Looking for a summer read? We asked our Menders for book recommendations…fiction or non-fiction, recent read or all-time fave.
Melissa Ames, Front Desk Administrator
The Art of Happiness by 14th Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler
Simple read but very enlightening! Can pick up and put down (beach read).
Jan Bull, Acupuncturist
Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes
This is the woman’s journey! Every young woman, and really man too, should read before they embark in relationship. Women, to be aware of how to tend that wild nature within that must be expressed. And men, to understand and permit the expression of that wild woman. 🙂
Acupuncture for Insomnia by Montakab
Because folks can’t sleep! Plus he has stuff for shift workers and jet lag.
Advanced Acupuncture by Ann Cecil Sterman
Because she is a mine of information about Luo, eight extraordinary and divergent channels. (sorry—-I’m probably a Chinese Medicine geek forever)
Brian Dougherty, Acupuncturist
40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
Life-changing perspective about self-transformation and the boundlessness of love.
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
An adventure of self-transformation is on our doorstep.
Dune by Frank Herbert
The best-selling sci-fi book of all time. An engrossing tale of politics, economics, religion and intrigue in the distant future.
Katie Chen, Front Desk Administrator
The Compassionate Connection: The Healing Power of Empathy and Mindful Listening by David Rakel
This was an optional book for class, and admittedly, I still have not finished the entire thing, but the sections that I have read are amazing, and the message so important for the here and now.
All the Light We Cannot See: A Novel by Anthony Doerr
This book is everything.
Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words by David Whyte
Every time I think I’m graduating from this book, another trying time will pull me back to these words of comfort and resonance. I go to it for reassurance, insight, and for those moments when nothing else seems to help.
Kara Giofriddo, Front Desk Administrator
Here is Where We Meet by John Berger
John Berger is one of my favorites – he has a graceful way of writing about the aesthetic and spiritual dimensions of life with great tenderness, and yet it is not too sentimental. This is a beautiful book to read in summer as we explore the nature of connection and time – it’s a collection of vignettes in which Berger travels to different cities/locations and narrates his encounters with the ghosts of loved ones from his life.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders
I read this a couple of years ago and was very taken by it. It is both a Civil War-era historical fiction and a broad, generous perspective on personality, the process of self-realization, and soul-level work. The way that the language transports you to another time and consciousness is incredible!
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
I love this book and Annie Dillard’s other nonfiction, especially in the summer and when traveling inwardly or outwardly. She writes ecstatically about nature, the nature of being, life, and death. It is also sort of a wild instruction manual for examining our perceptions and cultivating awareness.
Nikki Hatch, Acupuncturist
The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother by Amely Greeven, Heng Ou, and Marisa Belger
Author Heng Ou channeled her own experience with “zoo yuezi,” a set period of postpartum for the first 40 days after giving birth. Full of rich tips and tricks to apply readily apply East Asian medicine in the modern world, chalk full of simple and delicious recipes from healing soups; replenishing meals and snacks; and calming and lactation-boosting teas, all formulated to support the unique needs of the new mother (and to feed hungry partners, too).
Spiritual Midwifery by Ina May Gaskin
Ina Gaskin is considered the “mother” of midwifery in the United States, and offers a compilation of powerful birth stories and information on prenatal, postpartum, and midwifery care.
Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie offers her response to a letter recieved from a dear childhood asking her how to raise her baby girl as a feminist. I love how compelling, inspiring, direct & wryly funny her response is for how to empower a daughter to become a strong, independent human
Kim Hennessee, Clinical Director
A New Earth by Eckhardt Tolle
A guide to awakening to new states of consciousness. I enjoy re-reading this dense but soul satisfying book every few years, there’s always something new to learn with each read.
I love books about food and the people who cook food. This is a delightful, conversational read and is a beautifully illustrated book about mastering the basics of cooking.
“Moving from her own acupuncture clinic and treating for over 25 years Jill Blakeway moves from her own clinic to the halls of academia, she talks to top healers, researchers, and practitioners—from the Stanford and Princeton professors researching the physics behind energy medicine and healing; to a Chinese Qi Gong master who manifests healing herbs directly from her palm; to a team of skeptical scientists who use “hands on” healing to repeatedly cure mammary cancer in mice.”
