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Nhất Hạnh, born in Vietnam, founded the Plum Village Tradition, the inspiration for engaged Buddhism. That term was coined by Nhất Hạnh in his book Vietnam: Lotus in a Sea of Fire. This socially-engaged Buddhism, which encourages an individual’s role in creating change, was the core of Nhất Hạnh’s life. He advocated for nonviolent solutions to conflict and ethical treatment toward animals, among other ecological and humanitarian efforts. He published over 130 books in his lifetime, which have sold over 5 million across the world....

Fast-forward nearly ten years later; I’m at a completely different place in my life, but I still block out time on the calendar to read like a kid again. The kid who devoured books left and right. The teen who couldn’t put books like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix down. The curious reader who would flip pages way past her bedtime. The young adult who always had a book in her bag on the bus....

birth-day by Lucille Clifton Excerpt: today we are possible. the morning, green and laundry-sweet, irreplaceable by rupi kaur A post shared by rupi kaur (@rupikaur_) on Dec 4, 2018 at 5:56pm PST Birthday Lights by Calef Brown Excerpt: Light bulbs on a birthday cake. What a difference that would make! Plug it in and make a wish, then relax and flip a switch! A Birthday by Christina Rossetti Excerpt: My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water’d shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit; My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea; My heart is gladder than all these Because my love is come to me....

But here’s the thing: just because a book is new, that doesn’t mean it’s superior to others. And because there are only a limited number of hours in a day, the more of the new books we read, the less time there is to read older books which might be just right for us in that moment. In 2020, with everything else going on, I leaned heavily into that: I wasn’t going to make myself read anything I only wanted to want to read....

Dungeons and Dragons is not the only tabletop role-playing game out there, but it is the one that has captured the hearts and wallets of many, including myself. Ever since D&D started in 1974 with the first printing of the game, generations of players have come to tables everywhere for fun with new and old friends. The base rules are endlessly adaptable and have inspired many non-table-top ventures, from TV shows, to movies, to videogames, and honestly, academic studies....

Find below a selection of dozens of amazing literary valentines. These range from punny to cringe-y, from cute to steamy, and so much more. You’ve got plenty of time to order your favorites before February 14, and don’t forget that there can be nothing sweeter sometimes than sending yourself your own damn valentine. The Best Literary Valentines This Mary Shelley card is a little weird and perfectly humorous and I would honestly send it to everyone for that fact alone....

If this sounds like it might be your jam, then I’ve rounded up a list of ten dark academia YA books hitting shelves in 2022. Here we have murder and secrets, magic and monsters, and plenty of thrills! Looking for more dark academia YA books? We’ve got you covered!

Since then, my feelings have been complicated by a myriad of factors. We live in a capitalistic society, so brands and companies quickly figured out that they can rainbow wash themselves in June and make money…while supporting those who would limit our freedoms the rest of the year. Trans people are still being killed at an alarming rate. And no community is a monolith, so there can be so many disagreements and lots of prejudice even within LGBTQ+ communities....

The UK middle grade books I have chosen for this list reflect many different voices and experiences from around the world. This is because the faces I see in the library every day also reflect these voices. These students need to have as many different kinds of books available to them as possible, and this includes comics and manga. There are a ton of “celebrity” written books for middle grade audiences out there that you can find stuffed into the shelves of supermarkets, but there are so many other great books by authors that could actually use the attention....

– Hitler: The Terminal Biography by D. Harlan Wilson Their subjects, ostensibly, are Adolf Hitler, Sigmund Freud and Frederick Douglass, and yes, characters with those names occasionally flit through the pages like mischievous ghosts. But these books are so much more. Wilson’s trilogy – which ideally should be read as a collective work – challenges us to decide how much we truly believe in Biography: do such books ever really have anything to do with the lives they purport to represent?...

The irony of claiming ownership of a home and garden on Indigenous People’s Day is not lost on me; we are two white people, purchasing our first home, living on the traditional lands of the Lenni-Lenape. We became homeowners in the midst of a global pandemic, one that has and continues to hit marginalized communities the hardest. It’s a great privilege, and with that privilege comes great responsibility. I am working on learning to be a good steward of stolen land, a good neighbor to my fellow human, fauna, and flora communities....

Now, I’m not very good at reading nonfiction – which I prefer to take in audio form – and I have trouble reading back-to-back books which don’t have a well-defined beginning and end. Like most poetry books, and books with lists. The two books I picked up at work were language books. They talk of the different quirks of the Dutch language in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Each tiny page has some words, or sentences, which are particular to this region....

Book Riot is teaming up with The Current to give away a a current affairs non-fiction book bundle featuring one of each title: Controlling Women: What We Must Do Now to Save Reproductive Freedom by Kathryn Kolbert & Julie F. Kay, America for Americans by Erika Lee, Better Not Bitter: Living on Purpose in the Pursuit of Racial Justice by Yusef Salaam, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America by Clint Smith, Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman!...

Springing from Joy: The Origins of the Exclamation Mark It is difficult to imagine, but there was a time when the punctuation and spacing between words that we take for granted today simply did not exist in writing. Ancient texts from Phoenician, Hebrew, Greek, and Roman cultures had letters strung together across the page without pause. Today, scholars call this style of writing scriptio continua. It basically required the reader to parse through the text and pick out meaning from the mass of characters....

There’s a lot to love in Greta Gerwig’s movie version of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, even for a curmudgeon like me. I wasn’t hugely fond of the book when I read it, but was enticed by the glowing movie reviews. I was splendidly surprised by the film but most of all was entranced by the last part when Jo gets to watch her book being made. In the movie, we get to watch, step by step, the book being made....

“So, why are they now the only form of literature subject to VAT? The so-called “stealth tax” on audiobooks affects the poorest and most vulnerable of potential readers and, given the UK’s challenge to improve childhood literacy rates, it seems at best unjust, and at worst, classist. But, it’s not the first time people have been priced out of reading. The UK doesn’t tax print literature, and only a few weeks ago it was agreed that the UK would remove VAT tax on e-books....

I’m friends with a lot of high school English teachers, and so many of them have quoted this line to me over the years, and with a passion second only to Melville’s first line of Moby-Dick, “Call me Ishmael,” that when I read Fitzgerald’s myself, I could hear their various voices, and of course Nick’s, and Daisy’s, and Gatsby’s. It’s a great last line. Melancholic. Wrapping up the human condition with a tidy little boat metaphor, bumping, lapping, with a wave-like alliteration on “b....

If you aren’t familiar with Enya, here are the basics: Enya is among the bestselling musical artists in the world. Her music is often classified as New Age, which is not a classification she readily accepts, she characterizes it as simply ‘Enya.’ “Enya” is technically a trio of people — Eithne Brennan (who records music as the more-phonetically-spelled ‘Enya’) and Nicky and Roma Ryan, her producer and lyricist respectively. Enya rarely gives interviews and has never been on tour....

The personalities are based on four categories, with two options for each category. Introvert or Extrovert Intuitive or Sensing Thinking or Feeling Judging or Perceiving You can take the MBTI quiz here to find out your personality type, and read more about each type. Lord Of The Rings Myers-Briggs Types ISTJ—The Inspector: Faramir Rational and loyal, ISTJs can be intimidating because of their seriousness and honorability. They remain calm in tough situations and inspire respect....

Often, those folks are my mom. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve recommended a book to her, only to have her snap at me, “I don’t want to read a book that makes me work! I just want to enjoy it!” Never mind the fact that fiction can also be challenging and thought-provoking and that nonfiction is, itself, deeply enjoyable. “Do you read memoirs?” I’ll ask someone, practically vibrating with excitement because I want to recommend one to them....