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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nSummer’s here, and it’s about time to kick off your sandals, grab an iced tea (or beverage of your choice) and relax into the comfort, pleasure and excitement of a good novel. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many therapists particularly enjoy the kind of heartfelt, emotionally meaningful writing that Brene Brown might describe as ‘wholehearted’. We love a good book that touches our heart, makes us shed a tear or tingle with excitement. And we tend to get quickly bored by fiction that doesn’t engage us on an emotional level.<\/p>\n\n\nHeartfelt summer reading suggestions from therapists <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n Here are some books that some of my respected therapist colleagues have recommended this summer. Most of them use a therapy modality called AEDP as part of their work. This means that they each know – and deeply value – the sense of expansion and depth that can come with feeling able to freely move in and out of emotional states. And they tend to like fiction that reflects that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ‘I love a book called Patsy, written by Nicole Dennis-Benn about a Jamaican lesbian woman who emigrated to New York in the late nineties at the behest of her best girlhood friend whom she\u2019s in love with. She leaves her six year old daughter Tru who is struggling with being non binary in a very restrictive culture. Their parallel journeys are richly drawn. The writing is beautiful. Literally fiction at its finest!’ – Kate Marshall, Ph.D, Psychologist<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I want to read Motherless Brooklyn (by Jonathan Lethem) again. It was written 1999 and I read it back then, and I adored it. I believe I could love it even more with my AEDP eyes. It\u2019s a sweet and gritty story of an adult who grew up an orphan and quite feral. He manages on the fringes with Tourette\u2019s. It\u2019s about making families out of scraps of lost souls, resilience, love anyway, any how. I still love the main character so I want to hang out with him again 10 years later. Also, the author gives the most amazing inside out phenomenological description what it is like to live inside a tourettic mind. The narrative through self observation and reflection is so brilliant. It\u2019s also very funny but not at the expense of this guy\u2019s disorder.” – Carrie Ruggieri LMHC<\/em><\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I loved the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, beginning with My Brilliant Friend.” – Meira Cohen Hansford, LCSW<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock, by Imogen Hermes Gowar, is a novel that has really stuck with me this year. It’s historical fiction with a bit – just a bit! – of the supernatural. Beautifully written and quite a journey. Fantastic read!” – Robert Blondeau, MS, NCC, LPC<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I found Tara Westover\u2019s memoir, Educated, to be a profound and affecting read”. – Sam Clark<\/em><\/a> , UKCP psychotherapist <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman. There’s a lot of AEDP-ish stuff in that one!” – Debra Walker, LMFT<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Truth is a Theory, by Karyn Bristol MSW, LCSW<\/a>. Karyn explains, “This novel is a labor of love. I wrote it over 10 years, balancing a full time psychotherapist job and 3 kids while writing and editing before dawn and late into the night.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Just finished Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng. Recommend!” – Wendy Briggs LCSW, CYT<\/em><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n “I loved Love Medicine, by Louise Erdrich” – Anonymous therapist<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “I just read Swing Time by Zadie Smith. I loved the story\u2026 and the interweaving of cultural critique (embedded in the fiction) and how she conveyed lived experience of race (and class and first-worldness) and being racialized.” – Richard Harrison<\/a><\/em>, Ph.D., R.Psych.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “One of my friends just wrote an awesome novel, mentioned by the NYTimes\u00a0called Last Day. Her name is Domenica Ruta. Check it out.” – Jumana Grassi, LCSW, CASAC<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Wally Lamb is a wonderful author, especially right for the therapy-minded. “Sylvanus Now, by Donna Morrissey<\/strong>, is a fascinating book about life in the Newfoundland fishing industry in the 1950s, and the relationship between two people with very different emotional styles and very different emotional needs. It took me a bit to get into it, and then I was really hooked. Another book I just read and really liked: Queenie, by Candice Carty-Williams<\/strong>. It’s about a Black British woman whose conservative family is from Jamaica, and who finds her way through deep psychological distress. It touches on issues of trauma, friendship, racism, the objectification of Black women by white men, and it’s painful, funny, and very sharp.” – Liz Zoob<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Lost and Wanted, by Nell Freudenberger<\/strong>. The main protagonist is a white physicist at MIT whose oldest friend from Harvard is a black screenwriter. Amazing study of physics, friendship, parenting, etc. The Humans, by Matt Haig<\/strong> – alien comes to Earth and falls in love with what it means to be human. Tumbledown, by Robert Boswell<\/strong>: community of mentally ill people, who is and who isn\u2019t – great characters.” – Patricia A. Geller<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Last summer-fall, I read a string of absorbing, well-written, emotionally rich books that I loved. Here are my favourites from then: Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee; The Leavers by Lisa Ko; Educated, by Tara Westover; Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng; The Best We Could Do, by Thi Bui; Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng; On Such a Full Sea, by Chang Rae Lee; The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin; The Great Believers, by Rebecca Makkai; Cutting For Stone, by Abraham Verghese; A Place For Us, by Fatima Farheen Mirza<\/strong>.” – Mariam I. Habib, LCSW-R<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Freshwater, by Akwaeke Emezi<\/strong>–beautiful and wrenching, and The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer<\/strong> – for an easy read that is also well-written and thought-provoking” – Dr. Martina Verba<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n “Barkskins by Annie Proulx<\/strong>: settling of the North American continent, initially by the French in Quebec into modern times. Barkskins are loggers, usually Native Americans. Fascinating family dynamics of both indigenous peoples and whites over 300+ years, the logging industry extending globally and environmental issues. You may know Annie Proulx as the author of Shipping News. There There, by Tommy Orange<\/strong>: follows characters from Native communities in Oakland CA. A Long Long Way Home, by Sebastian Barry<\/strong>: The profound story of an Irish youth off to WWI as the move for Irish independence arises. This book touches the soul. One of my all time favorites… The Secret Scripture, by Sebastian Barry<\/strong>: A compassionate psychiatrist working with an old woman approaching 100 in an Irish mental hospital uncovers the story of her life set amidst Ireland besieged by conflict.” – Clarisse V. Lula MFT<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nPatsy Nicole Dennis-Benn<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Motherless Brooklyn Jonathan Lethem<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
My Brilliant Friend Elena Ferrante<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock Imogen Hermes Gowar<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Educated Tara Westover<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
A Man Called Ove Fredrik Backman<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The Truth is a Theory Karyn Bristol<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Little Fires Everywhere Celeste Ng<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Love Medicine Louise Erdrich<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Swing Time Zadie Smith<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Last Day Domenica Ruta<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
I Know This Much Is True Wally Lamb<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
His book “I Know This Much Is True” is one of my all-time favorites. \u00a0“She’s\u00a0
Come Undone” is also excellent.” – Andrea Chilton, MFT<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\nGreat heartfelt summer reading suggestions from therapists <\/a><\/span>Share on X<\/a><\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nMore heartfelt fiction recommended by therapists…<\/h2>\n\n\n\n