Podcasts You Need to Check Out Now

Lately, I have been listening to many podcasts. Podcasts have become a very important method to attain knowledge and inspiration in a calming and soothing away. Away from the visual expectations that have been surrounding us in all of the social media platforms. Podcasting has found a need and it will continue to fulfill this growing need. No matter what you are interested in, you will find a suitable podcast that will illuminate your interest.

Here is a list of podcasts I listen to:

1) The Lavendaire Lifestyle

If podcasts can be aesthetically pleasing, then this podcast is very aesthetically pleasing. Aesthetics not in terms of dreamy colors but in terms of how the podcast can be very relaxing and very ear pleasing. The podcast is hosted by Aileen Xu who is a YouTuber and an entrepreneur. This podcast interviews women who are successful in their field. I recommend this podcast because it will open up your horizons on what you are capable of doing. Aileen asks very sophisticated questions that usually tells you about the interviewee beginnings, dreams, and accomplishments and of course their favorite book. The slogan of this podcast is easily my favorite slogan in the world which Aileen came up with herself:

“Life is an art. Make it your masterpiece.”

2) The Fluent Show

This podcast is a hub for all language learners. It shares the excitement that goes behind learning languages. It is quite motivational too because you get to hear about people sharing their progress in language learning. This podcast is hosted by Kerstin and co-hosted by Lindsay from Lindsay Does Languages. For someone who loves learning languages, this is the right podcast to listen to. 

Photo by Juja Han on Unsplash

3) The Tim Ferris Show

In this podcast, you listen to “world-class performers”. This podcast tackles people from different industries and backgrounds. It is an outstanding podcast to learn from inspiring role models.

4) Business Wars

This podcast provides the experience of getting on a rollercoaster of the world of business in a documentary form. It is very different from other podcasts in that it provides a high quality of audio and background music and acting voices. I believe that such a podcast should be used to educate students about the history of some of the well-known brands. 

How to read more in 2019?

The main reason why many of us don’t read as we want to is because of lack of time. We tend to claim that we are too busy, we have no time to sit down and read. Life can be messy and crazy so its understandable that you don't have time to read. But reading is important. It has many benefits to your personal and professional development.

Well, I am here to tell you how to read more this year.

First of all, you do have time to read. In your commute, before you sleep, while having lunch, etc. These are all times you can squeeze in some reading time. So, find the time to start building your reading habit.

Secondly, set time to read. Tell yourself that you have half an hour to read and only to read. Place your phone and any electronics far away from you.

If you hardly read, set out 10 minutes to read a day. 10 minutes is not much and you will get a few pages done. Then, gradually, increase your time dedicated to reading. This is a very important step. I, personally, wanted to set the time but also I didn’t want to check the clock every 2 seconds. So I found an app that solves this problem that is called Tide. This app has a feature called focus. You set the time you want to spend reading, then when time is over it gives a little, peaceful ring.

Lastly, choose books that call you. We tend to force ourselves to read books that are heavily marketed, given to us or recommended by celebrities. Read books that you want to read.

Question: How many books you're planning to read?

You can follow me on Instagram @ basmaandbooks for more bookish content. 

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Farewell, Harry Potter

Photo by Roland Lösslein on Unsplash

I don’t know if I wrote a similar post before or not but here goes nothing.

I finally finished Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. And you might think well you have 3 more to go. Right! Is that what came to your mind?

Well, you are wrong. I finished reading the rest of the books a long time ago. I only had the fourth left to be read.

So here how it happened?

Before my discovery of Harry Potter I didn’t read much. I lived in Egypt and the act of purchasing/borrowing books was not widely spread. I didn’t know what to read/how to choose books/where to get them from. I remember not having a bookstore close to me. If I wanted to purchase books, I either had to go to Cairo’s downtown or wait for Cairo’s annual book fair. And even when I went to the book fair I didnt know what to look for. I had zero knowledge and zero interest.

Then came a night, unlike other nights. It happened in 2005 as I was flipping through the TV, something caught my eyes. In short, it was Harry Potter. I watched it in complete amazement with my brother. Needless to say, it became my favorite thing my eyes ever came across.

The next morning was Sunday which meant the start of the week. I started my day with so much excitement in the air because I was about to tell everyone at school what I watched the other night.

It turned out that everyone knew about the Harry Potter series already. Mind you, I was the last person in the entire universe to know anything about it. But that didn’t stop me from blabbering about it day and night…and for that whole year…until today.

Note: one of my friends ended up lending me her copy of Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets and I read it religiously. I remember reading it during my ride back and forth from school.

The movie I had watched was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets was broadcasted the following week. I watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban years later. Then one of my friends told me that the fourth movie was coming out. I went and watched it with my brother. I was once again amazed by the production/acting/story,etc. It was so great (probably my favorite movie out of all the Harry Potter movies).

