2021 Nightstand Collective Book List

A Cat, A Man and Two Women, Junichiro Tanizaki, Paul McCarthy

Amusing Ourselves To Death - Neil Postman

Art And Laughter, by Sheri Klein

Blood Child, by Octavia Butler

Dune, by Frank Herbert

Everybody: A Book About Freedom, by Olivia Laing

Fearing The Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings

 Feminist Queer Crip, Alison Kafir

Ill Feelings, by Alice Hattrick

I’m Fine And Other Lies…, by Whitney Cummings

In Our Mad And Furious City, by Guy Gunarante

Life, I Swear, by Chloe Dulce Louvouezo

Mind of My Mind, by Octavia Butler

New Suns: Original Speculative Fiction by People of Color, Edited by Nisi Shawl

The Body Keeps The Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk

The Lost Ones - Samuel Beckett

The Star and The Shamrock, by Jean Grainger

The Utopia Of Rules, by David Graeber

Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics, by Monica Furlong


My Personal Book List: The most Helpful Books on The Topic of Illness

100 Questions and Answers About Endometriosis, David Redwine, MD

Adventures in Being Human, Gavin Ferancis

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, Atul Gawande

Biography of a Germ, Arno Karlen

Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body to Face Stress, Pain and Illness, Jon Kabat-Zinn

Giving Up The Ghost, a Memoir, by Hilary Mantel

Heal Pelvic Pain, by Amy Stein M.P.T

How To Be Sick, by Toni Bernhard

Illness as Metaphor and AIDS and its Metaphors, Susan Sontag

Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind, Daniel Seigel

Migraine, Oliver Sacks

Mindfulness for Beginners: Reclaiming the Present Moment and Your Life, Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, Daniel Siegel

Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and Other Essays From Your Nervous System, by Sonya Huber

Stop Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain, by Andrew Cook M.D

Survival of The Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem

The Alchemy of Illness, by Kat Duff

The Autoimmune Epidemic, by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Van Der Kolk M.D

The Body in Pain: Making and Unmaking of the World, Elaine Scarry

The Mindful Way Through Depression, Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindal Segal, Jon Kabbat-Zinn

The Noonday Demon, Andrew Solomon

The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, by Karen Armstrong

The TMJ Healing Plan: Ten Steps to Relieving Headaches, Neck Pain and Jaw Disorders, by Cynthia Peterson, PT

The Two Kinds of Decay A Memoir, Sarah Manguso

The Wisdom of the Body: Discovering the Human Spirit, Sherwin Nuland

The Wounded Storyteller, by Arthur Frank

Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, Sharon Begley

Running list of all books regarding illness from the last 5 years

A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness, by Marlena Graves

Adaptogens: herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief, by David Winston and Steven Maimes

Addiction and Grace, by Gerald May

Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book

Blue Dreams: The Science and the Story of Drugs That Changed Our Minds, by Lauren Slater

Celiac Disease A Hidden Epidemic, by Peter Green M.D

Chronic Babe 101: How To Create an Incredible Life Beyond Illness, by Jenni Grover

Happiness in a Storm: Facing Illness and Embracing Life as a Healthy Survivor, by Wendy Schlessel Harpham, M.D

Hope For Today, by Al- Anon

How To Be Sick, by Toni Bernhard

Living With it Daily: Meditations for People with Chronic Pain, by Patricia D Nielsen

Making Friends With Your Mind, by Pema Chodron

Stop Being Your Symptoms Start Being Yourself, by Arthur Barsy M.D and Emily Deans M.D

Surviving and Thriving With An Invisible Chronic Illness, by Ilana Jacqueline

The Alchemy of Illness, by Kat Duff

The Angry Book, by Theodore Rubin M.D

The Art of Stillness, by Pico Iyer

The Bipolar Handbook, by Wes Burgess

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

The Diabetic Athlete’s Handbook, by Sheri Colberg

The Lost Years, by Kristina Wandzilak

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

The Wahls Protocol, by Terry Wahls

The War of the Gods in Addiction, by David Schoen

Think Like A Pancreas, by Gary Sceiner

This Naked Mind Control Alcohol: Find Freedom, Discover Happiness and Change Your Life, by Annie Grace

We Moon-Bound Date Book for Recording Health Stuff

Where Does it Hurt?, by Jonathan Bush and Stephen Baker

Top Ten Most Featured Books from Nightstand Collective

One of my favorite things about working on The Nightstand Collective is seeing all the books glide by, and what learning folks are diving into. What books folks are using to escape, bring joy or transport. Over the last four years there have been a number of books that show up again and again, so I thought a list featuring those might be helpful to some. So here you have it the top ten most featured books.

  1. The Body Keeps The Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk

  2. Braving The Wilderness, by Brene Brown

  3. How To Be Sick, by Toni Bernhard

  4. The Seat of The Soul, by Gary Zukov

  5. Proust Was a Neuroscientist, by Jonah Leher

  6. The Art of Stillness, by Pico Iyer

  7. When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron

  8. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

  9. Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

  10. I Thought It Was Just Me, Brene Brown

2020 Nightstand Collective Booklist

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Frida, by Hayden Herrera

I’ll Be Gone in The Dark, by Michelle McNamara

Memories and Misinformation, by Jim Carrey

Mink River, by Brian Doyle

Persepolis, by Marjane Strapi

Seat of The Soul, by Gary Zukov

The Book of Symbols, by Taschen

The Body Keeps The Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk

The Lost Years, by Kristina Wandzilak

This Naked Mind Control Alcohol: Find Freedom, Discover Happiness and Change Your Life

by Annie Grace

To The River, by Olivia Laing

2019 Nightstand Collective Book List

A Beautiful Disaster: Finding Hope in the Midst of Brokenness, by Marlena Graves

A Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley 

Adventures in Criticism, by Arthur Quiller-Couch

Aimee Semple McPherson: Everybody's Sister, by Edith Blumhofer

Captive State, by George Monbiot

Collected Poems, by Theodore Roethke

Complete Poems, by Basil Bunting

Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time, by Joseph Frank

Eihei Dogen: Mystical Realist, by Hee-Jin Kim

From Marx to Gramsci, by Paul Le Blanc

I’ll Be Gone In The Dark, by Michelle McNamara

Into the Silent Land: The Practice of Contemplation, Marin Laird

Jonathan Edwards: A Life, by George Marsden

Money, by Martin Amis

New Left Review, Jan-Feb 2005

New Left Review Nov-Dec 2006

Saint Therese of Lisieux, Kathryn Harrison

Selected Poems, by Thom Gunn

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore

The Affluent Worker in the Class Structure, by John Goldthorpe

The Art of the Advocate, Richard Du Cann

The Book of Margery Kempe, by Margery Kempe

The Eight Gates of Zen: A Program of Zen Training, by John Daido Loori

The Sea and Poison, Shusaku Endo

Who Dies? An Investigation of Conscious Living and Conscious Dying, by Stephen and Ondrea Levine

Why? Looking at God, Evil and Personal Suffering, by Sharon Dirckx 

2018 Nightstand Collective Book List

A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success is Wrong, by Eric Barker

Be Here Now, by Ram Dass,

Big Red Dictionary- To look up big words in The New Yorker

Blue Dreams: The Science and the Story of Drugs That Changed Our Minds, by Lauren Slater.

Braving The Wilderness, by Brene Brown

Celiac Disease A Hidden Epidemic, by Peter green M.D

Chronic Babe 101: How To Create an Incredible Life Beyond Illness, 

by Jenni Grover

Collected Stories by Lydia Davis

Confabulations by John Berger

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within All of Us, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley

Each Day a New Beginning, by Alex Uwajeh

Fairies, by Brian Fround

Happiness in a Storm, by Wendy Schlessel Harpham, MD

Hope for Today, by Al Anon

How To Be Sick, by Toni Bernhard.

How To Live Well With Chronic Pain and Illness, by Toni Bernhard.

I Thought It Was Just Me, by Brene Brown

In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

Irrational Man, by William Barrett

Language of Letting Go

Living With it Daily: Meditations for People with Chronic Pain, by Patricia D Nielsen

Making Friends With Your Mind, by Pema Chodron

Mrs. Fletcher, by Tom Perrotta

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

One True Thing, by Anna Quindlen.

Phenomenology of Perception, by Merleau-Ponty

Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsey

Playing Dead, by Elizabeth Greenwood

Proust Was A Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer

Secret of a Sun King by Emma Carroll

Sing, unburied, sing- By Jesmyn Ward

Stop Being Your Symptoms Start Being Yourself, by Arthur Barksy M.D, and Emily Deans M.D.

Surviving and Thriving With an Invisible Chronic Illness, by Ilana Jacqueline.

The Art of Stillness, by Pico Iyer

The Best Catbook Ever, by Kate Funk

The Body Keeps The Score, by Bessel Van Der Kolk

The Case for Faith by, Lee Strobel,

The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen

The Debutante and Other Stories by Leonora Carrington.

The Dharmmapada, by Gil Fronsdal

The Dream of a Common Language by Adrienne Rich

The Five Second Rule, by Mel Robbins

The Four, by Scott Galloway

The Gluten Free Diet, by Elizabeth Hasselbeck

The Handmaids Tale, by Margaret Atwood

The Hoarder by Jess Kidd

The Phenomenological Mind, by Shaun Gallagher

The Pocket Pema Chodron, by Pema Chodron.

The Seat of The Soul, by Gary Zukov, Aå

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counter Intuitive Approach to Living A Good Life, by Mark Manson

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

Utopia For Realists, by Rutger Bregman

We'Moon-Bound date book for recording health stuff.

Where Does it Hurt, by Johnathan Bush and Stephen Baker

Women Writers of The Provincetown Players, edited by Judith Barlow

‘winter’ and ‘autumn’ by Ali Smith

2017-118 Books From 51 Nightstands of People Navigating Chronic Illness

                   

118 books from 51 Nightstands~2017

I started The Nightstand Collective Project in order to learn what other people were doing with their time while confined to bed; what tools were they using for their physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing. I have often found the process of managing chronic illness to be an isolating experience, and the times when I was consumed with trying to understand this process in my body has ebbed and flowed. I wanted to know what other people were experiencing and working with during these vulnerable times. The items on our bedroom nightstand are the most revealing in this journey. I was curious.

After a year of collecting nightstand stories I am starting to see some patterns and themes that run throughout all of the nightstands. One of and the strongest items by far is the old fashioned book. Actual paper books are thriving! A few Kindle's are featured and when they are I have asked for the top books being read at the time, but by and large books are the rule. I have gathered the list of all the books from 51 nightstands and here it is. I am simply fascinated by this list. I had anticipated the books to be primarily about illness, and was honestly surprised to find that they are hardly any on the topic of physical illness, but rather books on tools to manage spiritual and mental health. Lots of plain old fantasy distraction and coloring books are heavily used. Largely missing from this list is romance novels. Interesting.

 

 

 

 

13 Reasons Why, By Jane Asher.

A Very Short Introduction Series, by Oxford University Press

Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina and Stress Relief, byDavid Winston, and Steven Maimes

Addiction and Grace, by Gerald May.

Alcoholics Anonymous Big Book

All The Joy You Can Stand, by Debrena Jackson Gandy

Art Therapy Disney Princesses

Artful, by Ali Smith

Awakenings, by Thomas Keating.

Barking Up The Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success is Wrong, by Eric Barker

Braving The Wilderness, by Brene Brown

Build Your Own Independent Nation, by Sakagushi Kyohei

Calm: 50 Mindfulness Exercises to de-stress and unwind, by Dr. Arlene Unger

Chernobyl Prayer, by Svetlana Alexievich.

Children's Bible

Children's Bible.

CoDependant No More, by Melody Beattie.

Color Therapy Coloring Book

Compassion and Self Hate, by Theodore Rubin MD. 

Complete Etiquette: The Complete Modern Guide For Day-To-Day Living The Correct Way, by Frances Benton.

Courage, by Anna Akhmatova

Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within All of Us, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley

Cuckoo's Calling, by Robert Galbraith

D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths.

Dorothy Must Die, by Danielle Paige.

Dust, by Patricia Cornwall

Fantastic Beasts, by J.K. Rowling

For Boys Only: The Biggest, Baddest Book Ever, by Marc Aronson.

Fourth Way Teachings, by Rebecca Nottingham.

Fragments, by Murat Yagan.

Fuck Feelings: One Shrink's Practical Advice For Managing All Of Life's Impossible Problems, by Michael Bennett, MD and Sarah Bennett.

