The Wind Is My Mother

With eloquent simplicity, Native American medicine man Bear Heart demonstrates how traditional tribal wisdom can help us maintain spiritual and physical health in today's world. “As a child I was taught, ‘Chebon, the way to attain the beauty in life is through harmony. Be in harmony with all things, but most important, be in harmony with yourself first. A lot will go on in your life, some good, some bad—people may argue and some will try to take control of your life—but that one word, harmony, will neutralize any problems and help your life to become beautiful.’”—from The Wind is My Mother “A compelling and important work…Bear Heart is a gifted storyteller—readers of all backgrounds will be inspired by his lessons of how to apply traditional Native American wisdom to maintain balance in today’s world…Bear Heart’s is a truthful, honest voice which has let us into his world, and our world is better for it.”—Body, Mind, Spirit

A memoir of mothers and daughters, hoarding, and healing. Judy Batalion grew up in a house filled with endless piles of junk and layers of crumbs and dust; suffocated by tuna fish cans, old papers and magazines, swivel chairs, tea bags, clocks, cameras, printers, VHS tapes, ballpoint pens…obsessively gathered and stored by her hoarder mother. The first chance she had, she escaped the clutter to create a new identity—one made of order, regimen, and clean white walls. Until, one day, she found herself enmeshed in life’s biggest chaos: motherhood. Confronted with the daunting task of raising a daughter after her own dysfunctional childhood, Judy reflected on not only her own upbringing but the lives of her mother and grandmother, Jewish Polish immigrants who had escaped the Holocaust. What she discovered astonished her. The women in her family, despite their differences, were even more closely connected than she ever knew—from her grandmother Zelda to her daughter of the same name. And, despite the hardships of her own mother-daughter relationship, it was that bond that was slowly healing her old wounds. Told with heartbreaking honesty and humor, this is Judy’s poignant account of her trials negotiating the messiness of motherhood and the indelible marks that mothers and daughters make on each other’s lives.

As the world becomes more perilous and our modern ways of life prove to be at times unsustainable or unsatisfying; people in the US and all over the world are increasingly turning to the wisdom of our indigenous people and their traditions for peace, harmony, environmental stewardship, and cultivating a more meaningful spiritual connection to the earth. The Bear Is My Father is a legacy book that shares the profound medicine of a renowned multi-tribal Muscogee Creek medicine man, Bear Heart, one of the last traditionally trained medicine persons of the Muscogee Creek Nation. While it is traditional among Native American medicine that a healer takes on an apprentice to learn their medicine ways, and then pass them on, Bear Heart's medicine was so various that it could not simply be passed along to any one person. Thus, over the course of his life of service, Bear Heart passed along pieces of his indigenous wisdom to different people, depending on who could use it. However, The Bear Is My Father is more than a book about a fascinating Muscogee Creek healer. It is a book authored in part by Bear Heart himself, with guidance as to how one should live life, the changes needed in our global society, integrative medicine, and spirituality. It contains the voices of people who knew and grew from knowing Bear Heart; most particularly, it is co-authored by Reginah WaterSpirit, Bear Heart's medicine helper and late-life spouse of 23 years, whose intimate and insightful stories and reflections give it the added dimension of a biography within an autobiographical book of philosophy and wisdom. The deeply personal portrayal of Bear Heart in The Bear Is My Father flows not only through his own words, nor Reginah's, but also through the recountings of a variety of people who were taught and touched by his wisdom. Together they provide the reader with a multi-faceted and highly intimate understanding of Bear Heart. In short, this book is another way-and because he has passed-perhaps his final way, to share his medicine with the world.

New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell's epic fantasy, the Simon Snow trilogy, concludes with Any Way the Wind Blows. In Carry On, Simon Snow and his friends realized that everything they thought they understood about the world might be wrong. And in Wayward Son, they wondered whether everything they understood about themselves might be wrong. Now, Simon and Baz and Penelope and Agatha must decide how to move forward. For Simon, that means choosing whether he still wants to be part of the World of Mages — and if he doesn't, what does that mean for his relationship with Baz? Meanwhile Baz is bouncing between two family crises and not finding any time to talk to anyone about his newfound vampire knowledge. Penelope would love to help, but she's smuggled an American Normal into London, and now she isn't sure what to do with him. And Agatha? Well, Agatha Wellbelove has had enough. Any Way the Wind Blows takes the gang back to England, back to Watford, and back to their families for their longest and most emotionally wrenching adventure yet. This book is a finale. It tells secrets and answers questions and lays ghosts to rest. The Simon Snow Trilogy was conceived as a book about Chosen One stories; Any Way the Wind Blows is an ending about endings—about catharsis and closure, and how we choose to move on from the traumas and triumphs that try to define us.

