Books for mid-life (crisis and not)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you for suggestions so far! Making a list for summer reading.

Also, in my googling on this I came across this website: http://booksastherapy.com

Added Ecco Homo by Nietzsche and A Scattering (poems) by Christopher Reid. Thought I'd share in case anyone else is using this thread as a resource.

Christopher Reid is a bit stiff, pompous and overly-academic. If you want to read good poems that will inspire you and kick your butt, let me know and I'll put a list of poets together for you.

List poetry suggestions or not, but you don't have to be rude about another suggestion. I read a lot of poetry and am always open to new suggestions. If I start reading something and it doesn't resonate, I put it down. I don't need to be warned off something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you for suggestions so far! Making a list for summer reading.

Also, in my googling on this I came across this website: http://booksastherapy.com

Added Ecco Homo by Nietzsche and A Scattering (poems) by Christopher Reid. Thought I'd share in case anyone else is using this thread as a resource.

Christopher Reid is a bit stiff, pompous and overly-academic. If you want to read good poems that will inspire you and kick your butt, let me know and I'll put a list of poets together for you.

List poetry suggestions or not, but you don't have to be rude about another suggestion. I read a lot of poetry and am always open to new suggestions. If I start reading something and it doesn't resonate, I put it down. I don't need to be warned off something.

What was rude?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you for suggestions so far! Making a list for summer reading.

Also, in my googling on this I came across this website: http://booksastherapy.com

Added Ecco Homo by Nietzsche and A Scattering (poems) by Christopher Reid. Thought I'd share in case anyone else is using this thread as a resource.

Christopher Reid is a bit stiff, pompous and overly-academic. If you want to read good poems that will inspire you and kick your butt, let me know and I'll put a list of poets together for you.

List poetry suggestions or not, but you don't have to be rude about another suggestion. I read a lot of poetry and am always open to new suggestions. If I start reading something and it doesn't resonate, I put it down. I don't need to be warned off something.

What was rude?

"If you want to read good poems" -- you are not the arbiter of what is good. Just recommend stuff you like. I'll decide what works for me.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, I read religious books when I went through this -- like books on Buddhism and Hinduism, to learn new perspectives on life. I found them incredibly helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you for suggestions so far! Making a list for summer reading.

Also, in my googling on this I came across this website: http://booksastherapy.com

Added Ecco Homo by Nietzsche and A Scattering (poems) by Christopher Reid. Thought I'd share in case anyone else is using this thread as a resource.

Christopher Reid is a bit stiff, pompous and overly-academic. If you want to read good poems that will inspire you and kick your butt, let me know and I'll put a list of poets together for you.

List poetry suggestions or not, but you don't have to be rude about another suggestion. I read a lot of poetry and am always open to new suggestions. If I start reading something and it doesn't resonate, I put it down. I don't need to be warned off something.

What was rude?

"If you want to read good poems" -- you are not the arbiter of what is good. Just recommend stuff you like. I'll decide what works for me.

That's not rude, but perhaps it was a bit arrogant of me to word it that way. I apologize. I have advanced degrees in Literature and my 5th poetry book is due to be published next year, so I assume I know more when perhaps I do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I read religious books when I went through this -- like books on Buddhism and Hinduism, to learn new perspectives on life. I found them incredibly helpful.

OP here, I'm definitely interested in this, have been looking for an accessible Buddhist text because I think it could be useful. Do you have any you recommend?

[Anonymous]

You gotta read the quixote. Edith grossman translation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I read religious books when I went through this -- like books on Buddhism and Hinduism, to learn new perspectives on life. I found them incredibly helpful.

OP here, I'm definitely interested in this, have been looking for an accessible Buddhist text because I think it could be useful. Do you have any you recommend?

Not PP, but I read "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron when I was 42 and feeling super stuck in life and making some changes. She also wrote one called "When Things Fall Apart". She is a Buddhist teacher/thinker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I read religious books when I went through this -- like books on Buddhism and Hinduism, to learn new perspectives on life. I found them incredibly helpful.

OP here, I'm definitely interested in this, have been looking for an accessible Buddhist text because I think it could be useful. Do you have any you recommend?

Not PP, but I read "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron when I was 42 and feeling super stuck in life and making some changes. She also wrote one called "When Things Fall Apart". She is a Buddhist teacher/thinker.

Any connection to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I read religious books when I went through this -- like books on Buddhism and Hinduism, to learn new perspectives on life. I found them incredibly helpful.

OP here, I'm definitely interested in this, have been looking for an accessible Buddhist text because I think it could be useful. Do you have any you recommend?

Not PP, but I read "The Places That Scare You" by Pema Chodron when I was 42 and feeling super stuck in life and making some changes. She also wrote one called "When Things Fall Apart". She is a Buddhist teacher/thinker.

Thank you, adding these.

[Anonymous]

From Strength to Strength. Or listen to the episode of Peter Attia’s podcast where the author is interviewed.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the previous poster's suggestion about book written by Anne Tyler.

A book I read a couple years ago was called "Calling Invisible Women". This woman slowly turns invisible and her family doesn't even notice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the previous poster's suggestion about book written by Anne Tyler.

A book I read a couple years ago was called "Calling Invisible Women". This woman slowly turns invisible and her family doesn't even notice.

OP here and this sounds right up my alley, sadly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler. Nearly all her books are about women who want to leave home / having a mid-life crisis. Some run away and go back, some stay away. They are fabulously written and often set in atmospheric places.

Yes, this one and also Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Actually, read all of her books.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Breathing Lessons - Anne Tyler. Nearly all her books are about women who want to leave home / having a mid-life crisis. Some run away and go back, some stay away. They are fabulously written and often set in atmospheric places.

Yes, this one and also Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Actually, read all of her books.

I am the PP you're quoting (also the one who got told off for my opinions being "rude" ) and I would say not ALL Anne Tyler's books are worth reading. Some of her very early work is a bit thin, but Ladder of Years and Breathing Lessons is where she really came into her own. More recently there's been some good ones - The Redhead at the Side of the Road and Searching for Caleb, but The French Braid was a dud.