Tag: booktuber

Book Review

T is for Transformation| Book Review

Featured Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment
Pages: 272
Published: November 7, 2017
Publisher: Rodale

T is for Transformation by Shaun T.
Synopsis:

“Your mind is a sledgehammer. Swing it!”

(Shaun T, pg. 20, 2017)

In T is for Transformation, Shaun T unveils the 7 transformational principles that guided his progress through life and that are at the core of his incredibly successful workouts. T is for Transformation is a motivational master class as Shaun shows you how to become more flexible and resourceful, give everything you’ve got, and, most importantly, trust and believe in your path to success. The only real obstacles in life are the mental ones, and T is for Transformation can train you to achieve astonishing results in your own life, just as Shaun T has in his. (Goodreads)

Review:

My rating: 5 of 5 stars!
“And another one, and another and another one bites the dust ” – Queen

I love Shaun T. I can remember the first time I saw an insanity infomercial and I knew that I needed to be doing this program. And that’s what I did all throughout high school and was in the best shape of my life.

So, when I heard that this man came out with a book I was on the quick train to pick it up at the bookstore. His writing mirrored a lot of the things that he says to you during a workout. “Trust and Believe” and “Dig Deeper”. But, those words not only have the context to me that I can push myself through a difficult workout, but I can push myself through life.

I read this book at the right time in my life, and I highlighted all my favorite quotes. This book makes you want to get up and get going and try to do all the difficult things that you have not done because of the little voice in your head thats telling you to doubt yourself.

Personally, I think that this book is a great read for athletes and performers. Shaun T, gets his roots as a dancer. It shows the difficulty of auditioning, injuries and life in L.a. as a performer. But, the powerful thing about this book is that no matter how many time Shaun was knocked down, he was passionate in what he was doing that nothing was going to stop him from getting up and going for his dreams.

There are a few trigger warnings such as child abuse, and rape.

This book also contains LGBTQ+ content.

I think this book is remarkable. I think it teaches a lot about tolerance, peoples differences, and acceptance. Throughout the book, Shaun shares his “Truthbombs” with the reader which are lessons that he has learned about the hardest times in his life. These truth bombs are followed by superpowers, and man those superpowers have the ability for you to feel amazing. Each of us has superpowers, and knowing how to unlock those superpowers is so powerful. I think the mind-shift that develops through this book really helps in unlocking those superpowers.

There is no quick fix to fixing your life, or fixing your body. Shaun, tells each one of his readers that they themselves and only themselves are in charge of the choices that they make every single day. Even those small choices that seem insignificant can play a big role in getting you closer to your dreams. My take away from this book is; show up every single day no matter how difficult it may seem because each little step is a step into the direction of your goals.

Half the game is showing up.

This book is an inspiration but it also gives you a glimpse into the life of Shaun T, and what events that have occurred in his life to make him the person he is today. Amazing would be a great way to sum it up.



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#booktube · currently reading · weekly goals

Weekly Goals and Currently Reading #1 | June 2018

Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment

Hey Bibliomanics,

I went to vidcon and came home extremely inspired. Since my 3-month hiatus, I have created a new video and I am excited to start creating more content. Thank you to everyone that has stuck with me through this crazy wonderful journey. I love editing videos and being creative while sharing my creativity with the world. I am still learning my elements but I am blessed to have this outlet.

Today’s video is a weekly goal’s and a currently reading, where I share with you what my goals are for this week and what I am currently reading as getting a lot of reading in is always a goal for me.

With Warm cups of tea and just a few more chapters,

Rina

 

Book Review

Frostbite By Richelle Mead| Book Review

Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment
FrostbitePaperback, 327 pages
Published April 10th 2008 by Razorbill (first published April 1st 2008)

Synopsis:

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose…

It’s winter break at St. Vladimir’s, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy’s crawling with Guardians—including Rose’s hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn’t bad enough, Rose’s tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason’s got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa’s head while she’s making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy’s not taking any risks… This year, St. Vlad’s annual holiday ski trip is mandatory.