The New York Times–bestselling graphic memoir about Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home, becoming the artist her mother wanted to be. Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood…and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It's a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers. A New York Times, USA Today, Time, Slate, and Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year “As complicated, brainy, inventive and satisfying as the finest prose memoirs.”—New York Times Book Review “A work of the most humane kind of genius, bravely going right to the heart of things: why we are who we are. It's also incredibly funny. And visually stunning. And page-turningly addictive. And heartbreaking.”—Jonathan Safran Foer “Many of us are living out the unlived lives of our mothers. Alison Bechdel has written a graphic novel about this; sort of like a comic book by Virginia Woolf. You won't believe it until you read it—and you must!”—Gloria Steinem

This is one of a series of books for dementia patients (or those with Alzheimer's), disguised as a "real" book. What the Wind Showed to Me offers self-esteem and self-confidence to former bookworms who now struggle with "normal" books. You'll know that you're buying a book that is perfect for a dementia or Alzheimer's patient, but the reader will only know that he/she is receiving a beautiful book that is eye-catching and easy to follow. Neither the title nor any text on or in the book states that the book is for dementia or any type of memory/cognitive problems. It is truly concealed so that the reader is not insulted. If your loved one is overwhelmed by 'normal' books but spry enough to feel offended with books labeled as dementia books or by being a children's book, this is your answer. This book is formatted with: A lovely "easy read" story without condescending childlike words. Perfect, slightly larger text (16x font). Short chapters. Short paragraphs. One extra space between each sentence to encourage the mind to take pause. One or two vivid color photos per each short chapter to give a visual clue to the subject matter without distracting the read. What the Wind Showed to Me is the story of what one woman discovers while following the floating path of a beautiful feather caught in a breeze. It is a pleasant, comforting and interesting story. Offer not only a book to be cherished, but also the gift of self-pride.

"Anguished, beautifully written... The Long Goodbye is an elegiac depiction of drama as old as life." -- The New York Times Book Review From one of America's foremost young literary voices, a transcendent portrait of the unbearable anguish of grief and the enduring power of familial love. What does it mean to mourn today, in a culture that has largely set aside rituals that acknowledge grief? After her mother died of cancer at the age of fifty-five, Meghan O'Rourke found that nothing had prepared her for the intensity of her sorrow. In the first anguished days, she began to create a record of her interior life as a mourner, trying to capture the paradox of grief-its monumental agony and microscopic intimacies-an endeavor that ultimately bloomed into a profound look at how caring for her mother during her illness changed and strengthened their bond. O'Rourke's story is one of a life gone off the rails, of how watching her mother's illness-and separating from her husband-left her fundamentally altered. But it is also one of resilience, as she observes her family persevere even in the face of immeasurable loss. With lyricism and unswerving candor, The Long Goodbye conveys the fleeting moments of joy that make up a life, and the way memory can lead us out of the jagged darkness of loss. Effortlessly blending research and reflection, the personal and the universal, it is not only an exceptional memoir, but a necessary one.

Who was your mother before she was a mother? Essays and photos from Brit Bennett, Jennifer Egan, Danzy Senna, Laura Lippman, Jia Tolentino, and many more. In this remarkable collection, New York Times–bestselling novelist Edan Lepucki gathers more than sixty original essays and favorite photographs to explore this question. The daughters in Mothers Before are writers and poets, artists and teachers, and the images and stories they share reveal the lives of women in ways that are vulnerable and true, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always moving. Contributors include: Brit Bennett * Jennine Capó Crucet * Jennifer Egan * Angela Garbes * Annabeth Gish * Alison Roman * Lisa See * Danzy Senna * Dana Spiotta * Lan Samantha Chang * Laura Lippman * Jia Tolentino * Tiffany Nguyen * Charmaine Craig * Maya Ramakrishnan * Eirene Donohue * and many others