have it until they are threatened with losing it from the injury of a child to the separation from a spouse. Harriet then makes the right decision to bring her family back together.

 We may also know many people like Nicole who are attractive and seem to live a successful happy life and are determined to keep it that way despite all evidence to the contrary, such a having an unwise pregnancy to keep her husband who has no interest in staying. (The resolution to this conflict is both moving when the pregnancy is terminated and ultimately satisfying when she stands up to her husband). These are real characters going through these difficult times.

There are plot points that don't work so well. The resolution to Susan's conflicts with her mother and sister comes out from nowhere and asks more questions than provides answers, though brings Susan and her sister together.
Clare disappears halfway from the book. She drops out of the group after discovering her husband impregnated one of his students, who happens to be Polly's daughter, Cressida. While it is natural in real life for people to drop from book clubs (albeit usually for less dramatic reasons), in fiction, a character's disappearance cries out for a real solution to their problem that is offered more than just by second hand dialogue. (Though she does well for herself working in a Children's Hospital in Romania and starting her own Book Club.)
The final chapter rushes all of the relationships quickly in an almost mad dash to the altar or the maternity ward to give all the characters a happy ending.

However, the characters' lives are transformed by the power of their friendship and the books. This point is made when one of the characters observe that all the books they read feature women who take control of their lives. They learn that they-Harriet, Nicole, Polly, Susan, and Clare- are those women.

Classics Corner: Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace: A Hard to Follow But Thought Provoking Look At The Future

Classis Corner: Infinite Jest by David Fostet Wallace; A Hard To Follow, But Thought Provoking Look At The Future
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

And I thought Ulysses was a difficult read. Infinite Jest makes the James Joyce novel look like Green Eggs and Ham.
Infinite Jest is one of those books that is made to be reread so the Reader can catch all of the nuances, plot angles, and literary devices that they missed the first time around. But if you are reading and reviewing it for the first time, it's the  literary equivalent to climbing Mt. Everest a difficult climb but you have to read it because it's there.

Infinite Jest is an unwieldy book with several characters and plot angles that it's hard to summarize. Characters get a several page introduction and you think they will be important later, only to take a minor role in later pages. Certain conversations get repeated to the point where the Reader is filled with deja vu thinking "Didn't I read this already?" The narration goes from third person to first to script format without a care. Not to mention, there are over 100 pages of footnotes to the almost 1,000 pages of the main text that recounts important conversations and plot points that the Reader might miss if they don't read the footnotes. Clearly, Wallace did not want to make his book an easy read.

However when Infinite Jest isn't lost in its unwieldiness, it is a thought-provoking and intriguing look at the near future which looks ever so much like today. It is fascinating to read a book set in the future like Infinite Jest and recount how many topics that the writer got right.

Okay, the yearly calendar has yet to be arranged to fit Subsidized Time from advertisers who buy the rights to name the years after their products such as the Year of the Whopper, the Year of the Dove Trial-Size Bar, and the Year of the Depend Adult-Size Undergarment. (How do you determine Astrological signs and personality traits with years like that? Is a baby born in the Year of the Whopper full of themselves? One born in the Year of the Dove Trial-Size Bar obsessed with cleanliness? I'd hate to think what the personality of a Depend Adult-Size Undergarment baby would be.)
However with pop up ads and product placement, advertising surrounds us more than ever that we might as well have years named for them.

People watch entertainment on teleputers and through a site called the Interlace. We know them as Netflix, Hulu, and others.(However Wallace still had a toe in 1996 by saying that the characters watched the works on cartridges and home computers. Wallace did not envision hand-held devices or that the Entertainments could be downloaded on to them.) The majority of the Entertainments are plotless mindless action movies to keep the audience watching and enthralled with the occasional experimentation, not to far off from what is seen in modern-day movie theaters. Pop culture invades every mode of society, even academia, shown when a character gets accepted to a prestigious academy by writing a thesis comparing the lead characters in Hawaii Five-0 and Hill Street Blues. Many real-life college campuses and high schools contain courses on Harry Potter, Game of Thrones and other pop culture touchstone items.

