Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: self-realization

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  Flight Behavior

  by Barbara Kingsolver

  Dellarobia Turnbow is a restless farm wife who gave up her own plans when she accidentally became pregnant at seventeen. Now, after a decade of domestic disharmony on a failing farm, she has settled for permanent disappointment but seeks momentary escape through an obsessive flirtation with a younger man. She hikes up a mountain road behind her house towards a secret tryst, but instead encounters a shocking sight:... (more)
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  The Next Best Thing

  by Jennifer Weiner

  Actors aren’t the only ones trying to make it in Hollywood . . . At twenty-three, Ruth Saunders left her childhood home in Massachusetts and headed west with her seventy-year-old grandma in tow, hoping to make it as a screenwriter. Six years later, she has hit the jackpot when she gets The Call: the sitcom she wrote, The Next Best Thing, has gotten the green light, and Ruthie’s going to be the showrunner. But her... (more)
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  Autobiography of a Yogi

  by Paramahansa Yogananda

  Autobiography of a Yogi is at once a beautifully written account of an exceptional life and a profound introduction to the ancient science of Yoga and its time-honored tradition of meditation. This acclaimed autobiography presents a fascinating portrait of one of the great spiritual figures of our time. With engaging candor, eloquence, and wit, Paramahansa Yogananda tells the inspiring chronicle of his life: the... (more)
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  We Were Here

  by Matt de la Peña

  The story of one boy and his journey to find himself. When it happened, Miguel was sent to Juvi. The judge gave him a year in a group home—said he had to write in a journal so some counselor could try to figure out how he thinks. The judge had no idea that he actually did Miguel a favor. Ever since it happened, his mom can’t even look at him in the face. Any home besides his would be a better place to live. ... (more)
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  The Element

  How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything

  by Ken Robinson

  From one of the world’s leading thinkers and speakers on creativity and self-fulfillment, a breakthrough book about talent, passion, and achievement The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels. The Element draws on the stories of a wide range of people, from ex-Beatle... (more)
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  Mennonite in a Little Black Dress

  A Memoir of Going Home

  by Rhoda Janzen

  A hilarious and moving memoir—in the spirit of Anne Lamott and Nora Ephron—about a woman who returns home to her close-knit Mennonite family after a personal crisis.
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  Emily and Einstein

  by Linda Francis Lee

  He was a man who didn’t deserve a second chance. But he needed one… Emily and her husband Sandy Portman seemed to live a gracious if busy life in an old-world, Upper West Side apartment in the famous Dakota building.  But one night on the way to meet Emily, Sandy dies in a tragic accident.  The funeral isn't even over before Emily learns she is on the verge of being evicted from their apartment.  But worse... (more)
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  Sketches

  by Eric Walters

  After fleeing her home, suburban-bred Dana struggles to survive in the alleys, squats, and subway stations of downtown Toronto. Dana’s graffiti on an underpass catches the eye of a counselor at Sketches, a drop-in center where homeless teens can express themselves through art. As Dana works on a painting, she begins to confront the reason she left home. The truth of what her stepfather did to her is trying to... (more)
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  Hardcore Zen: Book 1

  Hardcore Zen

  Punk Rock, Monster Movies, & the Truth about Reality

  by Brad Warner

  Hardcore Zen is not your typical "Zen" book. Brad Warner, the young punk who grew up to be a Zen master, spares no one — just like Reality itself. This bold new approach to the Why of Zen Buddhism is as strongly grounded in the tradition of Zen as it is utterly revolutionary: Warner's voice is hilarious, and he calls on the wisdom of everyone from punk and pop culture icons to the Buddha himself to make sure his... (more)
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  Rapunzel and Jack: Book 2

