Heya all! Last week I wrote a post inviting you to share 3 books that you're reading for the chance to win some SBD. I decided to let the competition run for 2 weeks to give people a chance to muse upon the books they'd like to share. Here's the reminder to get your stack together - 7 days left to go and considering there's only one other entry thus far, you've got an awesome chance to win a few Steem Dollars. I'm also going to throw in the post payout for the last post as an extra tempter as I really want to see what you good folk of Steemit are reading.

Here's the original post. Here's the conditions:

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.

This is the second week, so you've got 7 days to be in the running. Sometimes we're so busy that a week just isn't enough to get our shit together. And hey - maybe we are busy READING! (god I hope so!)

I'll reward two, maybe THREE amazing book-folk with 2SBD, and definitely put together a summary post curating your wonderfulness. Plus, I'm throwing in the post pay out from my last post.

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

Here's @mountainjewel's efforts here I'm so close to ordering her Toka Pa Turner book:

I'm still going on my last stack (time is my enemy at the moment) but I thought I'd share 3 more of my books with you to show you. Firstly, I'd love for you to put on this really chilled and beautiful version of Shree Guru Gita, which set my mood yesterday afternoon as I hung out in my bus in the sunshine.

Here are the 3 books that I had in the bus, and that I thought I'd cuddle up with. Have you read these before or heard of them?

First, I'll set the scene - I'm reading in the bus in the garden. It's a way of totally escaping life for me - the house sometimes just begs me to do stuff, and it means I'm totally inside. Being in the bus means I'm totally in the gum trees with the birds. It's also much warmer during the day! The sun seeps through the windows, and I can light the burner too in order to feel really toasty. If you'd like to read more about our bus, please read this post - @senorcoconut - finally, I've got around to finding the link for you! (plus, here's the other two links whilst I'm buried in my feed: the horse lorry and the library lorry)

The first book is Gregor Mahle's book on Pranayama and the power of breath. I've always had Iyengar's book on Pranayama but this seems a little more accessible and easier to read. I always dip into it just like I do Patanjali's yoga sutras. Breathwork is not only a way toward enlightenment but has so many health benefits, and as an asthmatic and yogi, I'm always keen to read about breath science and yogic breathing. Maehle not only talks about spirituality but physiology, bio-mechanics and psychology. My yoga teacher (when I did my training) is a big traditional yogi and she recommends him. He covers topics such as the mental and spiritual benefits of pranayama, it's function and effects on the nervous system, digital counting and mantra during the practice, and descriptions of techniques such as Nadi Shodhana, Bhastrika and Surya Bhedana (moon breath, which I'm totally in love with as it calms my totally anxious self!) and also relates it to the 8 limbs. @rainbowrachel - I thought you might be interested in this one or perhaps have another recommendation for me?

The second book is The Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks. I've got a few copies of Rumi but this one is my most treasured as I've had it the longest. I always dip into Rumi - in fact, he's always my 'fourth' book - no matter what I'm reading, I'll dip into him, especially when I'm feeling stressed. He has a way of calming me down and connecting me to the divine and the beautiful world. We had a Rumi reading at my wedding - if you'd like to know which one, you'll have to engage with me in the comments - please do!

There are so many lines from his poetry that grip my heart. I'm sure you have your favourites too, and I'd love to hear them in the comments! One of my favourite quotes from this book is:

Lovers don't finally meet somewhere - They're in each other all along.

It appealed to my romantic soul, but now I'm older and wiser, I can see it's something bigger than that - that we're all divinely connected, part of a larger 'self' and Cosmos.

If you don't have a copy of Rumi's poems somewhere, you most definitely should.

My third book was a gift from my son, Jarrah. I'm always stoked when he buys me a book as I know he's thinking hard about what I'd like, and because he always buys books of literary merit, I feel very proud that I've raised him with taste and that he's deeply connected to books as well.

Nguyen's anthology consists of 8 stories set between post-American War Vietnam and the USA. It confounds the labels and stereotypes of 'refugee' and 'Vietnamese-American' and explores their losses and trauma of memory and their displacement. Although set in America, it's a pertinent book for Australians as we took in so many refugees after the Vietnam war, and they've contributed admirably toward our culture. Whilst some might argue they have maintained homogeneity, or keeping to themselves, the Vietnamese have been a big part of Australian culture since the 1970's.

Like many anthologies (Chimanmanda's 'The Thing Around Your Neck' comes to mind, an anthology of the Nigerian diaspora) it reminds me of the importance of stories in helping us understand the experience of 'others' in order to empathise and unite us.

In many ways we can draw parellels between those kind of stories and the stories within Steemit. I really love the tribes I'm part of here, such as @tribesteemup or @ecotrain - but I must constantly remind myself to reach outside my bubble and learn about people I wouldn't ordinary interact with. It's the kind of interaction that surely must make us more understanding and empathetic - and make the world a better place.

Such is the power of stories.

Please, please do share your 3 books. I'm going to cheekily tag all of you who expressed an interest in my original post, and gently nudge you toward sharing your stack with me and your fellow Steemians. Thus, I nudge:

@sukhasanasister @revisesociology @bookleaf @headchange @mrprofessor @chazzie-leigh @cheekah @trucklife-family

I'd also love to see the stack of some new Steemians I've connected with of late, like @nickhans or @rainbowrachel - gosh, all those books and people - hit me with your yumminess!

I'm also totally honoured to be a passenger on the #ecotrain - check out this hashtag for some pretty amazing posts permaculture to meditation, environmental issues to food forests - I highly recommend checking out this tag as you're guaranteed of sweeeetness!

Plus, I'm super excited and honoured to be part of @tribesteemup - a heap of amazing crew who all post quality posts about helping the Earth and humanity and generally making the world a better place. You should definitely check out the #tribesteemup trail to find some quality writing.