This Christmas, I might do something different and buy a book prescription as a gift for a friend or relative. Mostly I’m inspired because I recently met book curator and bibliotherapist Bijal Shah who has the knowledge and insight to recommend or prescribe novels that will perfectly suit where somebody is emotionally or circumstantially in their lives.
In the past on numerous occasions, I’ve spent too much time in a bookshop trying to find a novel which would resonate for a certain type of teenager or a comforting book for a friend in distress or at a new beginning. So often I’ve taken book after book off the shelves looking for fiction which would suit someone who only wants to read one particular genre or is altogether losing the will to read because it’s easier to escape through a screen.
Bijal’s popular book prescription service, available at her website Book Therapy, is based on clients’ reading habits, goals, interests and personal needs. The service is used by people looking to manage difficult times, embrace change, research a certain subject or simply to discover authors that they don’t know but would probably enjoy. Initially customers are emailed a list of specific questions which include whether they are looking to explore a certain issue or personal interest topic, if they prefer paper or hardback, kindle or audible and how much time they have for reading.
It takes about forty-eight hours for Bijal to create a customised book prescription which is a short report with about seven to ten recommendations and the reasons they’ve been chosen. Following the delivery of the book prescription over email or during a face-to-face online bibliotherapy session, Bijal offers unlimited support to clients for up to two weeks.
Bijal Shah believes in the power of books to heal. As a bibliotherapist she sees how her book recommendations help people face challenges and uncomfortable emotions and find support through the written word. Of literature Bijal says, “Fiction can tell truth in an unlimited way and lets readers access their unconscious in a safe space. When we empathise with a character in a story or memoir, we learn more about ourselves and have the chance to process events – even traumatic ones – that have happened in our lives.”
According to Bijal, reading therapy can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks when Aristotle’s writings were considered medicine for the soul and to the Egyptian Pharaohs with Ramses II having a dedicated chamber filled with books called the House of Healing for the Soul. In the nineteenth century doctors prescribed books for respite from suffering and hospitals had libraries. Apparently, World War One soldiers mostly read to manage post-war trauma.
In the 1950s when author Carolyn Shrodes theorised in her book The Conscious Reader that characters in stories can be hugely influential to those readers that identify with them, reading therapy became more popular and was found to address a range of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, trauma or grieving. In 1966, fifty years after the term bibliotherapy was first used, this psychodynamic practice was officially acknowledged by the medical world and the Association of Poetry Therapy was established. Nowadays bibliotherapy also includes self-help books, journaling, letter writing, narrative therapy or storytelling.
Although in her childhood, largely spent in Nairobi, Bijal loved reading above all else, it wasn’t until she was in therapy completing a diploma in psychodynamic counselling that she noticed how she would reach out to a book to better understand herself and leveraged off Greek stories and myths to support her own therapeutic process. In 2017, after years of research, Bijal developed a three-step methodology for selecting non-fiction and fiction books on a wide range of human issues, specialising in fiction, creative and narrative nonfiction as well as poetry and philosophy. She left her job as a banker and launched her online book curation service, first from San Francisco and later from her home in Hampstead. To date Book Therapy is used by people all over the world and has been featured in The Guardian, Marie Claire, Asian Voice and on the BBC and NBC News. https://www.booktherapy.io
Below are some recommendations from Bijal to show the kind of books she would suggest for dealing with stress, loss and significant changes:
Dealing with Stress:
Deborah Alma’s The Emergency Poet is one of Bijal’s favourite anthologies. “It it’s the perfect way to slow the mind and bring us in the here,” she says. Another contemplative book is George Saunder’s Tenth of December. It’s a short story collection with characters who are often facing moral dilemmas, societal pressures and the complexities of relationships.
Experiencing Loss:
The Accidental Tourist by Anne Tyler can speak to anybody who is coming out of a relationship. In Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, the author Lori Gottlieb tries to make sense of an unexpected break up. Lost and Found by Kathryn Schulz is a bittersweet account of how love and loss co-exist and how even in loss we can find hope and renewal.
Going Through Significant Changes:
Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower is about a teenager’s transition into adulthood but it is also an impactful read for anyone interested in the complexities of personal growth. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz follows the life of Oscar de León who dreams of finding love and breaking the curse that seems to haunt his family. Set against the backdrop of the Dominican Republic’s political history, the novel is a blend of history, fantasy and contemporary fiction and offers an engaging perspective on the pursuit of personal transformation. The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer is a spiritual book which encourages readers to release limiting beliefs and live a life of inner freedom.
To go directly to the Book Prescription Service: https://www.booktherapy.io/products/personalised-book-prescriptions-2
Bijal offers courses in Bibliotherapy, Literature and Mental Health which are popular with health professionals and librarians, social workers and teachers. https://www.booktherapy.io/products/bibliotherapy-literature-and-mental-health
Cover Photo: Bijal Shah’s latest book Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading.
