The White Lotus Book Collection
- Lisa Cronin
- 2 days ago
- 12 min read
Every book seen on season 3 of The White Lotus
Season 3, Episode 1
Chelsea's poolside read in Episode 1 is "Start Where You Are" by Pema Chodron, the first of several books by the spirituality and self-author author that she is seen reading throughout the series.
By Pema Chodron
Start Where You Are is an indispensable handbook for cultivating fearlessness and awakening a compassionate heart, from bestselling author Pema Chodron. With insight and humour, she presents down-to-earth guidance on how to make friends with ourselves and develop genuine compassion towards others. This book shows how we can 'start where we are' by embracing rather than denying the painful aspects of our lives. Pema Chodron frames her teachings on compassion around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims, or slogans, such as: 'Always apply a joyful state of mind', 'Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment' and 'Be grateful to everyone'. Working with these slogans and through the practice of meditation, Start Where You Are shows how we can all develop the courage to work with our own inner pain and discover joy, well-being and confidence.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 1
Jaclyn returns to her hotel room at the end of Episode 1 to find a book gifted by the hotel's extravagent owner, Sritala. The fictional book - titled "Glowing" - is merely a prop serving as an autobiography about the former-actor-turned-hotel-owner.
Season 3, Episode 2
Piper's reading material in the early episodes was also a prop created for the show. "Loving Kindness" was authored by Luang Por Teera, the monk she was (secretly) in Thailand to study under.
Season 3, Episode 2
Victoria Ratliff, portrayed by Parker Posey, was seen reading F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Beautiful and Damned" throughout the first few episodes of season 3.
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), is a devastating portrait of a generation of wealthy young Americans who struggle to find meaning and happiness in their lives. The sophisticated but emotionally fragile Anthony Patch enjoys an initially idyllic marriage to the beautiful Gloria Gilbert. But their intense romance turns sour as they waste their time and energy in decadent leisure and luxury. Their happiness comes to depend on gaining a vast inheritance from Anthony's grandfather, but they are stifled by their inner fears and are ill-prepared for the inevitable loss of youth and prosperity. Set amid the vibrant social and commercial world of New York in the early twentieth century, the novel expresses the promise and disillusionment of America at the start of the Jazz Age.
This is the novel that confirmed Fitzgerald's status as the most celebrated young American writer of the Twenties. The author's exuberant and enchanting style is on full display, three years before the critical triumph of The Great Gatsby.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 4
Belinda Lindsey is hot on the trail of Gary/Greg by Episode 4. As she investigates Tanya's fate online, the audience can see her villa desk is filled with books related to the healing arts. In the foreground, we see two books on eastern healing.
By Bob Haddad
This fascinating anthology presents a much wider scope than other books on Thai massage, and uncovers a wealth of previously unavailable information on the historical, spiritual, and cultural connections to this powerful healing art. Topics include ways to refine and maintain a healthy practice, breathwork and body mechanics, self-protection techniques, reading body language, acupressure concepts, and Thai herbal compress therapy. The spiritual and cultural section offers modern translations of ancient texts, Indian and Buddhist influences, magic amulets and sacred tattoos, and accessory modalities such as reusi dat ton (stretching) and tok sen (hammering therapy). Rounding out this thorough text, the final section features essays about actual practice with clients, written by therapists and teachers from around the world. The extensive experience and information provided in this reference book is invaluable to students or practitioners who wish to deepen their personal and professional understanding of traditional Thai healing arts.
Buy Now: Amazon
By Athena Perrakis, PhD
Crystals have been used for centuries around the world to promote wellness, fertility, prosperity, healing, and more. Founder of America’s largest retailer of gemstones, Sage Goddess, and bestselling author of three books on metaphysical topics, Dr. Athena Perrakis dove deep into the crystal literature on a quest to heal herself and discovered the profound power of healing crystals. In this A to Z compendium of crystal wisdom designed both for beginners and advanced crystal healers, she collects their histories, geologies, mythologies, and healing capabilities all in one place for the first time.
