Patricia’s Bookshelf

Some books stay with you long after you’ve closed them.

This is a small collection of stories, memoirs, and creative works that have shaped me, comforted me, or simply made me feel a little more human.

If something here finds you at the right time, that’s kind of the magic.

(Disclosure: I’m an affiliate of Bookshop.org and may earn a small commission if you choose to purchase through these links. Every purchase also supports independent bookstores.)

 

 

 

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Poetry for Quiet Moments

Growth, healing, identity, purpose

  • Book cover of A Suit or a Suitcase by Maggie Smith, a contemporary poetry collection exploring identity, change, and self-reflection

    A Suit or a Suitcase

    InstantNew York Timesbestselling author and poet Maggie Smith returns with a newcollection of poems on the sometimes-blurry distinction between mind and body, and how the self shifts and moves through time and space.

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  • Book cover of Save Me an Orange by Hayley Grace, a soft and emotional poetry collection about love, longing, and healing

    Save me an orange

    In her debut poetry collection, Hayley gives voice to the roots of struggle and pain growing up, as well as the love and pursuit of self-acceptance that were fundamental in her own choice to live. Her verses weave a narrative that is both deeply personal and universally resonant-through shadows of the past and the fleeting moments of joy captured in the simplicity of sharing an orange.

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  • Book cover of Stars Around My Scars, an annotated poetry collection inspired by Taylor Swift’s lyrics exploring heartbreak, growth, and storytelling

    Stars Around My Scars

    Grab your highlighters and favorite red pen and prepare to join professor of "Swifterature" Dr. Elly McCausland as she dives deep into the tortured poetry of Taylor Swift. Going line by line and word by word through 46 of Swift's most celebrated and hotly debated songs from across her 11-album career, McCausland is here to help you listen, read, and understand Taylor's music in an all-new way!

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Memoirs That Stay With You

The ones that crack something open. The ones that feel a little too familiar.

  • Magical Thinking

    From the #1 bestselling author ofRunning with ScissorsandDry—a contagiously funny, heartwarming, shocking, twisted, and absolutely magical collection. True stories that give voice to the thoughts we all have but dare not mention. It begins with a Tang Instant Breakfast Drink television commercial when Augusten was seven. Then there is the contest of wills with the deranged cleaning lady. The execution of a rodent carried out with military precision and utter horror. Telemarketing revenge. Dating an undertaker. And much more. A collection of true stories that are universal in their appeal, yet unabashedly intimate and very funny.

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  • Running with Scissors

    Running with Scissorsis the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead-ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain. Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules, there was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock therapy machine under the stairs....

  • Educated

    Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education, and no one to intervene when one of Tara’s older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home.