My Bookshelf
Books.
Books I've read, loved, questioned or kept thinking about.
42 books on the shelf
I Never Thought of It That Way
Mónica Guzmán
It reframed disagreement for me as curiosity instead of combat. The questions in here are the ones I keep forgetting to ask.
Fruit Fly
Josh Silver
Savage and funny in the same breath — it goes to places most books politely avoid.
Having Spent Life Seeking
Kae Tempest
Language that lands like a heartbeat — tender, direct, impossible to skim.
Yesteryear
Caro Claire Burke
Maddening in the best way — it keeps circling back long after you finish it.
The Power of Neuroplasticity
Shad Helmstetter, Ph.D.
A hopeful, practical read. It turns self-talk from a soft idea into something with real mechanics behind it.
Kin
Tayari Jones
Warm, sharp and deeply human — Tayari Jones writes families better than almost anyone.
Find Your People
Jennie Allen
A gentle reminder that closeness takes effort — and that it's worth the awkward first step.
The Woman in Me
Britney Spears
Raw, disarmingly simple and impossible to put down — it made me rethink everything I thought I knew about her.
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy
Brutally funny and heartbreakingly clear. The kind of honesty that makes you feel less alone in your own complicated family story.
Theo of Golden
Allen Levi
One of those rare, slow-burning books that leaves you softer than it found you. It reminded me how much beauty lives in small kindnesses and unhurried conversations.
The Murder After the Night Before
Katy Brent
A binge-in-one-sitting kind of read — dark, sharp, and very funny about our online lives and the shame culture that comes with them. The twist landed and the voice is deliciously snarky the whole way through.
Beach Read
Emily Henry
The book that made Emily Henry Emily Henry. Sharp, funny, unexpectedly moving — it's about grief and identity as much as love. I finished it in two sittings and immediately understood the hype.
Funny Story
Emily Henry
A warm, witty romcom with real emotional weight underneath. Emily Henry does that thing where the banter is sharp but the ache is real — you laugh out loud one page and get quietly moved the next. Perfect summer read that stays with you.
Boy Slut
Zachary Zane
A bold, tender read about pleasure, identity, and the courage it takes to stop apologizing for who you are. Zane writes with warmth, humor, and the kind of honesty that makes you feel less alone.
The Testaments
Margaret Atwood
A gripping continuation that somehow expands the world without losing the intimacy of the first book. What I loved is how Atwood gives voice to the women pushing back from the inside — it made me think about how change so often starts with small, hidden acts of integrity. Tense, thoughtful, and surprisingly hopeful. It left me reflecting on courage, moral complexity, and the resilience it takes to protect the truth.
The Handmaid's Tale
Margaret Atwood
A haunting, beautifully written book. What stayed with me most is how Atwood uses such restrained, poetic prose to say something enormous about freedom, identity, and what people quietly endure. It made me reflect on how easily we take our own autonomy for granted. Heavy at times, but deeply human and full of moments of hope. The kind of book that expands the way you see the world long after you close it.
What My Father And I Don't Talk About
Edited by Michele Filgate
A quietly powerful read. What I loved most is how honestly each writer sits with the complicated feelings — no neat resolutions, just real reflection. It made me think about how much of who we become is shaped by the things our parents couldn't say. Warm, healing, and often surprisingly hopeful. A book that gently invites you to look at your own silences with more compassion.
Flyga drake
Khaled Hosseini
One of those books that quietly rearranges you. It made me think about the courage it takes to face the versions of ourselves we would rather forget.
I cirkelns mitt
Dan Brown
Pure entertainment in the best sense. I read it fast, in that hungry way you read a thriller when everything else can wait.
Gåtornas palats
Dan Brown
Not deep, but genuinely fun. Brown is very good at making history feel like a game, and I like that.
Konsten att höra hjärtslag
Jan-Philipp Sendker
A quietly beautiful book. It reminded me that real love is often about attention — about hearing the person underneath the noise.
Flickan som lekte med elden
Stieg Larsson
Impossible to put down. Larsson writes anger really well, and Lisbeth is the kind of character you end up quietly rooting for with your whole chest.
Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What stayed with me most was the shift from thinking about resilience to thinking about growth through pressure. It reframed a lot of small, uncomfortable moments in my life as useful rather than something to avoid. Taleb's writing is opinionated and dense, but the core idea kept surfacing weeks after I put the book down — in how I approach uncertainty, how I design habits, and how I sit with things that don't go to plan. It gave me a more grounded, almost patient relationship with the unpredictable parts of life.
The Power of Beliefs
Shawn Achor
I found myself reflecting on how quietly beliefs run the show. The book has a warm, practical tone that made it feel less like theory and more like a check-in with my own mindset. It's the kind of read I could see returning to whenever life feels a bit heavier than usual, just to recalibrate. What I appreciated most was how gentle the framing is — no pressure to overhaul yourself, just an invitation to notice the small stories you carry and how much room there is to soften them.
To the Man I Loved Too Much: And the Ones who Didn't Love Me Enough
Gabrielle G.
There was something very comforting about the honesty in these pages. It reads like someone giving language to feelings I've noticed in myself but never quite articulated — the tender ones, the ones tinged with regret, the ones that are really about growing up emotionally. I appreciated how the collection doesn't try to teach or fix anything; it just witnesses. It felt like sitting with a friend who's already been where you are and isn't in a hurry to move you on from it.
Attached
Dr. Amir Levine & Rachel S. F. Heller
This gave me a different way of thinking about a lot of relationship moments I used to take personally. Instead of "what's wrong with me" or "what's wrong with them", the language of attachment opened up something more compassionate — these are patterns, not verdicts. What I connected with most was the emphasis on secure functioning as something you can grow into, not a fixed trait. It's the kind of book that quietly upgrades how you listen, how you ask for what you need, and how you show up in the everyday.
The Lie That Loved Me Back
Todrian Rush
The part I connected with most was how honestly it names the lies we tell ourselves inside relationships that don't fit. It doesn't villainise anyone; it just gently exposes the moment you realise you've been performing love instead of receiving it. Reading it felt like being met exactly where a lot of us have quietly stood. It's short, but it's dense in the right way — the kind of pages you find yourself pausing on, rereading, and quietly recognising your own reflection in.
Barnen har inte problem, de har dig
Lena Forén
What stayed with me most was how much respect this book has for children as full human beings. It gently asks the adult reader to look inward before reaching for advice on how to "fix" a child, and that reframing lands with real weight. Even if you're not a parent, it reads as a kind of primer on emotional responsibility, patience, and self-awareness in any relationship where someone is looking to you for safety. It left me feeling both challenged and hopeful.
Tantra: The Supreme Understanding
Osho
I found myself slowing down while reading this — it isn't a book you can rush through. Osho's rhythm invites you into a quieter mode of attention, which is really the point. What I appreciated most was the reminder that spirituality doesn't need to be complicated or ornamental; it can be as simple as returning, again and again, to what's actually happening in this moment. It left me with a softer, less striving relationship to my own inner life.
Gomorra
Roberto Saviano
What stayed with me most was how ordinary so much of it looks from the outside. Saviano writes with the intensity of someone who has clearly paid a personal price for telling this story, and that urgency comes through on every page. I appreciated how it treats readers as adults — no easy heroes, no tidy conclusions, just an honest attempt to make visible something that usually stays hidden. It shifted how I think about supply chains, power, and the quiet cost of looking away.
The Lost Symbol
Dan Brown
There was something very comforting about slipping back into Dan Brown's rhythm — short chapters, moving puzzles, and just enough philosophy to make the plot feel like more than a chase. I appreciated how the book weaves ideas about consciousness and human potential into the entertainment, without turning preachy. It's the kind of read that's easy to fall into after a long day, and it left me curious about the real history and symbolism woven through the pages, which is really the mark of a good thriller.
