Her Body Knows

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice In Her Body Knows, a fevered storyteller and a captive audience revisit the past together in each of David Grossman's novellas, trying to make sense of a betrayal that neither one can put to rest. In "Frenzy," reserved, respectable Shaul lets his sister-in-law, Esti, into a secret nightmare, as he reveals to her his conviction that his wife is having an affair. Along with Esti, we find ourselves trapped in his paranoia and desperation as we accompany the odd pair down Israel's highways on a journey that reveals a passion perverted by jealousy and self-loathing. In the title story, a successful but embittered novelist visits her mother, who is in the last stages of cancer. Grossman investigates the powers of storytelling to harm and heal as the daughter reads aloud her own imagined, merciless account of her mother's love affair with a much younger teenage boy. Gradually it becomes clear that, for all its anger, the daughter's story and the writing process itself have led her to a new appreciation of her mother's difficult character, and her own. Studies in obsession, claustrophobia, and the need to confess, these two novellas mark a new departure from "a writer who has been, for nearly two decades, the one of the most original and talented ... anywhere." (The New York Times Book Review).

'Absorbing and moving ... wonderful' Daily Mail 'This pair of dramatic novellas are tough fictions, elegant and near virtuoso in the exactness of the sensuous, physical prose but relentless in their pursuit of emotional truth ... his fiction is lively, intense and unafraid of tackling the most raw corners of a psyche' Irish Times These two novellas concern love. In 'Frenzy', Shaul is convinced that his wife is having an affair. He feverishly imagines her, in every painful detail, with her lover. Esther has never seen the human side of her aloof brother-in-law, but during a night-time journey Shaul unburdens himself, recreating an affair he has never witnessed. Is he mad? Or has he divined the truth? In 'Her Body Knows', Rotem has spent most of her life being angry with her mother, Nilli. Now Nilli is dying and Rotem, who has finally found happiness in London, must return to say goodbye. She arrives with a story about Nilli, full of accusations, empathy, love and forgiveness.

Her Body Can is a book for girls and those who love them. It celebrates the wonders and uniqueness of who we are and who we want to be. Our worth isn’t a matter of looks, we see, because we’re so much more than that. Through engaging rhymes and vibrant artwork, this picture book finds a warm, inviting way to communicate powerful truths about what we’re capable of, what we can do, and how we can live our dreams, regardless of our body’s shape or size or what others think about us. We know we’re free to think, act, and be without worry or judgment. We have opinions, voices, and the ability to choose our own way, while loving ourselves exactly as we are. Her Body Can reminds every one of us to be true to who we are as we create our paths. We can do anything, and our lives are full of possibilities when we embrace our bodies and souls and live without limits. This is a relevant and important book about body positivity, self-love, and respect for all girls. Whether we’re 1 year old or 101 years old, our bodies CAN.

The preacher’s body is a tool for proclamation, a vehicle by which a sermon comes to life. Female preachers, engaged in a task not long their own, know well the added attention directed to their physicality. They can experience ordinary decisions about attire, accessories, hairstyles, and movement as complex, and occasionally precarious, choices around how to bring flesh to their sermons. They can also experience the extraordinary power of their bodies, when materiality weighs in on the message. McCullough explores the every-Sunday bodily decisions of contemporary female preachers, with an eye to uncovering the meanings about body, preaching, and God alive underneath. Ultimately, she argues for a renewed understanding of embodiment, in which one’s living body, inescapably intertwined with her preaching, becomes the avenue for greater knowledge about how to preach and deeper insight into the faith professed.

Hill tells how his Uncle Wally and Aunt Ruth came to counsel dead spirits who took up residence in bodies that didn't belong to them. He has woven this fascinating story with the history and theory of what happens at death.

Learn to love yourself and your body with this interactive guide from the “shame-free, fun, cheerful, and no-nonsense” (Bustle) body acceptance advocate and influencer who founded Megababe beauty. “Brilliant, hilarious, adorably illustrated.”—Goop Can you imagine how much free time you’d have if you didn’t spend so much of it body shaming yourself? Katie Sturino knows all too well what it’s like to shit talk yourself. She spent thirty years of her life feeling ashamed of her body and its self-determined wrongness. Now she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her; she only cares that she’s happy and comfortable with herself. Body positivity and size inclusivity is still a relatively new phenomenon, but Sturino has dedicated her life to unlearning all that beauty standard BS and uses her blog, Instagram, podcast, and non-toxic, solution-oriented beauty products to share the message that changed her life: YOUR BODY IS NOT THE PROBLEM. With Body Talk, an illustrated guide-meets-workbook, Sturino is here to help you stop obsessing about your body issues, focus on self-love, and free up space in your brain for creative and productive energy. Complete with empowering affirmations, relatable anecdotes, and actionable takeaways, as well as space to answer prompts and jot down feelings and inspirations, Body Talk encourages you to spend less time thinking about how you look and what you eat and more time discovering your inner fierceness.

A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped her life “Achingly exquisite . . . providing real hope for those who long to heal.”—Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, NPR, Mashable, She Reads, Publishers Weekly By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD—a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years. Both of Foo’s parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she’d moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD. In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma—but you can learn to move with it. Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body—and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.

Here are two accounts of love - of men and women, mothers and daughters, strangers who for a brief moment become intimate. Souls are bared, secrets are revealed and stories are told. In Frenzy, a man and a woman are driving through the night. Shaul is convinced his wife is having an affair. He feverishly imagines her with her lover: their talk, their lovemaking, every painful detail. Esther has never seen the human side of her brilliant and aloof brother-in-law. But tonight in the car, Shaul unburdens himself to her, recreating an affair he has never witnessed. Is he mad? Or has he divined the truth? Esther does not know but his wild and rich imaginings awaken in her, a distant memory of true love. In Another life is about a different - more redemptive - act of imagination. Rotem, a writer, has spent most of her life being angry at her mother - Nilli, the beautiful yoga teacher with her lovers and misadventures - who is so different from her awkward, unhappy daughter. But now Nilli is dying and Rotem, who has finally found happiness in London, must return to say goodbye. She arrives with a double-edged gift: a story about Nilli, full of accusations, empathy, love and forgiveness. David Grossman turns men and women inside out, writing about their innermost thoughts with immense depth and power. Tender, profound and erotic, these are extraordinary stories.