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10 Books I’ve Read That Have Stayed With Me

By Books & Authors, ThinkingNo Comments

Here are 10 books I’ve read that have stayed with me:

10) Mum Can You Lend Me Twenty Quid? By Elizabeth Burton-Phillips

This is a book written by the mother of two twin drug addicts. Elizabeth Burton-Phillips takes us on an emotional journey, as she describes what drugs did to her family.

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9) The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett

Sabine looses her gay husband, but is about to find out hidden family secrets. This beautifully written novel is fantastic and the characters have stayed close to my heart.

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8) Born This Way by Paul Vitagliano

This book shares childhood stories and photos about growing up gay, mostly in the USA. What was great about this book, is how life affirming it is at making you feel less alone as a gay man.

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7) In His Secret Life by Mel Bossa

This is a wonderfully written gay love story set over decades, with if I remember correctly an eventual happy ending. It was so great to read of a gay couple where love triumphed.

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6) a million little pieces by James Frey

This book is another about drug and alcohol addiction and how Frey turned his life around. Well written.

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5) Reasons To Stay Alive by Matt Haig

This is an upbeat book about mental health and gives you plenty of reasons to stay alive. A brilliant, easy read by Matt Haig.

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4) Misery by Stephen King

Misery sticks in my mind because of how creepy it is.

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3) A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowden

This is the true and uplifting story of a street cat named Bob that helped his human (Bowen) recover from drug addiction. A truly heart warming and easy to read book.

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2) The Neuroscientist Who Lost Her Mind by Barbara K. Lipska

Imagine, if you will, starting to lose your mind. This is the story of a Neuroscientist who felt like she was losing her mind due to a brain tumor. This story stayed with me and is wonderfully well written.

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Diary-of-a-Young-Girl-by-Anne-Frank

1) Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

We all know the story of Anne Frank and her family. But reading her experiences in her own words really resonated with me.

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Write soon,

Antony

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Let’s Talk About Christmas

By Books & Authors, ShoppingNo Comments

Christmas is fast approaching. Looking for a gift for your loved one? Then look no further. Buy them a signed paperback copy of one of my books (UK only):

Unsure which of my fabulous books to buy? Here is a one sentence summary and review of each:

Mental Health Wisdom – Contains everything someone needs to know about mental health and mental illness. Learn more here. A review:

This is a perfect starting point for anyone that wants to get clued up on mental health. It goes through the many different mental health illnesses, symptoms and has so much invaluable knowledge and wisdom embedded in it. It then goes on to list some tips on how to manage and look after your mental health and well-being. 5 Stars

SpellCast – A comprehensive compendium of spells, oils, charms and talismans. Learn more here. A review:

Love this book – its very profound and down-to-earth at the same time, and explains it really well. Every spell is tried and tested – some are instant and others more elaborate. Tried the instant car parking spell and it worked – wunderbar, as they’ve all got three cars around here. Highly recommended!! 5 Stars

The Alcohol Therapy Workbook – A workbook designed for anyone that is struggling with alcohol or has struggled with alcohol in the past. Learn more here. A review:

The book is fantastic for anyone who has a problem with alcohol. It is written in a style which is easy to understand and is set out in a fantastic chronological order. The value of the author with extensive experience of working in a hospital environment helps an individual to deal with any challenges that they may face when trying to make changes and or stop using alcohol. If you are unsure where to start this book will set you on the right track. This is one of the best self help books I have ever read. It makes a treatment journey seem more achievable. This can be used in conjunction with any other treatment programme to help support change. 5 Stars

My Royal Navy Friend – Contains 52 emails sent to my friend Roy who enlisted in the Royal Navy; these emails are funny and interesting. Learn more here. A review:

I absolutely loved this book. I loved the concept of email exchanges as a layout for a book. The list of jokes especially made me laugh. A really interesting concept that’s fun to read and a rare book that you can read multiple times and still find enjoyment. 5 Stars

Ways The Human Body Can Go Wrong – This book covers every system of the body, what can go wrong when the body malfunctions or fails, symptoms (including why these happen) and cures/treatments available. Learn more here. A review:

Very well written explanations on how the human body works, easy to understand with a pinch of humour thrown in – Fabulous read. 5 Stars

Z-Virus Powers – A group of young people with supernatural powers search for the cure during a zombie apocalypse. Learn more here. A review:

5 Stars

All payments are secured by Square and I cover the cost of postage. Order now by clicking the photo of the book you want above. All titles are also available on Amazon UK and Amazon Internationally.

