“Books and doors are the same thing. You open them, and you go through into another world.”
— Jeanette Winterson
Nope, no books authored by me, yet. However, I love to read, and have found a few that have been inspirational and very healing. Check out some of these authors who’s beautifully diverse voices have shaped and healed me in many ways. Maybe you’ll love them too.
Always open to book suggestions too.
Also, pretty PLEASE support local book stores. It’s a huge passion of mine.
(Did you know you could buy books online through Bookshop.org and choose a local book store that profits from it?)
Stephanie Foo covers her journey with Complex PTSD and wrote a book she wish she had when she was diagnosed. Finding out I had the same diagnosis months after it’s publishing, I miraculously stumbled on this incredible book, and it has been pivotal in my journey. I’m so glad she wrote this.
What My Bones Know,
Stephanie Foo
I read this book in the beginning of my deep healing journey. Davis is honestly a role model to me. She came from tough, humble beginnings. But reading her memoir and seeing how hard she fought to heal herself and manifest the life, love, and family she wanted is very inspiring to me. I will always hold her words close to my heart.
Finding Me,
Viola Davis
I love this woman. I love her book, listening to her talk, following her on instagram. I love the way she leans into spirituality that honors what people believe and how she goes about healing from trauma. She is now the president of the American Psychological Association too. She helped me really think about how my career and life had been on autopilot for survival and because I’d fallen into it. She also made me realize that I need to be the eagle I was born to be, and not just a chicken. Listen to this interview on Mel Robbins to get an easy introduction to the beauty she brings.
Homecoming,
Thema Bryant, PHD
I had been on my healing journey, felt incredible, was coming into my new self, and I unexpectedly broke. I went into an unexplainable dark space. This book was suggested by someone instrumental in my healing, and it helped me a monumental amount. I truly feel this period helped do a final wash of all the things that no longer served me, and left the shiniest, truest pieces of me. So much gratitude for this read. I’m not sure I’d understand the month of unexplainable tears otherwise.
The Second Half of the Mountain,
McCall Erickson
In my journey, I’ve found it important to lean into my Divine Feminine. The toxic masculine of going and doing wasn’t serving me, and this book really helped me find the words to and connect to what I was experiencing in career and life. I needed to lean into the pause, the wholeness of healthy masculine and feminine working together. The way I was living was failing me. Reconnecting to myself in this way has been very important to me, and this really was instrumental in giving me deeper meaning to something I think many of us feel after navigating our careers in a way that seems empty at some point, as well as connection to women of all ages and experiences.
The Heroine’s Journey,
Maureen Murdock
I watched Nanette, Gadsby’s standup comedy, at the beginning of the pandemic and they stopped me in my tracks with deep belly laughs followed by lots of tears. They have an important story and message on how we can fight for the change we need in this world in a way that feels, to me, that we’re bringing people along in a supportive way instead of creating a tornado of angry destruction behind us. Their story is incredible. The back cover says, “There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself.” They say they are tired, but I’m grateful they spend the energy to bring their story to light.
Ten Steps to Nanette,
Hannah Gadsby
I honestly randomly checked this book out from the library, and to say Eger’s story is inspirational is an understatement. She has been through horrors that many of us can’t even fathom as a Holocaust survivor, and she sees and validates the hurt and pain every single human experiences, and beautifully illustrates how we have a choice in how we move through and take responsibility for those hard experiences. She’s truly an inspiration.
The Choice,
Dr. Edith Eva Eger
Gilbert really dives into the meat of what we need to do to move our biggest dreams forward. How we have a choice to go after what we want and empowers you to take ownership and responsibility. It honors how scary and hard doing this can be and I found it highly motivating on my own journey.
Big Magic,
Elizabeth Gilbert
other books I love
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, Judy Blume
Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisis Coates
All The Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr
Untamed, Glennon Doyle
Thin Book of Trust, Charles Feltman
Someone’s Daughter, Ashley C. Ford
Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus
The Nightingale, Kristin Hannah
The House in the Cerulean Sea, T.J. Klune
Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens
The Power of Regret, Daniel H. Pink
Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt
On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara