Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
Great reads on my Heartspoken Bookshelf
17
items Reading can entertain, educate, inspire, and inform. It can transport us to other places and times. It can introduce us to people and situations we'd never encounter otherwise. It can expand our mind and our heart in magical ways. I'm thrilled to use... to share the books I've loved most or found to be the most transformative in my life. Some will also reflect my passion for the impact of handwritten notes and letters, a topic that inspired me to write a book of my own.
Sections
3
Books To Help You Grow and Be a Better Person
Books You'll Still Be Thinking About for Years After You Finish Them
Books To Help You Write Better Notes and Letters
Books To Help You Grow and Be a Better Person
Connection with Self is one of the Heartspoken Life's four essential connections. We connect with ourselves through intentional reflection and a desire to grow into our full potential.
A wise, readable reflection on time, attention, and what we choose to give ourselves to. This book pairs well with note writing because it reframes productivity around meaning and presence rather than output. Many readers find it clarifies why small ...
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals
A gentle invitation to notice more in everyday life. While not about writing, it sharpens observation and awareness, which are at the heart of meaningful notes. This is an excellent companion for anyone wanting to write with greater specificity and c...
On Looking: A Walker's Guide to Observation
This book was an exciting surprise because I didn't think I was the target reader because I'm not an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person). But so many of her insights and solutions addresssed feelings and circumstances we have all experienced, so I know I w...
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who suspects they need to do a better job of self-care and managing their energy levels. Using just a few of her tools, suggestions, and worksheets, you can begin to get a better handle on which ac...
I loved this book.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book to anyone who suspects they need to do a better job of self-care and managing their energy levels. Using just a few of her tools, suggestions, and worksheets, you can begin to get a better handle on which ac...
I loved this book.
Radiant: Energy for a Life You Love by Iris
Subtitled “An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones,” I was afraid this was just another run-of-the-mill self-help book. But it's a classic for a reason, and its practical guidelines and implementable action plans gave you a way...
The book was so good that I was halfway through reading it on my Kindle when I realized I wanted a hard copy to make notes and highlight in.
Research is what sets this book apart – solidly based on studies about peak performance in many fields as well as the author's excellent understanding of the psychology of success and achievement. He sifted through data to provide clear, implementabl...
The idea of tiny changes making a big difference is certainly not new, but he creates a simple four-step approach and builds on them to provide a book that is very practical and readable.
The book was so good that I was halfway through reading it on my Kindle when I realized I wanted a hard copy to make notes and highlight in.
Research is what sets this book apart – solidly based on studies about peak performance in many fields as well as the author's excellent understanding of the psychology of success and achievement. He sifted through data to provide clear, implementabl...
The idea of tiny changes making a big difference is certainly not new, but he creates a simple four-step approach and builds on them to provide a book that is very practical and readable.
Atomic Habits: Easy Way to Build & Break Habits
Books You'll Still Be Thinking About for Years After You Finish Them
How can a fictional character expand your heart and make you a better person. Read this book and you'll find out.
A somewhat mysterious elderly gentleman shows up in the Southern town of Golden and begins to interact with its citizens. His kindness and generosity inspire them to see themselves differently and share the pain and suffering of their lives.
Intense and beautiful writing that opens your soul to see the good in others…and in yourself.
A somewhat mysterious elderly gentleman shows up in the Southern town of Golden and begins to interact with its citizens. His kindness and generosity inspire them to see themselves differently and share the pain and suffering of their lives.
Intense and beautiful writing that opens your soul to see the good in others…and in yourself.
Theo of Golden: Expanded my heart
If ever there were a blueprint for living on this earth without destroying it and learning to appreciate its incredible blessings, this is it.
The author brings her scientific training as a botanist together with her Native American spirituality and ties to the earth into a beautiful tribute to Nature and a call for us all to protect, preserve, and cherish it.
The author brings her scientific training as a botanist together with her Native American spirituality and ties to the earth into a beautiful tribute to Nature and a call for us all to protect, preserve, and cherish it.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom & Science
McMurtry won the Pulitzer Prize for this book in 1986. It as an absolutely amazing epic with incredibly well-drawn characters. The book is considered a vivid glimpse of a time (late 1870s) and place (the “Wild West”) that are both long gone.
It was remarkably sympathetic to both cowboys and the Native Americans…to the pioneer wife and the saloon whore. Unsparing in its depiction of the harshness and cruelty of life on the Plains—ranching or cattle herding—yet so tender, sensitive and art...
