Book Review - Stop, Rest and Think by Fuad A. Kamal

Monday, October 26, 2009

I recently received Stop, Rest, and Think by Fuad A. Kamal for review. Stop, Rest and Think is a short book (119 pages) in three parts, Part I is made up of reflections, passages, quotes, quick thoughts very much the self improvement part of the book little things that make you stop and think, Parts II and III are short essays and stories with a definite anti-war slant these stories don't preach to you but are meant instead to make you again stop and think.

You can take in the whole book from front to back rather easily due to it's short length but one of the great things about this book is that you do not need to be read each entry in order. All the part compliment each other making for a full reading experience but you can pick it up, turn to any page and start reading without the need to worry if you "missed something."

Every time I read a few pages in this book I wanted to go straight to my computer or journal and write. I wanted to share my thoughts on the topics brought up in Stop, Rest and Think. Passages like:

Sometimes, failure (or fear of it) forces one to
learn how things work far beyond one
would have thought possible (or necessary.)

make me want to say Amen. And what about this one:

If you see a person following their heart, support them
if even with just a word. If enough people
did it, the world would be transformed.

That is so true, sometimes it is hard to do because you don't want to interfere but think of how good you would feel if someone just stopped to say 'good job' when you were working on a particularly hard project. Here is one last passage:

There is so little time to truly enjoy one's parents.
Don't waste a golden opportunity.

This is true not just of parents but of all the people who are truly important to you, figure out who those people are and tell them so, hang out with them, tell them nice things, hug them, you will regret it if you don't.

So all-in-all Stop, Rest and Think is a little book with a lot of say in a very thought provoking way, which seems to me to be exactly what Fuad A. Kamal set out to accomplish.

Currently "Reading":
Magazine - The New National Geographic Kids
Book -
Audio - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Seth Grahame-Smith

Sookie Stackhouse Challenge

Sunday, October 25, 2009

I had such a great time doing the Read-a-Thon I thought I would be up for another challenge so after a little searching on the Internet I found one that is right up my alley.
The Sookie Stackhouse Reading Challenge!

Here are the basics copied from the Beth Fish Reads' blog:
Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2010, catch up on Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. No matter if you're starting with book 1 or book 8, you have a year to read all about Sookie. Read Sookie in print, listen to the audio, read an eBook -- format is not an issue.

I am starting a little late but I don't think that will be a problem there are only 8 books as well as a few short stories and I still have nearly 8 months to complete the challenge so here we go.

The Books:

Dead Until Dark
Living Dead in Dallas
Club Dead
Dead to the World
Dead as a Doornail
Definitely Dead
All Together Dead
From Dead to Worse
Dead and Gone



I will add links to the reviews of each as I finish them.




Currently "Reading":
Magazine - November issue of Good Housekeeping
Book - A Wife's Guide to In-laws: How to Gain Your Husband's Loyalty Without Killing His Parents by Jenna D. Barry
Audio - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

Read - a - Thon Recap

Hi everyone,

This is my Read-a-Thon update post. Some people really kept track of how many hours they read and how many pages they were able to read too but I really didn't. I was able to read a lot in the morning yesterday then only a couple hours in the evening and I simply had to go to sleep but my little guy wakes up so early in the morning I was able to roll over grab my iPhone and read another 30 pages or so in an ebook before the 7am official end of the Read-a-Thon which made me feel a lot better about getting all that sleep.
Here is the list of all the books I finished during the Read-a-Thon:

*The Songbird In My Heart
*Dinosaurs In The Dark
*Tales Of Oliver Pig
*Frog And Toad Together
*A Tree Is Nice
*Where The Wild Things Are
*Clovis Crawfish And Petit Papillon
*Jenny Giraffe Discovers The French Quarter
*Jenny Giraffe And The Streetcar Party

I know most of those are kid's books but I feel accomplished anyway, I also read about 50 pages in The Wife's Guide To In-Laws but wasn't able to finish it during the Read-a-Thon. All I can say is I had a great time and can't wait to do it again next time.