Thankfully, it was almost time for Cairo’s bookstore. This time I was excited to go. I decided to get Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in order to know what happened after the movie had left off. So my first book I ever purchased was the fifth book in the series. I know. I never felt eager to buy a book in my life before. I devoured the whole thing.

Note: Reading the fifth book before the release of the movie was not a bad idea.

 A newspaper held a contest(that was when I had moved to Canada) in celebration of the new movie release. I was to answer a question to enter a draw to win the fifth movie's original soundtrack. The question was based on the fifth book plot. I submitted my answer online (I think it was online) and I was among the winners. Its one of the things that I cherish greatly.

I went to all the movies since, during the first week of its release. I read all of the books that were released after in order. Then read what I was missing from the series which were the first book and the third book.

And the journey ends today. But I know that Harry Potter will always be part of me. This might be my last Harry Potter related post but you never know.

Thank you Harry Potter for making me read

Thank you Harry Potter for my first blog entry

Thank you Harry Potter for being a good friend

Thank you Harry Potter for teaching me many things

Thank you and farewell!

New Project: Translated Korean Books

Many of you had noticed my new interest in the Korean language. I am trying to learn it using as many resources as possible. As a result I became interested in the culture dynamics too. And I figured the best way to thoroughly understand a culture was by reading its literature. So I decided that after learning how to read Korean, I should read books in Korean (makes perfect sense, right?). But as of now I will be reading translated Korean books.

This is to broaden my horizons as a reader. We tend to read books that are in our native language. Ignoring a world filled with beautiful books written in other languages. And I know it is hard to learn a new language. It takes time and effort. Or even to get familiar with norms of a culture that you don’t know anything about.

So I will start a project (on the blog) where I review Korean books or books about South Korea.

But you don’t have to wait for my reviews to know about Korean books and this is the point of this post.

Today I will help you to take your first step towards reading translated Korean books:

Lately I have been listening to a Korean radio show called "Catch the Wave" hosted by Adrien Lee. This show is dedicated to everything Korean from its drama and movies, food and more. But most importantly is the Open the Book segment with Professor Charles Montgomery. In this segment, they discuss Korean books that have been translated or not. From this segment I had formed my number 1 guide on all Korean books that I shall be reading in the near future.

So if you are interested, here are 3 different ways you can listen to the show:

1)      If you have iTunes, search "Catch the Wave" and subscribe to the podcasts

2)      Go to their official website to listen to the podcasts without having to download anything

3)      And if you want it all live, click here

I very much enjoy this show. I obviously don’t just listen to this particular segment of the show. But it is my favorite. I can't put enough emphasis on how you should read translated books. After all my favorite YA book was originally written in German (Cough *Ruby Red* Cough).

Have you ever read a translated book? What was it called?

2012 Time 100 Poll

Hey everyone

Just a quick post we have today.

So The 2012 Time 100 Poll is out and as I was going through the list, I found people that you might be interested in voting for.

You can vote for Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games Trilogy.

Click to vote

You can vote for George R.R. Martin. I never read any of his books but he is an author who should be voted for no matter what.

Click to vote

You can vote for Jennifer Lawrence. I think if you already watched The Hunger Games, you will realize that she deserves everything awesome.

Click to vote 

Burned Books in Egypt

Few days ago in Egypt, the Institute d'Egypte went on fire. This institution contained 200 year old manuscripts. This centre was established during Napoleon's (France) invasion, from 1798-1801. There is even a compilation that includes 20 years worth of observation of Egypt that was part of this amazing library.

Personally, as an Egyptian and a bookish person, I was shocked with the news. If you follow me on twitter, you would have noticed the number of tweets regarding the centre caught on fire, that I retweeted. I didn’t believe the news at first but they were confirmed...finally.

However, there is good news which aren't confirmed but I hope they are true anyways. The news is that there might be unharmed copies identical to the burned manuscripts in the Alexandria library, isn’t that great?

And finally I would like to share photos of Egyptians trying to protect the books. It was really heroic moment in the Egyptian history. They went inside a caught on fire centre, all to save their country's history.

Source: Global News 

Photo: Mahmoud El-Ragheb

Youth Book Initiative in Egypt

Maryam Maarouf, the author of Rosie, sent me a link to a Youth Book Initiative inEgypt website. It quickly caught my interest. I asked her for more info and this what she provided me with.

Who are taking part in this initiative? 

Authors:

Egyptian authors looking forward to seeing more people read. We write, we get our words heard. Some of us published, some still on the road.

Agents:

Helping new authors take their first steps towards getting their YA books published. “Agenting” is non-existent in Egypt, which resulted in a huge gap between publishers who don’t want to take risks with new authors, and authors who want their rights to be protected while on a journey they’re not familiar with its full dimensions.

How? By filtering submissions, helping our authors edit and transform their book to its final, publishable image and then connecting them to the publisher.

Condition? Writings must be YA.