But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price… (Goodreads)

Rating: starsstarsstarsstarsstars/5

Review:

Hey Biblimanics,

Today I bring to you my thoughts on Frostbite by Richelle Mead. To be quite honest I picked this book up on a whim. I couldn’t get into anything after finishing “The Great Gatsby”. I also wanted something that was fun and didn’t take much brain power to get through. This was such an enjoyable read. If you are a fan of “Twilight” or vampires this is a read for you.

This is a second book in the series. The first book “The Vampire Academy”, I read a long time ago. For some reason, I never continued on with the series. That book spent a lot of time setting up the world building and relationships. This second book was just a mind whirl. It was excellent, as we continue to learn more about the characters and watch them develop into individuals, while a crisis breaks out where someone is murdering the royal vampire families. The students of St. Vladimir’s have to go into hiding in a safe ski resort for the Holiday/ Christmas break. You would think that everything would be smooth sailing from there but that is where we are so wrong. Chaos unleashes and Rose once again decides to save the day.

Let me just say, this book is full of romance. The relationship between Dimitri and Rose is literally to die for. This ship, literally makes you feel all of the emotions. There is so much love, yet the two characters struggle with keep strict boundaries between one another because they lead a student/ mentor relationship. But, every time that Dimitri was in a scene I couldn’t put this book down. I was fangirling so hard. I feel like this particular novel is heavily character driven.

Rose grew so much in this book, and although she still had her spunky banter, you can tell she was talking her role of guardian in training more seriously.  I felt there was a lot of emotion in this book. I related to Rose, she seemed like a character that had things from romance to friends to school issues going and she handled them how a person who is stressed out would. I felt like all her issues never just had a fast solution, the character really had to figure things out for herself.

This novel is also action-packed, from combat practices gone wrong to a bad-ass sword battle. I lived for all the little action moments. They were done so well, I never felt like the action was just randomly placed. It was well, thought out.

I loved that the book tied up loose ends. The ending definitely made me want to continue on with the series but, this book was complete. I never got the feeling like there was more that I wanted out of it. I think that the ending did a great job to set up for the next book to pick up without the reader feeling disappointed. And boyyy, let me just say the ending gave me so many feels. The last 100 pages I feel just went by so fast. They were emotional and action packed which made this book extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend if you like romance and vampires to pick this one up.

 

Book Review

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Book Review

Marinainw0nderland2 Comments

great gatsby

Pages: 180

 

Date Published:  Originally published April 1925- republished September 2004

Publisher: Scribner

Synopsis: On its first publication in 1925, The Great Gatsby was largely dismissed as a light satire on Jazz Age follies. Today, it is acknowledged as a masterpiece: a love story, an exploration of the American dream and arguably the greatest American novel of the 20th century. Narrator Nick Carraway tells the story of his neighbor Jay Gatsby, whose parties at his Long Island mansion are as lavish as his past is mysterious. Yet Gatsby cares only for one of his guests: his lost love Daisy Buchanan, now married and living across the bay. In Fitzgerald’s hands, this deceptively simple story becomes a near-perfect work of art, told in hauntingly beautiful prose.

Michael Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post, has written a new introduction for this edition. He writes, ‘While a great novel should possess many qualities, the most essential is certainly the ability to enchant, to cast a spell over the reader’ – an ability possessed in full by ‘this ever-fresh, this ceaselessly magical novel’. Our edition also features a two-page note by the director and screenwriter Francis Ford Coppola recalling his work on the 1974 film adaptation, in particular, his ingenious solution to the lack of dialogue between Daisy and Gatsby in the original novel. Sam Wolfe Connelly, a young artist based in New York, has created a series of color illustrations and the striking binding design. The metallic endpapers and slipcase are printed with a 1920s-inspired design by the artist. (Goodreads)

Review:

Hey Bibliomanics,

Welcome Back to another review. Today’s review is my thoughts on rereading “The Great Gatsby”. I remember when I first read this book back in highschool, I remember thinking that it was so thin for it to be a classic. And as one may assume, I didn’t enjoy it when I read it the first time. It still holds true that anything that has ever been assigned for school reading, I just don’t enjoy very much.

Fast forward to this year, I decided to reread it…

With the book only containing 180 pages, one may assume this book doesn’t get deep. But, thats were you are wrong. This is one of the most rawest books I have yet read. There is so much going on. I noticed that there was a common theme in the book of wealth and love.  Rereading, this novel made me realize that this is one tragic love story. But, although it is tragic, it is so beautiful.

