What We are Reading
What the Dog Saw: and other adventures
Malcolm Gladwell
This book is an anthology of some of Gladwell's best pieces of work from The New Yorker, pre 2009. If you have never read any of Gladwell's work, these essays are a great introduction into his mind. Gladwell is a master at connecting ideas which seem to have nothing in common on the surface, adding a human element and making the story come to life. With his own brand of social psychology, Gladwell joins the dots between ideas and tells the truth in a way only he can.
The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma
Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D.
In this seminal work by a pioneer in the world of trauma treatment and research, we learn how to go beyond the traditional medical model and understand how our body can hold trauma, different ways we can experience trauma from early childhood into adulthood, the neuroscience behind trauma, and how we can begin to heal the brain and take control of the body through traditional therapy, neurofeedback, EMDR, Yoga, and more.
Hold Me Tight: Seven conversations for a lifetime of love
Dr. Sue Johnson
Dr. Johnson takes her Emotionally Focused Couple's therapy and breaks it down into seven conversations we can have with our partner to reconnect, rediscover, and strengthen the emotional bond to ensure a lifelong connection. Whether you are a new couple, have been together 5, 10, or 40 years, this book is for every couple at any stage of their relationship.
No Bad Parts: Healing trauma & restoring wellness with the Internal Family Systems model
Richard C. Schwartz, PhD
In this book, Schwartz, the creator of Internal Family Systems (IFS), teaches us how to start to understand our parts - those pieces of us that show up who we may find helpful or disruptive in our life, and teaches us to start to get to know them, their role within our system, and understand they are all trying to protect us, even the parts we may dislike the most. This book helps us see there are no bad parts, they all serve a purpose for us.
My Canadian Hockey Journey: Tales from a career house leaguer & retired hockey dad
Ken Doran
In his inaugural novel, Ken Doran takes us on a journey through his years experiencing Canadian house league hockey - as a player and hockey dad.
For any of us who experienced hockey in Canada - as a player, a parent, a sibling, as a fan, Doran's story helps us remember our own coaches, over-involved parents, the freezing arenas, the highs and the lows of house league and rep hockey.
Attached. The new science of adult attachment and how it can help you find - and keep - love.
Amil Levine, M.D. and Rachel S.F. Heller, MA
Attachment styles were once thought to only be considerations for children. We now know attachment impacts us into our adult relationships. In their book, Levine and Heller guide readers to explore their own attachment style (anxious, avoidant or secure), their partner's, and offer a map to build stronger more fulfilling connections.
Greenlights
Matthew McConaughey
Matthew sits down with the diaries he has kept for thirty-five years and shares things he saw, felt, explored, things he fell down on and when he picked himself up. Matthew helps readers learn how to deal with life's challenges and enjoy a life of satisfaction and success through what he calls "catching greenlights", and to learn the yellow and red lights eventually turn green.
tiny beautiful things: advice from sugar
Cheryl Strayed
For over a decade Cheryl Strayed wrote under the pseudonym Dear Sugar. This humorous, compassionate, insightful book is a collection of the best of Dear Sugar in one volume, and includes new columns.
YOU are a Badass: How to stop doubting your greatness and start living an awesome life
Jenn Sincero
Jen Sincero's how-to guide consists of easy exercises, some advice, hilarious stories, and maybe some curse words in 27 easy-to-read chapters with the goal of helping you understand why you are the way you are, how to love the things you can't change, how to change the things you don't love, and how to lean into The Force to take control.
Singing in My Sleep
Thomas Wade
Thomas Wade was the lead singer of the chart topping 90's Canadian Band, Thomas Wade and Wayward, when he suddenly lost his voice and ability to sing. This is the story of how Thomas took control of his diagnosis by using common sense, creativity and the idea of neuroplasticity so he could rewire his brain to talk and sing again.
Come Together: The science (and art!) of creating lasting sexual connections
Emily Nagoski, PhD
Emily takes on sex in long-term relationships. She dispels myths about maintaining sex in our relationships, and she helps us learn how to like the sex we are having by breaking down barriers getting in the way of this. Great sex in a long-term relationship is possible, Emily helps us learn to create it, and how to work through struggles when they arise.
It's Not You: Identifying and healing from narcissistic people
Ramani Durvasula, PhD
With the term "narcissist" in the zeitgeist these days, Dr. Durvasula uses her vast experience and research working with people with narcissism and survivors of narcissistic relationships to help us identify the tell-all behaviours which indicate someone may be a narcissist, how to become more resistant to gaslighting, break down the trauma bonds, set realistic and healthy boundaries, and recover your sense of identity after a narcissistic relationship.