  Calamity Jack

  by Dean Hale, Shannon Hale, Nathan Hale

  Jack thinks of himself as a criminal mastermind with an unfortunate amount of bad luck. A schemer, a trickster ...maybe even a thief? But, of course, he's not out for himself he's trying to take the burden off his hardworking mum's shoulders. She'd understand, right? He hopes she might even be proud. Then, one day, Jack chooses a target a little more ...'giant' than the usual, and as one little bean turns into a... (more)
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  Search in Secret India

  by Paul Brunton

  The late Paul Brunton was one of the 20th century's greatest explorers of and writers on the spiritual traditions of the East. A Search in Secret India is the story of Paul Brunton's journey around India, living among yogis, mystics, and gurus, some of whom he found convincing, others not. He finally finds the peace and tranquility which come with self-knowledge when he meets and studies with the great sage Sri... (more)
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  Basketball (or Something Like It)

  by Nora Raleigh Baskin

  Basketball clinics, a revolving door of coaches, incensed parents, and the importance of the right sneakers—is that what the game is about? Told from the perspective of four unlikely friends, Nora Raleigh Baskin's poignant novel focuses on the action, drama, and fun of playing ball and explores what it takes to be a winner of the game—both on the court and off.
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  Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship

  by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship , a novel of self-realization greatly admired by the Romantics, has been called the first Bildungsroman and has had a tremendous influence on the history of the German novel. The story centers on Wilhelm, a young man living in the mid-1700s who strives to break free from the restrictive world of economics and seeks fulfillment as an actor and playwright. Along with Eric... (more)
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  The Memory of Running

  by Ron McLarty

  Every decade seems to produce a novel that captures the public’s imagination with a story that sweeps readers up and takes them on a thrilling, unforgettable ride. Ron McLarty’s The Memory of Running is this decade’s novel. By all accounts, especially his own, Smithson "Smithy" Ide is a loser. An overweight, friendless, chain-smoking, forty-three-year-old drunk, Smithy’s life becomes completely unhinged... (more)
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  The Velvet Rage

  Overcoming the Pain of Growing Up Gay in a Straight Man's World

  by Alan Downs

  A groundbreaking examination of the psychology of homosexuality, why it leads to shame over one's identity and how to overcome it The gay male world today is characterized by seductive beauty, artful creativity, flamboyant sexuality, and, encouragingly, unprecedented acceptability in society. Yet despite the progress of the recent past, gay men still find themselves asking, "Are we really better off?" The... (more)
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  The Island

  by Gary Paulsen

  Every day, 15 year old Wil Neuton gets up, brushes his teeth, leaves the house, and rows away from shore. He's discovered the island, a place where he can go to be alone and learn to know nature--and himself. Wil's only mission is to let go of the outside world. But the outside world refuses to let go of him. His family regards him as a puzzle. The town bully is determined to challenge him. And suddenly, even... (more)
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  Becoming George Sand

  by Rosalind Brackenbury

  Maria Jameson, an Edinburgh academic, is passionately involved with a younger man and married to a steady, reliable husband with whom she has two children. She wonders: Is it possible to love two men at the same time? And must she feel guilty? For answers she reaches across the centuries to the life story of George Sand, the maverick French novelist whose many lovers included the composer Frederic Chopin. While... (more)
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  Good Fortune

  by Noni Carter

  Brutally kidnapped from her African village and shipped to America, Ayanna Bahati struggles to come to terms with her new life as a slave. Rising from the cotton fields to her master's house, Anna is threatened by the increasingly dangerous world of the plantation. Risking everything, she escapes and makes her way north to freedom and an education, but can she shed the chains of her harrowing past to live the life... (more)
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  Matched Trilogy: Book 1

  Matched

  by Ally Condie

  In the Society, Officials decide. Who you love. Where you work. When you die. Cassia has always trusted their choices. It’s barely any price to pay for a long life, the perfect job, the ideal mate. So when her best friend appears on the Matching screen, Cassia knows with complete certainty that he is the one . . . until she sees another face flash for an instant before the screen fades to black. Now... (more)
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  Vasistha's Yoga

  by Venkatesananda

  Text: English (translation)