Books I Recommend to People I Love
Some books arrive at the right time and feel less like information and more like a gift from spirit.
This reading list is not a definitive spiritual canon; it is a curated collection of books I have actually read - and found helpful, or comforting, or challenging and grounding, or quietly life-shifting. Some are direct spiritual teachings. Some are memoir (which I'll note). Some speak through story, poetry, psychology, or nature.
I tend to come back to these books when I need one of three things: a clearer mind, a softer heart, or a wider view of life. If you are drawn to reading, you may find a few companions here too.
How I chose the books on this list
I literally went through my Goodreads, bookshelf and Audible lists and pulled out the ones that I would recommend. I have listed the ones that stayed with me after I closed them, or changed the way I see myself, my life and how I choose to move through it.
I have a small library of Tarot reference books, which I often bring to courses. I will write a separate post for them so you can choose one that meets your purpose.
Well known reads - essential for all humans
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
The Power of Now - Eckhart Tolle
The Life changing magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo
The Let Them Theory - Mel Robbins
Becoming Nobody - Ram Dass
Untamed - Glennon Doyle
Dark Emu - Bruce Pascoe
Braving the Wilderness - Brené Brown
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Nausea - Jean-Paul Sartre
Johnathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
The Celestine Prophecy - James Redfield
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse
Novels that make the whole world feel poetic and that life is cruel and wonderful at the same time
The Prophet - Kahlil Gibran
Anything by the 13th century poet and Sufi mystic - Rumi
Man's Search for Meaning - Viktor Frankl
The Periodic Table - Primo Levi
Peace is Every Step - Thich Nhat Hanh
No Friend But the Mountains: writing from Manus Prison - Behrouz Boochani
You Better Be Lightning, or anything by Andrea Gibson (poetry)
The Bride Stripped Bare - Anonymous in 2003 (pushes boundaries on love and sex)
Non-fiction books for creating your own poetic artistic daily practice:
The Artists Way - Julia Cameron
Every Day is a Poem - Jacqueline Suskin.
Books that changed the way I see the world
Non-fiction on plant wisdom, reciprocity and reverence for nature
Braiding Sweetgrass - Robin Wall Kimmerer (a critical and cultural lens on plants)
The Hidden life of Trees - Peter Wohlleben (magic of trees and forest ecosystems)
Finding the Mother Tree - Suzanne Simard (fungal networks)
The Botany of Desire - Michael Pollan (plants and humans co-evolving)
Thus Spoke the Plant: a remarkable journey of groundbreaking scientific discoveries and personal encounters with plants - Monica Gagliana (just read it).
Margaret Flockton: A Fragrant Memory - Louise Wilson (early female botanical artist)
Lonesome George: the life and loves of the world's most famous tortoise - Henry Nicholls (conservation and extinction)
Novels on family, community, history and moving through life
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim & Me Talk Pretty One Day - David Sedaris (US Autobiographical, family stories, unhinged, hilarious and touching).
Into the Wild - John Krakauer (US biographical adventure)
God of Small Things - Arundhati Roy (Dual timeline, life in 70s and 90s India)
Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai (Indian immigrant to US, fiction)
Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole. (US, a dislikable protagonist).
A Whale for the Killing - Farley Mowat (if you don't mind reading a wild 'WTF is wrong with humans' kind of read).
Migratory Animals - Mary Helen Specht (family, illness and change)
Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China - Jung Chang (true story, China)
The Good People - Hannah Kent (historical fiction - Ireland)
Cat's Eye - Margaret Atwood (childhood, bullies, trauma and growing into yourself)
Swahili for the Broken-hearted - Peter Moore (a post-break up travel novel)
The Portable Veblen - Elizabeth Mckenzie (delightfully unhinged protagonist)
The Help - Kathryn Stockett (important black and African American fiction)
Books that helped me understand spiritual things
On the Human Energy Field, the Body and Trauma
The Body Keeps the Score - Bessel van der Kolk - essential reading on trauma
Anatomy of Spirit - Caroline Myss
Tuning the Human Biofield - Eileen Day McKusick
The Secret Lanuage of Your Body - Inna Segal
An Energy Healer's Book of Dying. For caregivers and those in transition. Suzanne Worthley
Higher Healing, Akashic Records, Soul Work (reference books)
Theta Healing - Vianna Stibal
Becoming Supernatural - Joe Dispenza
Anatomy of Spirit - Caroline Myss
The Soul Retrieval Journey - Sandra Ingerman
The Shaman's Mind - Jonathan Hammond
How to Read the Akashic Records - Linda Howe
On Mediumship & Psychic development
The Awakened Way - Suzanne Giesemann
Journey into Grace - Sarah Grace (memoir)
Signs: The Secret Language of the Universe - Laura Lynne Jackson
Channeling Grace - Caroline Myss
Become a Medical Intuitive & Advanced Medical Intuition - Tina Zion
Animal Intuition - Thea Strom
Bridging Two Realms - John Holland
Spirit Speaker. A medium's guide to death and dying - Salicrow
How to Talk to the Dead in 10 Easy Steps - Rhys Wynn Davies
Random books I just had to add because I loved them
Under the Banner of Heaven - John Krakauer (true crime in a fundamentalist Mormon setting)
So You've Been Publicly Shamed & The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry - Jon Ronson (journalistic non-fiction)
The Power - Naomi Alderman (feminist fiction)
Small Gods - Terry Pratchett (humour and whimsy)
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins (history, humour and whimsy)
All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doer (historical fiction)
There are likely so many more that I have forgotten. I would love to know your favourites and I love a good suggestion. Write yours in the comments!
Final thoughts on this reading list
A good book does not walk the path for us. It simply places a small light in our hands and helps us see the next step.
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