I listened to it on Audible – the narration was stunning and pulled me more deeply into the story.
I have not felt that all Pulitzer Prize winners were worthy of the prize. This one is.
It was remarkably sympathetic to both cowboys and the Native Americans…to the pioneer wife and the saloon whore. Unsparing in its depiction of the harshness and cruelty of life on the Plains—ranching or cattle herding—yet so tender, sensitive and art...
I listened to it on Audible – the narration was stunning and pulled me more deeply into the story.
I have not felt that all Pulitzer Prize winners were worthy of the prize. This one is.
Lonesome Dove: Pulitzer Prize Novel by McMurtry
Here's another Pulitzer Prize Winner that deserved the award!
There is so much richness and compassion here as it depicts the Jim Crow era in a little Alabama town between 1933-1935 during the Depression. The protagonist and narrator, Scout Finch, is a young girl whose mother died years before. She and her olde...
Finch is assigned to defend a young black man falsely accused of raping a white girl whom he was imply trying to help,. The story was inspired by true incidents.
The author does an remarkable job of helping us see every single character, even the despicable Bob Ewell, as complex and a product of societal forces beyond their control.
This is also a beautiful coming of age story as Finch teaches his children hard lessons about fairness and doing what's right.
This book is ageless. It opened my heart and mind.
There is so much richness and compassion here as it depicts the Jim Crow era in a little Alabama town between 1933-1935 during the Depression. The protagonist and narrator, Scout Finch, is a young girl whose mother died years before. She and her olde...
Finch is assigned to defend a young black man falsely accused of raping a white girl whom he was imply trying to help,. The story was inspired by true incidents.
The author does an remarkable job of helping us see every single character, even the despicable Bob Ewell, as complex and a product of societal forces beyond their control.
This is also a beautiful coming of age story as Finch teaches his children hard lessons about fairness and doing what's right.
This book is ageless. It opened my heart and mind.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism, this is a book everyone should read to understand a little-known era of United States history: the mass migration of blacks fleeing from the South to go north and west in the early decades of the 20th cent...
I was woefully ignorant of how long it took place, how many millions of people took flight, or the impact it had on this country, both the South and in those cities where they landed.
The author's meticulous research and sensitive interview with hundreds of Blacks who participated in the migration—combined with a gift for story-telling—resulted in a fascinating and very important book.
The Audible version of this book was narrated beautifully by Robin Miles.
I was woefully ignorant of how long it took place, how many millions of people took flight, or the impact it had on this country, both the South and in those cities where they landed.
The author's meticulous research and sensitive interview with hundreds of Blacks who participated in the migration—combined with a gift for story-telling—resulted in a fascinating and very important book.
The Audible version of this book was narrated beautifully by Robin Miles.
The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
Outstanding fiction can help you think about the question “What would I do” in so many situations you may never actually encounter.
What would you do if you were desperately in love with someone whose quality of life was so diminished that they didn't want to go on living?
That's the premise of this beautiful, poignant sotry of a woman hired to take care of a handsome, young paraplegic. She falls in love with him and gives him some happiness, but not enough to keep him from wanting to seek assisted suicide.
This book could have triggers for some, but I thought the author did a masterful job of protraying a truth most of us know by the time we've lived a few decades: joy and despair can coexist and the most resilient among us learn how to keep them in te...
Hard, but beautiful…
What would you do if you were desperately in love with someone whose quality of life was so diminished that they didn't want to go on living?
That's the premise of this beautiful, poignant sotry of a woman hired to take care of a handsome, young paraplegic. She falls in love with him and gives him some happiness, but not enough to keep him from wanting to seek assisted suicide.
This book could have triggers for some, but I thought the author did a masterful job of protraying a truth most of us know by the time we've lived a few decades: joy and despair can coexist and the most resilient among us learn how to keep them in te...
Hard, but beautiful…
Me Before You
Highly acclaimed and with good reason. The story is ostensibly sad and dark, but taken as a whole, it is absolutely luminous.
12-year-old Edward is the only survivor of a plane crash – “the miracle boy.” Taken in by his aunt and uncle, during his recovery, he is befriended by Shay, a neighbor with whom he finds a common bnod in intelligence, quirky interests, and inability ...
After the crash, Edward starts receiving hundreds of letters from relatives who want to know if he could tell them anything about their loved ones who died. As he comes to terms with his own survival, he is enriched by using his money and time to hel...
