Here are 100 books that Saved fans have personally recommended if you like
Saved.
Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.
As a woman who suffers from chronic illness, I am interested in sharing my experience and learning about other women who also suffer and survive their chronic conditions. I have had endometriosis, a painful disease, since I was a teenager. I’ve always enjoyed stories about different kinds of chronic illnesses, and I appreciate the way pain and sickness can be translated into memorable books.
A candid often comical memoir about finding love and coming to terms with illness, Martin doesn’t shy away from the unflattering bits of looking for your soul mate while also dealing with the complications of MS.
Self-deprecating humor, unflinching depictions of award sexual encounters and unfortunate side effects (the chapter "Shit Happens has some quality toilet humor), this book will make you laugh out loud, which, in my opinion, makes this an exceptional memoir about chronic illness.
At 28, Cory Martin thought she had it all, a budding career as a writer in Hollywood, an apartment of her own, and a healthy obsession with yoga. But when she found herself on the floor of her apartment wailing into the phone, 'but I don't want to be sick, ' her entire world came crashing down.
A doctor had just revealed that she had Multiple Sclerosis, a potentially debilitating disease, her good friend was getting married that weekend and the only people she wanted to call were her parents. In a time when she was supposed to be coming…
Embracing self-discipline has changed my life. I find deep pleasure in challenging myself and pushing my limits when practicing sports, learning, and experiencing adventures. I’ve learned that anything that’s worthwhile in life is the result of consistent, dedicated work, whether it’s building a business, developing a relationship, mastering a new skill, or any other personal growth pursuit. In my books I share my own personal experience of expanding my comfort zone and improving self-discipline.
Ross is a superhuman athlete embarking on some of the world’s craziest adventures. In this book he talks about his journey swimming 1,780 miles around the island of Great Britain. The hardships he had to suffer to achieve his goal show how tough and disciplined Ross is (I know I wouldn’t be able to bear them). Chapters telling his story of the journey are interspersed with advice on how to build mental toughness and grow your self-discipline. I couldn’t stop reading this book. The story is utterly fascinating and the lessons memorable and practical.
'Incredible individual, incredible book, incredible story.' CHRIS HEMSWORTH
'A hero who is as humble as he is resilient... testament to a "never give up" spirit!' BEAR GRYLLS
'From reading this book, the message that comes shining through is this: you can achieve anything.' ANT MIDDLETON
Bestselling author and award-winning adventurer Ross Edgley has been studying the art of resilience for years, applying all he has learned to become the first person in history to swim around Great Britain, breaking multiple world records. Now Ross focuses on mental strength, stoicism and the training needed to create an unbreakable body.
I’m an herbalist, writer, and founder of Botanical Culture, a new compendium of plants and the people who cultivate them. I love helping people find the best herbs to support their health and well-being, whether by consulting, research and writing, or teaching workshops. After training at an herbalism school and more than a decade of growing and foraging, I’m still wonderstruck every time I walk into a garden or browse an apothecary. Great books about herbs inspire the same feeling of reverence for our oldest healing traditions and put the power of nature within reach.
Drawing on more than three decades of experience, Dr. Romm has written an essential guide to female health and wellness. For Romm, herbs hold pride of place in the art and science of healing. As a midwife, herbalist, and board-certified family physician with a specialty in women’s health and obstetrics, her work combines a deep understanding and respect for both traditional herbal medicine and Western allopathic medicine. Anyone who wants to better understand or address specific female health issues will benefit from this revelatory book. Anyone who wants to integrate herbs into their lifestyle will enjoy the book’s abundant tips, meal plans, and 6-week action plan. Dr. Romm’s big-hearted and encouraging style will leave readers feeling committed to charting a course for better health at any age.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER * #1 GLOBE AND MAIL BESTSELLER * USA TODAY BESTSELLER
You are not broken. Being a woman is not a diagnosis. Take your body back with the groundbreaking new science for women in Hormone Intelligence.
Hormonal. We all know what it means when we hear it - and feel it. While hormonal shifts are natural throughout women's lives, too many experience distressing period symptoms, struggle daily with PCOS, endometriosis, a fertility challenge, pain, low sex drive, sleep problems, acne, bloating, hot flashes, and more - all due to hormone-related problems.…
I'm a long-time journalist, wife, mother, and grandmother, who was diagnosed with GYN cancer at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in the spring of 2020. My usual subjects are the arts and trauma, but since I’m now one of the more than 600,000 American women with GYN cancer, I decided to write this report about my year of treatment.
A Matter of Life and Death is a deeply personal double memoir, written in alternating chapters by a long-married couple in their late 80s. Irvin Yalom is a psychiatrist and well-respected novelist; Marilyn Yalom, diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2019, was a professor of literature and women's studies. Emotionally intelligent and unusually articulate, the couple was married for 65 years. Though plodding at times, they document in detail the last year of Marilyn's life, from diagnosis to experimental treatment to hospice to physician-assisted death. It is written as a testament as well as a guide.