The political social environment also is similar to life in the late-2010's. The United States, Canada, and Mexico have formed a super country but many Quebecois want to break from this union similar to the divisions between the United States and many of its former allies as well as the Brexit when Britain left the European Union. The President, Johnny Gentle, a crooner with little political experience wins the election based on backing from various fringe groups like oh say a certain real estate mogul/reality show star becoming President based on backing from various fringe groups. (Though Gentle's demeanor is more based on Ronald Reagan rather than the bombastic Trump.) Many characters are addicted to various drugs, many of them are a composite of marijuana and various painkillers and prescription drugs similar to the modern day Opioid Crisis. There are areas between the former United States and Canada that are environmentally uninhabitable. While that has yet to happen, the relaxing of many EPA regulations suggest that one day this may be a possibility.

The world of Infinite Jest seems like a composite of Brave New World and Idiocracy, where there is no depth, where shallowness is the order of the day, and most characters behave like thoughtless children living for their personal pleasures and nothing else. The most disturbing thing  about this futuristic society is that except for a few fringe groups here and there, there is hardly any Resistance to fight against this society. Where is Guy Montag to remind them of the importance of reading? Why doesn't a John the Savage claim the right to be unhappy? Why aren't there even people who rebel in little ways like a journaling Winston Smith or an Offred vowing not to let the bastards grind her down?

The answer is nowhere. There is no Resistance. The people have become desensitized to their society that they are numb to it. No one shows much outrage unless it concerns them personally. So they withdraw into themselves and their addictions.

Addiction is an ongoing theme in this book particularly in its main two settings, the Enfield Tennis Academy and the Ennet House Alcohol and Drug Recovery House. The Tennis Academy is filled with students who are pushed to succeed, particularly Hal Incandenza, son of the Tennis Academy's late founder, James O. Incandenza and it's current co-President, Avril Mondragon Tavis Incandenza. While being pushed in his courses and to succeed on the court against students who are sometimes better and younger than his 13 years, Hal also has to deal with his eccentric family. His family includes his obssessive-compulsive mother, Avril, his womanizing brother, Orin, his deformed brother, Mario, his uncle, Charles Tavis who may have had an affair with the nymphomaniacal, Avril, and his father, James who besides creating the Academy made Experimental films before he committed suicide. With a family like that, it's no wonder Hal and his friends retreat into drugs to numb themselves from the stress of a world that no longer listens.

The Ennet House is also filled with lost characters starting with Don Gately, a former addict turned counselor. He has been through the steps so often, that he knows the cliches by heart. He also is not as far from his addictive past as he thinks he is. Another resident at the Ennet House is Joelle Van Dyne, AKA Madame Psychosis, a disfigured former actress who was Orin's former girlfriend and James's frequent co-star in his films. Like her nickname suggests, she has a dark personality that rejects the beauty that she once was. Her addictions are her only means of existence.

The ultimate addiction in this book is not a drug, it's a film. The Entertainment also called the samizdat or Infinite Jest, directed by James Incandenza and.starrimg Joelle Van Dyne is a movie that puts new meaning to the term binge watching. The Entertainment is so addictive that people can't stop watching it, forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep. They just watch it until they die. Many want this film, including the government to use it as a weapon or an antidote and many others want to use it as another drug, something that helps them forget their worries.

Infinite Jest is a book that is tough going and could be several hundred pages shorter, but when the Reader is able to find the story underneath the length, they find a book that makes them think.

Forgotten Favorites: Second Best by David Cook: A Moving Father-Son Story

Forgotten Favorites: Second Best by David Cook: A Moving Father-Son Story
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: Second Best is not a well known book and the 1994 film starring William Hurt and Chris Cleary Miles is even less so. But it should be recognized as a moving story about two wounded souls, a 37-year-old man and a 10-year-old boy who find their way to each other becoming a family.

Graham Holt is the Postmaster of a small English village. An introvert, Graham is unable to connect with most people because he felt neglected by his parents who had a loving relationship with each other but not with their son. After his mother dies and his father suffers a painful stroke, Graham longs to adopt a son.

This realization comes about humorously as Graham absently writes "a son" on a shopping list between "milk" and "something for lunch (ham or pork pie." ("Was there a row of shelves at Safeway on which sat boys, school uniformly dressed, priced by size, colouring and age, and with sell-by dates stamped to the soles of their shoes?" Graham idly wonders.) Realizing that this is more than an idle thought, Graham feels lonely and begins the adoption process to foster a son.