Barbara Kandel, Acupuncturist
My Own Words by Ruth Bader Ginsberg
I see her as a true pioneer of women’s rights. Her story is fascinating in helping change the way we think. She stood her ground and proved that with a lot of hard work and enthusiasm for justice we can all make the world a better place.
Jaime Kauffman, Director of Client Experience & Outreach
Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Eliabeth Lesser
Written by the co-founder of the Omega Institute, this is an enjoyable, beautifully written and powerful book about not only overcoming adversity, but growing and learning from it.
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
An engrossing tale of 90’s suburbia, secrets and….arson?! It has a similar sensibility to “The Virgin Suicides” – light, airy, intertwined with the complexities of childhood. I listened to the last half of it via audiobook during nature walks and found that super enjoyable.
Dr. Dexter Kendrick, Acupuncturist
Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
A spin on the classic tale of Oz, and how power can corrupt even the most innocent.
Making Babies by Sami David
An applicable 3 month primer on how couples can increase their chances of success with conceiving and carrying to term naturally.
Alexandra McElwee, Acupuncturist
A short pocket book sized book that is a talk that he gave to prisoners at the Maryland Correctional Institute at Hagerstown in 1999. This one never fails to give me perspective and make me feel unlimited and present.
Sarah O’Leary, Owner and Acupuncturist
Think Big, Act Small by Jason Jennings
I love to study companies that get it right. Particularly ones with healthy growth and healthy cultures. It turns out that the best long-term performers all combine the strengths of a big organization with the hunger of a startup. They insist on good relationships with their customers and workers. They groom future leaders at all levels. They balance their short term goals with their long term visions. And their managers to get their hands dirty. Good read for anyone looking to start a business or grow what they have organically.
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
I love Pollan’s conversational writing style and his curiosity for a “potential antidote to our often stubbornly narrow minds”. While my responsibilities don’t allow me to go on such trips at present, it’s fascinating to read his detailed accounts and learn from his thoughtful research.”
Clare Nicholls, Office Manager
The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin
Starting with “A Wizard of Earthsea,” these are fantasy novels that trick the reader into thinking that they’re going to be fun, light reads because they’re YA lit. It’s true that each novel is short, but Le Guin’s poetic use of language bewitches us with these stories of how we love ourselves, each other, and the world around us. I read these every summer.
Dream Work by Mary Oliver
Mary Oliver takes regular old words that you and I use every day like normal people and somehow puts them together to create images and observations that hit like lightning. This collection contains her best known poem, “Wild Geese.”
Amanda Schulz, Billing Director
Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body, and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici
A fascinating exploration of the way the European transition from feudalism to capitalism changed the way women were allowed ownership over their bodies, this book gave me a deeper understanding of the current struggle for reproductive freedom.
Mary Shock, Front Desk Administrator
Parable of the Sower / Parable of the Talents by Octavia E. Butler
This dystopian series is powerful and poignant in our current world. Butler’s work makes me examine my own belief system and relationship with community.
Oryx and Crake / Year of the Flood / MaddAddam (Trilogy) by Margaret Atwood
I love to read sci fi in the summer. It’s so exciting to get immersed in another world. I love this trilogy as a whole but the first book “Oryx and Crake” is my least favorite of the three. So if you’re reading “Oryx and Crake” and you’re not loving it, stick it out anyway because the sequels are expansive and wild.
Ida Zakin, Patient Care Coordinator
To Bee or Not to Bee: A Book for Beeings Who Feel There’s More to Life Than Just Making Honey by John Penberthy
It’s a message that we CAN stretch beyond the limits of the hive’s expectations and live life to the fullest.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach and Russell Munson
This is the story for people who follow their hearts and make their own rules, who get special pleasure out of doing something well, even if only for themselves, who know there’s more to this living than meets the eye.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Nothing like getting wrapped up in an 18th century love story where the walls that divide social classes cannot withstand the power of the heart.
Sarah Zanolini, Acupuncturist
Worlds of Exile and Illusion by Ursula Le Guin
I’m a big fan of Le Guin’s poetic prose, and anthropology-informed plot lines. The three novels in this series eventually interconnect, but they’re also very bingeable solo.
Zhuangzi by Translated by Burton Watson
My all-time favorite work of Chinese philosophy, because it’s really a collection of fun stories meant to destabilize normative ways of viewing the world and our place and functions in it.
