Good books to read

BonnieR · 09-02-2007, 10:37 AM

Val, I am reading a book that may fit the bill. "The Journey Through Cancer" by Dr. Jeremy Geffen. It offers a seven-level program "for healing and transforming the whole person". It is certainly not a light "beach book" (lol) but it is very sensitive and spiritual. As well as practical. I am getting great comfort from it. And it is making me introspective.
Also, I do recommend "Eat, Pray, Love" which I mentioned earlier in this thread.

Andrea Barnett Budin · 09-02-2007, 11:43 AM

I am never without a book or two. And I seem to have the need to underline and put stars and arrows beside especially poignant phrases and concepts. My husband says I can't read without a pen in my hand. (I used to think it was sacrilegious to write in a book, but now I see I simply must!)

A great biography was Love Is Eternal about Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd and the pivotal time in America's history, emancipating slaves and the differing views of families that lived in the South vs. the North. I found it riveting. Irving Stone is the author.

As for spiritual inspirational books about life and the discovery of Self -- this is my bailiwick! I devour them word by word. Any of Wayne Dyer's book will do. My favorites are The Sacred Self, You'll See It When You Believe It, Manifest Your Destiny.

Also in that vein, Gary Zucav's The Seat Of The Soul was life-altering.
The Power Of Now was a tough read but worth it, by the brilliant Eckhardt Tolle. The Four Agreements was good and I must say I enjoyed James Redfield's Celestine Prophecy, The Tenth Insight and The Secret of Shambala. Good stories with truths about our personal empowerment woven in. They are parables that resonant deeply.

The Power Of Your Subconscious Mind (Joseph Murphy) was interesting.

Happy reading...
Andi

Andrea Barnett Budin · 09-02-2007, 11:52 AM

Oh, I forgot. The Power Of Myth, Joseph Campbell. So intriguing. Makes you see the world differently.

ANDI

harrie · 09-02-2007, 07:28 PM

It's Not About the Bike
My Journey Back to Life
by Lance Armstrong

Grace and Grit by Ken Wilber

kcherub · 09-03-2007, 06:36 PM

Okay, I sheepishly admit that I haven't read everyone's posts on the book suggestions, but I just read a great book Water For Elephants. I have loaned it out, and of course can't remember the author!

Take care,

fauxgypsy · 09-04-2007, 02:10 PM

I haven't read this but I plan to. Even the title makes me laugh.

DON'T LOOK BACK
WE'RE NOT GOING THAT WAY!
…OR How I Survived a Rocky Childhood, Fat, a Nervous Breakdown, Breast Cancer, Widowhood, Fire, Menopausal Single Motherhood and Still Manage to count My Lucky Chickens!

http://marciawallace.com/

Patricia · 09-04-2007, 09:35 PM

Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen. Gave me peace and the ability to breath when I was 1st dx. I consumed it like a snack each day and was very sad when I was done.

Currently reading Tough Choices by Carly Fiorina

BonnieR · 09-04-2007, 10:19 PM

Patricia, what is Kitchen Table Wisdom about? You make it sound intriging....I guess i could Google it. But I had chemo today and feel like a slug. Tomorrow I will be wired though, so maybe can research it then....

Patricia · 09-04-2007, 10:49 PM

Hi Bonnie,

Kitchen Table Wisdom is a compilation of healing stories, told by the author who is a Dr. who has suffered from Crohn's Disease for 40 years and changed her path mid-career from practicing internal medicine to practicing psychology for patients with life threatening illnesses (including cancer) as well as with Physicians. The stories she tells are her own and her patient's including those that were ill and the physicians she also treated. This book touched me in a way no book has done in many years. I have since shared it with everyone that I know who has been dx with cancer as well as my own surgeon. I highly recommend it. I hope your chemo went well today and that you have a healing week.

Hugs,
Patricia

Here is the statement on the back of the book:

"Despite the awesome powers of technology, many of us still do not live very well, " says Dr. Rachel Remen. We may need to listen to one another's stories again." Dr. Remen, whose unique perspective on healing comes from her background as a physician, a professor of medicine, a therapist, and a long-term survivor of chronic illness, invites us to listen from the soul. This remarkable collection of true stories draws on the concept of "kitchen table wisdom" - the human tradition of shared experience that shows us life in all its power and mystery and reminds us that the things we cannot measure may be the things that ultimately sustain and enrich our lives. Kitchen Table Wisdom addreses all the spiritual issues; suffering, meaning, love, faith and miracles in the languuage of absolute authority of our own life experience.

Rachel Naomi Remen, MD., is one of the earliest pioneers in the mind/body health field, and was one of the first to develop a psychological approach to people with life threatening illnesses and educate their physcians about hteir needs. She is cofounder and medical director of the Commonweal Cancer Help Progrram, which was featured on Bill Moyer's PBS special Healing and the Mind, and is a Clinical Professor at teh University of California San Francisco School of Medicine.