The most recommended books about the soul

I love learning about flawed characters who must make hard choices, and this book dropped me immediately into the lives of several.

Braffet raises dark themes of guilt, sorrow, and the power of community shaming to a high art in this gripping suspense story. Here’s a worthy struggle, indeed: How to rebuild your life as an outcast when the destruction isn’t your fault and the burden shouldn’t be yours to bear. I found myself liking and caring about these very flawed characters in spite of the bad choices they make. The writing is thoughtful and nuanced until suddenly, it isn’t.

The ending is NOT predictable.

This is a fascinating, well-written book that was unlike anything I’ve read. Christians should read this book.

There were several times I felt convicted. A few times tears welled up in my eyes. And many times, I was nodding, saying yup, that’s a challenge for me as well. But I believe people who do not profess to be Christians will also find this book fascinating. It’s a supernatural journey.

For Christians, it should remind us of just how supernatural our God is and what He is capable of. It should be perceived as realistic, no matter how fantastic it is. For non-Christians, I believe it might spur some curiosity in you about God. But if not, I believe it will take you along for a thrilling ride just like it did me.

I found the book well written. The language is great. The pacing is great. The characters are well-rounded… show more.

This beautifully illustrated book gently teaches that an act of kindness is always returned ten-fold. While my youngest child may not understand the biggest lesson in this book until he reads it to his own children, he did understand that helping others is always a good deed, and that sometimes we have to delay fulfilling our own wants and put others before ourselves. I read this book to my children over and over again, not only because we loved knights and tales of medieval times, but because the book has so much heart and soul in it, that it begs to be taken off the shelf.

A book I’d wanted to read for a long time, but it wasn’t until later in life I was able to get it. When I was just on the early stages of my writing career, my now longtime friend, Marty, said he had a spare copy of Cabal laying around and offered to send it to me. Marty was my writing mentor at the time as he’d been writing horror for many years previous, and his work is inspiring. So, knowing I was getting a book in the mail from my mentor, to whom I hadn’t met in person yet, was very exciting. The book itself was a tired secondhand copy (which I was told it was) yet this gave it more special meaning. Even the cover was a little torn and it was a pocket edition. So, I sat back with this little book, which I still have as… show more.

I’ve been fascinated by poetry ever since I picked up this book for seven dollars at the second-hand bookstore near my university at the age of nineteen. Anne Sexton’s Selected Poems taught me how to write confessional poetry. They taught me how to write narrative poetry. They taught me to not be afraid to speak my truth, no matter how ugly.

I love how Anne Sexton writes about marriage, affairs, love, loss, family, and relationships with depth into herself and her psyche. Her poems in this collection encompass all her most remarkable work from her array of poetry books. Here you have all the classic poems as well as some obscure ones. Her famous, "Black Art" and the classic lines, "A woman who writes feels too much." As well, "For My Lover, Returning to His Wife," and the last two lines, "As for me, I am a watercolor. I wash… show more.

This is a work of fiction written by Jane Roberts, famous as the writer of the Seth books. Through the novel form, Roberts gets across a plausible way to look at life, the fluid nature of time and some possible meaning and purpose to be found in reincarnation. It’s also pretty entertaining. Yay novels! There are three books in the Oversoul series. This, the second, is my favorite. 

Skin of the Sea is a beautiful blend of West/Central African mythology and alternate history to give us an imaginative story featuring a mermaid protagonist. Simidele is a water spirit, Mami Wata, whose job is to gather the souls of [enslaved] people who die on the seas. This concept alone makes the book interesting, but it is also a fast-paced story that never ignores its most powerful aspect—the mythology and the fantastic ocean world. The story is lyrical and atmospheric, and takes you along for an unforgettable journey into the waters.

I remember finding this book so intriguing at the time. For a start, it's written by two authors, a mother and daughter team. Growing up I used to write with friends and family, each taking in turns to write a page and then passing it to the other for their turn. It was great fun, but ultimately ended in a mess as we were each fighting to take the story in the direction we wanted. So I enjoyed that the partnership in Marked worked.

The magic and ritual element also drew me in. As someone who dabbles in the spiritual, with card reading, candles, and the like, it was interesting to see how it could be brought into fiction in a different way while also introducing some Cherokee wisdom.

This is a chatty and intimate fly-on-the-wall book look at everyday things through the lens of aging and mortality.

Nora Ephron makes the bittersweet mix of chattiness and philosophy seem so easy. The engrossing, snippet-write-ups of her friends, family, and career in New York give you a vivid snapshot into her heart and soul.

I recently discovered Kim Addonizio and wanted to include her to share with you a modern poet I am recently obsessed with. I am also reading her book of memoirs at the moment and I am loving her raw style. I was going to put Bukowski in my five picks but I wanted to make it about women. Hench here is a modern poet who comes close to that raw and in-your-face poetry. Confessional poetry, like Plath and Sexton’s, has been my favorite genre, but Addonizio gives it a raw twist with a shot of vodka. I love how Addonizio’s poems slap you in the face with truth. Her poems teach me how to be comfortable sharing my own stories with strangers. Her poems teach me it’s okay to lie about it too. A place where reality and fantasy merge. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to… show more.