Here are 100 books that The Samurai's Gift fans have personally recommended if you like
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After reading The Princess Bride, I fell in love with William Goldman’s style of narration, with his frequent interjections, clarifications, and asides. The feel I got from the author speaking directly to me transformed simple third-person narration into engaging storytelling. From then on, I sought out books using this style and have built a small library in all genres deploying this unique voice. I’ve found it most common (and most effectively deployed) in fantasy, but there are also numerous examples elsewhere in the literary world.
One of the most popular children’s book series of the twentieth century, all of the books in the series feature the author speaking directly to the reader, detailing past events, reminding the reader of personality traits of the characters, and providing the reader with background details about the world the reader finds themselves in.
More so than the other books on the list, it’s clear the voice is that of C.S. Lewis though, rather than a seemingly separate narrator.
Don’t miss one of America’s top 100 most-loved novels, selected by PBS’s The Great American Read.
Experience all seven tales of C. S. Lewis's classic fantasy series, The Chronicles of Narnia, in one impressive paperback volume!
Epic battles between good and evil, fantastic creatures, betrayals, heroic deeds, and friendships won and lost all come together in this unforgettable world, which has been enchanting readers of all ages for over sixty years.
This edition presents the seven books—The Magician's Nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The…
I’ve always loved portal fantasy. The idea that you could go on this great adventure and be transported into another world, really speaks to my inner child. That’s why I write portal fantasy. I wanted to create a series of worlds that could give readers a place to escape to. My therapist tells me to “speak” to the child version of myself. My books are my way of doing that. I get to give my child self a place to escape to, a grand adventure to go on, and a large cast of characters to call family. I hope the books on this list help you escape into a great adventure too!
The Neverending Story was always one of my favorites growing up. The idea that a kid could get pulled into this amazing world full of adventure really spoke to me as a kid (I’m sure you’re starting to see the theme here). I loved that I could follow along and it felt like I was also going on these grand adventures.
Read the book that inspired the classic coming-of-age film! From award-winning German author Michael Ende, The Neverending Story is a classic tale of one boy and the book that magically comes to life.
When Bastian happens upon an old book called The Neverending Story, he's swept into the magical world of Fantastica--so much that he finds he has actually become a character in the story! And when he realizes that this mysteriously enchanted world is in great danger, he also discovers that he is the one chosen to save it. Can Bastian overcome the barrier between reality and his imagination…
I am a passionate long-distance hiker and regularly enjoy local walks close to where I live in Oxfordshire. Over the years, I have walked many long-distance trails, including Camino Pilgrimages. The books I am sharing are those that have inspired my own walking adventures and self-reflection. I am a big believer in the benefits of walking for mind, body, and spirit, and I personally enjoy those benefits daily. My passion for walking and the depth of thinking it can help you attain has found its way into both my personal and business life. Walking to me is life!
I loved this book because it was very thought-provoking and gave me some great personal insights. At the time of reading, I was planning to walk the Camino de Santiago for the first time and was really interested in reading about others who had gone before. I enjoyed following this complete journey and sharing the thoughts, wisdom, and lessons that came up.
Self-knowledge is a powerful thing, and I wondered about my own Camino trip and what kind of experience I might have had. This book certainly motivated me to start planning my own Pilgrimage. It is a book that you remember years after reading. It goes deep.
In this gripping story, Paulo Coelho is on a quest for the ultimate in self-knowledge, wisdom and spiritual mastery.
Guided by his mysterious companion Petrus, he takes the road to Santiago, going through a series of trials and tests along the way, even coming face to face with someone who may just be the devil himself. Why is the road to the simple life so hard? Will Paulo be strong enough to complete the journey towards humility, belief and faith?
The Pilgrimage paved the way to Paulo Coehlo's international best-selling novel The Alchemist. In many ways, these two volumes are…
I am an award-winning and USA Today bestselling South African author, social anthropologist, and transformational life coach. Human transformation and the question of human social nature are key themes in all of my writing, which explores the experiences of people on the margins or with a background of overlapping cultures. I am a book dragon who loves reading adventures in almost every genre and that broad scope of my reading explorations has wormed its way into my writing style which, though broadly defined as fantasy, encompasses elements from other styles in a rich and ‘aromatic’ blend.
This charming contemporary romance with a touch of magical realism totally hit the spot. It’s all about Grace’s transformation from an overworked, underpaid, unappreciated individual into a person who achieves her potential and flourishes. It’s one of those beautiful allegorical tales about finding your true self so you can become who you were meant to be. Totally uplifting and left me with all the warm and fuzzies.
