Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight

I bought this book soon after moving to New York as even though I loved my new city, I was yearning for the kind of connection to nature I had in Piccadilly, Australia, perched on my moon loft, head tipped to the stars. This book reconnects me to that world and as Atlee embarks on his own trip to chart moon sightings and stories across continents.

Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir

A candid, often very funny and always engaging, memoir on growing old.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The book is as special as its title, as special as its author. Maya Angelou is a consummate writer and poet, a woman of such immense courage and attunement to the lives of women, to the lives of all who sing under duress, especially the lives of black women. This is the first of five volumes of autobiography.

A Year by the Sea: Thoughts of an Unfinished Woman

If you want to curl up by the fire or lie on the beach for an afternoon then these are two books to take with you. I was intrigued by Anderson taking a year off to be by herself by the sea and, in her second book, her life-enhancing encounter with the wise and truly wonderful Joan Erikson

Rules for Radicals

Okay, I’ve got to admit, it was the name that drew me to the book. I was curious if radicals did have rule and, if so, what they would comprise and what I found was a very practical book on how to catalyze social change.

The House of the Spirits: A Novel

I carry this book close to me. House of Spirits depicts a world of women and spirit life, and live spirits, that inhabit her childhood and grown up word. As someone who grew up with the voices of crones in my head, Allende’s book was an affirmation and a homecoming. It still is.

One Hundred Names for Love:A Stroke, a Marriage and the Language of Healing

I was in Ubud, Bali when I picked up my friend Jeremy’s copy of this book. I was riveted and couldn’t possibly leave it behind as I traveled on to Candidisa so Jeremy waved me goodbye with book in hand. Ackerman’s love of her husband and of life and her extraordinary command of language as well as her embrace of eccentricity is refreshing and captivating.

Swamp riddles Inside Out: An Autobiography

I found Robert Adamson by accident when I was riffling through the poetry section at Sappho Books in Sydney. I felt kinship with his language and his human-ness in a more than human world. Swamp Riddles is dedicated to his wife. Inside Out is his own story from childhood to adult artist, which is compelling.