The Book Report by Rebecca Traver - Our Online Bookshop Curator
Welcome to the Book Report! This month I am featuring our list all about relationships - Living Heart to Heart…how to nurture and nourish them, how to manage them without suffocating them, and how to deal with the pain of their loss should it come to that. And please know, radiant reader, that this is not exclusively about romance, but, rather, it includes all the forms relationship can take…family, friends, lovers, clients, coworkers, neighbors, and our most precious relationship of all – the one we have with ourselves.
Also included in this report is a selection of New + Newly Discovered titles; a special group of Books for Young and Young at Heart Readers; and a couple of Just Because + Just for Fun offerings.
I hope you enjoy what you find here and know that, as always,
I am honored by the privilege of taking up space in your inbox.
“Love her but leave her wild.”
~Atticus
FEATURED LIST – LIVING HEART TO HEART: CREATING + SUSTAINING HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS
What to Do When You Get Dumped: A Guide to Unbreaking Your Heart by Suzy Hopkins with illustrations by Hallie Bateman is an incisive, tender, appealing guide to “unbreaking” your heart. Using a countdown from the moment of break-up, this book offers humor and hope as it guides readers on the journey to find new meaning and purpose in a life that’s yours alone.
Drama Free: A Guide to Managing Unhealthy Family Relationships from Nedra Glover Tawwab is a road map for understanding and moving past family struggles and living your life your way. Covering a wide range of topics, this clear and compassionate guide will help you to honor the person you are, regardless of family dynamics.
Feel It All: A Therapist's Guide to Reimagining Your Relationship with Sex by Casey Tanner dispels the stale cultural attitudes about sex that leave too many of us feeling inadequate, and offers an expansive, attachment-based framework to free us up and develop bolder, more satisfying relationships with our sexuality.
Ready, Set, Slow: How to Improve Your Energy, Health, and Relationships Through the Power of Slow from Lee Holden brings to light the author’s Slow Method - principles of slow mind, body, and relationships drawn from the philosophical wisdom of Eastern meditation, martial arts and philosophies, and merged with Western science. The resulting practices offer ways to access the magical benefits of slowing down to create lasting change in your life and the lives of those you love.
How to Be the Love You Seek: Break Cycles, Find Peace, and Heal Your Relationships by Nicole Lepera illuminates the way out of trauma bonds and into relationships rooted in mutual respect and compassion. In it, you will learn how to create safety in your own body and mind; identify your unmet needs; develop emotional resilience; cultivate heart coherence to build deep emotional connections with others; and maintain healthy interdependence in your communities.
Hello Stranger: Musings on Modern Intimacies from Columbian culture writer and film critic Manuel Betancourt explores modern queer romance and the expansive possibilities of ephemeral intimacies. This book’s focus is about those delicious and sometimes fleeting chance encounters we have – at a bar, through social media, in a bathhouse – and what a stranger can reveal about who we are and who we could still yet be. A stranger, after all, is a starting point of endless possibilities.
This Is How Your Marriage Ends: A Hopeful Approach to Saving Relationships by Matthew Fray is a thoughtful, down-to-earth, contemporary guide to help partners identify and address relationship-killing behavior patterns in their own lives. It is a resourceful read for every partner no matter in what stage - beginning, middle, or even end – of your relationship.
Fighting for Our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships from Danielle Bayard Jackson is one part textbook, one part handbook. Readers will not only learn what the latest research has to say about the mechanics of women’s friendships, but they’ll come away with real-life solutions for the most common conflicts that arise in their platonic relationships.
Wait, What?: A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Heather Corinna and Isabella Rotman brings us friends Malia, Rico, Max, Sam, and Alexis as they talk about all the weird and exciting parts of growing up. This supportive group of friends are guides for some tricky subjects. Using comics, activities, and examples, they give encouragement and context for new and confusing feelings and experiences.
How to Love: A Guide to Feelings and Relationships for Everyone: A Graphic Novel by Alex Norris is a guide for dating, relationships, and identity. Isn’t it wonderful when love strikes? We connect with someone beautiful and interesting and suddenly – feelings! Aimed at both young people and those with more experience, this is a funny, wise, and unique full-color guide to relationships of all shapes and sizes.
And last, but not least, may I suggest this lovely children’s picture book – so beautiful, it’s worthy of your coffee table - Ten-Word Tiny Tales of Love from former UK Children’s Laureate Joseph Coehlo is an extraordinary collection of tales – each one illustrated by a different artist, and each just ten words long.
“Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”
~Victor Hugo
For browsing through our entire list click here!