Enter James "Jamie/Jimmy" Lennards, a troubled young boy. He has very little memories or affection for his mother, who committed suicide when he was 3, but he dearly loves his father, John, a repeat offender whom James has built up as a mercenary or Freedom Fighter. Because of his separation from his parents and his placements in different foster homes, James has a tendency to act out in violent outbursts and frequent self-harm.  However, he harbors the dream that he and his father,.John, whom he "loves best in all the world", will be reunited together as a family.

Much of the book deals with Graham and James going through the foster process together. Graham follows the different rules and regulations to the letter. He fears opening up to James on a personal level, suggesting that they begin as a "partnership". James having been through the foster process knows how to play the game better than Graham and knows when to show affection, when to withhold, and when to manipulate. The two almost dance around each other uncertain but also longing to be loved.

It becomes a relief for the Reader when the two finally open up to each other. A camping trip in which James shows experience and Graham reveals ineptitude ends up pretty well as the two bond. After Graham is overcome by the death of his father, James comforts him whispering that everything will be okay giving Graham a conch shell as a reminder of the only time Graham was happy with his father.

As the two open up, Graham and James'  characters develop as Graham becomes stronger and more protective of James and James becomes more tender and more respectful towards Graham. Cook develops his two lead characters well with such care.

Another character that develops thanks to Cook's excellent writing is that of John, James' biological father. While he has a criminal past , he is never written as an unrepentant bastard. A letter that he writes to James is broken with remorse about his failure to be in James' life. Then when he returns to the book, depressed and dying from AIDS, Graham lectures him like an older brother but is empathetic enough to invite him to live with him and rekindle his relationship with James.

This unique living arrangement and a final chapter in which Graham chases after James, who is terrified at the sight of his broken dying father, leads to Graham, James, and ultimately John to accept each other as a loving family.

Weekly Reader: Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho: A Lovely Story About Madness and Sanity Let Down By A Terrible Ending

Weekly Reader: Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho: A Lovely Story About Madness and Sanity Let Down By A Terrible Ending
By Julie anda Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: The next book in January's Coelho-thon is much darker but at the same time it is a moving and lovely story about death and mental illness. It is for the most part equally as brilliant and well-written as Brida and The Alchemist. However, it is let down by an ending that contradicts not only the rest of the book but much of Coelho's other writings.

Veronika, a young Slovenian woman, is bored with a life of sameness and powerlessness. So one night she writes a note, swallows a handful of sleeping pills, and lies down to die. When she wakes up, she finds herself in the psychiatric hospital, Villete, with heart palpitations and a diagnosis that she has a few days, a week at most, to live.

Veronika is a wonderful character. She seems like a woman that most people think would have no problems. She is close to her parents, has many friends, an active love life, a good job as a librarian, and is very beautiful. Many outside would think she would have no reason to committ suicide.

But like Esther in The Bell Jar, Veronika proves that sometimes the seemingly most contented people could face those dark nights of pondering their mortality and feel nothing about the days ahead. While Veronika starts out very fragile, she gains strength and purpose during her time in Villete.

At first Veronika is reluctant to make connections with the staff and other patients since she has so little time left. However, despite her reservations, she begins to bond with the other patients. Slowly she befriends the other patients and joins the Fraternity, a group of patients that meet and share stories and understanding becoming a surrogate family.

Veronika bonds with patients like Mari, who heads the Fraternity and draws Veronika into their group. Another memorable patient is Zedka, an older woman who suffered from a broken love affair and generations of mental illness to become a guide to Veronika. Zedka tells the younger woman stories such as that of a kingdom whose citizens, including the king and queen, drank from a well that produced madness to show that madness can sometimes be a relative term. Sometimes to those who are mentally ill, they are sane and the rest of the world is mad.

Through her new alliances, Veronika opens herself to new possibilities and reignites her talent in playing the piano. Veronika's playing interests Eduard, a patient diagnosed as schizophrenic but actually institutionalized by his family when they disagreed with his intellectual and artistic pursuits. Coelho no doubt related to Eduard's character, because according to his biography, Coelho's father had him institutionalized when he took Coelho's literary ambitions and non-conformist nature as signs of mental illness. This information plus a strange metafictional almost unnecessary conversation between Coelho himself and Villete's owner's daughter also named Veronika, makes this a very personal book for Coelho.

