Bibliotherapy for fresh beginnings and new (or refurbished!) desires
Suggestions for what to read in different situations
Hello there!
I’m doing a bonus newsletter this month because October sports an extra week — and Halloween! October is the best.
Usually, I publish three newsletters around our monthly theme and a reader/writer newsletter (if you don’t get that one, sign up here). But since we have this extra week, I want to share something, well, extra.
I’ve been working on bibliotherapy for when you feel it’s too late — different books for different aspects of that feeling.
Because reading stories is one of the best ways to believe more is possible for you too.
This is just a little bitty beginner list because so I hope you will help me build it.
Bed is my very favorite place to read
Here’s my list so far.
Fiction
Under the Whispering Door by T.J. Klune. Read if you wonder if a closed heart stands between you and what you most want.
Foster by Claire Keegan. Read if you need faith that love mends and so do baths and clean socks.
The Change by Kirsten Miller. Read if it's time to channel your rage.
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers. Read if the threats to our precious planet lie too heavy on your heart.
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. Read if you want to love again.
Midnight Library by Matt Haig. Read if the pull of regrets swamps the promise of your future.
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. Read if you need a dose of timeless wide hearted perspective.
Memoir and Non-Fiction
Deep Water Passage by Ann Linnea. Read when you are ready for reinvention and love nature as a path.
Appetites by Caroline Knapp. Read if you struggle to own your desires.
All About Love by Bell Hooks. Read often.
The Salt Path by Raynor Winn. Read if someone you love is ill or dying, you’ve survived a natural disaster, or you worry about how to handle the worst.
A Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. Read if your life feels small.
The Only Way Out is Through by Suzette Mullen. Read if you are struggling to become who you know you truly are.
Hunger by Roxanne Gay. Read if you yearn to understand real self-care and self-acceptance.
Poetry
The Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poems. Read if you need to remember the pleasure and wonder of being alive.
Limitless by Danna Faulds. Read if you need to feel united with all that is.
And
Why Bother and Get your Bother On guided journal by me. Read if you need practical help to feel desire again.
What would you add?
What book helped you believe in second chances, new beginnings, fresh dreams? Or books - suggest as many titles as you wish.
Any suggestion is awesome. Just hit the purple button.
I appreciate your suggestions so much and you for being here!
I hope you find a new story or poem on my list or in the comments that helps you keep going, and keep opening to life.
Do check back to see what people suggest and add more titles if they come to you!
Love,
Jen
I found Maggie Smith’s You Could Make This Place Beautiful so inspiring. And I love that it’s a memoir written in vignettes and poems.
That's my motto, too: in case of doubt, go to the library or your trusted local book shop. And there trust your intuition, it might lead you to what you need right now.
As we need a good nights sleep for what is ahead, I recommend for problems with sleeping to read nature writing in bed. Poetic descriptions on animals and flowers ease me to sleep, and connect me to nature, ground me. My favourites are:
Neil Ansell, Deep Country
Bernd Heinrich, Ravens in Winter
Henry Beston, The Outermost House
If I need a playful approach to change or achieve something, or if I need encouragement to do sth about a difficult situation, I turn to Superbetter by Jane McGonigal.
And the past two years I read anthologies of female poets and short story writers from all over the world. My books are in German so useless for you, but you'll find something. You will never be alone, whatever your problem, someone has been there before.