Tag: Reading

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Book Review Podcast

Book Review: Far From Home – Discovering Your Identity as Foreigners on Earth

Far From Home Discovering your identity as Foreigners on Earth was written by Mabel Ninan. This book is about how Mabel felt as an immigrant in the US and realizing that no matter where we are on Earth, this is not our forever home.

Mabel is from Hyderabad, the capital of one of India’s states of Telangana. She and her husband moved to the US soon after getting married. She was 30 years old. They both are Christians, and soon after moving to the US, she tried to find a church to call home because she knew the importance of church community.

Back home, her family and church community were very close. She grew up around her church community; they were there for important milestones in her life; however, being in the US, she had to start all over and often felt homesick.

There were a few things in the book that stood out to me. In chapter one, Mabel talks about reading American literature and watching American TV shows; she learned about Western culture, but that did not prepare her for immersing in the culture. So, for example, she knew the language and spoke English in India; however, she was unfamiliar with the nuances of social mores and etiquette as she wrote. In India, it’s impolite to call an elder by their first name, whereas here, it’s normal. And here people do not eat with their fingers unless it’s finger foods but in India and other countries that is normal.

It was difficult for her to navigate life when she first arrived in the US because she came on a dependent visa. Her husband’s job was the one that sponsored him. So, she didn’t have a work permit, and the process can take months; she didn’t have a driver’s license, which made it challenging for her to get around; she felt stuck. She was so used to being independent back home, and now that was gone.

Because of her emotional challenges, she admitted to herself that her faith was not as solid as she professed it to be. She was stuck between two cultures – the one she grew up with and the new one she was trying to embrace.

Photo by Shafi_fotumcatcher on Pexels.com

In chapter eight, she talks about being homesick for heaven. This was a new concept for me. Although I know that Earth is not our final home, I don’t ever feel homesick for heaven. I honestly am not ready to leave Earth yet.

And the last thing that stood out to me in chapter eleven was Christians being in the East before Westerns came. Mabel wrote that many Americans believe Christianity is a Western religion; however, some of the oldest Christian communities can be found in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Ethiopia, and India.

I recommend this book to anyone, believers and non-believers because she details what immigrants go through when they move to the US. It’s not easy starting over in a new country. And it’s hard; moving to the US is not an easy decision, and many do it every day for a better quality of life.

Mabel was also a guest on my podcast – so if you want to hear her talk about her immigration experience, listen to the episode here. And please, leave a review after. This helps people find the podcast. Thank you.

You can purchase Far From Home on Mabel’s website: https://mabelninan.com/

With Love, Heidy

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Blog Book Review

Book Review: Just Mercy & Black Privilege

Just Mercy By Bryan Stevenson

Wow! When I finished reading Just Mercy and all I could say was wow – because I was truly mind-blown!

This book is about Attorney Bryan Stevenson’s work in trying to release wrongfully convicted prisoners from Death Row in Alabama. His work started in Alabama but eventually expanded to other states as he began to take cases of children who were sentenced as adults and were also placed on Death Row.

The stories were hard to read because of how heartbreaking they were, especially the children’s stories. So much so that I almost stopped reading the book, but I’m glad I finished.

The story of Charlie stood out to me. He was a 14-year-old boy who went to prison for shooting his mom’s abusive boyfriend after he punched his mom so hard that she went unconscious and started bleeding from the back of her head. Charlie was sent to an adult prison since he was charged with murder, and in prison, he was rapped and sexually abused daily. 🙁

Bryan’s job was hard; he was working against the abuse of power that was/is in the justice system, and there were threats made to his and his teams’ lives.

Most of his clients were innocent, but the evidence of innocence was not presented in the initial trials, and they were placed on Death Row immediately. It was like since lynching became illegal, the death penalty was the new way of lynching.

Reading this book, I learned about Confederate Memorial Day. This is a state holiday that honors the Confederate soldiers who died fighting in the Civil War. This holiday is still celebrated today in a few southern states.

I recommend this book to everyone. And if you haven’t seen the movie – read the book first and then watch the movie.

Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It by Charlamagne Tha God

I listen to the New York City morning radio show called “The Breakfast Club” and one of the co-hosts is Charlamagne Tha God, which is why I was interested in reading this book. He is unapologetically himself and he always speaks his mind, which sometimes causes me to question the things that comes out of his mouth, but he always stands by his words. I find him funny sometimes but other times I’m just like, “what did he just say?” And that makes an entertaining morning show.

 He has another book called, “Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me. That is also on my reading list.

This book is about his upbringing and the eight principles by which he lives his life. He shares the life experiences that caused him to live by these principles.

While listening to this book, I like how he mentioned the hunger for reading was a motivation for him. This sparked a love for history, as so did hip-hop. His mom, being an English teacher, always encouraged him to read.

