reads: books that make me feel human (and more)

Category: Makes You Feel Human

The Sun Magazine. If you consider yourself any kind of reader or writer – you MUST, must, must order The Sun Magazine. A monthly edition of advertisement-free and DELICIOUS photography, essays, interviews, short stories, poetry and quotes. I’m serious. Please support an editorial world that embraces and celebrates humanness (and rejects shameless advertising). If you don’t love this literary magazine, I personally will give you your money back (and take your issues)

Category: Inspires You to Write

The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch. If you feel a little outside-of-the-box in your writing style, read Yuknavitch to feel “throw-this-book-at-a-window” inspired. She normalizes the surfacing of the subconcious in your creative process. And she’s just fucking brilliant. I was fortunate enough to sit in awe in the back of one of her classes. Just thinking of her makes me want to break glass. Thank you and YES Lidia.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott. A mom-friendly guide to finding writing-will in the cracks of life. In between the smell of a blowout and the scream of an immediate snack-need, I can pick up a page, and find both a well-needed smile and the satiation of some important writing-guidance morsel.
When Women Were Birds by Terry Tempest Williams. You will melt, cry, sigh, and float on her prose to the sky. I was so moved by her words that I sewed a quote from this book into my baby girl’s receiving blanket:

“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten: that the world is meant to be celebrated.” – Terry Tempest Williams

Category: In Desperate Need of Parenting Help

No Drama Discipline by Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson. Do you suck at parenting and lose your shit as often as I do? Hire a sitter and take a long drive in the mountains with this downloaded on your Iphone to hear calm voices whispering about a better-way in your ear. It’s a game-changer.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv. Need inspiration and rationale for raising free-range children? Here you go.

Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman. I’m a Francophile. Sue me.

Category: Inspires You to Travel

NoWhere Literary Magazine
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. The book that inspired my 7-year global pilgrimage. A simple fable about finding the courage to chase a dream.
Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. I think most people in this day and age have enough privilege to relate to the emptiness of Prince Siddhartha’s royal life.
Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Category: Natural Pregnancy & Birth

Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth by Ina May
Ina May’s Guide to Breastfeeding by Ina May
Sweet Sleep: Nighttime and Naptime Strategies for the Breastfeeding Family. The La Leche Legue (who put out this book) doesn’t like to call it co-sleeping because of the negative connotation, but that’s pretty much what it is. Co-sleeping with a baby is a COMPLETE game-changer and I can’t recommend it more highly. Just read this book first for the guidelines on co-sleeping safety. And then get ready to get the best sleep a nursing mom can get.
Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living by Laurie Boucke