The story takes place in the 1920’s. This is a time in American History were flappers were around, prohibition of alchol was happening, and the parties were wild. This book is set after WWI when the soldiers are coming home and everyone is basing the amount of wealth that they have on how much materal objects they own. In the novel, money is being thrown left in right. An example of this would be Gatsby, throwing huge parties in his manision. This is first evident in chapter 3, when Fitzgerald talks how most people that attended Gatsby’s gathering came without invitiation and that there were very few actually invited guests ( Fitzgerald, 45). Which, can send the message that Gatsby had enough money to accomodate anyone who stopped by his party.

My Thoughts:

This novel is enjoyable. I think that there is a lot of things that a person can connect with in this book. I really enjoyed seeing that all the characters in the book although they functioned together as a unit, they were all so flawed. Each of them was battling a personal demon. I think that a lot of the time they used money as an escapism. Essentially that was evident with Gatsby, he would throw extravagant parties in hopes of attracting Daisy in to coming to one of them on accident.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It was a really long time since I read it. I think that the experience was even better because I marked up all my favorite qoutes and scenes that stood out to me.

This story is full of tragedy. And it really makes you value the things that you do have. I felt for Gatsby, as he explained how he tried to improve his life status in hopes of one day being reunited with Daisy and being able to impress her. I also think this novel is important to show that poeple are imperfect. The whole book has flawed characters as they are trying to survive but never truly living.

The characters in books are usually my favorite part, but these characters are so shallow. I loved Nick Carraway, whom I think is the only decent character in this book. Everyone else is obsessed with status and money that they put their most important relationships in jeopardy. Gatsby, does everything that he can in order to up his status in order to finally get a chance to be with Daisy. Yet, Daisy, is one of the most superficial characters I have ever read about. But, Gatsby’s love for her is so pure. Everything that Gatsby ever does is in hopes to win Daisy back.

This book is coated in symbolism. I came to really appreciate this. I loved how everything in this story tied up really nicely. There was no lose ends.  Which for a 180 page book, I really do appreciate.

If you have not read this book, I feel like you have to a least try it. If you read it in highschool, I encouarage you to read it again with a new persepctive. This story is tragic, honest and yet beautiful.

Contains Spoilers

I think that reading this as an adult, it makes a lot more sense to me and I can really make connections with the book that I wasn’t able to make as a sophmore. Some things that stood out to me, was the relationship between Tom and Daisy. I thought that it was one of those relationships that people are in because they don’t want to be alone. Tom is cheating on Daisy the entire time and he still gets angry at Daisy when she is being flirtaous in front of him with Gatsby. However, I honestly could not figure her out because she was claiming to love Gatsby and Tom at the same but yet she didn’t care if Tom saw her being affectionate toward Gatsby.

Another thing that stood out to me was the topic of wealth, how everyone in the book either wanted to be wealthy and tried to fit in with the wealthy crowd or they were wealthy and had no problem throwing their money around. Daisy and Tom, make it very apparent that they are wealthy and have money to throw around.

I found Daisy to be kind of a coward. She expresses how much she loves Gatsby and the book goes into an extensive story of how they first met. Yet, when she is asked to chose between Gatsby and Tom she doesn’t want to lose either of them and explains that she loves them both. This was one of the parts of the story that really made me upset because  the reader and Daisy both knows that Tom has been cheating on Daisy throughout the entire novel.

As one can tell I had an issue with Daisy!!!

If you read “The Great Gatsby” and you want to chat about it, leave a comment.

As per usual, with warm cups of tea and just a few more chapters, happy reading!!

Rina

#booktube

Booktube Newbie Tag|Booktube 2018

Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment

Hey Biblimanics,

Happy Tuesday, today I would like to bring to you my “Booktube Newbie Tag”.  This is a tag created by Brenda C. I will post her original video here.

So, I decided to do this tag mainly because I feel like I am still a Newbie even though I have been meddling  in the book tube world since 2011. I loved having the opportunity to look back on how I got into reading, reflecting, and obviously gushing about my favorite authors and their works.