Which makes the ending even more disappointing. While Veronika gets into a beautiful relationship with Eduard, takes her interest in music seriously, and learns to embrace life, it is at the cost of honesty. I won't give away the ending except the decision by the Villete head, Dr. Igor is extremely manipulative and almost offensive. While Coelho's other books state that the "Universe conspires to help you get what you want", Dr. Igor almost strangles that notion by engaging in reckless treatments towards Veronika and never tells her of them. Coelho also does the Reader a disservice by not following up with  that resolution leaving it dangling and Veronika's fate uncertain. What should be a book in which the Reader could have sighed with relief at the second chance that Veronika had been given and hope for a better future for her, this Reader wants to throw the book in frustration at the betrayal Veronika received from her doctor. And her author.

Classics Corner: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: A Landmark in Postmodern Feminism

Classics Corner: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood: A Landmark in Postmodern Feminism
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: In 2017, it was hard to escape the presence of The Handmaid's Tale. Margaret Atwood's dystopian Feminist novel seemed to be everywhere. It was made into a critically acclaimed Emmy winning Hulu series starring Elisabeth Moss. Protestors against sexual assault and for reproductive rights and other women's health issues have taken to standing in silence and wearing the Handmaid's costumes: a red robe and a white bonnet covering most of the face.
The book has been banned, analyzed, and debated over the themes and whether modern society is approaching the grim Totalitarian theocracy of Gilead, as envisioned by Atwood in 1985. When a novel reaches modern consciousness, sometimes people wonder if it's worth all the hype. Luckily in this case, the Atwood novel is and so much more. It is one of the Landmark works of Postmodern Feminism.

(Note: I am basing this review on the novel since I don't have a Hulu subscription and have not seen the series-a shame since I love the novel and am a fan of Elisabeth Moss. I will make passing references to the series based on things I have heard but since the series will soon be entering its second season, I must reiterate that this review will contain spoilers.)

For the few people unaware of the premise, The Handmaid's Tale is set in a futuristic United States which has become a collective of Theocracies that tie church and state together tightly. (You know that thing the Constitution warned us about in separating them.) The main setting is Gilead, which is formerly known as the state of Maine. The Gileadian structure, indeed most of the governments, is very unstable. Many of the various religious factions war against each other. Different racial and ethnic minorities have been either isolated or wiped out. Previous nuclear attacks have rendered the population diminished and sterile.

Because of the reduced population and the strict religious laws, the roles of men and women are rigidly defined. Men either fight in the wars, are Guardians of the various enclaves, or are Commanders or overseers of the communities. Women are tightly constrained as either Wives of the Commanders, Marthas who are housekeepers and cooks, Econowives, wives of poorer men, or Handmaids, women of childbearing years who are given the task to give birth to their Commander's children, whether they want to or not.

The book is told by one of the Handmaids, known as Offred a patronym meaning that the Handmaids belong to their Commanders, in this case Fred. Showing that the women don't even have the freedom of a real name beyond belonging to a man. (Though there are hints in the book that Offred's real name is June, which the series also uses as her name in flashbacks.)
 Offred describes her daily life in which the Handmaids are constantly monitored, deprived of possessions, and forced to remain silent, according to the Biblical tenets which dictate their society. Their only outside experiences are their shopping trips in which they are partnered with other Handmaids and walk into stores with pictures for signs. (In this society women are not permitted to read because in the words of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast: "Next you thing you know women start getting ideas...thinking."). The women however also are forced to participate in sex rites with their much older Commanders for the purpose of conceiving children. So women are meant to be sexual playthings in a society dominated by religious dogma. It's a world dominated by men who are somewhere between Mike Pence and Harvey Weinstein.

Like 1984's Winston Smith, Offred hates her society but does not overtly rebel against it. Instead she covertly acts in small ways to retain her individuality and humanity in a world of forced conformity. She sees words scratched  in her room which says "Notile te bastardes carborundorum" which she repeats silently as a mantra. (She later learns that it means "don't let the bastards grind you down" making her repetition of the phrase more subversive.)
 She goes with her shopping partner to the Wall where prisoners are hung and displayed for various "crimes" such as participating in abortions, being "gender traitors" i.e. homosexuals, and being different religions.
 She takes a secret smug delight in the silenced and diminished role of Serena Joy, Commander Fred's Wife who used to be a Conservative Religious spokeswoman who campaigned against Feminism and insisted that a woman's place should be in the home. ("How furious she must be now that she has been taken at her word," Offred remarks observing Serena Joy's now-powerless role in the world she helped create by her views.)
Offred also uses restricted alone time with her Commander to play Scrabble and to be granted favors like hand lotion and magazines, and to receive answers to questions about why the world became the way it did. ("Better never means better for everyone," The Commander observes. "It always means worse for some.") These moments of defiance serves to remind Offred that she is an individual person underneath the red robe and that as long as she is aware of that, her spirit can never be broken.

