100 Books Like Fludd

A daring satire on race, politics, and cultural identity in America that somehow manages to be both outrageous and deeply sobering.

Beatty’s voice is like Richard Pryor meets Zora Neale Hurston—sharp, fearless, acerbic, wickedly funny, and incredibly smart.

Notably, although Beatty is an American writer, his book was published in the UK (likely because America prefers to live in denial about race) and went on to win the Booker Prize in 2016.

While I had seen the film adaptation with Meryl Streep and Shirley MacClaine in my teens, I only came to read Carrie Fisher’s extremely funny autobiographical book at the recommendation of the writer Lou Sarabadzic, who rightly thought I’d be amused that the rehab clinic inhabitants are not so focused on not doing drugs as they are on doing not drugs.

Carrie and her friends spend thirty days talking and thinking of such things as quitting, stopping, committing to not doing drugs, not playing an instrument, giving it up, and ‘using up all the Not Cry.’ The whole thing made me re-think how human agency, willpower, and control work.

This is a masterclass in satirical writing but also just in novel writing. Coe manages to combine a gripping narrative and murder mystery with a scathing indictment of Great Britain in the 80s, when venal wealth was king and the country lost its soul. This was one of those books where I felt like I learned so much, about British culture, politics, corruption, and a 1961 comedy horror movie that shares its name with the book title, but I didn’t notice it because I was having such a good time. There are so many layers to the plot – and inventive dimensions to the way the story is told - and it’s one of my favorite books of all time.  

I was able to be on a couple of panels with Mr. Greer where he discussed this novel and its sequel, Less is Lost. The first book, Less, is a queer novel that won the Pulitzer Prize, a well-deserved accolade for this story about second chances in life—or third or fourth chances, depending upon the situation.

It’s remarkable to see a novel like this win such a major literary prize. Mr. Greer deserves it for his dynamic work.

When the book was written very few past books were available so this was the first book on the subject that I read and it took me on a path from being a traditional psychotherapist to being trained by Roger.

He pioneered body therapy for clearing traumatic past lives and through his work I was inspired to become a past life regression therapist, author, and eventually a trainer in this area myself. 

Roger had the gift of communication through his talks and books that has touched so many people over the years. This book is still as relevant and inspirational today as it was when I first read it.

This may be my favourite book ever, apart from I Am Lilith. It shares lucid past life memories of the author in very ancient Egypt, as well as her experiences living through World War II in Eastern Europe, revealing purposeful links between souls incarnated in both lives. The spiritual knowledge is astounding, and the depth seems endless. I’ve read it multiple times and often randomly read a few pages, each time seeing something new. It’s very evocative, with fascinating descriptions of life and spiritual practices in very ancient Egypt while highly evolved beings were still active. It explains how the pyramids were made, and that a long era of separation and dense consciousness was due before a return to unity again would rise. It also explains the truth of passionate human love and sexual connection, through spiritual yet also very human eyes. It’s a mighty tome to take on,… show more.

I love this book for its Matroyska doll-style structure: The first five sections tell stories in different periods— from the mid-19th century to the 22nd—loosely connected by repeating characters and media, each ending abruptly and without resolution. The sixth section, set in the 24th century, is the spine of the novel, told in its entirety. Then Mitchell revisits the time periods in reverse chronological order, resolving each story, ending where we began in the mid-19th century.

It was a highly satisfying experience that changed my view of how a story could be told. It is widely considered one of the finest novels of the 21st century. It covers ideas I would normally balk at, like reincarnation and the existence of eternal consciousness. Still, the storytelling is so powerful that it all came across as believable to me. I loved the way Mitchell demonstrated how an idea in one time period… show more.

This is another tale that starts with a fortune-teller—but this time it’s teenage Jo who gets her future told. The clairvoyant tells her that there is only one true love for her—but the last time Jo saw him was in a past life! Now she needs to find him in this life. Jo doesn’t believe a word of this, but events start to unsettle her. Could reincarnation possibly be true? But what if she can’t recognize her soul-mate when she finds him again in this life? I love the suspense elements in this book as well as the romance.

What is most extraordinary about this book is Dr. Weiss’s description of how past life regression can heal the traumas that we face in our present lives. The search and process of reviewing a past life can uncover ways to deal with present-day problems that can be resolved in real-time. Understanding dynamics in a past life can have practical implications for dealing with present-day problems, a wonderfully real, practical solution to the therapeutic healing process.  

I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet personally with Dr. Brian Weiss at a training seminar at the Omni Center several years ago. The therapeutic advice and past-life regressions that I observed convinced me that my own personal experience as a teenager was real and worthy of narrative. The result was a storyline for my present book. Working with Dr. Weiss at this seminar was transformational in terms of my own research and work as… show more.