“Try seeing your world and yourself this way, eyes open to whatever is before you, mind free of dichotomies. Are you good or bad, fragile or tough, wise or foolish? Yes. And so am I.”
~Martha Beck
New + Newly Discovered
Beyond Anxiety: Curiosity, Creativity, and Finding Your Life's Purpose from one of my favorite teachers and mentors, Martha Beck, explains why anxiety is skyrocketing around you, and likely within you. Using a combination of the latest neuroscience as well as her own background in sociology and coaching, Beck explains how our brains tend to get stuck in an “anxiety spiral,” a feedback system that can increase anxiety indefinitely. She also tells you how to not only reduce your anxiety but use it to propel you into a life filled with peace, meaning, and joy.
Essence of Tarot: Using Essential Oils, Magic, and Rituals to Empower Your Readings from Mary K. Greer teaches us how to create a more magical life through the union of tarot and aromatherapy. No previous experience with essential oils is needed, as Greer offers a crash course, along with details about the historical role of scent and perfumery in magical and divinatory practices.
How to Read and Interpret a Birth Chart: Guideposts for Understanding Natal Astrology by Laurie Farrington teaches us that we each possess an individual astrology chart, cast from the moment of our first breath. We are provided with sixteen guideposts to work systematically with each and every chart you encounter so that you will be able to understand any birth chart with confidence.
A Witch Alone: 13 Moons to Master Natural Magic by Marian Green is an invaluable guide for the solitary witch, full of lessons and spells, and including information about herbal magic, moon magic, solar cycles, and how to recover the “Old Ways” in your daily life.
Upside Down Tarot: How Reversals Add Depth to Your Reading by Joan Bunning is a handy desktop reference for those who are already familiar with tarot basics but who want to expand their practice by incorporating reversed cards as well. Here, Bunning describes how understanding tarot reversals can enhance the dynamic quality of your readings. You’ll discover how to translate a stationary set of images into a moving picture of time’s flow.
To Tend and to Hold: Honoring Our Bodies, Our Needs, and Our Grief Through Pregnancy and Infant Loss by Eileen S. Rosete serves as a warm and compassionate confidante, helping those of us dealing with this most intimate form of loss, guiding us to articulate our experiences, understand our options, and tend to our unique needs as both postpartum and bereaved. Woven with threads of wisdom from a trusted collective of health and healing arts practitioners, comforting stories, nourishing postpartum recipes, and grounding embodiment practices, To Tend and To Hold is a heartfelt, holistic source of solace for all who bear loss.
Being (Sick) Enough: Thoughts on Invisible Illness, Childhood Trauma, and Living Well When Surviving Is Hard is a collection of wise, visceral essays on navigating pain, sex, trauma, spirituality, addiction, recovery, and grief from queer, neurodivergent trauma-resolution guide Jessica Graham. While that might sound like more than any one book could possibly cover, rest assured, dear reader, these are accessible and compassionate insights on untangling and embracing the messy realities of being a human alive on this planet today.
Make Me Rain: Poems & Prose from one of my favorite poets, Nikki Giovanni who recently passed, is a powerful and deeply personal collection of verse that speaks to the injustices of society while illuminating the depths of her own heart.
Stress Resets: How to Soothe Your Body and Mind in Minutes from clinical psychologist Jennifer L. Taitz shares through personal anecdote, expert interviews, cutting-edge studies, and practical tips how to learn to manage your emotions rather than the other way around. You will learn not only how to change your view of stress, but cultivate the hope and confidence you need to reset and ultimately change how you feel. I suggest reading the book in tandem while exploring Taitz’s The Stress Resets Deck for maximum benefit.
The Bright Side: How Optimists Change the World, and How You Can Be One by Sumit Paul-Choudhury is a fascinating and reassuring look at the philosophy, psychology, and practice of optimism, and why being optimistic is a moral obligation – even in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. Truly a beacon of light amid dark times, The Bright Side provides a lens through which we can see our difficulties more clearly – and it also offers tools for solving them, to create a better future for ourselves and generations to come.
Seeing Others: How Recognition Works - And How It Can Heal a Divided World by Michèle Lamont unpacks the power of recognition – rendering others as visible and valued – by drawing on nearly forty years of research and new interviews with young adults and cultural icons.
What Your Body Knows About Happiness: How to Use Your Body to Change Your Mind by Janice Kaplan explores the startling new evidence showing that our feeling bodies are often smarter than our thinking minds. Talking to experts in a wide range of fields, the author brings her distinctive brand of conversation, humor, and storytelling to scientific research, drawing unexpected links that reveal the power of body-mind connections.