I can relate to him in that aspect; I love reading and history.

Reading books is so fundamental and good for us. We should all feed our brains with books.
Open your mind to the world of reading. It can take you places you would never imagine.

Another aspect in which we relate is we think the same about having our kids believe in Santa Clause, the tooth fairy, Easter bunny, etc. I’ve told my daughter they are not real because I don’t want my kids to be confused about God being real when the others are not.

Charla grew up Jehovah’s Witness, and they don’t celebrate any holidays, so he said to this day he’s not a fan of them (Santa Clause, the tooth fairy, etc.). In our home, we do celebrate holidays, just not Halloween.

He talks about working for free to get exposure, which I can relate to with my writing. I’m currently not making money from my blog, but I made it a goal to start bringing income from it this year.

After 13 years since his first internship at a radio station and after being fired four times, he landed his gig on the breakfast club. He continued to put in the work even after being fired so many times, and it worked off because he is a co-host on one of the most popular morning shows in the country.

I am motivated to continue blogging and writing because I know it will pay off. It is a hobby of mine, and I enjoy doing it, don’t get me wrong. But it would be nice if it lands me a published book or writing for a brand or magazine or something, you know.

There is a part of the book that I really liked – where he says to live your truths. If you live your truths, no one can use it against you. If you are vulnerable and honest with yourself and others, no one will be able to embarrass you for anything. I feel like I do that with my blog when I share my personal experiences. I share them to show how God has helped me in certain situations.

He mentioned that his grandmother said this, “Manners will take you where money won’t.”

Which he lives by to this day because he shared that he makes it a point when he walks into a room; he looks at everyone in the eye and introduces himself. He used the example of when he was talking to Jay-Z and Beyonce walked in and said hi to everyone, including him. He understood at that moment why she was so successful.

He finishes the book by saying that everyone has privilege and that God has a plan and purpose for everyone. You cannot let anyone stand in the way of what God has for you. And I completely agree.

Overall, I enjoyed listening to the book and learning about him growing up; although he definitely didn’t make the wisest decisions sometimes, but it’s got him to where he’s at today.

Have you read any of these books? If not, what is on your reading list? Let me know in the comments.

With Love, Heidy

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Categories
Blog Book Review

Book Review: You Are a Badass & We Should All Be Feminist.

You Are a Badass By Jen Sincero

This self-help book was gifted to me last year, well in 2020, but came around to reading it at the end of 2021. I enjoyed reading this book, and Jen really makes me feel like I can do anything and because of this book, I started doing daily affirmations. I wrote them down, and I say them every day.

She is the author of You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth and You Are a Badass Every Day: How to Keep Your Motivation, which I have added to my reading list.

Have you read any books by Jen Sincero? What did you think of them?

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This book is her TEDxEuston talk that she gave, I believe, in 2013. If you haven’t seen it – you definitely should. I cannot remember when I first saw this Ted talk or what brought me to watch it, but while I was watching it, I realized part of it was used in Beyonce’s song, “Flawless.” I then googled her and found this book and others that I added to my reading list.

I received this book as a gift from an Instagram book exchange I participated in. I was super excited because it was on my reading list. Although I had heard the Ted talk, while reading the speech, I caught a few things that I had missed.

First was, she mentioned how her American female friends were so invested in being “liked.”

“They have been raised to believe that their being likable is very important and that this ‘likable’ trait is a specific thing,” she wrote. And this instantly brought me back to Mark Manson’s book, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*%k, and how he mentioned the fact that in western culture, people try so much to be liked that they change who they are depending on who they are with. I am going to assume that this really is a western culture thing.

The second thing that I had missed while hearing the speech but caught while reading was when she was talking about marriage; she wrote, “The language of marriage is often a language of ownership, not a language of partnership,” and this is so true. We often hear about how wives belong to their husbands. And sometimes, in my experience, family members ask my husband, “why would you let her do that” or “why would you let her wear that?” As if I need to ask my husband ‘permission’ to do anything. Of course, I’ll always be respectful to him, but I don’t need to ask for ‘permission’ to do anything.

I do love that my marriage is a partnership. We don’t follow ‘gender roles.’ We both cook, clean, pay bills, etc. There are a few exceptions, though, my husband doesn’t let me take out the trash, he always says it’s his job, and when something needs to be done for the cars, he takes care of that. But other than that, we don’t do gender roles here, we are in this together, and we take care of each other.

How do you feel about the word feminist? I wrote a post about feminism and some information I found about the history of the word and the movement. I do believe in the equal rights of both genders.

Alright, these are my takeaways from these two books – let me know if you have read them or what is on your reading list! Thank you so much for reading.

With Love,

Heidy

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