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown
I found myself reflecting on how effectively this book turns curiosity itself into the engine of a story. It's easy to see why it became such a phenomenon — the pace, the puzzles, and the way it treats iconic art and history as living material rather than museum pieces. What I appreciated most was how it made me want to actually look things up afterward: the paintings, the places, the ideas. A great reminder that fiction can quietly open real doors.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini
This one stayed with me long after I closed it. What I connected with most was the quiet dignity Hosseini gives his characters — their inner lives feel every bit as real as the events around them. It's an emotionally heavy read at times, but never gratuitous, and there's real warmth threaded through the pain. It reminded me how powerful a novel can be at building empathy for lives very different from our own, and how much strength there is in ordinary tenderness.
Where the Heart Is
Billie Letts
There was something very comforting about how much heart this novel carries without ever tipping into sentimentality. What stayed with me most was the sense that "family" can be assembled from whoever actually shows up — coworkers, neighbours, strangers who become something more. It's warm, gently funny, and quietly resilient, a bit like the characters themselves. A perfect book for evenings when you want something tender and human without needing anything too heavy.
It Didn't Start With You
Mark Wolynn
This gave me a different way of thinking about certain patterns I'd only ever viewed through a personal lens. The idea that some of what we carry didn't originate with us — but can still be worked with — felt both freeing and grounding. What I appreciated most was the compassion in Wolynn's tone; there's no blame, only curiosity. It's the kind of book that gently nudges you to look at your family in a softer light, and to feel a little less alone in your own inner weather.
Sex Matters
Osho
What I appreciated most was how normalising the tone is. Osho treats sexuality as something to be understood rather than managed or hidden, which felt refreshingly grown-up. Reading it, I found myself reflecting on how much of what we call "personal preference" is actually inherited discomfort. It's not a manual, and it isn't trying to be — it's more of an invitation to look honestly at a part of life that shapes identity, connection, and self-image in ways we rarely take the time to examine.
The Let Them Theory
Mel Robbins
What stayed with me most was how liberating such a small phrase can be once you start using it in real moments. It's the kind of tool that quietly rewires everyday interactions — with family, at work, in friendships — without needing big confrontations. I appreciated how practical and unpretentious the book is; Mel writes like a supportive older sister rather than a guru. It left me with more emotional room and less of that low-grade friction that comes from silently trying to manage other people.
What My Mother and I Don't Talk About
Michele Filgate
This gave me a different way of thinking about the silences that run through so many families. What I connected with most was how honest each essay is without being performative — you can feel the writers really thinking on the page. It's a book that makes you want to sit quietly for a while afterward. It doesn't push toward tidy resolutions; it just holds space for complicated love, which felt like one of the most respectful things a book on this topic can do.
What Happened to You?
Bruce D. Perry & Oprah Winfrey
The part I connected with most was how much dignity this book gives to the reader. It doesn't reduce anyone to their trauma; it just explains, clearly and warmly, how our nervous systems learned what they know. I found myself reflecting on my own reactions with more curiosity and less judgment. It's the kind of book I'd hand to almost anyone — a genuinely accessible, deeply human introduction to why we are the way we are, and why change is very much possible.
Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself
Dr Joe Dispenza
What stayed with me most was the invitation to notice how much of "me" is actually just repetition. The book has a hopeful, almost patient tone — real change is possible, but it asks something of you. I appreciated how it treats meditation not as a mystical add-on but as a practical tool for rewiring habits. It left me more aware of the small daily loops I'd stopped questioning, and more curious about what might shift if I gently intervened in a few of them.
Don't Believe Everything You Think
Joseph Nguyen
There was something very comforting about the simplicity of this one. It doesn't try to impress you with complexity; it just returns, again and again, to a very clear idea and lets you sit with it. What I appreciated most was how gentle the tone is — no pressure, no performance, just a quiet reminder that you're not obligated to believe every thought that shows up. It's the kind of book you can revisit whenever your mind is louder than usual.
FRI
Jeanette Dareblom Teilus
What I connected with most was how personal and honest the writing feels. It doesn't hand you a formula; it invites you into your own process. I found myself pausing often, underlining lines, and coming back to certain passages later. There's a quiet strength in the book — the sense that freedom isn't something dramatic or external, but something you slowly grow into by being honest with yourself. It left me feeling both softer and more committed to my own path.
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