All posts by Sumayyah

About Sumayyah

Sumayyah is an Information Assistant at the Vaughan Public Libraries. She's also a bookworm and aspiring author, constantly dreaming up a multitude of different stories and wrestling with actually finishing any of them.

Feel Good Spring Films

, , , , Bookmark and Share

“Is the spring coming?” he said. “What is it like?”…

“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine…”

― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

As I write this, winter seems to have a stranglehold on our weather, though I swear I see some trees stubbornly budding. I’ve decided it doesn’t matter what the actual temperature is⁠—or the fact that we’ve still got snow⁠—it’s March! It’s spring break! And spring is sometimes a feeling more than a state, especially in Canada.

But to truly give myself (and you, dear reader) that spring-is-coming feeling, I’ve decided to compile a list of my favourite films that make me feel all hopeful and peaceful and green and blossoming. (Those are all real emotions, I promise).

Continue reading →

Relationshipping: How to Do Well with Everyone & Everything

, , , , , Bookmark and Share

Ok, so that title is a bit of a clickbait, but well…it’s February (aka Valentines Day month) and the 15th (which is apparently Singles Awareness Day), so I thought I’d share different books that focus on as many kinds of healthy relationships as I can.

Coming from someone who kinda finds self-help books cringey as a concept, this was also a challenge I set for myself to find titles I would actually read publicly. This is not to say I’m judging anyone else for reading or liking such books! I just don’t like admitting to needing help, pretty much ever.

(…Feel free to recommend me a self-help book to get over this.)

With that introduction out of the way, let’s dive in!

Self

The Self-Compassion Skills Workbook by Tim Desmond

I will admit that I frequently and freely judge books by their covers, and this ’14-Day Plan to Transform Your Relationship With Yourself’ by Tim Desmond caught my eye because 1) it’s pretty and 2) it screams workbook first and self-help book second. Also, I think many people’s unhappiness with themselves stems much of the time from being far too hard on themselves about things that are normal and natural to the human condition. We are people, we are messy. But we don’t have to be miserable messes, and here’s an actionable guide to getting on the road to being kind to ourselves!

Desmond’s aim with this book is to improve your ability to motivate yourself; regulate your emotions; learn resilience; lessen self-criticism and destructive behavior; heal painful experiences; and be more present and compassionate with others. It also contains downloadable audio recordings!

Continue reading →

Way Back When: Discovering 1923 in 2023

, , , , , , , Bookmark and Share

Well, it’s 2023, which feels like a strange and unwieldy number for a year to be after the neat symmetry of 2022. I thought for today’s post it would be interesting to look at different events that occurred exactly 100 years ago, and feature various books, movies, and resources for you to explore corresponding to those events. For one thing, ‘those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it’, and for another…this makes learning history fun! (For me, at the very least, but hopefully for you too). Without further ado, let’s jump right in.

cover of Red Star Over Russie by David King

January | The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) aka the Soviet Union is established after a period of revolution. Red Star Over Russia by David King has a self-explanatory subtitle; it’s a Visual History of the Soviet Union From the Revolution to the Death of Stalin: Posters, Photographs and Graphics From the David King Collection. I’m a visual learner myself, and this graphic book is eye-catching and eye-opening, and reminds readers of the intersection of art and politics as a revolutionary incentive, as propaganda, and as an art movement in and of itself.

Continue reading →