100 books like Dream Tending

By Stephen Aizenstat,

Here are 100 books that Dream Tending fans have personally recommended if you like Dream Tending. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Trauma and Dreams

Linda Yael Schiller Author Of PTSDreams: Transform Your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork

From my list on understanding your nightmares and dreams.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always been fascinated by non-linear ways of knowing. I moved to Boston in the ’80s and became a part of a dance community, and a friend invited me to join a dream circle. My immediate response was “Yes!”, followed by, “What’s a dream circle?” I said yes even before I knew what it was, and that decision formed one of my major life paths personally and professionally. (FYI, a dream circle is a group of people who get together regularly to understand their dreams.) Add this to my years as a trauma therapist, and you have the template for Modern Dreamwork and PTSDreams. My next book focuses on healing ancestorial legacy through dreamwork. 

Linda's book list on understanding your nightmares and dreams

Linda Yael Schiller Why did Linda love this book?

Deidre is both a colleague and fellow member of IASD – the International Association for the Study of Dreams.

She was gracious enough to write a recommendation for my own book, and her book is one of the first to make the connection between nightmares and trauma. As a professor at Harvard University, she shares her research in this book.

By Deirdre Barrett (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Trauma and Dreams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

According to the poet Elias Canetti, "All the things one has forgotten / scream for help in dreams." To the ancient Egyptians they were prophecies, and in world folklore they have often marked visitations from the dead. For Freud they were expressions of "wish fulfillment," and for Jung, symbolic representations of mythical archetypes. Although there is still much disagreement about the significance and function of dreams, they seem to serve as a barometer of current mind and body states.

In this volume, Deirdre Barrett brings together the study of dreams and the psychology of trauma. She has called on a…


Book cover of Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill: Using Dreams to Tap the Wisdom of the Unconscious

Linda Yael Schiller Author Of PTSDreams: Transform Your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork

From my list on understanding your nightmares and dreams.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always been fascinated by non-linear ways of knowing. I moved to Boston in the ’80s and became a part of a dance community, and a friend invited me to join a dream circle. My immediate response was “Yes!”, followed by, “What’s a dream circle?” I said yes even before I knew what it was, and that decision formed one of my major life paths personally and professionally. (FYI, a dream circle is a group of people who get together regularly to understand their dreams.) Add this to my years as a trauma therapist, and you have the template for Modern Dreamwork and PTSDreams. My next book focuses on healing ancestorial legacy through dreamwork. 

Linda's book list on understanding your nightmares and dreams

Linda Yael Schiller Why did Linda love this book?

Jeremy Taylor was one of my very first dream teachers, and this title may be my most favorite title ever! 

As a minister, Jeremy brings a psycho-spiritual approach to the work, as I do, and he taught us the respectful style of honoring the dreamer who had the dream by responding to it with, "If it were my dream…”, allowing us to associate yet keeping the dreamer as the. Ultimate authority of their dream.

By Jeremy Taylor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Where People Fly and Water Runs Uphill as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Based on intensive study and thousands of case histories, this remarkable guide opens up the world of dreams by showing readers how to remember and interpret dreams, establish a dream group, learn the universal symbolism of dreaming, and change their lives using their dreams.


Book cover of Dream Medicine: The Intersection of Wellness and Consciousness

Linda Yael Schiller Author Of PTSDreams: Transform Your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork

From my list on understanding your nightmares and dreams.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always been fascinated by non-linear ways of knowing. I moved to Boston in the ’80s and became a part of a dance community, and a friend invited me to join a dream circle. My immediate response was “Yes!”, followed by, “What’s a dream circle?” I said yes even before I knew what it was, and that decision formed one of my major life paths personally and professionally. (FYI, a dream circle is a group of people who get together regularly to understand their dreams.) Add this to my years as a trauma therapist, and you have the template for Modern Dreamwork and PTSDreams. My next book focuses on healing ancestorial legacy through dreamwork. 

Linda's book list on understanding your nightmares and dreams

Linda Yael Schiller Why did Linda love this book?

Kim is another colleague from IASD, and her work on dream medicine attends to altered states of consciousness, focusing on dreaming, and points out our potential to access healing from many realms. It looks at a wide variety of cultural and spiritual perspectives.

