Blog — books

Have you ever witnessed the healing power of books in action? While writing my book, Bibliotherapy: The Healing Power of Reading, one of the most moving chapters for me was Chapter 9—on Group Bibliotherapy. It tells the story of Reena, Devi, Deborah, and Amee, who turned to shared reading after experiencing the unimaginable loss of young children or miscarriages. Writing this chapter was incredibly difficult, but also deeply affirming—because it showed just how transformative group bibliotherapy can be in navigating grief, loss, and complex emotions. Bibliotherapy with Bijal Shah - Transcripts on Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my...

It's tennis season and today we're focusing on bibliotherapy and tennis. As an avid tennis fan who enjoys watching and playing the game, I am really looking forward to Wimbledon this year and plan to attend a couple of days. And as I look forward to this, I could not help but reflect on the subtle commonalities between the two, tennis and bibliotherapy – both in essence mirrors of life, one that holds literature as the mirror and the other, tennis, holds the court as the mirror. For how we approach tennis is how we approach life. Life is often a...