Untitled Bibliotherapy Project

I was the shy kid watching the world from the library window, a book open on my lap. The kid who found solace and adventure through stories. Novels, poems, and films enlivened my days and helped me navigate life’s choppy waters to adulthood. And while I’ve outgrown my shyness, my lifelong love of literature remains.

I believe that literature (and art of all kinds) is essential. That it helps us feel less alone, bear the vagaries of life and celebrate its wonders. That it inspires, challenges and heals. That it helps us find meaning in the things we’d rather not face but nonetheless must and imagine a new way forward.

For years, I have been collecting readings, mostly poems, in a Google Drive folder labeled ‘Bibliotherapy.’ In the folder are a handful of documents with names like ‘general life/presence,’ ‘making choices and alternate possibilities,’ ‘love,’ ‘joy,’ and ‘destruction and rebirth’ (to name a few). 

I’ve always imagined expanding it into a bibliotherapy project. Curated lists of some sort. Maybe you’re at an inflection point in your life or nursing a broken heart, or maybe you want a reading/viewing list that’s centered around a place, feeling, or color. My magic index/app/site could give you recommendations and perhaps even connect you with others who are reading/watching/staring awestruck at the same works. Who knows!

While this idea takes shape, I have a request for you: I’d love to hear about the books, poems, articles, songs, films and paintings that have impacted you. 

I hope to one day soon turn it all into a living inventory for anyone seeking consolation or epiphany through art…because at the end of the day, aren’t we all?

Stay tuned and thank you!

Monica