Mascaro walks us through shamanic and indigenous ways of knowing and healing as well as incorporating western styles of dreamwork. Her attention to detail allows the reader to easily try many of her suggestions that honor and include alter-making, plant and animal medicine, and nightmare healing that incudes soul recovery.

By Kimberly R. Mascaro,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Dream Medicine as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book surveys both the scientific and the spiritual terrain of altered states of consciousness, highlighting how extrasensory encounters can be soul-healing balm. It explores a wide range of cultural interpretations of out-of-body experiences, from shamanistic practices to the importance of dreams in ancient world cultures. A dozen or more interviews with health-related professionals present unique, holistic glimpses of our inner lives.

Dreaming takes center stage, with the author presenting her most profound and insidious dreams. Part reference work and part guidebook, this book tells readers how to make the most of their dream experiences through a variety of techniques…


Book cover of Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming: Awakening the Visionary Life

Linda Yael Schiller Author Of PTSDreams: Transform Your Nightmares from Trauma through Healing Dreamwork

From my list on understanding your nightmares and dreams.

Why am I passionate about this?

I've always been fascinated by non-linear ways of knowing. I moved to Boston in the ’80s and became a part of a dance community, and a friend invited me to join a dream circle. My immediate response was “Yes!”, followed by, “What’s a dream circle?” I said yes even before I knew what it was, and that decision formed one of my major life paths personally and professionally. (FYI, a dream circle is a group of people who get together regularly to understand their dreams.) Add this to my years as a trauma therapist, and you have the template for Modern Dreamwork and PTSDreams. My next book focuses on healing ancestorial legacy through dreamwork. 

Linda's book list on understanding your nightmares and dreams

Linda Yael Schiller Why did Linda love this book?

Starting from the ancient wisdom of the Kabbalah, Catherine takes us on a journey through esoteric practices that allow us to unlock the power of our own dreaming mind and our intuitive and transformative powers.

She invites us to the perspective that we dream all the time if we know how to attend to waking as well as sleeping dreams. She is one of my spiritual teachers.

By Catherine Shainberg,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Kabbalah and the Power of Dreaming as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Kabbalah and the Power of DreamingCatherine Shainberg unveils the esoteric practices that allow us to unlock the dreaming mind's transformative and intuitive powers. These are the practices used by ancient prophets, seers, and sages to control dreams and visions. Shainberg draws upon the ancient Sephardic Kabbalah tradition, as well as illustrative


Book cover of Preludes & Nocturnes

Ty'Ron W. C. Robinson II Author Of Lost in Shadows: Remastered

From my list on dark fantasy books that fascinate the minds of storytellers and their craft.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m passionate about dark fantasy stories due to the fact of their characters and worlds. The eeriness of their landscapes can tell a tale of their own. Dark fantasy has always been a drawing interest for me when it comes to telling stories. I read these books mainly because of their dark fantasy worlds. The stories and characters which come to life as I read them only captivated my creativity to tell my own stories. It is my sincere desire that you take a look into these books on this list and have your creativity sparked just as my own to craft your own dark fantasy stories.

Ty'Ron's book list on dark fantasy books that fascinate the minds of storytellers and their craft

Ty'Ron W. C. Robinson II Why did Ty'Ron love this book?

When it comes to dark fantasy books, The Sandman must be included. Even though it is a comic book series later compiled into ten graphic novels, I had to include it in this list. It inspired me not only to improve my creative writing skills but also taught me about the captivations of mythology. How myths impact generations and still touch others to this day. The combination of dark fantasy and mythology enriches a tale to be told. No matter the setting or the format.

While reading The Sandman, I became attached to Dream of the Endless and his stories. What I took away from it was the fact that dreams never die; they only grow into something more. Something… endless. 

By Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth (illustrator), Mike Dringenberg (illustrator) , Malcolm Jones, III (illustrator)

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Preludes & Nocturnes as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

New York Times best-selling author Neil Gaiman's transcendent series THE SANDMAN is often hailed as the definitive Vertigo title and one of the finest achievements in graphic storytelling. Gaiman created an unforgettable tale of the forces that exist beyond life and death by weaving ancient mythology, folklore and fairy tales with his own distinct narrative vision. In PRELUDES and NOCTURNES, an occultist attempting to capture Death to bargain for eternal life traps her younger brother Dream instead. After his 70 year imprisonment and eventual escape, Dream, also known as Morpheus, goes on a quest for his lost objects of power.…


Book cover of Rushed

Julie Elizabeth Powell Author Of Gone

From my list on independent authors building worlds.

Why am I passionate about this?

Because sometimes I think they go further than the formulas set by traditional publishing.  I love fantasy and similar genres because there are no limits for the imagination. The books I’ve chosen fulfill what I think is important – world-building, imagination, thought-provoking, intelligent, and wonderful characters on a mission of some kind.

Julie's book list on independent authors building worlds

Julie Elizabeth Powell Why did Julie love this book?

I’ve read all of this author’s work and the Rushed series is my favourite because although it’s a sinister paranormal fantasy, it is filled with humour. The world-building for each book is amazing – certainly daunting and nasty in parts, yet believable.

There are remarks in reviews that it’s confusing and weird, so maybe you have to be odd to understand and appreciate it. I did, so I must be.

By Brian Harmon,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Eric can't remember the recurring dream that keeps waking him in the middle of the night with an overwhelming urge to leave, yet he spends each day feeling as if he desperately needs to be somewhere. With no idea how to cure himself of this odd compulsion, he decides to let it take its course and go for a drive, hoping that once he proves to himself that there is nowhere to go, he can return to his normal life. Instead, he finds himself hurled headlong into a nightmare adventure across a fractured Wisconsin as the dream reveals itself one…


Book cover of The Lathe of Heaven

Gordon Bonnet Author Of In the Midst of Lions

From my list on making you question how you see the world.

Why am I passionate about this?

How do we decide what is true and untrue, what is real and what isn’t? It’s something I’ve tried to understand since I was a child. In each book I chose, a character has to face a universe completely unlike what they’d believed—in some cases, what they’d spent their entire lives devoted to. How someone would react in such a situation is deeply fascinating to me, and each of these books has not only stayed with me for years but has profoundly influenced my own writing and worldview.

Gordon's book list on making you question how you see the world

Gordon Bonnet Why did Gordon love this book?

I love Ursula LeGuin’s fiction, and for me, this is the best book—a brilliant examination of how power can corrupt, even when one’s motives start out good. An unscrupulous psychologist uses his patient’s extraordinary skill to reshape the world with dreadful consequences.

The author takes a fascinating concept and subtly weaves it with deep questions about morality and the nature of good and evil. LeGuin was a masterful writer, and in this book, she created a story that I still reread once a year without fail.

By Ursula K. Le Guin,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Lathe of Heaven as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Her worlds have a magic sheen . . . She moulds them into dimensions we can only just sense. She is unique. She is legend' THE TIMES

'Le Guin is a writer of phenomenal power' OBSERVER

George Orr is a mild and unremarkable man who finds the world a less than pleasant place to live: seven billion people jostle for living space and food. But George dreams dreams which do in fact change reality - and he has no means of controlling this extraordinary power.

Psychiatrist Dr William Haber offers to help. At first sceptical of George's powers, he comes…


Book cover of Bad Dreams

Leilani Graceffa Author Of Caliphate Ave.

From my list on highlighting the terrifying aspects of life.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m passionate about the theme of this list because I’ve experienced a lot in life already, even though I’m only 24 years old, and I know about the different situations that these books describe well. I’ve experienced a few traumatic situations later in my life (after I read these books) that these books have, it has turned me into somewhat of a realist over time, and I like to use my own talent of writing and creating characters to create, teach, and make people aware of scary and traumatic situations that can happen to anyone in real life. I hope more people will see the valuable lessons in these books.

Leilani's book list on highlighting the terrifying aspects of life

Leilani Graceffa Why did Leilani love this book?

I love this book because even though it’s fictional, it delves into phenomena that actually happen to people in real life. There is such a thing as having repeated nightmares that are linked to a real-life incident and/or person, mainly when it directly happens to someone. Still, it also happens to people who either witnessed something and/or have an item with energy attached to it.