Another way Offred retains her individuality is to retain her memories of her life "in the Time Before." She recalls her Feminist mother who gave birth to her in middle age and used to drag her daughter to protest marches when Offred was a little girl. Offred also rembers her best friend and former college roommate, Moira and how the two shared cigarettes, pretentious thoughts, and opinions on men and society.
Above all, Offred remembers having a job at a library, a husband named Luke, and a daughter, all of which she loved and loved having the freedom of choosing a life.
She recalls the world changing around her-Conservative pundits, like Serena Joy, speaking loudly about Traditional values, declining birth rates and infant kidnapping including briefly her own daughter's, slight restructuring of laws giving less rights to women-until the day comes when Offered and her female colleagues are removed from their jobs and their cards are declined; when their status as women were marginalized and they officially became second-class citizens.

These memories of those basic times of various choices of wearing different clothes, earning her own money, having relationships become dear to Offred. She also recalls various memories with the people in her life;  the bad-the teasing, her mother's embarrassments, Moira's odd views, squabbles with Luke and her daughter, and the good- advice from her mother, heart-to-heart chats with Moira, public moments of affection and romance  with Luke, and a joyous  bond with her daughter. Offred misses all of them and the people they used to be.

With a feeling of nostalgia, Offred longs for the return of those days no matter how embarrassing, confusing, and minor they seemed at the time but are now precious in a world she no longer recognizes. They become weapons in her defiance against the Gileadian society as she longs for a different time because she lived through it.

There are hints of a Resistance and Offred possibly becomes involved with a member who may also be a spy for Gilead. In the end, Offred's whereabouts become murky as she is taken away never to be heard from again. (Though a second season to the series is planned with Atwood's full cooperation.)
However, an epilogue set long after the end of the Gileadian regime in which women reclaim their full power states that Offred's account of her life as a Handmaid was an important document in the return of a Feminist society.
The academic epilogue in which a professor discusses Offred's account shows that in her small acts of subversion and her accounts of her life before and her time as a Handmaid, Offred gained more than she ever would have believed in her life time.: People inspired by her to survive the Totalitarian regime of Gilead, to fight against it, and ultimately defeat it.

Weekly Reader: Room by Emma Donoghue:A Psychological Drama With A Unique Narrator

Weekly Reader: Room by Emma Donoghue: A Psychological Drama With A Unique Narrator
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: Room is one of the most acclaimed best sellers of the 20-teens and deservedly so. The inspiration for this psychological drama (not thriller that is important.) are the cases of Jaycee Duggard, a woman who was held captive for 18 years since she was 11 and gave birth to her captor's children and Joseph Fritzel, an Austrian man who held his daughter captive for over 20 years in a secret room attached to his house and fathered seven children with her.

Those accounts are certainly grim and most novels based on them would probably be psychological thrillers. They would tell the story from the victim, their families, and probably focus more on the rescuers on the outside trying to find them. Maybe we would get into the back story of the kidnapper and why he acted as he did.  This wouldn't be a bad approach but Emma Donoghue did something unique with her narrative: she told the story exclusively from the point of view from a small child, a boy born in captivity to a kidnap victim.

As Room is told from the point of view of 5-year-old Jack, we are finding out about his world just as he is. He is inside a place called Room with his mother, Ma (called Joy in the 2015 film version.) His only friends are his Wardrobe where he sleeps,  his Rug where he sits, and the other things around him.

 Jack and Ma spend their days watching the TV which Ma tells him are pictures of people from another planet.  (For example Dora and the Backyardigans live on a Cartoon Planet).
Sometimes they play "Phys Ed" which involves creating games based on things they have lying around like cardboard boxes and plastic bags or they stand under the Skylight and scream as loud as they can. They read the same books like Dylan the Digger and Alice in Wonderland (Because of reading the books,  Jack's reading skills are well developed) and sing songs from "Row, Row,  Row Your Boat" to "Tubthumping. "
The only other person is a sinister character called Old Nick,  who visits Ma every night and gives them food,  medicine,  and other items for Sundaytreat.

