Tell us a little bit about yourself
I’m a mental health professional and a two-time author. I read 200 books a year and review self-help books on my Instagram at therapy book nook.
What is your favorite genre?
Everything – except the classics and poetry
What city do you live in?
Livermore, CA
1.
Pachinko
Min Jin Lee
Why did you like it?
An absolutely epic novel, about a family of Korean people living in Japan during World War II. I love to learn something in a book, and I never realized before how poorly the Korean people were treated in Japan. This book is also a miniseries on Apple TV.
2.
Woodworking
Emily St. James
Why did you like it?
This book is written by a trans writer, and is about three trans characters in South Dakota, who are in various stages of coming out. The author says “ the single greatest determinant of whether someone will support and affirm a trans person is if they know one”. Well, you may not know one personally, you will feel like you do after you read this book.
3.
The Human Scale
Lawrence Wright
Why did you like it?
Wright writes a fair amount of non-fiction but this one is a fictional account of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. If you’ve always wanted to understand more about that conflict, you will get a fresh perspective here even though it’s fiction. The author has spent quite a bit of time in the region and I feel like fairly handles both sides of the issue.
4.
Nuclear War: A Scenario
Annie Jacobsen
Why did you like it?
This book is nonfiction, but it reads like fiction. Jacobsen takes her extensive knowledge of nuclear weaponry and gives us a potential scenario that could very much happen. This book avoids being a conspiracy tale, and avoids being too hysterical about the topic – it’s a very measured imagination based on the real facts that exist. This is one book that I have to say, wakes me up at night and that I think about almost every day. Not a fun read, but one I think everyone should read and be aware of.
5.
Flashlight
Susan Choi
Why did you like it?
I didn’t think I would like this book because fairly shortly into the book. I disliked most of the character characters. But it takes a really great author to make you love a book when you dislike the characters. Also, I had no idea that people were literally kidnapped off of the coast of Japan and North Korea used them to teach their spies English.