Emely Rumble, LCSW Literapy NYC

Happy book birthday to Take What You Can by Naima Coster 🎉

Some books ask you to slow down. This was one of them.

I kept putting sticky notes in the margins because the questions this novel raises about friendship, motherhood, grief, forgiveness, and what it means to feel wanted didn’t feel like questions meant only for the characters. They felt like invitations for the reader, too.

As a therapist, that’s how I naturally read.

I pause. I reflect. I journal. I notice what a sentence stirs before moving on to the next chapter. It’s one of the reasons I created my READ Framework in the first place.

I used this carousel to show exactly what that process looks like with four passages that stayed with me long after I finished the book. My hope is that it helps you see how reading can become a conversation with yourself, not just something you cross off your TBR.

If you’d like to try it, you can download the READ Framework through the link in my bio.

And… if you’ve been here for a while, you know I’ve been dreaming about making this kind of reading experience even more accessible. I can’t say much just yet, but I’m really excited to share what’s coming later this month.

Happy book birthday, Naima. Thank you for this beautiful novel 💐

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There are moments in a novel when you can feel the story asking you to slow down.

Not because something dramatic has happened, but because a single exchange opens the door to conversations we don’t have often enough.

That’s why Wale and I chose Score by Kennedy Ryan as our next Prose in Process read.

Over six weeks, we’ll use this novel as a starting place to explore the stories we tell ourselves about mental health, love, trauma, caregiving, identity, and healing. Through bibliotherapy, expressive writing, and guided discussion, we’ll move beyond analyzing the characters and begin noticing what the story reflects back to us.

If you’ve been looking for a reading experience that lingers long after you close the book, we’d love to have you join us.

Enrollment is now open, and our next cohort begins August 8. 🔗 in bio

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It was heartbreaking today to learn of Ed Cohen’s passing.

When Bibliotherapy in the Bronx came out, Ed showed up to my event at Olive Tree Books-N-Voices with his camera in hand. We had never met before, but that’s who he was. He documented people because he understood that communities are built through memory, and memory has to be preserved by someone willing to pay attention.

Afterward, I wrote about him because I couldn’t stop thinking about the way he moved through the room. He wasn’t trying to be the center of anything. He was making sure everyone else would be remembered.

As someone who believes stories shape our lives, I’ve come to appreciate people like Ed even more. Every community needs archivists. Every neighborhood needs someone who notices what others might overlook and quietly says, This mattered. These people mattered.

Springfield lost someone who helped hold its history.

I’m grateful our paths crossed, even briefly. May his photographs continue to remind us that documenting a community is one of the deepest forms of love.

Rest in peace, Ed. 🤍 Thank you!

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Thank you ABRAMS Books Traci Saulsberry NetGalley for the e-arc of This Is How You Love Her by Traci Saulsberry (pub date: Aug 4).

Written like a play, this memoir moves through coming of age, love, motherhood, ambition, and the work of learning to love yourself. I loved the interludes where Saulsberry speaks directly to Black women and fellow overthinkers, and the way journaling becomes a form of self-reclamation throughout the book.

As a therapist who practices bibliotherapy and expressive writing, I found myself highlighting those pages most.

This is a memoir that reminds us the page can hold what we’re not yet ready to say out loud. Saulsberry executes this by sharing all it took to navigate corporate America while becoming one of the youngest Black executives at NBC.

If you identify as a chronic overthinker or someone who is in recovery, this one is for you!

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