Well, with so much time on my hands this month, you’d think I would have plowed through a stack of books…but, no. I did start a whole bunch, and also comfort-read passages out of Anne’s House of Dreams and The Blue Castle, both by L.M. Montgomery, but I only actually finished four:
Love Sense: The Revolutionary New Science of Romantic Relationships, by Sue Johnson, is a winner for me. This book is about the attachment-based theory of adult relationships; basically, our brains seek the security of intimate relationships, and conflicts in relationship are always rooted in a primal fear of rejection or abandonment. I would buy this one for my therapy practice.
A Practical Guide to Cultivating Therapeutic Presence, by Shari M. Geller. This book is priced like a textbook (I took it out of the library back when) but it is a surprisingly easy read. It reviews the science behind presence and then teaches practical ways to work on attuning to your client and staying present with them, moment by moment. I tried to apply what I learned when I was video calling a friend and this stuff works.
Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson. This is the first novel I read in 2020! It’s also the first book in a trilogy which I hope to finish; the second book is on my nightstand and the third is being held hostage in the library which will be closed until who knows when. This is an engaging story narrated by a girl who is a slave in revolutionary-era New York. Full disclosure: I have a hard time reading about cruelty and there was definitely a lot of that in this book. I want to know what happens (the book ends in a cliffhanger) so I’m hoping the next book is easier.
A Papa Like Everyone Else, by Syndey Taylor (best-known for the All-of-a-Kind Family series). This is a short, charming book about two little girls and their mother during their last year in a Hungarian village while they wait to come to America. The family hasn’t seen their papa in years; the younger daughter has no recollection of him at all. While I was reading this book, I suddenly had an “I’m an adult” moment when I realized that I identified way more with the mama than the children.
And that brings me to a total of fourteen books down, thirty-six to go to get to my goal of fifty books in 2020. If you need more books while the library is closed, check out Hoopla and Overdrive for e-books and audiobooks. You can also try…going through your bookshelves for anything you haven’t actually read yet (I have some of those coming up).
Let me know if you have any really great books to recommend (I like self-help/psychology, memoir, and historical fiction). Take care!
