I am a clinical social worker and writer of 13 books and more than 40 poems and essays in national magazines and journals. For 20 years, I counseled survivors of violent crimes in individual and group treatment at the Crime Victims Treatment Center in New York. My book recommendations are eclectic, maybe odd, but I read widely for diversion. I set my kitchen timer and try to read every day for at least half an hour. As I age, I read to be soothed, educated, involved, entertained. I no longer finish books that are boring. I used to… but those days are over!
I wrote
Older, Wiser, Shorter: The Truth and Humor of Life After 65
My Mother did not graduate high school. She lived on a farm in Poughkeepsie, the third oldest of nine children, and went to work. She was a smart woman who grew up to be a court reporter. I remember nighttime, when the house was quiet and dark, she would be at the kitchen table reading the dictionary with a flashlight. Self-taught, she loved words and passed that on to me. “Janie,” she’d say when I asked the definition of a word, “Look it up!” She’s been dead for years, but her memory lives on every time I grab the dictionary.
A revised and updated edition of the best-selling dictionary covering core vocabulary with over a hundred new entries and senses.
More than 75,000 definitions and 8,000 usage examples aid understanding―and cover the words you need today
Includes pronunciations, word origins, and synonym lists
Features useful tables and special sections on Foreign Words & Phrases and Geographical Names
New words include: athleisure, coronavirus, escape room, First Gentleman, herd immunity, hygge, on-brand, outro, patient zero, petrichor, PPE, telehealth, unmute, UX, and YouTuber.
I’m so not a country gal! No to ‘roughing it’. No to the scenic hikes and the bugs that got under my socks and inside my shirt! And the bear I thought I saw crossing the road ahead of me and my friend. So to love Mary Oliver’s poetry of nature came as a great surprise.
Her observational poems bring me to another space. One where there is a curiosity about things I might take for granted: bogs, streams, mushrooms, owls. Her poems bring calm and are soothing when you’re having a painful knee. Mary Oliver almost makes me want to go on a long walk. Well almost!
Mary Oliver was awarded the National Book Award for New and Selected Poems, Volume One. Since its initial appearance it has become one of the best-selling volumes of poetry in the country. This collection features thirty poems published only in this volume as well as selections from the poet's first eight books.
Mary Oliver's perceptive, brilliantly crafted poems about the natural landscape and the fundamental questions of life and death have won high praise from critics and readers alike. "Do you love this world?" she interrupts a poem about peonies to ask the reader. "Do you cherish your humble and…
Many people from all walks of life, even after many accomplishments and experiences, are often plagued by dissatisfaction, pervasive longing, and deep questioning. These feelings may make them wonder if they are living the life they were meant to lead.
Living on Purpose is the guidebook these people have been…
When I’m feeling stuck, I pick up this children’s book of rhyming, lyrical delight. Easy sentences I read out loud that encourage decision-making.
The story validates my choices, promoting an expansion of ideas and affirming growth. I am also touched by the gentle words after a fall-down. The story acknowledges that life has difficult moments and cheers you to go forward. A kind, welcoming book that says, “You can do anything!” Is that cool or what?
I loved this book because I’m in love with the central character, the very distinguished Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Surete’ du Quebec, who works and plays well with his investigative team. He lives in the fictional community/neighborhood of Three Pines, and I wondered for a while if there were any homes for sale. He is smart, kind, thoughtful, and very married—to a woman who is a retired art librarian and could be my friend. As a solo ager, I can dream, can’t I?
Book 18 in the acclaimed and number one-bestselling Three Pines series featuring the beloved Chief Inspector Armand Gamache.
It's spring and Three Pines is re-emerging after the harsh winter. But not everything buried should come alive again. Not everything lying dormant should return.
But something has.
As the villagers prepare for a special celebration, Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir find themselves increasingly worried. A young man and woman have reappeared in the Surete du Quebec investigators' lives after many years. The two were young children when their troubled mother was murdered, leaving them damaged, shattered. Now they've arrived in the…
LeeAnn Pickrell’s love affair with punctuation began in a tenth-grade English class.
Punctuated is a playful book of punctuation poems inspired by her years as an editor. Frustrated by the misuse of the semicolon, she wrote a poem to illustrate its correct use. From there she realized the other marks…
I’m recommending this book because I laughed a lot, cried some, underlined, stopped mid-page to think about what I was reading, and hated when it ended. There is one idea per page, easy to read, put down, and go on with your life and come back hours or days later.
I collect quotes, and there were many to savor: “Vulnerability is strength.” “Ask yourself: What is the best I can do? And then do it.” I feel more authentic, compassionate, and courageous after reading this book—and reading it again!
NATIONAL BEST SELLER • A collection of quotes from the internationally acclaimed author of Wild—drawn from the wide range of her writings—that capture her wisdom, courage, and outspoken humor, presented in a gift-sized package that's as irresistible to give as it is to receive.
"Cheryl Strayed is a tough-love truth-teller.... Brave Enough amount[s] to a galvanizing call to be bigger, bolder, more generous.” —The Washington Post
Around the world, thousands of people have found inspiration in the words of Cheryl Strayed, who in her three prior books and in her "Dear Sugar" columns has shared the twists and trials of…
I am a psychotherapist and writer, and I authentically poem my way through the matters we don’t talk about when we talk about aging. My book is a poetry collection of emotion.
I describe memory loss, sleeplessness, meditation, falls, gratitude, vacations, varicose veins, riding a bike, tap dancing, friendships, illness, death, the kazoo, buying my last bed, dating, being alone, and writing my eulogy, among other topics. The VOWS I have created at the end of each chapter are the commitments I uphold for change. We witness what it’s like to age with tears, great good humor, ideas for resilience, and a determination to live a full, rich, older life.
LeeAnn Pickrell’s love affair with punctuation began in a tenth-grade English class.
Punctuated is a playful book of punctuation poems inspired by her years as an editor. Frustrated by the misuse of the semicolon, she wrote a poem to illustrate its correct use. From there she realized the other marks…
Gifts from a Challenging Childhood
by
Jan Bergstrom,
Learn to understand and work with your childhood wounds. Do you feel like old wounds or trauma from your childhood keep showing up today? Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed with what to do about it and where to start? If so, this book will help you travel down a path…
