Introducing Quarterly Book Review: Coming of Age Edition

Who doesn't love a good book recommendation? I know I do! I want to introduce you to a new segment that will premiere every 3 months. I will choose books that I read to share with you. In doing so, I can highlight all of the outstanding books I read. I'm a major book worm so there's always a book I'm reading, this designated segment will let me share some really good books 🤗

In this week's episode, we are starting with a full-body scan guided meditation. Body scan meditations are a great way to reduce anxiety, improve your sleep, increase your lovingkindness for yourself, and reduce pain.  Even if you don't think those benefits relate to you, body scans are a great way to stay mindful and connected to your body.

Afterward, the Quarterly Book Review is introduced. This segment is (to me) the best of both worlds; I get to share some fun reads while also sharing the lessons I got out of them. This wasn't purposeful but 2/3 books fit in the coming of age genre. These books are also books that were recommended by BookTok (the book readers of Tik Tok) and even though the books recommended can be hit or miss, these are all hits! Tune in to find out why.

Meditation music provided by Chris Collins at indiemusicbox.com
DP the Unknown provides episode theme music titled "Here/If"

Be sure to follow the social media accounts to stay updated on episodes, highlights, and behind-the-scenes pics. 🤗
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Transcript

Get in a comfortable position...sitting down or laying down
We’re gonna start with three deep breaths

Deep breath in slowly
Hold
Release slowly
Deep breath in slowly
Hold
Release slowly
Deep breath in slowly
Hold
Release slowly

Bring awareness to the top of your body
Your head
Face
Neck
And shoulders

Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension or added pressure

Now move down to your arms and hands
Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension of added pressure

Bring your attention to your upper and lower back
Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension of added pressure

Now move to the front of your body
Your chest
Abdomen
And stomach

Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension of added pressure

Moving down to your hips and butt
Feel the contact of your bottom to your cushion or chair
Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension of added pressure

Bring attention to your upper and lower legs
Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension of added pressure

Lastly bring your attention to your feet
The heels
Balls
And toes

Notice any sensations or feelings
Notice any tension or added pressure

Take one long slow deep breath in
Hold
Release

*DP the Unknown: Here/If background music*

Hello my babies as I've mentioned this is your girl MaJhane AKA MamMaJ is my pronouns are she her and hers and you are listening to MamMaJ(ism). Thank you for deciding to listen in on this talk of love and honest conversation so let's get into it.

By the time you finish this episode you will know the books I choose to highlight in this new segment I like to call the Quarterly Book Review I will give you a summary of each book, why I chose to highlight them, and what lessons I got out of the stories. Stick around if that is something that sounds interesting to you.

But before we get into this new segment I want to take a moment to thank you for taking the time to tune in each week. I know I don't always show up consistently but when I do you are there with open arms ready to support me and I thank you so much for that. But for the sake of time that's all I wanted to say I just really wanted to give my things so let's hit it.

Quarterly Book Review its the Quarterly Book Review!

Welcome to the newest segment of MamMaJ(ism) called the Quarterly Book Review. Y’all remember in episode 54 when I shared the top five books that I enjoyed in 2020? well as you will know in 2020 I read over 50 books and I was heartbroken to have had to narrow down the books to Showcase in just 5. like that's 10% of the books I read 1-1-1 10th y'all get what I'm saying it was a such a small fraction of the books that I actually read and there were so many more than I wanted to point out but I couldn't cuz I don't have the time. So remedy that I decided that this year I'm slowing things down a bit you know. I'm going to focus more on the types of books that I read and share with you as opposed to just trying to figure out how many books I can consume within a year. I know that it can be over 50 that's great, great little fun fact for future icebreakers but now it's time to really like focus on the books that truly feed my spirit and my soul which is what I'm-I'm really into the most in this stage in my life. So It's called a quarterly book review because every three months I will choose books that I read within that time frame and highlight them and share it with you so that maybe you can put it on your list of books to read in the future. And so since we are officially in April I decided it made the most sense to start this now so it'll be every 3 months which means there will be four quarterly book reviews each year and I'm just excited to see what books I read and decide to share with you all. And if you have any book recommendations please please please please feel free to slide in the DM then let me know because I am always on the Quest for a good book to read so yeah okay let's hop right into these books cuz they're good and I want to make sure I give enough time to talk about each one.

Okay so let's go ahead and get into it so the first book Is by Aiden Thomas called Cemetery boys. now I'm going to read the excerpt so:

“Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can't get rid of him. When his traditional Latinx family has problems accepting his true gender, Yadriel becomes determined to prove himself a real brujo. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself, and then sets out to find the ghost of his murdered cousin and set it free. However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school's resident bad boy, and Julian is not about to go quietly into death. He's determined to find out what happened and tie off some loose ends before he leaves. Left with no choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so that they can both get what they want. But the longer Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants to let him leave.”

okay that was a lot so again I'm trying to keep this all as spoil free as possible so I can't go into any actual details as to what the story is about other than what they give us provide us on the back of the book. But I will say that I really enjoyed the fact that this book is all about the the queer ex- it's not all about the queer experience but the author himself is a queer and trans latinx person so I really liked that he pulled from personal experiences of like wanting to prove himself and really you know you don't see too many lgbtqa+ books where you are starting to see more now but a lot of people don't talk about them being able to see it too much on TV and so I really enjoyed the-reading the representation as an ally and that the story was centered around a queer person and a queer person color at that. and then you kind of get to know a little bit more about Dia de los Muertos wish I was saying that right because that's pretty much what this book is centered around. in the first time that I had exposure to a Dia de los Muertos his from that one Lizzie McGuire Episode ifyouknowyouknow shoutout to Miranda’s family but yeah so I think that this is a really good book and the imagery beautiful the the artwork and stuff too that if you go on the website you'll see it’s beautiful and so the takeaway is. so the main takeaway I got from this book is that at the end of the day you really don't have to prove yourself to anyone of course we have our moments where we want to show or prove that we are worthy you know we get imposter syndrome and feel like we are not really who you know we did what we don't belong where we are and we have to prove ourselves to show that we really you don't have to do all that you know deep down in your heart you know you know what the Vibes are you know who you are and I think it's added a real going to recognize real you don't have to prove yourself to anyone boo. So that's what I got from that. 

