Summer Reading

Summer reading can be one of the most cherished parts of taking time off. Many of us count the days until a beach vacation, eager to curl up under the umbrella with a new book. While none of us at PC&CC would begrudge you the occasional legal thriller or bodice-ripper, here are a few suggestions for those looking for a little more “soul searching” as part of their summer reading list:

  • Getting the Love You Want: A Guide for Couples, 20th-Anniversary Edition, by Harville Hendrix. This often-recommended book lays out the process of Imago Relationship Therapy using case examples and accessible language. The latest edition features revisions throughout and a new foreword.
  • Keeping the Love You Find: A Guide for Singles, by Harville Hendrix. This guide to holding onto love applies Imago principles to the search for a partner.
  • An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness, by Kay Redfield Jamison. This honest depiction of the author’s own experience with bipolar disorder is an engaging story as well as a useful tool in educating yourself about mood disorders and treatment.
  • Love’s Executioner & Other Tales of Psychotherapy, by Irvin D. Yalom. The venerable author offers treatment narratives featuring 10 of his own intriguing patients, including successes and challenges in the counseling process.
  • Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor E. Frankl. Opening with an engrossing personal essay about the author’s own five-year imprisonment during the Holocaust, this ultimately inspiring book delves into the struggle of making sense out of life under the harshest of circumstances.
  • Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith, by Anne Lamott. The sequel to Lamott’s successful Traveling Mercies, this memoir offers more tales of the author’s fascinating spiritual journey.