What I’m reading: December 2021
I’m cheekily writing this in 2022, so hello from the future. December is a great month for reading; there’s so much time for it. Whether you’re curled up on the sofa with a blanket while the frost forms a sparkly rug on the pavement outside (Northern Hemisphere) or sat in your garden with an ice-clinky glass of cooling liquid, a book is the perfect companion. This summer, I combined a staycation with a short trip away and my faithful books followed me everywhere I went! Now we’re back into the busy-ness of life again and I’m dreaming of those days.
Here’s my list for December 2021.
1. Anatomy of an Epidemic (Robert Whitaker)
I’m not sure where this book has been hiding or why its contents are not more widely known. Robert Whitaker explores the mental health ‘epidemic’ – the rising prevalence of mental illness, the increasing use of psychiatric drugs, the over-reliance on diagnosis – and makes some pretty shocking discoveries. What we think we know about mental illness is, often, fiction; there is no proof of a ‘chemical imbalance’ in depression and other mental illnesses, and psychiatric drugs have shown no effectiveness long-term (and, in fact, do more harm than good). The desire for a ‘magic bullet’ comes from our biomedical approach to mental health that wishes to treat mental illness like a disease such as diabetes; Whitaker’s book forces us to reconsider our approach and has indeed sparked a global movement to challenge the status quo.
2. Becoming Myself (Irvin Yalom)
I love Irvin Yalom. A psychiatrist and psychotherapist from the US, he founded existential psychotherapy; therapy that focuses on exploring certain existential issues such as meaning and death. Yalom has done the world a great service through writing his books, which explore life’s biggest topics and provide a genuine insight into his own foibles and inner world. Becoming Myself is Yalom’s memoir – it is quite a treat to understand even further how his brain works and where his wonderful ideas have sprouted from.
3. Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Wall Kimmerer)
This book came at the perfect time. Having grown up in a Western setting, where our relationship with nature has become fractured, I’ve failed to see the intrinsic connections between humankind and our green (and colourful) counterparts. A few things have happened over the past few years to shift that; moving to Aotearoa New Zealand, where the relationship to nature is a given in Māori culture', coming to terms with the climate crisis, and becoming more of a spiritual person. This book helps us, piece by piece, to build that connection we so desperately need.
4. Detransition, Baby (Torrey Peters)
A book written by a trans author with trans characters. Amongst many things, this provided me with a really insightful look at motherhood from the perspective of trans women. While this does not represent all trans women’s experiences and I shouldn’t expect it to, it’s an important step in increasing my understanding of how other people experience the world
5. Under the Tuscan Sun (Frances Mayes)
American woman buys big Italian villa. While it is a bit self-indulgent on her part and she goes on about her Italian shoes too much, this book is beautiful for the senses. It’s all lush, fresh fruit picked from the tree and paired with gorgonzola on a large wooden table under a flowery porch, while the scorching hot day saps your energy, and then, oops, off I go for a 2-hour lunchtime nap. Then I’ll wander to the market and pick up some more cheese and wine, eat a load of that and then soak in a tub for an hour before passing out on my bed. Needless to say, by the end I was furiously Googling ‘how to buy a villa in Italy’.