Reading for Wellness

Hosted by Beth and Freya. Guest appearance from Catherine from Essex Library Services.

In this episode we are discussing the books we read for our book bingo challenge (a book with less than 200 pages), talking about how reading can improve our mental health and wellbeing and then setting our next book bingo challenge.

Book bingo discussion – A book with less than 200 pages

Catherine speaks about Mary Beard’s ‘Women and Power: A Manifesto’ which explores how history has treated strong women and women’s relationship with power.

Freya reviews Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ which follows Lord Arthur Savile who is told by a palm reader that he is destined the be a murderer and sets out to fulfil his destiny before he is married.

Beth speaks about Neil Gaiman’s ‘Stardust’, a fantasy novel about a young man who leaves his small English village and crosses a wall into a magical realm to retrieve a fallen star.

Reading for wellness

Catherine tells us about a joint programme with the NHS and The Reading Agency called Reading Well, which includes lists of books that have been carefully compiled by doctors, nurses and other relevant experts in their specialisms to help people with physical and mental conditions.

We speak about the importance of using these resources to gain a deeper understanding of and manage health conditions.

Catherine speaks about the lists created specifically for children and young people.

We each discuss what reading for wellness means to us and what we read to feel better.

Book Bingo

We pick the next category we will be reading for our book bingo. We would love to get your recommendations so please comment or message us on Twitter or Facebook @EssexLibraries.

Thanks for listening.