Get Your Shit Together, by Ruth Field

Giapponeserie, by Antonio Marazzi

Going After Cacciato, by Tim O'Brien

Growing a Feast, by Kurt Timmermeister

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, by  J.K Rowling

Haunthed, by Chaun Palanik

How Can I Get Better, by Dr. Richard Horowitz

How To Smoke Pot (properly): A Highbrow Guide To Getting High, by David Bienenstock

Hyperbole and a Half, by Allie Brosh

 I Thought It Was Just Me, by Brene Brown

I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen, by Silvie Simmons  

If You Feel Too Much, by Jamie Tworkowski

Iliad and The Odyssey, by Homer.

Inner Work, by Robert Johnson.

Intern, by Doctor X

Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov

 Lonely Planet To Somewhere

Love Poems, by Nikki Giovani

Making Friends With Your Mind, by Pema Chodron

Man's Search For Meaning, by Victor Frankl

Managing Thought, by Mary J Lore

Maps of The Disney Parks, by Vanessa Hunt

Miss Peregrine's School for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs.

Morrissey Autobiography

Mrs. Fletcher, by Tom Perrotta

Multicultural Japan, Edited by Denoon, Hudson, McCormack, and Morris Suzuki.

My Brother, by Jamaica Kincaid

Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics, and the Limits of law, by Dean Spade

Not That Kind Of Girl, by Lena Dunham

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey

Painted Shadow, by Carole Seymor-Jones

Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh

Practical Mysticism, by Evelyn Underhill

Proust Was A Neuroscientist, by Jonah Lehrer

Red Dust, by Gillian Slovo  

Relationships, by The School of Life & Alan de Botton

Saving The Appearances, by Owen Barfield.

Selected Poems, by Sergei Esenini

Sing, unburied, sing- By Jesmyn Ward

Small Great Things, by Jodi Picoult

Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, by Pablo Hidalgo, and Simon Beecroft.

Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel

SweetBitter, by Stephanie Danler

The Alchemy of Illness, by Kat Duff

The Angry Book, by Theodore Rubin MD.

The Art of Stillness, by Pico Iyer

The Bell Lap, by Muriel A Murch

*The Bible

The Bipolar Handbook, by Wes Burgess

The Book of Human Emotions: From Ambiguphobia to Umpty- 154 Words From Around The World For How We Feel, by Tiffany Watt Smith

The Christian Archetype, by Edward Edinger.

The Complete Poems and Tales of Edgar Allen Poe

The Cosmic Christ, by Hans-Werner Schroeder.

The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed & Lorraine Warren, by Gerald Brittle.

The Diabetic Athlete's Handbook, by Sheri Colberg.

The Divided Self, By R.D.Laing.

The Enchantress Returns, by Chris Colfer. 

The Five Second Rule, by Mel Robbins

The Four, by Scott Galloway

The French Lieutenants Woman, by John Fowles

The Geology of The Island of Arran, Andrew Crombie Ramsey

The Healer, by Greg Hollingshead

The Lonely City, by Olivia Laing          

The Magic Mountain, by Thomas Mann.

The Museum of Unconditional Surrender, by Dubravka Ugresic

The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot, by Robert Macfarlane

The Pagoda, by Patricia Powell

The Poisoners Handbook, by Deborah Blum

The Ragmuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning

The Science of Universal Awe Vol 1, by Ahmsta Kebzeh.

The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory, by Carol J Adams

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, by Elizabeth Tova Bailey

The Spiritual Challenge of Midlife: Crisis and Opportunity, by Anselm Grum.

The Story of The Other Wise Man, by Henry Van Dyke

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck: A Counter Intuitive Approach to Living A Good Life,

                                                                                                by Mark Manson

The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook

The Wahls Protocol, by  Terry Wahls

The War of the Gods in Addiction, by David Schoen.

The Way of Hermes, by Hermes Trismegistus.

The Yellow Brick War, by Danielle Paige.

Think Like A Pancreas, by Gary Scheiner

Unbearable Splendor, by Sun Yung Shin

Unstoppable, By Bill Nye

Waking Up White, by Debby Irving

Waste Free Kitchen, by Dana Gunders

* When Things Fall Apart, by Pema Chodron

Where Does it Hurt, by Johnathan Bush and Stephen Baker

*Wild, by Cheryl Strayed

Women Who Run With The Wolves, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

YOU are a BADASS: How To Stop Doubting Your Greatness And Start Living An Awesome Life, by Jen Sincero.

You Deserve A Drink, by Mamrie Hart

(*= appears on more than one nightstand)