These elements make the story less of a thriller and give the book almost the aspect of a dark fairy tale like Bluebeard.  Because of Jack's limited experience with the Outside World,  it is almost as though he and Ma are trapped in a dungeon by an evil ogre  who needs no backstory or explanation. Old Nick is the cruel man who entraps Ma and Jack, because to him that's all he is. To Ma and Jack,  Old Nick is nothing more than a monster and all they have are each other.

Jack is naturally confused when his mother tells him that there is a world outside of Room, that she was kidnapped at 19-years-old, and that she has a family outside. His confusion turns to terror when after a fight with Old Nick, Nick cuts off the power and reveals that his home will be foreclosed.  So Ma comes up with a daring plan of escape that actually works.

Most books would end with the rescue,  reunion with the family, arrest of the kidnapper, and a happy ending. But as the Reader has already observed, Room is not like most novels. Instead Jack and Ma's escape from captivity is in the middle and the two have an equally difficult struggle of adapting to society.

For Jack, who was born in captivity,  everything is a new experience for him. He has to get used to everything from riding inside cars to learning about social cues that he never knew like not touching people in certain areas. Even though he is 5 with a developed vocalbulary,  Jack is almost like a baby or a blank slate unlearned, curious,  and frightened of the world around him. He can't get used to the idea that Room is only one small part of a wider world and it doesn't take long for Jack to want to go back to Room since it is familiar to him.

Ma has just as difficult a time adjusting but in her case, it's getting used to a world that changed around her. She has to adjust to her brother getting married and starting a family and her parents getting divorced and her mother getting remarried during her absence. She also is protective of Jack and confrontational over anyone else helping her because for so long it was just the two of them. Of course there is also the Media Circus that forms after their release. After a disastrous interview, Ma is overwhelmed by her newfound freedom and overdoses.

In their captivity and release,  Jack and Ma are compelling characters. First in Room,  where they have to rely on each other as friends and co-horts in an awful situation,  then after their release when they have to reach out to others in a brave, new, scary, large world. Their release changes them so that even though Jack and Ma love each other as much as ever, they are willing to be a part of the world that they are learning to accept. This is evident when after they return to Room,  Jack wonders if it was always that small and Ma tells him,  yes,  yes it was.

Weekly Reader: Brida by Paulo Coelho: The Ultimate Magical Mystery Tour

Weekly Reader: Brida by Paulo Coelho: The Ultimate Magical Mystery Tour
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers Ahead: We come to another Paulo Coelho book and this one discusses many of the points made in The Alchemist about following one's Soul and believing in the magic around us. Though this puts Coelho's lessons in a more urban contemporary setting. Instead of a the Sahara Desert in an undisclosed time period, we are taken to 1980's Dublin to see the magic that could be around us right this very moment.

Brida O'Fern, a young Irish woman, appears in front of a teacher known only as the Magus and tells him, out of the blue, "I want to learn about magic." She didn't have any premonitions or supernatural encounters as a child, Brida just has a need to know about the Universe and most of all about Love.

Fair enough, says The Magus. As all guides do in a story where someone searches for their heart's desire, gives her a task. She must spend the night in the woods. Brida spends a terrifying night where her imagination runs wild with frightening noises and her own doubts and insecurities about her desire to learn magic and whether or not she can trust The Magus. (After all spending the night alone in the woods because a total stranger twice one's age told them could lead to a specific case of "Stranger Danger" at the very least.)

Lucky for us and Brida, The Magus has only the best of intentions and she passes the first test, that she is sincere and confident in wanting to learn magic. Brida is then led to another teacher, Wicca who takes a more hands-on approach to the young student.

One of the most unique ways that Wicca (and Coelho) show Magic is how commonplace it is and how effective a teacher is Wicca. Wicca hands Brida a deck of cards and asks Brida if she can see visions within them. After several days of trying and giving up in frustration, Wicca launches into a boring story about her plumber. While Brida half-listens, she sees changes in the cards. This passage illustrates that Magic isn't supposed to come from commanding it, but comes when it isn't expected.

Wicca uses other commonplace methods to help Brida learn more about the secrets to Magic. In one scene, the two take a trip to a
cathedral and Brida has a dream of a past life in which she was a persecuted Cathar in Medieval France. In another passage, Wicca asks Brida to close her eyes and describe the contents in a shop window which she does effertlessly. These passages highlight Brida's real world setting and how her magic could be used in her everyday life.