Publishers:

A few of our stories as a group of YA authors and some of the submissions will be available online as e-books, introducing more people to YA through social media that has taken a great part of everyone’s daily life, no matter their social class or education.

Readers:

With the opportunity of reading foreign YA books and the few already in the Egyptian market. We find it amazing and simply the key to making the society read more and raising the upcoming generations to love reading and adore the written word. We’re ready to put time and effort into introducing this type of books to other readers, and to people reluctant to start reading – most young adults. In this tech-savvy generation, it’s hard to introduce a regular book to young adults except if it’s grabbing and relate-able. In other words, a YA book.

 Right now, we’re seeking readers and more people with experience – even if slight – in the writing and publishing fields, especially in Egypt. Register now, make this dream come true.

Please go ahead and register here and become part of a great initiative. Wait for more updates.

Thank you, Maryam

List of Donts-"Writing Tips"

Heyhihello

So I've been thinking for a while if I should or should not write this post. But I will write it down and if it looks good, I will post it. (well, I guess I posted it)

One of the things that has pushed me to write this post is that I once wrote a novel (92 thousand words) and it was never published. But writing a book had taught me so many lessons. Well, here is the list of things I think you should "not-do" if you are planning to publish a book.

Don’t brag: I don’t think I bragged about my book because I don’t think its that good and none of my friends cared because they hate reading. But looking back at, I think I spent so much time talking about my novel, my novel and my novel. I had a feeling that people were annoyed with my talk about the novel but I didn’t care because I wanted to talk about it. So my advice would be: don’t mention the fact that you are writing a book to everyone. Only mention it in front of people who would actually encourage and support you.

Dont reveal don’t go around and say that you are writing a book when you are only figuring out the plot. No. Just don’t. Keeping it secret project will increase from the value of the novel. I mean what if people jinx it. Jinx the fact that you are spending that much of time writing. Yea, it happens.

Don’t ask from everyone to edit it: seriously who wants to edit? I asked my friends to edit it but they didn’t want to so they obviously didn’t edit it. And sometimes people would send me their own spin and change everything. Basically, what I am trying to say is figure out who will help you before you reveal your secret.

Don’t send it to everyone: people who seem excited the minute they know you wrote a book and they will ask you to send it. You send it to them and expect a full review after a week, a month, a year. But hey, I am still waiting. Not happening soon!

Finally, all I want to say is before you decide whether or not you should write a book, you need to read a lot and write a lot too. Write anything, random stuff. And as mentioned before I use the blog to keep writing and writing. And of course to help me explore new books.  

Tata for now

Wealthy Fiction Characters

Heyhihello

Do you know who the richest fiction characters are?

Well, you've came to the right place to know about the wealthiest fiction characters throughout time.

In first place comes Scrooge McDuck with a fortune, in gold coins, of $44.1 billion. I wish I could dive into his gold coins pool. Scrooge McDuck had been my favourite Disney character because his fortune started with a lucky coin and he continued on working hard to increase his wealth. He might be mean but he has a big heart.

In second place is, the one and only, Carlisle Cullen from the Twilight franchises with $36.2 billion. Of course, how could he be poor when he is living with Alice Cullen who can predict the future.

Artemis Fowl II, the prepubescent scion of an Irish crime family from Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl novels, was pegged at $13.5 billion.

In fourth place, the character Richie Rich totaled $9.7 billion. 

For the complete list, click here

Now tell me, is there any character should have made the list.

These rankings were according to Forbes. The source was 24 Hour newspaper. 

Tata for Now :) 

Epic Earth Hour 2011

Heyhihello

Earth hour is this Saturday. I wont tell you how excited I am for 2011 Earth Hour. I will just copy and paste some of my tweets; maybe that will reflect how exciting I am.

#EarthHour is our way of saying "Thank you" to earth because there is no planet B

No lights in the streets=more stars in the sky #EarthHour

#EarthHour is a 1 hour dedicated to Earth

#Earthhour is an opportunity to all businesses to market their brand. 

But this blog post is not about my tweets.

I am just here to tell you how you can use this hour to do some interesting activities. Be aware these activities should take place when the lights are off.    

The following is a list of very interesting things you can do during Earth Hour:

Narrate a story: sit in a group and narrate a story. It could be from your imagination or from a  story you read from before.

Complete a story: let someone begin the first part of a story, you continue it, other finish it. Get it? So it will be a story narrated by so many people in 1 hour.

Read a book on smart phones/computers: it must be unplugged

Stare at the sky: more stars will be revealed

Count the lights: from your window, count how many people are having their lights off or on and compare. Then tweet about it or share it on facebook

Read on candles: romantic, eh?

Ok so I wrote this list without searching or anything. It just came from my heart because there is so much to do during Earth Hour and it’s for a great cause. Lets do this.

For more info please visit here

P.S. If you want to share a picture from your Earth Hour experience, send it to me on twitter and I will retweet it.

Tata for now