As a psychologist, I am very interested in what motivates people and how they think and feel. I enjoy novels that let me see inside a human experience different than my own, and I like a good story! These picks are novels that charmed and touched me, and gave me an inside look at how people live everyday when they are lost, anxious, or lonely and striving to make the most of life. Each book delves into a different kind of anxiety that lets us glimpse the extraordinary efforts people make to get by and each leaves the reader a bit awed, and certainly more compassionate.
I wrote
The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques: Understanding How Your Brain Makes You Anxious and What You Can Do to Change It
Who would believe a story about children who burst into flame? This charmingly told story is funny, moving, and satisfying. Lillian is an impoverished and directionless young woman who is called upon to help her (wealthy) only friend. Her friend needs help to cope with step-children who unexpectedly burst into flame, surviving their flames, but wreaking havoc around them. In this novel about emotion, Wilson writes with deep understanding of the messiness of anxiety and abandonment, creating characters who are doing the best they can in circumstances they didn't create but with unexpected love and transformation find the path out.
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…
Eleanor is a loner who longs to connect with a dream man but fears everyday connections. The people she works with and meets along the way are people we recognize, crisply defined, and living out their own quirks as they respond to Eleanor. This may be one of the best novels I have read for its loving portrayal of the day-to-day life of a traumatized woman who finds her way to healing, genuine friendship, and love.
"Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!" -Reese Witherspoon
No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of…
Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny takes on the question of how much should we hold on and how much can we let go when we love somebody? This unconventional family is trying to make a second marriage work while taking care of an autistic son and a still-present ex-wife. Heiny writes with wit as well as compassion about an ordinary couple trying to get it right.
'I have rarely seen modern marriage reproduced so faithfully in print. It's about love once the early romance has subsided. Hilarious' Jojo Moyes, Woman and Home
'Standard Deviation is a marvel' Kate Atkinson
'Addictive reading' Mail on Sunday
'A comic masterpiece' Observer
A divinely funny novel about the challenges of a good marriage, the delight and heartache of raising children, and the irresistible temptation to wonder about the path not taken.
Graham Cavanaugh's second wife, Audra, is everything his first wife was not. She considers herself privileged to live in the age of the hair towel, talks non-stop through her…
If you have read Backman’s A Man Called Ove, you know it will be worth it to stick with this! Through a series of conversations with the police, we come to understand what is prompting this odd collection of people, thrown together when taken hostage at an apartment real estate showing, to behave oddly when interviewed by the police. Backman’s grasp of human motivation is astonishing and his ability as a writer to reveal his characters’ inner lives held my interest hostage. He took his time with letting us see how each person came to be in the apartment and why it was so meaningful to each of them, offering some moving life stories and a few good laughs along the way.
The funny, touching and unpredictable No. 1 New York Times bestseller, now a major Netflix TV series
'A brilliant and comforting read' MATT HAIG 'Funny, compassionate and wise. An absolute joy' A.J. PEARCE 'A surefooted insight into the absurdity, beauty and ache of life' GUARDIAN 'I laughed, I sobbed, I recommended it to literally everyone I know' BUZZFEED 'Captures the messy essence of being human' WASHINGTON POST
From the 18 million copy internationally bestselling author of A Man Called Ove _______
It's New Year's Eve and House Tricks estate agents are hosting an open viewing in an up-market apartment when…
Emma, by Jane Austen, is the book for lovers of classic literature and I had to include it here because Austen seems to grasp human nature so intuitively. Emma tries to take charge of her own life and of others’ lives, with good-intended but misguided interference. The need for her efforts to control is revealed as she copes affectionately with her anxiety-ridden father and her sister, as well as her society’s mores about suitable mates, all of which are trying to keep her restrained. Emma’s joy and interest in life and, ultimately, her resilience, lead her to let go of control and accept love on its own terms.
'Her masterpiece, mixing the sparkle of her early books with a deep sensibility' Robert McCrum, Observer
Although described by Jane Austen as a character 'whom no one but myself will much like', the irrepressible Emma Woodhouse is one of her most beloved heroines. Clever, rich and beautiful, she sees no need for marriage, but loves interfering in the romantic lives of others, until her matchmaking plans unravel, with consequences that she never expected. Jane Austen's novel of youthful exuberance and gradual self-knowledge is a brilliant, sparkling comic masterpiece.
"This book offers the key to unlocking the complex biochemistry of your brain and reversing your anxiety-inducing habits. Dr. Wehrenberg has done the work for you to create the right learning environment and organize the needed tools. Follow her lead and your body and mind will thank you with the peace and quiet you deserve.” ―Reid Wilson, PhD, author of Don't Panic: Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks
"Ideal for the non-specialist general reader seeking to successfully deal with the enervating, disabling, devitalizing, injurious effects of untreated anxiety, The 10 Best-Ever Anxiety Management Techniques and its accompanying workbook are impressively 'user friendly' in organization and presentation, making it unreservedly recommended for personal self-help/self-improvement collections." ― The Midwest Book Review
From the time I was a girl, I’ve loved stories that put a lump in my throat even as I’m laughing. As a fiction writer, that funny-sad tone is the one I go for in my own work. I gravitate toward female protagonists of all ages who break the mold—women who are intelligent and strong but who also have unconventional, quirky personalities. Women who can be hilarious, infuriating, and heartbreaking—sometimes all at once. Because they are complex and unique, these women tend to struggle with life’s challenges more than their contemporaries. That’s what makes their stories so interesting, and why I have chosen the books on this list.
When Mar’s husband divorces her, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy starting over, she’s ready for new adventures—as long as she can keep things casual. Each month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical consultant. . . and a handsome novelist who wants more than she can give. Mar learns from each encounter. But can she open herself up to true connection?
Surrounded by quirky, endearing characters, Mar navigates her…
"A fun, entertaining novel! I can't imagine anyone who wouldn't enjoy this book as much as I did." -Leslie A. Rasmussen, award-winning author
When Mar Meyer's husband divorces her for another woman, she reacts by abandoning everything in her past: her home, her friends, even her name. Though it's not easy to start over, Mar is young-looking, fit, and ready for new adventures-as long as she can keep things casual.
With each passing month, Mar goes from one acquaintance to the next. Among them: a fellow gym member down on her luck, a flirty hip-hop instructor, a bossy but comical…