A refreshing take that Coelho explores in Brida is the concept of Love and Soul Mates. While he puts Brida in a love triangle, he does it better than most writers by having his characters act like adults. The moment The Magus sees Brida, he notices the "light in her eyes" which his tradition dictates that she is his Soul Mate. Instead of pursuing her, The Magus helps her by learning magic.
Unfortunately, Coelho gives him an upsetting back story in which he broke a happy relationship with a woman simply because she was not his soul mate making him something of a heel. However, the follow up to that story suggests that The Magus was simply young and inexperienced at the time-practically Evangelical in the concept of Soul Mates. Now he's older and wiser, there could be another chance for that relationship and that sometimes you don't need the light to see that you can have more than one Soul Mate.

Brida is also involved in a relationship with Lorens, a young physics student. The Reader braces themselves for a tired Magic Vs. Science Debate. Instead Lorens is 100 percent supportive as they discuss the different terms for energy and the Universe that they could be he same things spoken in different languages. Lorens is very similar to Fatima in the Alchemist in that he loves her so much that he is willing to wait for her. (Even wanting to go to the Pagan fires with Brida to see her get Initiated.)

Brida herself is constantly concerned about the concepts of Soul Mates. While she loves and admires both Lorens and The Magus, she is confused about which one is supposed to be her Soul Mate. Her back story of having several broken relationships convey that her quest to find her Soul Mate is based on her fear and assurance over who her true love is. Like the lesson with the cards, once she stops looking and worrying about it, the solution provides itself in a satisfactory and happy way for all involved.

Coehlo's symbolism can sometimes be pretty obvious and right on the nose. The Magus and Wicca are named for two distinct forms of Paganism and Magic. The Magus' name suggests an older tradition of druids and sorcerors bound by rules and rituals. People in history, mostly men but some women who stay at the right hand of Kings and we're instructors and teachers before they fell by the wayside and went into hiding (Much like The Magus who retreated into the woods after his teaching days were done.)
 Wicca's name suggests the more modern Pagan movement created by Gerald Gardner in the 1940's which while somewhat structured is more intuitive and fluid with various rituals and means of pursuing magic. It is often practiced by many who are environmentalists and feminists, particularly women who want more than what the Abrahamaic religions offer for a woman's role. ( Much like Wicca, herself, who is still actively involved in teaching young witches and organizes group rituals.)

 It is also no coincidence that The Magus' tradition is called the Tradition of the Sun (often seen as a Masculine symbol in many myths and religious followings) and Wicca's is called the Tradition of the Moon (often seen as a Feminine symbol) or that the book us drenched with descriptions of sex magic. Nor is it a coincidence that Brida is interested in and studies both. It is as though Coelho is saying that to truly understand Magic, and the Universe, a person should be willing to accept both their masculine and feminine sides and overcome the societal perceptions of both to find equality in oneself, their Soul Mate, and the Universe around them.

Classics Corner: The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo: The Inspirational Personal Legend

Classics Corner: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: The Inspirational Personal Legend
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

Spoilers Ahead: For the past 25 years, Paulo Coelho's  novel, The Alchemist has inspired and moved many readers. Millions of readers have made it one of the top best-selling and most translated books of all time. Luckily, I am one of those Readers. The Alchemist is a beautiful and inspirational allegory encouraging it's Readers to move towards their goals, to live their Personal Legend. Readers can take this book and find parallels to their own lives and Personal Legends.

Santiago, an Andalusian shepherd boy longs to travel and experience new things. He has dreams that are interpreted by a woman who tells him that they point to a treasure in the Egyptian Pyramids. Intrigued by further travel to a new place and the possibility of wealth, Santiago longs to go. The woman had some faith in him because she wants one-third of the treasure when he finds it.

He also meets a man who calls himself the King of Salem who tells him the themes of this book: That everyone has a Personal Legend: "What they have always wanted to accomplish.... and when you want something the Universe conspires to help achieve it." The King reminds Santiago and the Reader of having goals and the importance of achieving them.

The Alchemist is one of those books that gives the Reader a beautiful feeling of connection with Santiago's journey. The fantasy within the book is among the best kind: magical realism in which supernatural unusual things happen in an everyday setting. There are many moments of coincidences and omens that help Santiago on his journey. The King gives him two stones, Urmin and Thummim that help him understand the omens on his way.

