Due to some technical difficulties, I am writing this post on my smart phone and cannot link to previous posts.  Feel free to use the search box at the bottom or the menu box at the top to explore related posts.

It’s been a while since I wrote a resource post.  Other than reading books, rediscovering a love of jazz music, and watching superhero movies/tv shows (Marvel and DC), I do not have much new info to share.

As I have written before, I am an avid reader and a bookworm.  These days I mostly read commercial fiction.  Science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, or any book that offers character growth, challenges, strong female and male characters, and a happy ending that suits the typ of people these characters become.

If you ever wondered: how does she learn so much about people and how to use the tools in her toolbox?

The answer is: by reading books with complex characters whose journeys drive the plot.

so on to my list:

Movies:

• Inside Out – have not seen this yet, but many people including my mental health providers have recommended it.  I am waiting for it to be available for rental through Amazon
• Angry Birds the movie – I found this on Netflix and almost skipped it because of an unreasonable dislike of the game.  But this movie explores the problems with denying angry feelings; and the positive results from acknowledging, feeling, and expressing anger.  In this case, Red Bird and his friends used their anger and the energy from those feelings to save their community.
• Marvels The Avenger series movies – the first one especially has a place in my heart because Dr. Bruce Banner shares the “secret” to living with the Hulk: always feeling – i.e. Not repressing or denying feelings.  But all of these movies have characters with pasts that could make or break them.  And yet they still find ways to laugh, enjoy company, love, and live with the consequences of their choices.

Fiction books last:

• Anne Bishop’s Ephemera series – book two is about a young woman struggling with two distinct personalities and trying to find a balance that integrates both sides to become whole again.
• Anne Bishop’s Ephemera series – Book 3 has a main character who is 3 people sharing one body and trying to survive in a world where her kind are hunted, killed, or shunned whenever they are discovered.
• The Rowan by Anne McCaffrey – a coming of age story about a young woman who survives a mudslide as a baby and develops an alter personality in childhood.
• The Coelura by Anne McCaffrey – not about alter personalities so much as coping with difficult family relationships
• J. D. Robb’s In Death series – the main character is a survivor or childhood trauma who becomes a police officer.  Throughout the series, readers see an isolated, closed off young woman fall in love, open up to friendships, create a family, and start living a full life instead of being trapped by the nightmares of her past
• Kim Harrison’s the Hollows series – family relationships, loss/grief, and growing up
• Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series – I have already written about these books in different posts, so not repeating here.

These books helped me in my teens and twenties as I struggled to understand what was happening in my life.  They also gave me hope that I, too, could change my life around for the better like the characters did.  Maybe they can help you too.

Thanks for reading