A year-long journey by the renowned psychiatrist and his writer wife after her terminal diagnosis, as they reflect on how to love and live without regret.
Internationally acclaimed psychiatrist and author Irvin Yalom devoted his career to counseling those suffering from anxiety and grief. But never had he faced the need to counsel himself until his wife, esteemed feminist author Marilyn Yalom, was diagnosed with cancer. In A Matter of Death and Life, Marilyn and Irv share how they took on profound new struggles: Marilyn to die a good death, Irv to live on without her.
I have spent most of my professional career as a therapist and educator, working with children who have experienced trauma and parents who want to do a better job. Trauma affects every aspect of human development and relationships. With support and understanding, trauma and its impacts need not be permanent: change and healing are always possible. The sooner the process begins, the better. The first five years of a child’s life are so important, and most parents are both overwhelmed by a glut of information and missing out on the most important parts of parenting. My hope is to make this information available to everyone who might benefit from it.
Dr. Harris is a world-changer. In her pediatric practice in an at-risk neighborhood in San Francisco, she saw young patients suffering challenges and illnesses that did not appear to be linked to any physical condition. She dug deeper, and discovered Adverse Childhood Experiences and the deep impact they can have on young lives. It is now her mission to educate doctors, who have not typically been trained in trauma or social and emotional challenges. Her book (and her TEDtalk on the same topic) is fascinating, exacting, and hopeful. Nadine Burke-Harris is now the first-ever Surgeon General of the State of California, and continues to educate parents and professionals about trauma and healing.
2018 National Health Information Awards, Silver Award
“A rousing wake-up call . . . this highly engaging, provocative book prove[s] beyond a reasonable doubt that millions of lives depend on us finally coming to terms with the long-term consequences of childhood adversity and toxic stress.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris was already known as a crusading physician delivering targeted care to vulnerable children. But it was Diego—a boy who had stopped growing after a sexual assault—who galvanized her journey to uncover the connections between toxic stress and lifelong illnesses. The…
During my medical career, specializing as a psychiatrist in a cancer hospital in England, I observed huge variations in the way patients respond to the diagnosis of physical disease. Some become overwhelmed by distress, some carry on just as before, but others make positive and creative changes that are inspiring to witness. Coping can be especially challenging and complex for clinicians who find themselves in the role of patient. My five chosen books are all written by doctors and illustrate how the illness experience has shaped their lives. Now retired from medicine, I am based in New Zealand, and I have interests in writing, choral singing, and animal welfare.
I have read a lot about the “near-death experiences” (NDEs) reported by thousands of people who have recovered from life-threatening illnesses, so I was intrigued by this best-selling memoir.
Eben Alexander, a renowned academic neurosurgeon, contracted meningitis at age 54 and, after emerging from a coma in intensive care, recalled memories of journeying through heavenly realms. True glimpses of an afterlife or the hallucinations of a malfunctioning brain?
Although I am open to spiritual explanations, some aspects of his vividly described experience and of the family revelations that followed seemed to me hardly credible. But he writes with sincerity, and there is no doubt that his beliefs and relationships have been permanently transformed since his illness.
Internationally acclaimed neurosurgeon Dr Eben Alexander always considered himself a man of science. His unwavering belief in evidence-based medicine fuelled a career in the top medical institutions of the world. But all this was set to change. One morning in 2008 he fell into a coma after suffering a rare form of bacterial meningitis. Scans of his brain revealed massive damage. Death was deemed the most likely outcome. As his family prepared themselves for the worst, something miraculous happened. Dr Alexander's brain went from near total inactivity to awakening. He made a full recovery but he was never the same.…
Juggling roles as a professor, nurse practitioner, author, mother, and grandmother would seem to limit my reading time but instead, I always have a book in my car, on my phone, or in my hands. I read broadly and enjoy all genres, from fiction to nonfiction, poetry to medical comics, as well as the creative essay columns nursing journals are beginning to embrace. In particular, I gravitate toward resources that help nurses create a positive relational workplace where their best efforts can be even more effective. Whether it’s ending the RN-RA (relational aggression) Rut, using poetry to express feelings about caregiving, or writing creatively about the many aspects of nursing, I am ready to read! And of course, the best part of reading is having a discussion with colleagues or friends about what exactly that book was about…
This story about four patients cared for by nurse practitioner and acclaimed poet Cortney Davis reminds me a bit of pandemic narratives in that she works in a public clinic with individuals whose financial, emotional, or social situation puts them at risk. Since her patients are all female, their needs are related to gynecology, but the bigger story is Cortney’s ability to connect with them on a humanistic level and share their hopes, concerns, and fears.
