I have read a lot of books to figure out what therapy is about and what the therapist is doing. I read one of yalom's books and thought he was a total ***. I found Susan Clancy to be most useful for me. Right now I am reading a book about alliance and meta communication. Fascinating to me to see how the therapist tries to manipulate.
Some of the ones I have read are:
Getting Started- Joel Koten
Termination in Psychotherapy - Joyce, Piper, Klein
Positive Endings in Psychotherapy- Steven Kramer
Terminating Therapy- Davis
Good enough Endings – Salberg
Endings in Clinical Practice -Walsh
Psychoanalytic Diagnosis - McWilliams
Being a Brainwise Therapist - Badenoch
Ariadne’s Thread -Cowan
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy - Ursono
Trauma – Herman
The Talking Cure - Vaughan

How Psychotherapy Really Works - Gaylin

Psychodynamic Techniques – Maroda
Psychodynamic Therapy – Summers and Barber
Attachment in Psychotherapy-Wallin
Trauma and the Avoidant Client – Wallin
Will I Ever Be Good Enough – McBride
Affect Intolerance in Patient and Analyst - Coen
Modes of Therapeutic Action – M. Stark
The Gift of Therapy – Yalom
Between Therapist and Client: The New Relationship – Kahn

The Trauma Myth: The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children--and its Aftermath -Susan A. Clancy

In Session: The Bond Between Women and Their Therapists- Lott