From the next book is by Benjamin Benjamin alire Sands oh my gosh I should look that up but the book is called Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe so I'm going to go ahead and read that excerpt: 

“Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.”

Now what I loved about this book was the complexities of the characters. You know I had moments where I really loved one and then couldn't stand the other but I feel like that's a pretty good representation of the Ebbs and flows of your pretty typical relationship whether it be with a friend, a family member, or whatever well at least that's how it goes for me I have my days when I'm like everybody is pissing me off right now and that's just how I felt reading the book which gave it like a realistic refreshing feel for me cuz I felt like they didn't the other didn't overdo the characters like they had complexities and stuff but it felt like it was like a pretty realistic turn for like a fictional character I think that Benjamin did a really good job of like explaining in great detail what the characters were thinking and you felt like you were right there inside of their brain with them which is usually how most books are but since his book is so like Poetic, it just hit different. like I don't I don't know how to explain it in every other way and I don't want to again spoil so I'll just leave it at that. and another thing that I really loved was the two different family Dynamics between Ari which is Aristotle and Dante so for our stadel his dad is a big closed off and he changed ever since he came back from serving in the Vietnam War and its mom you know is doing the best you can to try and connect with her son but there's a huge disconnect between them all because they never talk about his older brother who is in jai. and Ari doesn't even find out how his brother ended up in jail until like late in the book so it's just kind of a whole lot of questioning and him trying to figure out like what is it that my parents are so afraid of telling me and it's as the story unfolds it gets really interesting. and as for Dante he has a really close relationship with both of his parents and he's basically like they're all best friends like he tells them everything so it's really interesting to see that the stark contrast between both families and how they come together and intertwine it so beautiful and some of the lessons that I learned from the book is to never judge a book by its cover of course because as I said as its stated in the summary that like two seemingly to two seemingly different people you know they end up coming together you know beautiful things happen and also that we can't run away from who we are because sometimes we we might be afraid of the power that we possess or we might be afraid that people don't understand our power are true power and you know instead of running away from that you want to embrace it right and yeah that's all I can say about that. I'm really trying not to spoil this okay okay.

The the final book from the quarterly book review is by Matt Haig and it is called the Midnight Library. I do want to give a trigger warning on trigger warning suicide and then now I'll read the summary so:

“When Nora Seed finds herself in the Midnight Library, she has a chance to make things right. Up until now, her life has been full of misery and regret. She feels she has let everyone down, including herself. But things are about to change. The books in the Midnight Library enable Nora to live as if she had done things differently. With the help of an old friend, she can now undo every one of her regrets as she tries to work out her perfect life. But things aren’t always what she imagined they’d be, and soon her choices place the library and herself in extreme danger. Before time runs out, she must answer the ultimate question: what is the best way to live?”

what I loved about this book is that it was it's a beautiful concept like a library that allows you to try on different hats with seemingly no consequences like sign me the F up you know like I would love to see what my life would be like if I decided to not be shy and pursue singing and like would I become a superstar you know like it questions like these that we have in our hair about different decisions that we make in our life. it was a really cool book to see how it plays out for this character nora seed. another thing I liked about the book is how it highlights how drastically Our Lives could change based on this decisions that we make which again going back to our thought processes of how things might be different if I said yes to this and it explores that in a really interesting way. and the lessons in takeaways I got from that was that you know for one it's never too late it's never too late to change course has to switch pass if you feel like you picked the wrong thing turn around try again you know and another thing is that this book gave me permission to reinvent myself. if I feel like I'm on the wrong path like I felt like it was kind of confirmation that like yeah you might have spent five years going to school and doing whatever to realize that that's not really your thing that's not really what you want to do. you learn what you like through your experiences you know what I'm saying so like if you come out on the other side realizing this is not what I want at all fair enough change it up into something differen.t and so I really like that this book pretty much highlighted that and that there is no such thing as like a perfect life just because there's no such thing as a perfect anything. It is what you make it, and you have inside of you, all of the things that you canada want to do in your life it's up to you to figure out how you're going to incorporate that and make it happen. so I really really love the Midnight Library but again it does have that trigger warning of suicide so read at your own discretion.

With that being said the challenge for this week is to take the lessons that I learned from each book and see if you can apply it to your life. I would honestly say that the challenge is to get these books and read them so that you can be the judge yourself and see what other lessons you may pick up on because there are a lot of other things you can pick up on in those books. But those were just the things that stuck out to me specifically. But I know that books aren't really for everyone. And I listened to these on audiobook so you know find out what works for you. If you want me to spoil it and you want to find out what happens in the books specifically but you don't want to read it and you don't want to look it up online, hit me up in the DM’s. I will gladly let you know what happens in each of these books or whatever book you’re interested in. But I just really enjoyed these books and I wanted to share them with you and I'm glad that I got to do so. So take from these lessons what you will. 

Thank you for tuning in and I'll catch you next week