Grace leads a fairy-tale-free existence in the rainy Seattle, struggling to provide for her frail mother and younger sister. But when a mysterious package arrives from her eccentric aunt, she is suddenly thrown into a whirlpool of unusual events.
Named the next "carrier of the gifts", she has only one week to sort through her supernatural inheritance or lose it all.
But in this story crystal slippers don't fit, "fairy godmothers" don't show up, and prince might not be so easy to charm.
As Grace blunders through unpredictable magic that challenges…
I always sensed I was from another planet, here to help create a new world by nature of my heightened sensitivity and ability to perceive beneath the surface of our supposed reality. After decades of struggling and nearly dying through addiction to mute my sensitivity, my healing path led me to see how being an empath is the greatest gift, once we learn to take care of ourselves and refine our abilities. My book The Empath Experience is the guide I wish I had when I was born, that tells my story and guides life-changing practices to master your energy and harness your empathic gifts as the superpowers they are.
This book is so genius in its ability to straddle so many different dimensions of experience – from science to medicine to intuition to energy healing and everything in between. I love Carolyn Myss as a great example of what’s possible in bridging worlds – her story of bringing medical intuition into more mass consciousness is brilliant and endlessly inspiring. This book helped me to affirm what I was already sensing as an energy healer – that all dis-ease and pain is rooted in an underlying spiritual or energetic issue. This book provides great precedents for how we can truly heal and recover from seemingly hopeless ailments by actually getting to the root of our supposed problems and meeting them with love, grace, and acceptance.
Encoded within your body, teaches Caroline Myss, is an energy system linking you directly to the world's great spiritual traditions. Through it, you have direct access to the divine energy that seamlessly connects all life. On Anatomy of the Spirit, Myss offers a stunning picture of the human body's hidden energetic structures, while revealing its precise spiritual code and relationship to the sacred energy of creation.
Our most revered wisdom traditions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism, hold in common essential teachings about seven specific levels of spiritual development, the stages of power in life. These seven great truths also grace…
I’ve been interested in psychological health since I was in high school and continue to search for interventions and preventions to alleviate mental illness and build mental health. I’m a licensed psychologist and coach focusing on evidenced based treatments, with a special interest in how people connect and the impact of loneliness. Despite a growing population, more people are feeling lonely, including adolescents, and loneliness can often be a root cause of mental suffering. Loneliness is common among individuals with anorexia and other eating disorders as well as chronic depression. Addressing how to connect and how they may be blocking connections can be a complicated but needed process. My work is focused in this area.
This book gives the perspective of a therapist and a former client who is now a therapist herself.
This book can create realistic hope and includes self-disclosures of the author’s own experiences. The authors recognize that eating disorders serve a purpose and it’s not about food. They also emphasize the importance of reaching out to people which is a key factor for recovery.
This is no ordinary book on how to overcome an eating disorder. The authors bravely share their unique stories of suffering from and eventually overcoming their own severe eating disorders. Interweaving personal narrative with the perspective of their own therapist-client relationship, their insights bring an unparalleled depth of awareness into just what it takes to successfully beat this challenging and seemingly intractable clinical issue.
For anyone who has suffered, their family and friends, and other helping professionals, this book should be by your side. With great compassion and clinical expertise, Costin and Grabb walk readers through the ins and outs…
My journey into home yoga practice began in 2004 when I moved to a small mountain town with no yoga classes. I started practicing for the health of my mind and body and kept practicing because it became an integral part of my identity. In 2006, when I began teaching yoga, I committed to practicing yoga every day so that I could be the best possible teacher for my students. These were the books that helped me keep that commitment. Many of them I’ve read multiple times, and all of them helped me show up to the mat, and understand both my bodily and psychological experience of home yoga practice.
This book, and Beryl’s earlier book, Power Yoga: The Total Strength and Flexibility Workout, were my bibles when I began to build a home yoga practice. Not only do they include step-by-step instructions for Power Yoga, a derivative of Astanaga yoga, but they detail other aspects of the yoga journey including Patanjali’s eight limbs.
In Beyond Power Yoga, Beryl explores everything from her journey into yoga and to India, yoga in action, breathing, meditation, and ‘leap into liberation – bliss’. She is a consummate storyteller and uses real-life experiences from her own life to illustrate yogic concepts like bandhas, vayus, tapas, yamas, and niyamas.
Combining the mindfulness of astanga yoga with the high-energy intensity of the work-out routine, this exercise book walks readers through a series of body- and soul-enhancing routines.
