Books

What books have you found enlightening and interesting?

What a broad question! Do you mean something related to psychotherapy? To mental health issues? What?

Here's one of my latest books:

Dandelion Through The Crack
by Kiyo Sato

Let's see if any of you can tell why this might be a good book, even for mental health issues, which it does not explicitly relate to.

Bet no one has even heard of it.

My next books (have them but have not read them yet):

Human Smoke
by Nicholson Baker

The Bin Ladens
by Steve Coll

So there!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, an incredible memoir.

pachy, you see these? http://passingposton.com/trailer.php

http://www.newsweek.com/id/121346

The book passage that has made the biggest difference in my life is from The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle:</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
"My lady," he said, "I am a hero. It is a trade, no more, like weaving or brewing, and like them it has its own tricks and knacks and small arts. There are ways of perceiving witches, and of knowing poison streams; there are certain weak spots that all dragons have, and certain riddles that hooded strangers tend to set you. But the true secret of being a hero likes in knowing the order of things. The swineherd cannot already be wed to the princess when he embarks on his adventures, nor can the boy knock at the witch's door when she is away on vacation. The wicked uncle cannot be found out and foiled before he does something wicked. Things must happen when it is time for them to happen. Quests may not simply be abandoned; prophecies may not be left to rot like unpicked fruit; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever. The happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."

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One of the most rewarding books I've ever read is Crones Don't Whine: Concentrated Wisdom for Juicy Women by Jean Shinoda Bolen, MD, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of California Medical School.

My family lived at Poston during part of the war.

The book that I just finished yesterday-- "Motherless Daughters" by Hope Edelman. It was given to me by T. It is a a book about women whose mothers have died. There is a small part about women whose mother's were not emotionally there for them-- overall, it is a book about loss. Although my mother is still alive, it taught me a lot about where my emptiness has come from. The book allowed me to see that I have been missing something all of these years, that I did not even know was capable of existing. It was emotionally difficult for me to read, but has allowed me to think about entering into my own mourning, of sorts-- for the things I could have had... should have had... but never did. She has a link on her website for email contact and I am thinking about emailing her to let her know how her book helped a woman whose mother is still alive.

I also liked Motherless Daughters.

On a similar theme, but fiction, White Oleander by Janet Fitch really impressed me. Here is a quote from an interview with her that sort of summarizes the theme:

Q: One of the things I love about this book is that you're completely willing to let Ingrid be evil. It gives the story so much vitality. There's not enough of that in literary fiction sometimes.

A: She's very single-minded. And it's very difficult to be the child of a single-minded person because everything goes one way. They're not good listeners. They don't look at that child and think, "Oh, she seems sad. I wonder what's wrong." Ingrid didn't want to open that can of worms because it would limit her freedom. And she was pursuing her own vision of herself. We all have some of that, and the more determined we are to do something, the more we have it. A child will take up 100 percent of you if you let them. It's only natural for them to want that, to try for that. So motherhood's a dance between individual needs and the needs of your child. And Ingrid's failing is that she had a child but refused to dance with her. She refused to look at her at any point and say, "What does my child need here?" But she loved her. She loved her in her way.

1) Intimate Journeys: Stories from Life-Changing Therapy, by James Bugental.
I finished this book recently and found a lot to like in this humanistic psychologist's account of therapy with 5 of his clients. His descriptions of the therapy sessions are interspersed with his own thoughts on their therapy and his own life. This is a therapist who definitely spends a helluva lot of time outside of session thinking about his clients. The book was written in the 70s but these therapy sessions were from the sixties and it shows. The book is a little dated in this regard, as things in the sixties were a lot different from now. These 5 clients also move into group therapy with each other, and those descriptions illustrated really well to me the potential value of group. Near the end of the book, the therapist moves to another city and is able to terminate successfully with 4 of the 5 clients, as they were towards the end anyway. But one of them is still in the middle of her therapy and the termination was very traumatic for her, almost sent her over the edge. As a client myself, termination is always lurking in the back of my mind, and it was somehow "useful" for me to read 5 accounts of this. A part of the book that really shines through is that you can see how a therapist and his life are themselves changed and affected by therapy with his clients. It's not all a one way street even though we sometimes think it is because we are paying for their services and the relationship is "professional."

> The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

That has 1,005 reader reviews on Amazon.

I have not read them all.

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That has 1,005 reader reviews on Amazon.

I have not read them all.

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You haven't?!

You could probably read the book quicker.

I don't know if it is a "read more inside" book on Amazon or not, but the book begins with the author, a successful writer who is a regular contributor to MSNBC riding in a taxi on her way to a social event, dressed and in pearls, having left her Park Ave apartment. The taxi passes a homeless woman, rags tied around her shoulders to keep her warm, picking through the trash in a dumpster, discarding some things and lighting up with glee at others ... This woman is the author's mom and the author has quite a story to tell...

Echoes - I also read that book and really enjoyed it.

The last three books I read were 1.) Fiasco by Thomas Ricks 2.) By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens and 3.) No Country for Old Men by Cormack McCarthy

I liked the Ricks and the Cozzens but did not like the McCarthy. Although I had previously read The Road by McCarthy and like that a lot.

I am now re-reading All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren. I love this book, it is one of those books that changes your life. Much of my current understanding of power and people's relationships to power is shaped by my original reading of this book.

I'm reading the Glass Castle now. It is a really good book!
Thanks for the suggestion, Echoes.

Here's my latest:

German Boy
by Wolfgang Samuel

"The secret life of bees.

Secret sounds good. I like finding out secrets!

Here's mine:

1. The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene
Has helped me alot, especially in my student organization activities, et cetera. More on people relationship and leadership.
2. A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer
About the life story of a child abuse survivor. The book continues to a series pertaining to the author's struggles on latter parts of his life. May trigger some of you if you read it.

<font color="purple">Clandestine</font>

A child called IT series. It will trigger. Be careful.

I read the entire series. I felt so close to David. I would just hug the book and cry. It reminded me so much of my childhood. I pictured the mother looking just like my mother.

Me too.

"The Liars Club" by Mary Karr (memoir--one I think many of us can identify with. I certainly could.)

"Managing your Mind: The Mental Fitness Guide" by Gillian Butler, Ph.D & Tony Hope, M.D. Covers A LOT of relevant topics (for me) such as: self-confidence & self-esteem; time management; anxiety & depression; anger; taking control of your present & your future; freeing yourself of persistent fears & worries & coming to terms with loss & trauma. Would highly recommend it.--Suzy

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Mouse_ said:
"The secret life of bees.

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I read that but it was too "weird" for me. Good writing but the story a bit too depressing.

"Full Catastrophe Living" by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Jesus Land
by Julia Scheeres

only for those who are able to take things straight and unvarnished.

Part of this book is about a New Horizons Youth Ministries "school" in the Dominican Republic. Reader reviews on Amazon range from totally dismissive (essentially calling the author a liar) to 5 out of 5.

Sophie's World. By Jostein Gaarder.

It will make your brain bend in ways you never thought it could. And teach you something in the process. I loved it.