Come As You Are Emily Nagoski

This book has an amazing metaphor for how we learn about ourselves, specifically in terms of sexuality though I find it relevant for coping strategies and self regard. Exploring women’s sexuality, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is a woman, loves women, knows women, or has ever met a woman.

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Come-As-You-Are-Revised-and-Updated/Emily-Nagoski/9781982165314

How to Keep House While Drowning K. C. Davis

K. C. Davis utilizes a solution focused strengths based perspective on how to address practical issues that is deeply liberating. Her work encourages folks to give themselves permission to figure out what works for them, while giving grace around how unbelievably difficult life can be. Especially when one has neurospiciness. Her website is a delight, as are her socials and her second book about boundaries

https://www.strugglecare.com/books

Pleasure Activism adrienne mares brown

This book has deeply influenced my practice. adrienne maree brown gathered essays she published on bitchmedia, interviews, insights from others, impactful known works - to create a book of deep knowledge and exploration of pleasure, joy, and the importance of delight while doing the work of community building. [also, her IG is fire]

https://adriennemareebrown.net/book/pleasure-activism/

Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents Lindsey C Gibson

This hits. It can be helpful to see how the humanness of our caretakers when we were children impact us, and how we can navigate those relationships to continue/start the arc of healthier generational relationships.

https://www.newharbinger.com/9781626251700/adult-children-of-emotionally-immature-parents/

A Natural History of the Senses Diane Ackerman

Diane Ackerman is a delight. This book explores our 5 senses, and is a helpful exploration of ways to ground through the here and now.

https://www.dianeackerman.com/a-natural-history-of-the-senses

Care Work: Dreaming Disability Justice Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

A strengths based look at what it means to be disabled, what it means to need/provide care with disability, and how mutual aide can/does work.

https://arsenalpulp.com/Books/C/Care-Work

Why Does He Do That? Lundy Bancroft

An in-depth look into how and why abuse happens. Very gendered, though the information/concepts is applicable in abusive relationships, regardless of genders or orientations. Extremely useful to mitigate the sense of isolation/feeling insane.

https://lundybancroft.com/books/

Unbroken: The Trauma Response is Never Wrong by MaryCatherine McDonald

I listened to this book (read by the author) and the tone/nuance was easier to understand for me than the text. The way she describes trauma responses and the best way to work with them resonates deeply with me and how I practice.

https://academic.macmillan.com/academictrade/9781683648840/unbrokenthetraumaresponseisneverwrong/

Unmasking Autism Devon Price

Devon Price explodes the confinement of stigma around neurodiversity in this book, and I love it. They also wrote Laziness Does Not Exist. Looking at neurodiversity as a reality and as a tool rather than a weapon is refreshing, deeply needed, and hopefully where the treatment of mental health and diversity is headed.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/688819/unmasking-autism-by-devon-price-phd/

My Stroke of Insight Jill Bolte Taylor

This is one of the coolest, most fascinating books I’ve read. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a brain scientist who experiences, survived, and recovered from a massive stroke - and then wrote this book about it. A fascinating look into how our brains function.

https://drjilltaylor.com/my-stroke-of-insight/