The Cat's Table

Michael Ondaatje has always been a writer I have admired and enjoyed, so I was eager to read The Cat's Table when it was published. After I finished, my admiration of Ondaatje was reconfirmed.

A story of adventure as a young boy travels to England from Colombo on a ship in the 1950s, it is told with wonder. Along with two older boys, Cassius and Ramahdin the boys meet amazing characters and learn more about the world on this ship than ever before.

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog

I was a little put off by the title of this book, The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Tales from a Child Psychiatrist's Notebook - What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love and Healing, and what I assumed would be a depressing recounting of horrific experiences of children by the psychiatrist who worked with them. I was happily surprised by what was a mostly positive take on these children and their ability to heal.

Perry recounts stories of the children he has worked with in his long career and how much he has learned about children and the impact trauma and neglect have on their development. Woven between those stories, Perry neatly explains brain development, mental health diagnoses and impacts of trauma on the brain which I had learned in my first year of Graduate School.

In the end, I was touched by how hard Perry and his team worked with each of these children and the patience and understanding they exhibited. Most of the stories have a happy, positive ending which helped make the overall book feel positive and in the conclusion, Perry makes some recommendations about the changes we need to make as a society to help minimize the impacts of trauma on our children.

I Thought It Was Just Me (But it isn't)

My friend Brie introduced me to Brene Brown and her research on shame and vulnerability through her two TED talks. After watching both of them numerous times, I decided that she was my new personal hero. What Brene had to say was so smart, so well-researched and she was so open about her own vulnerability and shame, how could you not be inspired?

I ordered her book I Thought It Was Just Me but saved it for summer break before starting it and then I savored it. Not because the language is beautiful or the topic is so wonderful, but because itmakes so much sense. It needs to be read slowly (and probably more than once) to really be absorbed.

The idea that shame makes us feel disconnected and isolated and how we can become aware and hopefully stop that shame, felt like genius as I read it. I thought of dozens of friends and acquaintances that should read it, but afterwards, I decided that every woman should read it. It might give us pause the next time we start to feel shame or if we see someone else struggling or someone pulling us into gossip, we can change direction.

Brene's work feels tangible and actionable and I hope someday that I will be able to use some of the techniques in my own practice.