Blog — reading lists

Reading as an intimate experience. When I was asked to contribute to a Portuguese bibliotherapy journal, I wanted to share something raw and from the heart. I did not want to write only in the capacity of a bibliotherapist, which is the role I usually occupy when thinking about books, healing, and transformation. Instead, I wanted to write as a ‘bibliotherapee’ if I can call it that: as someone who has been captivated by a book, held by a book, and unexpectedly changed by a book. This piece is personal. It is about my own intimate experience with reading, and about the first time I felt a book truly shift something in front of me. Not simply in an intellectual way, and not because I was analysing it through a therapeutic lens, but because something in the text met something in me. It changed the way I was seeing, and perhaps more importantly, it changed the way I understood what it meant to be seen by a book.

Reading as an intimate experience. When I was asked to contribute to a Portuguese bibliotherapy journal, I wanted to share something raw and from the heart. I did not want to write only in the capacity of a bibliotherapist, which is the role I usually occupy when thinking about books, healing, and transformation. Instead, I wanted to write as a ‘bibliotherapee’ if I can call it that: as someone who has been captivated by a book, held by a book, and unexpectedly changed by a book. This piece is personal. It is about my own intimate experience with reading, and about the first time I felt a book truly shift something in front of me. Not simply in an intellectual way, and not because I was analysing it through a therapeutic lens, but because something in the text met something in me. It changed the way I was seeing, and perhaps more importantly, it changed the way I understood what it meant to be seen by a book.

It’s the holidays and the perfect time to catch up on all your holiday reading. Here’s our roundup of the books in 2018 that have touched us, made us laugh, made us cry, made us think and wonder with awe and made us fall in love with reading all over again. Any others that should be here? Feel free to comment below. Book Therapy’s Best Books of 2018 Best Literature and Fiction Books of 2018 1. Circe by Madeline Miller Circe by Madeline Miller Poetic fiction based on the fascinating story of the peculiar daughter of the sun god, Helios. Choosing to build relationships with mortals on earth, Circe discovers...

Best Books of 2018 so far Halfway through 2018, here are the bestselling books of the year so far. Some will make you laugh, others cry and some simply change the way you view the world forever. All phenomenally great literary reads, these most certainly are the most deserving of the best books of the year so far. Any others that should be here? Feel free to comment below. Best Literature and Fiction Books of 2018 so far… 1. Circe by Madeline Miller Circe by Madeline Miller Poetic fiction based on the fascinating story of the peculiar daughter of the sun god, Helios....

A delicious selection of book reads for the weekend, especially if you are going to make it a long one with the 4th of July holiday. Enjoy! 1. “All-American Murder: The Rise and Fall of Aaron Hernandez, the Superstar Whose Life Ended on Murderers’ Row” by James Patterson and Alex Abramovich is actually a piece of non-fiction about the young and exceptionally gifted NFL player who murdered his fiancee’s sister’s partner. After being convicted and on a life sentence in prison he committed suicide at the age of 27. Based on court testimony, legal documents and reporting from various key...