The Book Report by Rebecca Traver - Our Online Bookshop Curator

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive
is too small for you.

~David Whyte, The House of Belonging

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Included in this report is April’s Author of the Month – David Whyte, a mix of New + Newly Discovered books chosen to support + inspire you; some wonderful books with an eye on Spring for Young + Young at Heart readers, and a couple of ‘Just Because + Just for Fun’ offerings.

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“Gratitude is the understanding that many millions of things come together and breathe together in order for us to take even one more breath of air.”

~David Whyte

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Author of the Month – David Whyte

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I have been an enthusiastic fan of the work of David Whyte for many years and I encourage you to grant it access to your best and favored collection of tools for self-reflection and personal development. I have chosen a few treasured titles to hopefully spark your interest in learning more.

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Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words is a collection of beautiful and elegant essays exploring the meaning of things and the language we use to express our relationships and experiences of them. 

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The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship encourages the reader to consider how they inhabit the realms of love, work, and self-understanding. Here, Whyte suggests that separating these marriages in order to balance them virtually guarantees the destruction of happiness itself. 

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Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity is centered on the theme that there is an essential connection between imagination and the quality of our day to day lives. It shows how poetry and practicality, far from being mutually exclusive, reinforce each other to give every aspect of our lives meaning and direction.

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To view more of his work, click here.

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New + Newly Discovered

Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life by Dacher Keltner is a groundbreaking exploration into the history, science, and greater understanding of how we experience awe and why it matters. If we are willing to open our minds, it is awe that sharpens our reasoning and orients us toward big ideas and new insights, that cools our immune system’s inflammation response and strengthens our bodies.

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The title Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals from Oliver Burkeman is based on the premise that, if one lives to be eighty, they would have just over four thousand weeks of life. Drawing on the insights of both ancient and contemporary philosophers, psychologists, and spiritual teachers, Burkeman delivers an entertaining, humorous, practical, and ultimately profound guide to time and time management. 

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We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds by science and technology writer Sally Adee takes on the field of bioelectricity – the electric currents that run through our bodies and every living thing. Here, the reader is taken along on a journey through the thrilling history of bioelectricity and into the future; from the Victorian medical charlatans, to the advances helped along by the giant axons of squids, and finally to the fascinating world of brain implants and the moral implications therein. 

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The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science by Alan Lightman addresses the question, ‘Can the scientifically inclined person still hold space for spirituality?’ Ultimately what is revealed in this lyrical, enlightening book is that spirituality may not only be compatible with science, but that it also ought to remain at the core of what it means to be human.

The Zen of Therapy: Uncovering a Hidden Kindness in Life by Dr. Mark Epstein is a remarkable exploration of the therapeutic relationship as it reflects on one year’s worth of therapy with his patients to observe how his training in Western psychotherapy along with his investigation and practice of Buddhism, in tandem, led to greater awareness – for his patients and for himself.

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Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation from Meg Jones Wall with a foreword by Theresa Reed is both a tarot resource and study guide, opening the door for readers of all genders, identities, and experience levels to build a unique and personal relationship with the cards.

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Meister Eckhart’s Book of Darkness & Light: Meditations on the Path of the Wayless Way by Jon M. Sweeney and Mark S. Burrows presents the writings of the Christian mystic Meister Eckhart (1260 – 1328) for people seeking “the wayless way” in a fresh and accessible manner for the modern age.

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Spring Books for Young Readers + The People Who Love Them

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Nesting by Henry Cole is an utterly charming book about robins – from how they build their nests to how they tend to their eggs and, ultimately, to how they prepare their offspring for lives beyond the nest.

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Woodland Painting Party by Nicole Yen, illustrated by Riley Samels is an Easter Bunny adventure, inspired by the beautiful patterns and colors of its animal friends. The book features seven illustrated spreads filled with original pop-ups, hidden flaps, and delightful surprises. 

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Bloom Boom! by April Pulley Sayre brings us the magic and the science behind spring flowers – from the desert to the woodlands and beyond. This is a wonderful book to share with the young readers in your life.

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Just Because + Just for Fun

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Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice from Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed is a collection of her advice columns – rich with humor, insight, compassion, and a refreshingly straightforward approach. 

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The Dungeons & Dragons Tarot Deck is an officially licensed deck paying homage to the rich lore of the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons by paring characters and encounters with the Major and Minor Arcana of tarot. Beautifully illustrated with exclusive art, the deck includes a guidebook and prompts to add dynamic twists to your D&D experience.

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Please visit our online Bookshop to see our full selection of lists and titles. 

Thank you for supporting local, independent bookstores! 

We love connecting with you in the shop and online.

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May you be inspired, supported, and enriched by what you find here.

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