Catalog (/pony/)

1. Okay wow this is actually a hard decision. I'm gonna put here: The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents. My all time favorite children's book. Dark, gritty, uplifting and intelligent. I cried, I yelled in disbelief, I felt sad when it was over. A group of newly sapient rats have to deal with the realities of a world in which they can suddenly plan ahead and foresse consequences. Where death used to mean very little, even losing a single member of the group becomes a cause for concern. Pratchett explores themes of anger, grief and the meaning of life from the beautiful lens of rat society. Which is very cute, but also so sad.

2. Happiness by Matthieu Ricard - A lovely look at what makes humans happy, with practical guides to try and increase happiness. No single book has contributed more to my wellbeing.

3. With each and Every Breath by Thanissaro Bhikkhu - A really interesting collection of buddhist meditation techniques and explanations for how they work. Both this book and Happiness are written from a relatively western perspective. I use these techniques all the time when stretching or meditating.

4. A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers. A fun and queer science fiction novel about an artificial ship intelligence that is transplanted against her will into a body and has to adjust to life on the surface of a planet, instead of life in a ship's computer. A heartrending tale that tackles themes of neurodivergence and queer love. I find it to be unbelievably poignant and accessible. It shocked me when what I thought was a frivolous and lighthearted book spoke to such a deep part of me.

5. I thought I had to include one book that wasn't frivolous, so I'm going to say The Sage Handbook of Counselling Psychology. Contributed to by my favorite professor at Uni, Mr. Colin Feltham. It's a handy guide that I use all the time. It's very well written, and gives a good overview of the various types of therapy that can be found in modern psychotherapy and pschology practices.

Bonus - what I'm reading right now.

Right now I'm reading Life and Death, the genderswapped version of the first twilight book by stephanie Meyers, and Unsouled, a progression fantasy book in the Cradle series (by Will Wight) (does anyone know what progression fantasy is? I just learned of this the other week).