I’ve been a columnist in a national magazine, book reviewer on a daily newspaper, journalist on a small rural paper, commercial blogger for hire, copy-editor, and critiquer, usually alongside more conventional roles in the not entirely thrilling world of corporate finance. In my fifties, I took a belated gap year courtesy of a good redundancy package and started writing full-time under a couple of different names, mainly EJ Lamprey but here as Clarissa. The gap year never really ended . . . At the heart of all my books is the exuberant celebration of finding in autumn the best season of our lives.
I actually believe the Alexander technique should be taught in schools from the start, to become a lifelong habit to improve lifelong health, but it’s never too late to start. While there’s no denying it is best taught hands-on, there aren’t enough teachers out there. There are many books but this one has a lovely holistic approach. Even better, if you’re lucky enough to have a practitioner within reach, the book adds to your understanding and to the benefit of your sessions. Win, win.
The Alexander Technique (AT) is a remarkably simple but powerful method for learning to skillfully control how your brain and body interact, allowing you to better coordinate your movements while increasing the accuracy of your mind's thoughts and perceptions. Now, in How You Stand, How You Move, How You Live , leading Alexander Technique master teacher Missy Vineyard sheds a completely fresh light on this revolutionary method and, in the process, offers path-breaking insight into the mind-body connection. Vineyard thoroughly explains and teaches the central skills of the AT through simple self-experiments, and she offers engaging stories of students in…
Although each book is different, they have all been written for the same reason—to help people obtain the life they dream of. About twenty years ago, I was broke, miserable, and surrounded by toxic people who wanted to see me fail. I had no money or support, and my future looked quite dismal until a self-help book appeared out of the clear blue. A self-help book changed the trajectory of my life, and that’s why I am passionate about this topic. After studying self-help books and dedicating my whole existence to being better, I pivoted my work from fundraising to helping people find their life purpose the way I did.
Welcome to the Holy Grail of spirituality provided by the late Louise Hay, our queen of positive affirmations. This book absolutely changed the way I viewed my health. Before Louise came into my life, I thought my health was out of my control and that disease happened by chance. This book taught me about the connection between my thoughts, emotions, and health. I had no idea that my emotions were powerful enough to create good and bad health, but once I learned the connection, I used Louise’s methods to release negative emotions.
You will learn the true meaning of forgiveness and how to forgive people who have wronged you, including yourself. You will learn about the diseases that are associated with negative emotions. For instance, arthritis might result from feeling unloved or from long-held criticism and resentment. A new thought pattern is provided for each physical ailment, and if the…
Over 50 million lives transformed worldwide! This seminal classic explores how positive thought and affirmations can inspire your own healing, wellbeing and happiness.
Full of ideas and strategies that have worked for millions of people worldwide. You Can Heal Your Life, the definitive bestselling book on self-healing, has transformed the lives of millions of people. This is a book that people credit with profoundly altering their awareness of the impact that the mind has on our health and wellbeing.
In this inspirational work, world renowned teacher Louise L. Hay offers profound insight into the relationship between the mind and the…
During my career, when someone asked if I had read a particular book on mental health, my reaction was “why would I read interpretive books when I already read the actual studies on which those books are based?” Eventually, I began to discover what I had been missing. There are many excellent books that enhanced my knowledge of mental health and nutrition, and I am grateful for many more than the five listed here. But even so, in 2020 Julia and I concluded that there was a huge gap in the books available --- so we wrote The Better Brain to educate people about what micronutrients do in our brains.
Dr. Weil is a true pioneer of trying to educate both the general public and health clinicians about non-drug approaches to improving health. He has published a couple of dozen books to share his knowledge about botanicals, nutrients, true food, inflammation --- as well as other integrative skills and knowledge (breathing, meditation). The reason I selected this book to highlight is because it reminds us of the range of human emotions that are ‘normal’: as he says, it is not realistic to expect to be happy all the time. But eating a diet of healthy whole foods, avoiding ultra-processed products, and using supplements as needed --- these steps can improve our society’s mental health.
Dr Andrew Weil charts a new path to finding lasting happiness Everyone wants to be happy. But what does that really mean? Increasingly, scientific evidence shows us that true satisfaction and well-being come only from within. Dr Andrew Weil has proven that the best way to maintain optimum physical health is to draw on both conventional and alternative medicine. Now, in Spontaneous Happiness, he gives us the foundation for attaining and sustaining optimum emotional health. Rooted in Dr Weil's pioneering work in integrative medicine, the book suggests a reinterpretation of the notion of happiness, discussing the limitations of modern medicine…