"I cannot ignore the reality of the body, its glorious beginnings and its subtle endings," writes Cortney Davis in this intimate and startlingly original account of her work at a women's clinic. A poet and nurse-practitioner with twenty five years' experience, Davis reveals the beauty of the body's workings by unfolding the lives of four patients who struggle with its natural cycles and unexpected surprises: pregnancy and childbirth, illness and recovery, sexual dysfunction and sexual joy. An abundance of solid medical information imbues every graceful line.
Davis's eternal question to herself is: How do you help someone to not merely…
Facing death at the age of 26, I was determined to turn my health and my life around. Grateful for a second chance, I studied everything I could about health and wellness. I learned about herbs and healthy eating, but my real turn-around happened when I started to study the power of the mind through hypnosis and biofeedback. I founded a wellness & weight loss program sponsored by over 100 corporations, such as Disney and Home Depot. My own books teach not only healthy eating but how to change your mindset. My recommended books were a lifesaver as they helped me learn about how to eat for my body type when I needed it most.
This book was life-changing for me. Annemarie Colbin shares so much wisdom about eating whole foods as opposed to being on any kind of diet. She is a big advocate of “listening to your body.” She even asserts that if you “forget” to take your supplements, it could be because your body doesn’t need them at this time. In that case, she encourages taking a short break. This book inspired in me the idea of trusting your body to let you know what foods are best for you.
Yes, you are what you eat. For everyone who wonders why, in this era of advanced medicine, we still suffer so much serious illness, Food and Healing is essential reading.
“An eminently practical, authoritative, and supportive guide to making everyday decisions about eating that can transform our lives. Food and Healing is a remarkable achievement.”—Richard Grossman, Director, The Health in Medicine Project, Montefiore Medical Center
Annemarie Colbin, founder of New York's renowned Natural Gourmet Cookery School and author of The Book of Whole Meals, argues passionately that we must take responsibility for our own health and rely less on modern…
Throughout my journey, I’ve had to endure many challenges coming from humble beginnings so I wrote my book based on my experiences of being the 1st generational college graduate to overcoming many obstacles that affected my self-esteem while running a multimillion-dollar branch in the banking industry. Writing My Broken Stiletto allowed me to showcase that being resilient is a mindset that can be challenging but worth the reward when you get out of your own way.
As a black woman who has had to explain my hair texture, color, and why my hair does what it does has affected my self-esteem at times. This process was simplified with the help of Curly Nikki’s, Better Than Good Hair which is a must-read.
It doesn’t matter if you struggle with kinky, coiled, or straight having a hair problem can be problematic. This book has changed my life in the sense of how I show up in my truth. If you have ever second-guessed yourself or are in a pinch and unsure what to do with your hair, products, or styling this is your book to grab.
Curly Nikki has changed the game on how women are seen in corporate and not only that hair is an extension of our outfits but tied to our souls. Therefore, it is super important to protect your hair piece and your…
A revolution is sweeping through the homes, offices, and salons of black American women. Relaxers are out. Weaves are so yesterday. Tired of the expense and damage of chemical treatments and artificial enhancers, women of color are going natural thanks to Nikki Walton of CurlyNikki.com, the natural hair blogger and expert on online hair therapy. In "Better Than Good Hair", this gifted curl whisperer educates women on how to transition from relaxed to completely natural hair, with advice and styles for every length, from fierce braid-n-curls to fancy faux buns. She also counsels those considering the big chop-cutting it all…
In the years since I was 15, I have been writing and publishing books. After graduating from Florida Virtual School in 2014, I am currently pursuing a liberal arts degree with a focus on disabilities education. I'm passionate about literature, and I've dedicated myself to educating others about disabilities through my love of literature. Furthermore, I own a radio station and produce several podcasts related to disability. I contribute to seven different sites, including the mighty thought catalog and unwritten, where I talk about my life as a 27-year-old with a disability. I am also an advocate for disability rights, as well as a writer and author for disability issues.
A humorous take on what it's like to be a disabled adult. I highly recommend this book to anyone. It discusses how to interact with someone with a disability and dives deep into diversity and how to communicate effectively with adults. Having read this book has made my journey with cerebral palsy much easier and I would definitely say that it has made me look at life in more humorous ways.
Not So Different offers a humorous, relatable, and refreshingly honest glimpse into Shane Burcaw’s life. Shane tackles many of the mundane and quirky questions that he’s often asked about living with a disability, and shows readers that he’s just as approachable, friendly, and funny as anyone else.
Shane Burcaw was born with a rare disease called spinal muscular atrophy, which hinders his muscles’ growth. As a result, his body hasn’t grown bigger and stronger as he’s gotten older—it’s gotten smaller and weaker instead. This hasn’t stopped him from doing the things he enjoys (like eating pizza and playing sports and…
