Self-psychoanalysis Via My Bookshelf: The Last Four Books I Read

*Based on a prompt from The Daily Post

The books summaries are first followed by my self-psychoanalysis. This was really fun to write and think about as I love reading and psychology.

 

1. Watching You by Michael Robotham

Watching You is a psychological thriller by one of my favorite authors. It was suspenseful and creepy enough that I needed to check inside the closets and under the bed each night before closing one eye to sleep. The main character, Marnie, has a stalker who goes to extreme and often deadly lengths in an attempt to insert himself fully into her life. Dr. Joseph O’Loughlin, Marnie’s psychologist and a criminal profiler, joins forces with the police to try and stop the stalker before he hurts Marnie and her children.

 

 

2. The Remaining: Aftermath by D.J. Molles

Zombies! This is book five in a zombie apocalypse series that I have been reading. I read a lot of zombie fiction, and in my opinion, this series should be at the top of any zombie lover’s required reading list. Things are falling apart fast for series hero Captain Lee Harden of Project Hometown, and in typical fashion, it’s more because of the humans and their evil ways than the zombies. Harden just wants to rebuild America, but now that he is wounded and weaponless, things aren’t looking so good.

 

3. What Alice Forgot by Lianne Moriarity

Lianne Moriarity is one of my new favorite authors in a genre that I don’t normally read…romantic comedy/drama. In fact, when people ask what I’m reading, I will sometimes lie because I’m embarrassed to admit that I kind of like these sorts of books. (The zombie books do not embarrass me!) The story begins in 1998 with Alice feeling so blissfully happy and in love. She is just about to give birth to her first child. Life is perfect! Fast-forward ten years…Alice bonks her head at the gym and loses ten years worth of her memory due to severe amnesia. She learns that she is in the final stages of a very nasty divorce, she has no clue who her kids are, and that she isn’t a very happy or nice person anymore. Alice is baffled by the state of her life and wonders what went so wrong over the past ten years.

 

4. The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

Set in the early nineteenth century in Charleston, SC, the chapters alternate between, Sarah Grimke an eleven year old who chafes against the rules and limitations of being a young girl, and Handful, an ten year old who is a household slave for the Grimke family. Over the next 35 years, both Sarah and Handful’s lives intertwine as they seek to find independence and lives of their own.

 

Self-Psychoanalysis:

• I’m very nosy. Each book is written from the point of view of multiple characters allowing me insight into each character’s mind. It is a fact that I am very curious and often ask “awkward” questions, as my kids put it, to quench my thirst for knowledge. Enquiring minds want to know!
• Be the change you wish to see in the world. These words, attributed to Ghandi, are both inspiring and empowering. I enjoy reading books featuring characters who attempt to live by this philosophy. This is they way I would like to lead my life, some days I’m successful, others…not so much! Reading books featuring can-do characters is motivating, inspiring, and gets me moving.
• Zombie bait. I’d be dead within the first week of a zombie apocalypse and so would most of the book characters I enjoy. Here’s why: Like me, they are way too nice and helpful; we would share all of our food with needy people and then starve because we didn’t conserve. We all live in urban areas and everyone knows that city dwellers die first. Additionally, we are all physically weak, thus we would be taken out of play quickly by evil humans or zombies. Of course, the hero of The Remaining would just have to save us all because of his Ghandi-like outlook on life.
• Question everything. This may seem to go along with my innate nosiness, but actually runs a bit deeper. Questions frequently running through my mind include: Which direction should I take my life as my kids move on and out? Will I look back on my life in ten years and be proud of my choices? What can I do to ensure that I move forward in my life and not stagnate as a person? My book characters are questioners as well. Dr. O’Loughlin wonders if he would still be married if he hadn’t dedicated himself so fully to his job as a psychologist. Captain Harden wonders if he should give up on the hope of a new America and go with “every man for himself.” Alice wonders how she became such a rotten person over the past ten years. Sarah and Handful wonder if they will be forever be stuck in their roles that the Deep South has firmly rooted them in. The nice thing about books? They all get their answers!!
• Nobody likes a whiner. And that goes double for me! My book characters don’t sit around and cry (for very long) about their problems. They get out there and fix things. They don’t wait to be rescued. NO! They are take charge kinds of people who don’t let obstacles stand in their way…and there are a lot of obstacles. Slavery, a crazed stalker, amnesia, snotty teenagers, zombies, unrequited love, lack of women’s rights, etc. My people are doers!! Truly, noting annoys me more than people who complain incessantly about their problems and then refuse to come up with workable solutions or take any action to change the direction of their lives.

So, that’s me in a nutshell…or a book cover.