Wellness Book Chat

January 28, 2027: Choose Joy by Sophie Cliff    Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

​Research tells us that joy has a whole host of health benefits and now using the tools in this book, you can start taking the necessary daily steps toward building a life that lights you up instead of drags you down

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December 3, 2026: A Bit Much by Lyndsay Rush    Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

The debut poetry collection from Lyndsay Rush is a humorous and joyful celebration of big feelings, tender truths, and hard-won wisdom that will make you laugh and cry.

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October 2026: Modern Friendship by Anna Goldfarb    Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

​With Modern Friendship, Anna shares a manual for understanding what is pushing our friendships to the brink and provides actionable advice for forming authentic, enduring connections today. Grasping the mechanics of friendships will liberate you from the prison of self-doubt. “Your friendships are precious. They’re vital. They matter. So let’s understand, cultivate, and harness their incredible power,” says Anna. With Modern Friendship, you’ll discover how to be a more self-assured and empowered friend to the most meaningful people in your life.

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This book was highly enjoyed by most of our group. It is very affirming that it's not just us that struggle with friendship! It also has lots of practical, doable tips that we found helpful.

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September 2026: Flourishing Kin by Yuria Celidwen    Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

From Indigenous scholar Yuria Celidwen comes a first-of-its-kind book about our aspiration for sustainable, collective flourishing through Indigenous wisdom, traditions, and practices that bridge Indigenous and Western knowledges and ways.

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This book is written in a more scholarly way, so it was a bit more difficult of a read. That said, it brought up super interesting topics for discussion, and the group was glad to have reaad it.

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August 2026: Today I Noticed by Willow Older and Deborah Huder   Buy on Amazon

With its simple, three-word prompt and heartwarming illustrations, Today I Noticed celebrates the power of slowing down and noticing the world around us. A beautiful gift book for anyone seeking to build a simple and fun daily mindfulness practice, Today I Noticed features artwork and musings that will inspire you to express gratitude for the little moments that often slip by unnoticed.

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This was a short, easy read that was really thoughtful and inspiring. It also includes journaling pages at the back. A great reminder to be present, and it makes a great gift!

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July 2026: How We Grow Through What We Go Through by Christopher Willard    Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

Trauma pervades every aspect of our lives, particularly in recent years between climate change, social justice issues, the coronavirus pandemic, and more. But the truth is that post-traumatic growth, rather than post-traumatic stress, is not only possible but probable. In this book, you’ll discover the conditions and compassionate practices that make growth and resilience possible.

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This short and practical book was a hit with our group! Many of the practices we teach at The Perch even showed up in this book.

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June 2026: Don't Believe Everything You Think by Joseph Nguyen   Buy on Amazon

With research and practices you can actually use, this practical book is one you'll want on your shelf.

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Reviews on this book were mixed with some loving it and others feeling it was too simplistic. Overall, we liked the idea of realizing how much our own thinking and ruminating lends to our suffering.

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May 2026: Feral Self Care by Mandi Em   Buy on Amazon

This gorgeous little book features fun and unique ideas to care for yourself. None of the usual things here! We'll be thinking outside the box, which is perfect for spring.

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This was a fun read with some practices we teach at The Perch as well as some off-the-wall practices like screaming that actually help. This book was well-liked by our group.

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April 2026: Self Love Poetry by Melody Godfred   Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

This short little poetry book features pairs of poems--one for the thinkers, and one for the feelers. It will be hard to pick your favorite poems! 

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This is one of our ALL-TIME FAVORITES! We now permanently carry this book in our shop. The perfect pick-me-up for hard days, and a great support for those of us learning to love ourselves. Also makes a great gift!

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March 2026: Little Dreamers by Vashti Harrison   Buy on Amazon

Yes, this is technically a kids' book, but that just means it has adorable illustrations of these amazing women from around the world! Celebrate Women's History Month by reading this great book about amazing women you need to know about.

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This was a different kind of pick for our group, and it was a fun read. We learned about women we'd never heard of before! The charming illustrations made it extra fun.

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February 2026: Peaceful Neighbor by Michael Long   Buy on Amazon

We do not usually think of Fred Rogers as radical, partly because he wore colorful, soft sweaters made by his mother. Nor do we usually imagine him as a pacifist; that adjective seems way too political to describe the host of a children's program known for its focus on feelings. We have restricted Fred Rogers to the realm of entertainment, children, and feelings, and we've ripped him out of his political and religious context. This book takes a look at the countercultural Fred Rogers.

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This was a super fascinating look at Fred Rogers, though it was a bit academic in tone. We all learned a lot!

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January 2026: How to Be Enough by Ellen Hendrickson   Buy on Amazon

This book charts a flexible, forgiving, and freeing path, all without giving up the excellence your high standards and hard work have gotten you. She delivers seven shifts―including from self-criticism to kindness, control to authenticity, procrastination to productivity, comparison to contentment―to find self-acceptance, rewrite the Inner Rulebook, and most of all, cultivate the authentic human connections we’re all craving.

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We enjoyed talking about this one! We loved how the author shared different types of perfectionism and how the research can help us set aside our perfectionistic tendencies. We definitely saw ourselves in this book!

