Resources I Trust

Books, podcasts, and people I quietly recommend.

I keep getting asked the same question: what else should I read? Here are the books and resources I actually return to. None of these are affiliate links. I make no money if you click. I just trust them.

Books on codependency and self-abandonment

• Codependent No More by Melody Beattie — the foundational text. Forty years old and still right.
• Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents by Lindsay Gibson — names the loneliness that comes from being raised by people who could not meet you.
• Boundaries by Cloud and Townsend — Christian-framed, deeply practical.
• It’s Not You by Ramani Durvasula — for the reader leaving a narcissistic relationship.
• Facing Codependence by Pia Mellody — the classic. Heavier reading, worth the time.

Recovery + faith

• The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions — if you are in a Twelve Step program, this remains the central text.
• The Cup of Our Life by Joyce Rupp — quiet, image-rich daily reflection. Years of company.
• Anne Lamott’s recovery-adjacent essays — the warmth I aspire to.

For grief, illness, and the hard chapters

• Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad — the cancer memoir that taught me what was possible.
• The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion — for grief that has no other map.
• When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chödrön — short, returnable, deeply useful.

Podcasts I listen to

• We Can Do Hard Things with Glennon Doyle — the long conversations.
• The Place We Find Ourselves with Adam Young — attachment, story, integration.
• The Lazarus Heist — pure entertainment. We need that too.

If you’re in crisis right now

If you are in a place where the work in any of these books is more than you can handle today, please reach out to one of these:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline (US) — call or text 988
• Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 (US, UK, Canada, Ireland)
• The Trevor Project — for LGBTQ+ young people: 1-866-488-7386
• SAMHSA National Helpline — 1-800-662-4357, free and confidential, 24/7

Reading a book is the work for some seasons. Talking to a human is the work for others. You get to know which season you are in.

This list updates as I find new things worth recommending. The newsletter mentions additions when they happen.