The questions that are in this tag are as follows:

1. Why did you start this channel?

2. What are some fun and unique things you can bring to Booktube?

3. What are you most excited for about this new channel?

4. Why do you love reading?

5. What book or series got you into reading?

6. What questions would you ask your favourite booktubers?

7. What challenges do you think starting a booktube channel will be the hardest to overcome?

8. When did you start reading?

9. Where do you read?

10. What kind of books do you like to read?

Are you curious of how I answered this questions? Then just watch the video below. If you have not done this tag and wish to do so, then I tag you to do this. I also welcome any discussion about any the questions in the comments below.

With that said I would like to present my “Booktube Newbie Tag”, grab yourself a cup of tea and settle down.  Hope you enjoy!!

 

With Warm Cups of Tea and Just a Few More Chapters, Happy Reading!!

Rina

#booktube · 0 by 2020 · Book Discussion · Book Review

Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman|Book Review

Marinainw0nderlandLeave a comment

Synopsis:orange is the new black With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before.

But that past has caught up with her.

Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424 — one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system.

From her first strip search to her final release, Kerman learns to navigate this strange world with its strictly enforced codes of behavior and arbitrary rules. She meets women from all walks of life, who surprise her with small tokens of generosity, hard words of wisdom, and simple acts of acceptance.

Heartbreaking, hilarious, and at times enraging, Kerman’s story offers a rare look into the lives of women in prison—why it is we lock so many away and what happens to them when they’re there.

Review (Spoiler-Free):

This book was extremely enjoyable for a non-fiction. It was fast paced and it really kept you on your toes. As a reader I really got invested in the lives of the characters and felt along with them.

I sympathized with Piper’s story and it got me thinking a lot about the offenders in our prison systems, the types of conditions different prisons have and how tax dollars affect the prison system.

It also didn’t hit me that Martha Stewart served time. This was one of the topics of the book as the prisoners hoped that Martha would have come to Danbury.

There was LGBTQA+ representation in this book as it did follow a relationship of Nora and Piper, when Piper was younger. However, there was very limited interaction between Nora and Piper which was different from the Netflix show. I wanted to see more of the relationship between Piper and Nora. This was for many reasons, but mainly because the relationship between Nora and Piper in the Netflix show put a lot of strain on the relationship with Larry, who is Piper’s fiancee. And I had to remind myself that the Netflix show is more fictional and has difference then the non-fictional narrative.

Going into this book, do not expect it to be like the Netflix show. It is a lot more fact based and about Piper’s personal experience  as it was written from a collection of letters that she sent to her family and friends. Overall, it was very enjoyable and I gave 4/5 stars. I would really recommend this book if you are a fan of the Netflix show or what to give a go of non-fiction I think this is a really good place to start because this book will suck you in.

Reflection (Contains Spoilers):

I picked this book up after I watched the first season of the Netflix series and was hooked. I first started reading this as an audiobook, but in reality I am not a huge fan of audiobooks. I ended up picking the book half way through and reading an e-book version of it, although I owned the physical copy as well. Marina, why do you need 3 copies of the same book, if only I knew.

This book was very addictive, it goes through the Piper’s journey through the law and prison system after being accused as an accomplice that took large sums of money into the U.S. for an ex-girlfriend that was part of the drug cartel.

Some of the interesting things I found in this book was that the book was not heavily concentrated between the relationship of Piper and her ex Nora as the Netflix series does. Looking back, the show seems to be drawn out because I had to remind myself that Piper only did 10 months in prison before she was let go.

It was shocking to me how the woman of the prisons came together and became a family to Piper. I was also shocked to see how different Danbury was from the high security prison that Piper was at.

I wasn’t expecting that Nora had a sister. This surprised me because I didn’t understand why Piper had to carry the money back to the U.S. and stayed innocent. While Nora’s sister who is already in the drug trade would have been able to travel with the money. I also enjoyed getting to know Piper’s fiancé/husband and watching how supportive their relationship was.

This book was an excellent piece of nonfiction that a reader could tell heart and soul was put into it. I loved this book, please don’t be hesitant to check it out.

Happy Reading (OneLoveAlways),

Rina