The best books to break your reading lull

Amy B. Scher Author Of How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit
By Amy B. Scher

Who am I?

I’m the award-winning and bestselling author of four books about human-ing and healing. I’ve been featured in Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, GMA. CNN, CBS, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Rumpus, and more. My books have been translated into sixteen languages and endorsed by notable authors such as Elizabeth Gilbert; Vikas Swarup; and Sanjiv Chopra, MD, Harvard Medical School. As a writing mentor, I work closely with authors to help them get their own words into books. I live with my beautiful wife and bad cat in New York City, where we all spend most of our time planning our next meals and next adventures.

I wrote...

How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit

By Amy B. Scher,

Book cover of How to Heal Yourself When No One Else Can: A Total Self-Healing Approach for Mind, Body, and Spirit

What is my book about?

I wrote the bestselling How To Heal Yourself When No One Else Can series, which helps readers break through blocks to overcome depression, anxiety, and chronic illness. I also wrote This Is How I Save My Life, a memoir about my trip around the world to find a cure for chronic Lyme disease. Along the way, I discovered cultural mayhem, goats dressed in sweaters, and a surprise romance.

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The books I picked & why

Nothing to See Here

By Kevin Wilson,

Book cover of Nothing to See Here

Why did I love this book?

This book is near-perfect, probably in part because it’s surprisingly so. I didn’t intend to love this book. But with the insistence of a very discerning book nerd friend, I decided to at least try. This fun story follows two quirky kids who burst into flames when they get upset; and their newly appointed caretaker whose job becomes to contain them. Although naturally, it becomes about so much more. I loved it so much I’ve now become the one insisting everyone else pick it up, too. I haven’t had a disappointed reader yet. 

Nothing to See Here

By Kevin Wilson,

Why should I read it?

6 authors picked Nothing to See Here as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A New York Times Bestseller  •  A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, People, Entertainment Weekly, USA Today, TIME, The A.V. Club, Buzzfeed, and PopSugar

“I can’t believe how good this book is.... It’s wholly original. It’s also perfect.... Wilson writes with such a light touch.... The brilliance of the novel [is] that it distracts you with these weirdo characters and mesmerizing and funny sentences and then hits you in a way you didn’t see coming. You’re laughing so hard you…

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The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness

By Morgan Housel,

Book cover of The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness

Why did I love this book?

How a book about money is so interesting is beyond me (I assume it has something to do with the author truly understanding, ahem, psychology). But this one is getting rave reviews for good reason. It’s almost addictive to read. Using nineteen short stories, it explores how historical figures navigated wealth, shows you why it was either a winning or losing strategy, and helps you apply to see the relevance to your own financial situation. This book will suck you in and make you realize that a lot of your own financial decisions shouldn’t be made on paper-only. 

The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness

By Morgan Housel,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Psychology of Money as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Doing well with money isn't necessarily about what you know. It's about how you behave. And behavior is hard to teach, even to really smart people.

Money-investing, personal finance, and business decisions-is typically taught as a math-based field, where data and formulas tell us exactly what to do. But in the real world people don't make financial decisions on a spreadsheet. They make them at the dinner table, or in a meeting room, where personal history, your own unique view of the world, ego, pride, marketing, and odd incentives are scrambled together.

In The Psychology of Money, award-winning author Morgan…

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I'm Thinking of Ending Things

By Iain Reid,

Book cover of I'm Thinking of Ending Things

Why did I love this book?

A hit debut novel, I’m Thinking of Ending Things will have you questioning everything—both the relationship of the couple in the book and maybe your own. Narrated by Jake’s unnamed, new girlfriend, the story winds you through the gripping trip they take where she meets his parents. It’s not always a super-fast-paced thriller but it will keep you turning the pages because, for most people (who haven’t seen the movie), you won’t see what’s coming. I love a thriller you can read before bed without nightmares, but will still have you waking up and thinking about it. 

I'm Thinking of Ending Things

By Iain Reid,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked I'm Thinking of Ending Things as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NOW A NETFLIX ORIGINAL FILM DIRECTED BY CHARLIE KAUFMAN
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2016

“I’m Thinking of Ending Things is one of the best debut novels I’ve ever read. Iain Reid has crafted a tight, ferocious little book, with a persistent tenor of suspense that tightens and mounts toward its visionary, harrowing final pages” (Scott Heim, award-winning author of Mysterious Skin and We Disappear).

I’m thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays. It sticks. It lingers. It’s always there. Always.

Jake once said, “Sometimes a thought is closer to truth, to reality, than an…

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Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

By Mitch Albom,

Book cover of Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

Why did I love this book?

When Chika’s mother died, she was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Mitch Albom operates in Haiti. But at age 5, she was diagnosed with an incurable condition and brought by Mitch and his wife to Detroit for treatment. Looking back on Chika’s too-short life, and relaying conversations with her from both when she was living and after she passed, Mitch keeps Chika alive. Mitch’s ability to blend the real with the imagined is unique to his writing. This book will probably break you, but also help you transform your perspective about death into something far more hopeful.

Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family

By Mitch Albom,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Finding Chika as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

FROM THE MASTER STORYTELLER WHOSE BOOKS HAVE TOUCHED THE HEARTS OF OVER 40 MILLION READERS

'Mitch Albom sees the magical in the ordinary' Cecilia Ahern
__________

Chika Jeune came into Mitch Albom's life by chance. Growing up in the aftermath of the devastating 2010 Haiti Earthquake, at three years old she tragically lost her mother and was brought to the orphanage run by Mitch and his wife, Janine.

Chika made a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, she delighted those around her. But everything changed when Chika was diagnosed with a terminal disease that no doctor in Haiti could treat.

This…

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The Byline Bible: Get Published in Five Weeks

By Susan Shapiro,

Book cover of The Byline Bible: Get Published in Five Weeks

Why did I love this book?

For creatives, this book is the move. Many writers who find themselves in reading lulls, also find themselves in writing lulls. Over the last two decades, writing professor Susan Shapiro has taught more than 25,000 students of all ages and backgrounds at NYU, Columbia, Temple, The New School, and Harvard University. And now the content from her wildly popular course “Instant Gratification Takes Too Long” is in this book for everyone who wants to get published fast, and with all the best secrets of the trade.

Byline Bible is full of advice for writers on how to break into publishing, but also includes tons of essays and pieces published by Susan Shapiro’s students, which make for great reading in and of themselves. 

The Byline Bible: Get Published in Five Weeks

By Susan Shapiro,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Byline Bible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Newspaper, magazine, and web editors are desperate for new voices and anyone, in any field, can break in. So why not you?

Over the last two decades, writing professor Susan Shapiro has taught more than 25,000 students of all ages and backgrounds at NYU, Columbia, Temple, The New School, and Harvard University. Now in The Byline Bible she reveals the wildly popular "Instant Gratification Takes Too Long" technique she's perfected, sharing how to land impressive clips to start or re-launch your career.

In frank and funny prose, the bestselling author of 12 books walks you through every stage of crafting…

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5 book lists we think you will like!

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And, 3 books we think you will enjoy!

We think you will like Anxious People, Anne of Green Gables, and Daring Greatly if you like this list.

Book cover of Anxious People Book cover of Anne of Green Gables Book cover of Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead