A few weeks ago Hive account@wizardave ran a great competition to share our bookshelves. It was an awesome invitation, and so many of us really relished not only the opportunity to remember what we had on our bookshelves, but contemplate how books had shaped our lives. Even better than that, we got the opportunity to share - something this platform is really wonderful for. We got to learn so much about other people through their bookcollections and we all had to admit it was one of the best things we'd shared on Steemit.

Jamie perusing the fabulous collection at artists John and Sunday Reid's house at Heide, Melbourne
With that in mind, I've been thinking alot about how we might keep this going in someway. Maybe I'm just being nosy. Maybe I just want some book reviews from you guys. However, I think it's a cool opportunity to maybe get a few upvotes for you book lovers merely by waxing lyrical about the books you're reading!

One thing that was really clear about this book sharing was how many of us had a of books on the go. We dip in and out depending on our moods and fancys. We read books in the bath. We stack them on our bedside tables. We stuff them in our bags. We bundle them into boxes when we move. We gift them to others. We order far too many of them online. We buy them at charity shops. We build shelves out of bricks and planks, milkcrates and boxes. We line our walls with them. We fill our houses with them. If you're a bibliphile, this is your life - stacks of books in every corner.

Check out some of the incredible collections:

Hive account@happysmileyman 's small bookshelf in his truck Alice.

Hive account@ginnyannette 's beloved Jane Austen and children's books

Hive account@revisesociology 's barrier to a nomadic lifestyle (because he can't carry his books around)

Hive account@mistermercury's growing library after having to sell most of his in a time of need

Hive account@mrprofessor 's love of travel books and music here

And if you're interested, you can see my shelves here

But oh, my gosh, it took a long time to present our bookshelves. And if you've ever spent hours in a bookshelf just window shopping, it took just as long to read about them here.

Hive account@mountainjewel took so long to get around to all her various stacks and shelves she missed the competition entirely. However, she did convince me to think about ordering Toka Pa's Belonging 'Remembering Ourselves Home' as well as a flight to the Ozarks just to curl up next to her bookshelves. Not in a creepy way, just in an I love books kinda way.

Hive account@mountainjewel's collection, partly inherited from her book loving Grandma

So I got to thinking about this beautifully intimate sharing of books and lives, and wanted to keep it going, but maybe in a less laborious way. Maybe we could share our mini-stacks. A little portion of our book lives in this moment in time, and a bit of enthusiastic sharing of what we're enjoying - or hey, maybe that we're simply ploughing through just because we feel we ought to (although I did that with Ulysses once, and I didn't get past page 10 for two years)

Are you up for it?

The Rules

• Create a steembabble about the three books you're digging or hey - FORCED to read at the moment!
• Explain a little about what they're about, and what led you to read them
• Throw in a couple of photos to pretty it up a bit
• Refer back to this post in your answer
• Pop your post link at the bottom.

I'm going to let it run for 2 weeks, so I'll write another post to remind you in the meantime. Sometimes we're so busy that a week just isn't enough to get our shit together. And hey - maybe we are busy READING!

Depending on this post payout, response and my financial status in two weeks time (that'll take us to, say, end of June) I'll reward two, maybe THREE amazing book-folk with 2SBD, and definitely put together a summary post curating your wonderfulness.

You'll definitely be in the running if I end up ordering one of your choices!

So, would you like to know what I'm reading?!!

My mini stack at the moment consists of three books - Jack Kornfield's 'A Path With Heart', and 'The Art of Frugal Hedonism' by Annie Raiser-Rowland and Adam Grubb.

The Art of Frugal Hedonism

I bought this listening to a interview on ABC Radio National here in Australia, mainly as Annie sounds like one amazing chic. You can listen to it here: http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/frugalistas/8124376 and I highly recommend you do! She talks about her crazy frugal hedonistic childhood and chasing volcanoes, and getting married at Melbourne Town Hall in a homemade bear suit.

I love the way she begins by talking about RELISHING. It goes right to the heart of mindfulness and attentiveness really - that we can spend so much time acculumating wealth and worrying about STUFF that we forget that we have many of life's greatest pleasures right here and now:

We humans are ripe with nerve endings. Why waste them? Your author Annie remembers being a kid running around the bulk foods store with her best friend, plunging arms into the giant bins of dry beans and rating the different varieties for how fun they were for arm-plunging. She seems to recall that kidney beans won, and while it is possible that you might be asked to take your business elsewhere if you try this as an adult, it does serve to illustrate how thickly strewn our daily lives are with sensual delights just begging to be noticed.

The problem is, she postulates, is finding the sweet spot between working enough to meet our needs, and working too much to enjoy life's wonderful pleasures, like drinking wine in the park in the sunshine with your best friend, watching a sunset or other things that don't cost a lot of money, but are worth so much for our lives. Whilst I do many of the things she suggests anyway, I really like her philosophical approach, good humour and fun tips. It's a really sweet book and I'm going to pass it on to my son's girlfriend who's always trying to find ways to save. You can find her book and review chapters here

Jack Kornfield: A Path with Heart

The yoga studio I frequent in Torquay, Yoke Yoga, is a place of heart, and in fact that's their thing: 'Yoke of the Heart'. Yogic philosophy often talks about that unity of breath, mind and spirit or heart that brings joy and contentment to our lives, and maybe even a bit of bliss and connection to the divine. There's such a gorgeous community there and, upon talking about books, I suggested that we start a book lending library (I'm even pushing book stuff out in the real world!). We bring some books in for others to borrow, and can take things home. I feel a little guilty for having this one for so long, but I tell you what, my Ayurvedic book has gone to about ten people with no sign of being returned soon!

Jack Kornfield is well known for teaching meditation. He was trained as a Buddhist monk and has been teaching since 1974, bringing Buddhism and mindfulness practice to the West. His books are really accessible and full of relatable metaphors about vipassana (insight) meditation and mindfulness practice. It's the kind of book I like to dip into to remind myself to stay on the dhamma path. You can listen to his wisdoms on podcasts and talks here. I love dipping in - it just calms me down even reading it.

Have you ever started a lending library? I highly recommend it.

Welcome to Lagos: Chibundu Onuzo

I love Nigerian fiction - there's something about the subject matter and the writing style that really appeals to me, so I'll generally pick it up when I can. I loved Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun. I haven't read a fiction book in a while, but this came via my Dad, and if Dad says read it, I generally do as I'm told. I'm really enjoying it so far, but haven't read far enough to give it a review. Here's a blurb:

Five ill-assorted characters find themselves travelling together – mainly for safety – towards the capital, where they hope to make various kinds of new start. They are a deserting army officer, his like-minded subaltern, a traumatised 16-year-old girl, a beautiful housewife on the run from her husband, and a cocky rebel fighter who dreams of becoming a DJ. On arrival in the city they stick together and attempt to resist the corruption of politicians and government officials, with the help of a sympathetic newspaperman.

Well, that's my stack. I probably should knuckle down to reading it, instead of just steeming about it!

Really looking forward to seeing what books you have sunk yourselves into!