Write soon,

Antony

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Candle Magic: The Basics

By PaganismOne Comment

Candle magic has grown in popularity in the Pagan community. This is because candle spells are simple, yet highly effective. There is a spell for every occasion or to deal with every problem in a person’s life.

Power is raised for a spell through visualisation, words of power and emotions. Tip: Emotions are the key to successful spells.

First visualise what you want to happen, be as detailed as you can. At the same time imagine in your heart how this would make you feel. Imagine both the thoughts and emotions as energy and imagine them mixing together through out your body. Hold the energy until it has built up, then say your words of power, say the spell, seeing and feeling the energy flow from you and into the candle through your mouth. Repeat this 9 or 12 times.

The energy is now stored in the candle. Once you have done this you can either:

  • Light the candle which will slowly release the energy into the universe OR
  • Anoint the candle with appropriate essential oils, prior to lighting. Not sure what essential oils to use? I would highly recommend you buy The Complete Book of Incense, Oils and Brews by Scott Cunningham.
  • Tip: You can also scratch symbols on the candle using a sharp knife. Do this before anointing the candle.

The colour of the candle should match your spell’s purpose. Here is a brief colour magic guide:

White – All purpose colour, can be used for any type of spell.

Black – bindings, banishings, separation, keeping things hidden from view, getting rid of bad habbits.

Blue – healing, clarity, anything to do with Water or emotions, calmness, protection (also purple for psychic protection) and peace.

Brown – stability, houses/homes.

Green – money, growth, fertility.

Purple – co-operation, psychic development, respect from others.

Orange – attraction, personal motivation, energy, feeling alive, business projects.

Pink – self-love, friendships, magic for children, romantic love (at a push),

Red – romantic love, sex, lust, passion, inner strength.

Yellow – happiness/joy, creativity and success.

The above are very basic instructions for how to cast a candle spell. There can be much more to it than that including but not limited to: casting a bubble of protection prior to casting the spell, other ways of raising or drawing energy from other sources, calling in deities or other spirits for help. The books below all explain more:

Some Good Books on Candle Magic

If you’re looking for small quick-burn candles I’d recommend these. Remember it isn’t the size of the candle that counts, but how much energy you put into it.

Products from Amazon That You Might Like

Write soon,

Antony

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Wonderful Websites – Shopping

By Amazon, Shopping, The WebNo Comments
wonderful-websites-image This is the third blog post in a series titled Wonderful Websites. The first focused on general health and can be read here. The second post focused on mental health and mental illness and can be read here.

This post lists websites for shopping.

1. Ebay has a wide range of products for sale by a wide range of sellers. You can buy practically anything legal on ebay. Items are usually low cost but high quality. Items are posted and arrive quickly.

Ebay beats Amazon to number one as recently Amazon has gone downhill. Amazon has started having delays in dispatching items, App delivery notifications can’t be relied upon and more than once Amazon Logistics have lost ordered items.

I have to say that Amazon’s customer service has been good at sorting out problems, but in the past I never had any of these problems. As a non-Prime member I feel that I’m not as important to Amazon as a customer that is a member of Prime. I’m sad to write that I am loosing confidence in Amazon.

2. Amazon sells anything and everything. Their website is easy to use and has a great search function. I like that Amazon provides reviews for products written by Amazon customers.

3. Waterstones sells books and stationary. I love all things books and stationary. Waterstones is great as they have book shops you can actually go into in real life.

4. ASDA sell groceries, home ware, books, DVDs, accessories, TVs, almost everything these days. But if an item is out of stock in store you can order the item from their warehouses on their website. You can have the item delivered to your home or delivered to your local store for free.

5. IKEA is a Swedish company that sells furniture and home wear. Ideal if you’re moving home, redecorating a room or just have a passion for flat pack furniture.

6. Argos sells a wide variety of products.

7. Staples sell all things stationary and office. Handy if you need pens, notebooks, flip charts, etc.

8. Steam Store is where I buy most of my games for my iMac or Windows 10 Laptop.

9. Groupon is a website I’ve never used. But apparently you get good deals and offers on there.

10. IWOOT (I Want One Of Those) has some cool gift ideas on their website.

11. Not on the High Street has some good gift ideas on it, but also a lot of rubbish (to be polite) products that you have to scroll through.

Have I missed any great shopping websites? If so, please let me know via comment below.

In my next Wonderful Website post I’ll look at wonderful websites for money.

Blog soon,

Antony

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