A lot of people refuse to believe in stuff like this. It’s like having a dream of a ghost or an entity one night, just to later figure out it was the thing haunting your house or it’s something that attached itself to you.

By R.L. Stine,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bad Dreams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It’s just a bad dream—but it seems so real.

Every night Maggie Travers has the same horrible dream. Every night she is forced to watch the same murder. And every night the girl in her dream cries out for help. Maggie is afraid to go to sleep again. But when the terrifying dream starts to come true and the gruesome accidents begin, staying awake is the real nightmare!


Book cover of The Vegetarian

Mona Kabbani Author Of The Bell Chime

From my list on take you on a psychological nightmare.

Why am I passionate about this?

I studied psychology in college and am fascinated with the human mind. The psyche holds so many joys, wonders, and the deepest horrors imaginable, all compact and functioning within our skulls. My love for psychology grew into the horror realm, where I read and watched anything revolving around the character study of an individual driven to the brink. Now, I write stories about the morality of actions taken by those who have found themselves in a peculiar position. I believe there is more to the clean-cut view of right versus wrong regarding the decision-making of one’s self-preservation.

Mona's book list on take you on a psychological nightmare

Mona Kabbani Why did Mona love this book?

Like meat, this book was hard to digest. It made me feel anxiety, turmoil, and pain despite my uncertainty as to what exactly triggered these responses. The isolated experience of a woman believing herself to be a tree, attempting to achieve spiritual happiness while others overstepped their boundaries, felt so very violating and personal.

I love it when stories slice me down raw, revealing wounds I did not know existed beneath my skin.

By Han Kang, Deborah Smith (translator),

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Vegetarian as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Yeong-hye and her husband are ordinary people. He is an office worker with moderate ambitions and mild manners; she is an uninspired but dutiful wife. The acceptable flatline of their marriage is interrupted when Yeong-hye, seeking a more 'plant-like' existence, decides to become a vegetarian, prompted by grotesque recurring nightmares. In South Korea, where vegetarianism is almost unheard-of and societal mores are strictly obeyed, Yeong-hye's decision is a shocking act of subversion. Her passive rebellion manifests in ever more bizarre and frightening forms, leading her bland husband to self-justified acts of sexual sadism. His cruelties drive her towards attempted suicide…


Book cover of Tiger vs. Nightmare

Bob McMahon Author Of Cookie & Broccoli: Ready for School!: A Graphic Novel

From my list on novels for kids 5 to 8 to be silly, kind, honest.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was a children's book illustrator for years before my agent prompted me to start writing. I didn’t know the first thing about writing for children, but I really wanted to try, and with help from the SCBWI and after a lot of failed attempts, I found that early reader graphic novels most fit in with my Mad Magazine and New Yorker style of gag humor. There are so many great early reader graphic novels out there these days, and I truly feel we are in a golden age for this genre. I hope you like my choices and find many more on your own!

Bob's book list on novels for kids 5 to 8 to be silly, kind, honest

Bob McMahon Why did Bob love this book?

When I first read this book, I fell instantly in love with the story, the characters, and the wonderful pencil and watercolor artwork, and I knew that this graphic novel was something different, something new, and totally amazing!

This story of a little tiger girl and her nighttime monster friend, who keeps her nightmares away, is told with such humor, heart, and imagination that all I could say was, "Wow," as I went from page to page.

I ended up thinking that this is how you do an early reader graphic novel. A perfect book that will appeal to all ages. 

By Emily Tetri,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Tiger vs. Nightmare as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 6, 7, 8, and 9.

What is this book about?

Tiger is a lucky kid: She has a monster living under her bed.

This monster arrived when Tiger was just a baby. It was supposed to scare her - after all, that's what monsters do. But Tiger was just too cute! Now, Tiger and Monster are best friends.

But Monster is a monster, and it needs to scare something. So every night, Monster stands guard and scares all of Tiger's nightmares away. This arrangement works out perfectly, until a nightmare arrives that's too big and scary for even Monster. Only teamwork and a lot of bravery can chase this nightmare…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Psychotherapy, dreams, and rape?

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