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Nov/Dec 2025: Say the Thing by Kami Orange   Buy on Amazon

If you are looking to learn how to express what you truly feel and ask for what you want in a kind and direct way, this book will help you take control of situations and set boundaries that work for you in your environment. Giving hundreds of examples of boundary phrases and conversation scripts, it’s designed to be both easy to read and an accessible reference. With her friendly voice and a spark of humor, boundary coach Kami Orange is here to help you navigate life's tricky situations and learn how to stand up for yourself, for others, and to say the thing.

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We loved this book! It's definitely needed on your shelf. Look up the topic you're trying to set boundaries around, and Kami Orange gives you tons of ideas about how to say what you need. Really great to have around the holidays!

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October 2025: Embrace Yoga's Roots by Susanna Barkataki   Buy on Amazon

If you desire an authentic yoga practice embracing ancient yogic philosophy and traditions but don’t know how to embody that knowledge with integrity in today’s modern yoga culture, Embrace Yoga’s Roots is your guide to honor and not appropriate yoga. Embrace Yoga's Roots explores the past's yogic traditions, brings them alive today, and preserves them for the future by examining what separates us, reflecting on our part, taking action for equity and moving toward liberation together.

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This is a great book if you want to dive deep into what yoga is all about, and if you're a yoga teacher, this book is a must. It's helpful to know how to teach this wonderful practice without appropriating the culture.

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September 2025: The 5 Resets by Dr. Aditi Nerurkar   Buy on Amazon

For Dr. Nerurkar, the common misperception of stress as “bad” needs reframing. Stress is a healthy biological phenomenon that helps us tackle life’s many demands. It becomes problematic when it’s out of tune with the frequency of our lives, result­ing in burnout, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and many other physical symptoms. To bring stress back to healthy levels, Dr. Nerurkar offers her five science-backed mindset shifts, rooted in more than two decades of clinical experience.

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We really liked this book! It is filled with practical ideas to combat stress, and it felt like it was speaking to us.

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August 2025: The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Bown   Buy on Amazon

Brené writes, “This book is an invitation to join a wholehearted revolution. A small, quiet, grassroots movement that starts with each of us saying, ‘My story matters because I matter.’ Revolution might sound a little dramatic, but in this world, choosing authenticity and worthiness is an absolute act of resistance.”

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Overall, we really liked how this book talks about vulnerability and authenticity. Some people thought it was a bit simplistic in its advice.

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July 2025: Real Self Care by Pooja Lakshmin   Buy on Amazon

The author expertly highlights the contradictions of the wellness industry and offers a paradigm-shifting program for practicing real self-care that will empower, uplift, and maybe even start a revolution.

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We loved that the author went deep with her practices. No fluffy self-care stuff here! 

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June 2025: Marsha by Tourmaline   Buy on Amazon

Rumor has it that after Marsha P. Johnson threw the first brick in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, she picked up a shard of broken mirror to fix her makeup. Marsha, a legendary Black transgender activist, embodied both the beauty and the struggle of the early gay rights movement. Written with sparkling prose, Tourmaline’s richly researched biography Marsha finally brings this iconic figure to life, in full color. Her story promises to inspire us to live as our most liberated, unruly, vibrant, and whole selves.

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This is a longer read, but it was the perfect pick for Pride month! We all learned a ton about the early gay rights movement and the AIDS crisis. This book stretched our understanding and grew our empathy.

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May 2025: The Way Forward by Yung Pueblo   Buy on Amazon

This book is all about moving toward a life lived authentically, intuitively, and in harmony with others. This easy-to-read poetry book is simple yet profound and sure to lead to great conversation.

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We loved the thoughtful poems in this book and spent the night reading our favorites to each other. That said, we didn't like it as much as his book Inward, which we read for another Book Chat.

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April 2025: The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins   Buy on Amazon

This book is all about setting yourself free from the opinions, drama, and judgements of others and focusing instead on what you can control. This puts the power to create a life you love back in your hands. 

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Overall, we DID NOT like this book, and we would not recommend it to anyone. While the idea to let people live their lives without you worrying yourself sick about it can be helpful in very simple situations, overall this advice can be really unhealthy. On top of that, the book was too formulaic and basically said that if it didn't work, the reader was the problem. If you're curious about some of the controversy around this book, search it on Instagram.

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March 2025: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer   Buy on Amazon

This book is all about the beauty of an abundance-based economy. Kimmerer shares how nature is generous, abundant, and reciprocal and how we can learn to live that kind of economy as well.

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This book led to some very interesting conversation about what an abundance-based economy can look like today, but we didn't like the lack of practical takeaways.

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February 2025: The Tears that Taught Me by Morgan Richard Olivier   Buy on Amazon

This poetry book is all about grief, healing, and self-care.

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Overall, it was just okay. We were hoping for a bit more depth, but still glad we read it.

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January 2025: Rest Easy by Ximena Vengoechea   Buy in our shop   Buy on Amazon

This book is all about the power of rest, including explaining doable techniques for rest.

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One of all ALL-TIME FAVORITES! The book is gorgeous and even feels restful and relaxing to look at. So many wonderful ideas and practical thoughts. We all felt encouraged and excited to put things into practice. We now permanently carry it in our shop!