Read - A - Thon Update #5

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Well, I finished a couple books since the last time we talked. I finished The Songbird in my Heart and Dinosaurs in the Dark as well as 2 children's picture books that count as far as I am concerned and those are The Lorax and Where The Wild Things Are which helped put my son to sleep tonight.

I wish I had found out about the Read-a-Thon earlier because I really had fun doing this and staying in touch with everyone though the blogs, mini challenges and twitter not to mention the actual reading which was also awesome. Unfortunately with such short notice I couldn't make special plans to clear my day/night and get extra help with toddler watching from my husband so I have to go to sleep tonight. I can't stay up reading till all hours of the night and by that I mean 7am so this might be my last post of the evening and I might have read my last word in this read-a-thon. Giving it a second thought though my son usually wakes up at 6am so I could sleep, get up when he does and read a little more...I might do that...we'll see. If not I will check in with you all tomorrow anyway to recap everything I did read and see how everyone else did.

I already can't wait for April when I will have more prep time and can go all night!!

Read - A - Thon Update #4 mini challenge

We’re now halfway through the read-a-thon, which means it’s time for the Mid-Event Meme. We invite you to answer the following questions and then enter your link in the Mr Linky below:

Mid-Event Survey:
1. What are you reading right now? Dinosaurs Before Dark by Mary Pope Osborne

2. How many books have you read so far? 7

3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? Nothing in particular just reading as long as I can at this point

4. Did you have to make any special arrangements to free up your whole day? Because I only found out about the Read-a-Thon on Monday I didn't have time to free up the whole day but yes I would have had to make special arrangements

5. Have you had many interruptions? How did you deal with those? I have a two year old so there were plenty of interruptions but I also read a lot of kids books with him and listened to an audio book when I couldn't sit and read all proper like and we had guests that I had to take a couple hours off to hang out with

6. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How much I am loving feeling like I am a part of something

7. Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year? not yet but maybe after I am all finished

8. What would you do differently, as a Reader or a Cheerleader, if you were to do this again next year? take the time to clear my day and involve my husband in helping out with the little guy to let me read more

9. Are you getting tired yet? a little

10. Do you have any tips for other Readers or Cheerleaders, something you think is working well for you that others may not have discovered? don't stress just read what you can when you can.

Read - A - Thon Update #3 mini challenge

This is a mini-challenge that I am taking part in which is hosted over at Opi's Ramblings



Perspectives Mini-Challenge

Time Slot: 1pm to 4pm eastern(US)

Prize: Two books, paperback: Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon & A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, as well as a mini bonsai kit & book thong

Challenge: Name three books that are told from a different world view, a different perspective, that you have read and enjoyed. Give a one sentence summary of the book, and another sentence that explains how the book shares a unique perspective. The prize books are great examples of this different perspective. In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”, the story is told from the perspective of a book who has autism- he sees the world very differently than someone without autism. “A Prayer for Owen Meany” tells the story of Owen Meany- a boy with a entirely unshakable certainty about the future…he knows his own ultimate fate, and sees things in a whole different light because of it.



Here are my 3 books:

A Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke - tells the story of a man living and working in France for the first time and is told from the perspective of a first time expat learning the culture and the language of a new country.


Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore - tells the story of a young man falling in love with a beautiful vampire and is told with the young man in mind. He is a scrawny, artist who moved out West to become somebody, what he got was vampire love.

And Fools by Christopher Moore - follows the Fools from King Lear and is very very funny. It is basically the King Lear story from Shakespeare told from the perspective of his Fool.

Read - A - Thon Update #2

Well, I read a couple more children's books and put the little guy to bed. I also read about 30 pages in The Songbird in My Heart and listened to the audio of Pride Prejudiced and Zombie while making lunch. Now that he is napping I have to do a little more tidying (did I mention we have company coming over later today?) and then dig into my reading again.