Words That Walk with Me

A personal reading & listening list

Here is a collection of books, poetry, podcasts, and voices that have accompanied me at various moments and helped shape my life in real and lasting ways. They have made it feel wider, steadier, and more true, and I hope that they can do the same for you.

These works offered companionship and gravity. They acted as mirrors, opened doors and windows, shifted perspective, and invited my heart to soften and stretch. This is a living list that continues to grow, but for now, it’s a shelf you’re welcome to browse.

Books that light the way

• Tiny Beautiful Things, by Cheryl Strayed
  On being human in all its mess and tenderness. I return to this again and again

• Devotions, by Mary Oliver
  Poems on attention, nature, and love that have become a constant companion

• In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat, by John Gribbin
  On curiosity, wonder, and the poetry of atoms

• Daring Greatly, by Brené Brown
  On shame and vulnerability. It changed how I wanted to live

• Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott
  Big-hearted instruction on writing, life, and how to get things moving

• The Universe in Verse, by Maria Popova
  A beautifully illustrated exploration of where poetry, science, and space intersect

• Reconciliation, by Thich Nhat Hanh
  On your inner child, compassion, and coming home to you

• Art as Experience, by John Dewey
  Based on a series of lectures, it reframed art as a lived experience

• Ways of Seeing, by John Berger
  This changed how I look at images, power, and meaning

• The Book of Joy, by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
  A reminder of what truly matters

For appreciating the tender, heavy, and beautiful

• In My Time of Dying, by Sebastian Junger
  On mortality, courage, and the thin line between life and death

• The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion
  A magical memoir on mourning and love

• When Breath Becomes Air, by Paul Kalanithi
  On making it count. Remarkable and heartbreaking

• Letters to a Young Poet, by Rainer Maria Rilke
  Letters full of truth and beauty that become a guide

• You Better Be Lightning, by Andrea Gibson
  Poetry that feels fierce, human, alive

• A Literate Passion, by Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller
  A collection of love letters that take your breath away

• On Love, by Alain de Botton
  A reflection on love that lingers

• Tender Is the Night, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  A novel that captures my long-standing love of Fitzgerald

• The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath
  Heavy and important. This book stayed with me

Well-known favourites that I also love

• Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, by Robert Sapolsky
  On biology, stress, and what it does to our bodies

• The Creative Act: A Way of Being, by Rick Rubin
  A bible on creativity as a way of living

• The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
  A timeless favourite

• The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho
  A parable that doesn’t grow old

• All About Love, by bell hooks
  On living love as a value and ethic

• The Body Keeps the Score, by Bessel van der Kolk
  How experience and trauma live in the body

• Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
  Originally published as Say Yes to Life, Nonetheless, an enduring life-changer

• The Dose Effect, by TJ Power
  Small, practical ways to work with our neurochemistry

• The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
  An unexpectedly comforting reminder not to take life too seriously

• The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle
  On presence as a practice

Podcasts for big questions and quiet reflections

• Magic Lessons, presented by Elizabeth Gilbert

• Dear Sugars, presented by Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond

• On Being, presented by Krista Tippett

• Unlocking Us, presented by Brené Brown

• Modern Love, from The New York Times

Substacks & voices I like to keep close by

• Mind Over Matter, from Jeanette Winterson

• Things That Don’t Suck, from Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley

• The Utter, from Yrsa Daley-Ward

• Create. Repeat, from Zack Evans and James Taylor

• The Isolation Journals, from Suleika Jaouad

• Miranda July, from Miranda July

A small note

These words and works have met me at different moments on my journey, some when I was searching, others when I wasn’t. I hope you find something that meets you where you’re at.

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