The reader learns right along with Edward that we must never take life or love for granted, and that living well and fully is the best way to honor those who died.
Beautifully written and so thought-provoking!
12-year-old Edward is the only survivor of a plane crash – “the miracle boy.” Taken in by his aunt and uncle, during his recovery, he is befriended by Shay, a neighbor with whom he finds a common bnod in intelligence, quirky interests, and inability ...
After the crash, Edward starts receiving hundreds of letters from relatives who want to know if he could tell them anything about their loved ones who died. As he comes to terms with his own survival, he is enriched by using his money and time to hel...
The reader learns right along with Edward that we must never take life or love for granted, and that living well and fully is the best way to honor those who died.
Beautifully written and so thought-provoking!
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano: Read with Jenna
Books To Help You Write Better Notes and Letters
In researching my own book, I found some other fantastic books that ever note and letter writer should have on their bookshelf. This is the list of those books.
Yes, I wrote the book! I wanted to inspire and support note and letter writers (both personal and professional) who want to harness the superpower of an easy, affordable connection tool: heartspoken notes.
Heartspoken: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and ...
This book is enchanting, educational, and entertaining! It is a work of art and still enormously practical and useful.
Syme’s Letter Writer has me more excited about the future of note and letter writing than I’ve been in ages. By every measure, I should be wildly envious that New York Times journalist Rachel Syme has created a worthy competitor to my book Heartspoke...
If you love letter writing—or even just the idea of it—this book will inspire, entertain, and equip you to write more often and with more joy and fun.
Syme’s Letter Writer has me more excited about the future of note and letter writing than I’ve been in ages. By every measure, I should be wildly envious that New York Times journalist Rachel Syme has created a worthy competitor to my book Heartspoke...
If you love letter writing—or even just the idea of it—this book will inspire, entertain, and equip you to write more often and with more joy and fun.
Syme's Letter Writer: Guide to Modern Correspondence
This is a guide for the really HARD letters, notes, and cards to write: the ones when someone has died, been fired, been disgraced, or found out they have a terminal illness. These authors tackle a sensitive topic with both compassion and humor. I tu...
There Is No Good Card for This: Expert Guide
Margaret Shepherd was among the early authors to write a modern guide for handwritten notes. The subtitle— “A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communication” – sums it up, and even though there is some dated advice, the overall guidance is sound and eas...
The Art of the Handwritten Note: Guide
Subtitled "Learn How a Small, Powerful Act Can Enrich Your Life," this book is a wonderful complement to my own book: HEARTSPOKEN: How to Write Notes that Connect, Comfort, Encourage, and Inspire. In fact, Amazon has recommended pairing them.
The author is focused on handwritten notes and makes the case for their being not only impactful for the receiver but enriching for the life of the sender too. She has embraced the practice her whole life—personal and professional—and she shares gene...
I especially appreciated the author's insights into the way handwritten notes can help us slow down, be more observant, and even be more curious about others and about ourselves. Quality note writing comes from caring.
I loved her statement, "This book is not [just] about writing notes. It's about a way of being in the world."
Amen to that.
The author is focused on handwritten notes and makes the case for their being not only impactful for the receiver but enriching for the life of the sender too. She has embraced the practice her whole life—personal and professional—and she shares gene...
I especially appreciated the author's insights into the way handwritten notes can help us slow down, be more observant, and even be more curious about others and about ourselves. Quality note writing comes from caring.
I loved her statement, "This book is not [just] about writing notes. It's about a way of being in the world."
Amen to that.
Handwritten Notes: Enrich Your Life - Carrie Pierce
One of the best ways to learn to the craft of letter writing is to read and study great letters written by others. The over 100 letters compiled for this book represent a small portion of the many more on the author's website of the same name, a veri...
The criteria for being selected for this book were that the letter be interesting, quirky, shocking, history-making, or otherwise very interesting.
From Virginia Woolf's heart-breaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth II's recipe for drop scones sent to President Eisenhower, these letters represent the highs and lows of human achievement and foibles.
The criteria for being selected for this book were that the letter be interesting, quirky, shocking, history-making, or otherwise very interesting.
From Virginia Woolf's heart-breaking suicide letter, to Queen Elizabeth II's recipe for drop scones sent to President Eisenhower, these letters represent the highs and lows of human achievement and foibles.
Letters of Note: Correspondence Edited by Shaun Usher