Wisdom of the Path: The Beautiful and Bumpy Ride to Healing and Trusting Our Inner Guide from Yasmine Cheyenne, the author of The Sugar Jar, brings together stories of grief, heartbreak, joy, and overcoming that invite you to gather the wisdom you’ve already collected throughout your life and use it for navigating your path ahead.
All the Lonely People: Conversations on Loneliness from Dr. Sam Carr is an intimate portrait of loneliness collected from hours of conversations with young people and old, including single parents, caregivers, teenagers, and the bereaved. What the author found was that while each of their stories was unique, they are all born out of the same desire for human connection. I would guess that all of us can recognize ourselves within the stories presented here, and in so doing, feel the spark of connection the author speaks of – and be the better for it.
Poet, Mystic, Widow, Wife: The Extraordinary Lives of Medieval Women by Hetta Howes charts the inspiring lives and times of four medieval women writers – Marie de France, a poet; Julian of Norwich, a mystic and anchoress; Christine de Pizan, a widow and court writer; and Margery Kempe, a “no-good wife” – who all bucked convention and forged their own paths.
For the crafty witches out there I offer The Witch's Wardrobe: Sew Your Own Witchcore Wear by Raechel Henderson is a spellbinding sewing guide from which you can learn how to create personalized garments to compliment your unique spirit. With thirty projects to choose from, including wrap-around pants and fingerless gloves, fairy dresses and gathering aprons, you’re bound to find something that suits your fancy.
Herbal Intelligence: Plant Teachers and the Return of Viriditas by David Hoffman is a guide to the cultural reawakening of modern herbalism, revealing how herbalism is a powerful way to participate in today’s green transformation, all using the concept of viriditas – the understanding of nature as divinely intelligent.
Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I'd Known About Menopause from actress and author Naomi Watts is a blend of funny and poignant stories from Naomi and her friends with advice from doctors, hormone experts, and nutritionists to take the secrecy and shame out of menopause and aging. Irreverent, bold, and reassuring, Dare I Say It is the companion every woman needs to embrace the best version of herself as she moves into what can be the most powerful and satisfying period of her life.
Yoga Fix: Functional Movement for a Pain-Free Body from yoga teacher and personal trainer Erin Motz is yoga for those who don’t know their asana from their elbow. Get rid of that stiff neck, achy back, and tight hamstrings with fully photographed step-by-step fixes to help you feel flexible, relaxed, and twinge-free.
“Yoga is not about touching your toes. It is what you learn on the way down.”
~Jigar Gor
For the entire list of new discoveries, click here!
Books for Young Readers + the People Who Love Them
Girls on the Rise from former Presidential Inaugural Poet Amanda Gorman with illustrations by Loveis Wise is a galvanizing original poem that celebrates girls and girlhood in their many forms, all beautiful, not for how they look, but for how they look into the face of fear.
Millie Fleur's Poison Garden by Christy Mandin is a delightful blend of Wednesday Addams and The Curious Garden in which young Millie Fleur plants her marvelously strange garden, filled with Sneezing Stickyweed, Fanged Fairymoss, and Grumpy Gilliflower.
All the Books by Hayley Rocco with illustrations by John Rocco brings us Pippy Waterstone, an adorable chipmunk and avid reader, as she learns the value of sharing what is most precious to her with others.
Elf Dog and Owl Head from M.T. Anderson, illustrated by Junyi Wu, is a magical adventure about a boy and his dog – or a dog and her boy – and a forest of wonders hidden in the best hiding place of all – in plain sight!
Sometimes We Fall by Randall de Sève with illustrations by Kate Gardiner is an uplifting story that offers a reassuring message about finding the courage to take a small risk – and the sweet reward that may follow.
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!”
~Dr. Seuss
For more books for young readers click here!
Para libros para lectores jóvenes en Español haga clic aqui!
Just Because + Just for Fun
This Beautiful Day: Daily Wisdom from Mister Rogers from everyone’s favorite neighbor Fred Rogers is a heartwarming collection of reflections to help you make each day a truly beautiful one.
What in the World?!: A Southern Woman's Guide to Laughing at Life's Unexpected Curveballs and Beautiful Blessings by Leanne Morgan is equal parts hilarious and warm, reminding you that every time life leaves you asking “What in the world?!”, something good is bound to come out of it someday.
“I can’t do math. I’ve got many flaws. But I can tell whether someone needs attention, and I can make people laugh. Everyone has gifts, and those are mine.”
~Leanne Morgan
Please visit our online Bookshop to see our full selection of lists and titles.
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