Open Your Mind

How can we learn to practice empathy, think critically, and build community, all in the name of keeping fake news from spreading? One answer: books.

Women Talking by Miriam Toews is an integral addition to the conversation around women’s rights and community support.

As someone who has suffered from anxiety and depression, I’ve learned that surrounding myself with people who are supportive is vital to my success.

It is an essential truth that anyone in possession of a great book must also be in search of a great place to read. While the sofa may be the siren call for many, for others it is a larger question of location, location, location. What lovely café...

The short answer is yes, so take a couple of deep breaths, recline and read on. “Mindfulness” may be the newest mental health buzzword, but the principles behind it have made a difference when I’m in the throes of high-anxiety. Instead of trying to avoid my thoughts...

Most stories can be boiled down to an essential conflict: the good guys and the bad guys. There’s always an ‘us against them’ element driving the plot forward. Here are six books I love that pit one group against another—all in different ways. They’re worth not only...

Photo courtesy of Plum Johnson When I first moved out to Mum and Dad’s house after they died, I lamented, “Oh my God, they left us everything.” After surveying their sixty-five years’ worth of accumulated junk, I thought: Okay, how hard can this be? I know how...

Dear Booklover: I think I know your heart. I think I know the nostalgic and tangible reasons you have for loving your paper. I was once you. I remember learning to read. On paper, of course. I remember when the squiggles on the page took form and...

Perhaps the only wilful act in the entire lifetime of Queen Elizabeth II was her single-minded insistence on marrying, for love, an outlier prince from an exiled and vagabond Greek royal family – the naval officer who turned her head as a 13-year-old. The union with Prince...