 He also meets characters like an  Englishman who points him in the path of an Alchemist that displays the ability of turning metal into gold and Fatima, a beautiful desert girl who loves Santiago but tells him she'll wait for him to finish his journey. These characters are symbols of people who support others with either unconditional love or a few minutes conversation that helps move their lives in another direction.

Santiago has conversations with the desert and nature which give him lessons about Love and the Soul and give him abilities like turning into the wind when feuding tribes approach. The Reader is filled with a sense of wonder at the magic of ordinary things and people around Santiago and is further intrigued when the magic deepens when Santiago is able to communicate with the world around him, The Soul of the World.
These passages remind the Reader to open up for the signs in their lives, coincidences, and to take a moment to look beyond their world to discover their capabilities: through prayer, meditation, study, knowledge, communication, and listening.

Another theme that pops up in Coelho's narrative is the persistence that a person requires to achieve their Personal Legend.
As the King of Salem points out many give up on it. Santiago works for a time for a Crystal Merchant who considered selling crystals the easiest path to money, has very little interest beyond his little corner of the world, and is completely miserable and grouchy. He stands in for many people who don't listen to their Personal Legend or do things that are safe or easy, just to get money or survive.

Santiago himself has doubts about his journey. While working for the Crystal Merchant, he considers earning enough money to buy some sheep so he can go home without seeing the Pyramids. While resting at an oasis, he considers settling down and marrying Fatima, The Alchemist predicts that they will be happy for a time but there will be doubts over Santiago's head that he could have gone to the Pyramids and could have gotten the treasure. These passages represent the times when people choose something else from their original goal. It may end up well, but like Robert Frost's Speaker wonder about "the two roads diverged in the woods" and wondering where the other path would have led.

Santiago proves like most of his Readers that their Personal Legends can be achieved. It may take awhile, the omens may not be clear, it may seem like Universe is not conspiring in our favor. The end may not be what one expects, but it will be achieved.
The Alchemist is the perfect way to start 2018 with the call towards living a Personal Legend. It is a true inspiration.

January's Reviewing Schedule

January's Reviewing Schedule
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

This is my reading and reviewing schedule for January 2018. For now it's tentative since things like work schedules, Internet troubles, and lack of motivation get in the way. But this is where things stand for now. If you know of any future titles for other months, please let me know here or on Facebook.

Update: Some things are getting pushed back or forward  partly because of the length of Infinite Jest and the slow moving of the Self-Help books Lit List.

January 6 Weekly Reader- Brida by Paulo Coelho

January 6 Classics Corner- The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

January 12 Weekly Reader- Room by Emma Donoghue

January 12 Classics Corner: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

January 20 Weekly Reader-Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

January 20 Forgotten Favorites: Second Best by David Cook

January 26- Weekly Reader- The Reading Group by Elizabeth Noble (maybe)

January 26 Classics Corner- infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace

January 30-Lit List- Self-Help Books

New Year: New Plans; New Blog

 New Year, New Blog, New Plans
By Julie Sara Porter, Bookworm

Happy 2018, Readers!
Since this is a new year, there are going to be some changes to the Bookworm Reviews. Last year I concentrated on reading and reviewing my all-time favorite books to give the Readers ideas of what I like. That's fine but I can only go so far with that, so I am doing some different things with the blog this year.

I am going to implement a monthly reading schedule and separate reading books in different alternating categories. These categories are;

Weekly Reader- This will be a weekly review of a book written since 2000 with heavy emphasis on books published I'm the past 5 years. I am doing this because I didn't review many new books last year.

Classics Corner- This will be a category that could appear anywhere from two to three times per month and will be a review of books published from the 1990's on down.

Lit List- A monthly list featuring books from a specific topic like last year's fare except it will be different. The entries will be shorter about three or four paragraphs long and the number will be limited to 10 or 15.

Forgotten Favorites- This may appear once a month depending on if I find materials. This is similar to my review of Fifth Grade Monsters and will focus on books that are out of print or I believe have fallen by the way side.

Bookworm Babblings- This won't be a regular feature but will involve my commentary on current political, social, or topical events that deal with books, reading, libraries, and publishing.

So that's it for my new plans. What sections are you most looking forward to? Are there other ideas that you think might work for the blog? Any titles that would be perfect to read? Let me know here or on Facebook.