In Pursuit of My Own Library

All the major items have been packed away an d my apartment is starting to look ridiculously sparse.  I packed all of my books weeks ago since they got classified non-essential items. Luckily for me, we went shopping and these were too good of a deal to pass up, and I have some reading material for the move. So while I pack the last straggling items away, I will be reading through these excellent mangas. Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama I had never watched this series while it was active on TV and even made fun of the few kids I knew who watched it at the time. My husband turned out to be one of those who tuned in each week for a new episode. You can't really make fun of something your spouse grew up with in a nice way. So instead, I was an excellent wife and sat down to watch the entire series through in one weekend. (No easy feat at 153 episodes). I fell in love with the series myself. There are certainly parts that drag, which I still make fun of vigorously, but now I

I used to run cross country in high school. I loved the freedom of running through the woods instead of around a track. Unfortunately, running was not as fond of me and eventually developed knee problems to hinder me. Now I am older (and supposedly wiser), I have learned to properly train and stretch while running with my knee braced. There is nothing like the freedom of heading out and exerting  your energy on the wilderness. Silver-White by Shawn Underhill Another unexpected surprise from the free Kindle preview bin. You can now purchase the book for 99 cents and it is worth the dollar. The plot summary I read before downloading my freebie really pulled at the runner inside me. This book seemed like a completely new take on the werewolf dynamic and I find that very refreshing in an overwhelming genre expansion. No full moons or blood lust just the instinct of a deadly animal inside each human.  Tangent: I have read fantasy for many years and understand that there are only so

As a nice little break from my brain bender with Karen Armstrong, I am enjoying the continuing world of Avatar: the Last Bender .  I have recently become a fan of graphic novel series as my favorite TV shows no longer run (such as Buffy and Avatar ). It is amazing at how much good TV gets cancelled because it does not get popularized from being thought provoking, which actually makes people think about their morals.  The Promise by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko       I fell in love with the A:tLA TV series as a recommendation on Netflix and was excited to see that they had continued on with the creators through a Graphic Novel series. These certainly kept the charm and humor of the originals. The quality of art work and printing make these fantastic books to own. They certainly didn't skimp on paper quality, though I wish they were a little longer. I plowed through each in about 20 minutes.  These stories are filled with good lessons that get people thinking

The stunning conclusion to a stunning expose. I was raised by an agnostic and born-again Wesleyan ex-Catholic, did undergrad at a  university run by  Dominican sisters, then married a Latter Day Saint. My father did not attend any ceremonies or sermons, and almost avoided such events held in a religious setting like the plague. He believes in God but, also, in the strict separation of church and state. He had a fairly decent set of morals he passed to me and I believe myself to be a good person. My mother trooped me through multiple churches as she attempted to find a house of God that suited her better than the strict Franciscan Catholic upbringing taught her. She should have read this book. It would have made her venture much shorter and a few mistakes less. I witnessed the sermons, masses, and preachings of multiple fathers, bishops, priests, pastors, etc; as well as, the faith of the agnostic. I grew up believing something more than me kept control over the vast everything, b