In these pages, you’ll learn:
• Where each crystal originated in the earth’s core
• The science behind its beauty and magical qualities
• How best to use each crystal for healing
• Its resonance with your chakras and astrology
• How to integrate each crystal into your daily routine
• Rituals for better sleep, manifestation, harnessing the power of the full moon, and more
With dazzling photography, this book is not only a reference guide but also an oracle to guide your journey, whatever your goal is. Simply set an intention, ask a question, and then flip through the pages until your intuition tells you to stop. You’ll meet the stone you are being guided to discover.
It’s time to unlock the power and wisdom held within the Earth’s sacred stones.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 4
Sam Nivola's character, Lochlan Ratliff, is seen reading the Oxford World's Classics edition of "Hunger" by Knut Hamsun (translated by Terence Cave).
By Knut Hamsun
Hunger is the first-person story of a young man desperately trying to establish himself in the city as a writer, living in shabby lodgings where he can seldom afford to pay the rent, eating almost nothing, and engaging spasmodically and manically with landladies, eccentric elderly men, policemen, shopkeepers, pawnbrokers, and others on the way. He wanders around the streets, sits on benches trying to write, spends a night locked in a pitch-dark police cell, thinks, slides into remarkably inventive reveries, speculates on his mental health, his ethical comportment, his relation to the divinity, the topics he might write about. The traces of a consistent narrative logic are uncertain and blurred; the voice of the narrator keeps shifting between pragmatic appraisal of his situation, wild fantasies, manic outbursts, anger, and despair. This is a story that lies on the threshold of modernism, anticipating many of the dislocations that narrative will be subject to in the decades to come.
This new translation seeks to restore the startling freshness and epidermal unease of Hamsun's breakthrough story of 1890. It remains faithful to the style and voice of the text, the shifts of tense, the indirect free style, and the constant changes of register as the inner monologue moves between poetic sensitivity, wild fantasies, manic outbursts, and hyperbolic emotion. Tore Rem's introduction provides an updated and fresh account of the genesis of Hunger, its book history and its reception.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 5
One could argue this read was long overdue for Belinda, as she has undoubtedly encountered many narcissists during her years at The White Lotus Spa in Maui. However, perhaps it gave her insight and strength as she approached the Gary/Greg offer and ultimately came out on top by the season's end.
By Thomas Erikson
Are you overshadowed by the narcissists in your life? Are you worn out by their constant demands for attention, their absolute belief they are right (even when clearly they are not), their determination to do what they want (regardless of impact), and their baffling need to control everyone and everything around them?
In this thought-provoking, sanity-saving book, Thomas Erikson helps you understand what makes narcissists tick and, crucially, how to handle them without wearing yourself out in the process. With the help of the behavioural model made famous in Surrounded by Idiots, Erikson provides all the tools you need to manage not just the narcissists around you but everyday narcissism as well - itself becoming more widespread in this age of social media. Engaging and practical, Surrounded by Narcissists will help you free yourself from narcissistic agendas so you can pursue a happier, more fulfilling and successful life.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 6
While recovering from Full Moon adventures, Chelsea is reading a collection of spiritual poems by Rumi, a thirteenth century poet, scholar, and theologian. As his works were mostly written in Persian, Chelsea is reading the modern translated version seen below.
By Jalal al-Din Rumi
This revised and expanded edition of The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems of Rumi.
Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of readers, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever. The Essential Rumi continues to be the bestselling of all Rumi books, and the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 6
In what might be the most on-the-nose premise for poolside reading this season, Laurie's book "Modern Lovers" is described as "a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college— and what it means to finally grow up, well after adulthood has set in."
By Emma Straub
From the author of the New York Times bestsellers All Adults Here and This Time Tomorrow, a smart, highly entertaining novel about a tight-knit group of friends from college— and what it means to finally grow up, well after adulthood has set in.
Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring.
Back in the band's heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adult lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed.
Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 6
Jaclyn is seen reading Barbra Streisand's memoir, "My Name is Barbra" poolside in episode 6. It's her second time this season holding an autobiographical work - as hotel owner Sritala gifted a copy of her own memoir in the premiere (which Jaclyn later realized was written entirely in Thai).
By Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand is by any account a living legend, a woman who in a career spanning six decades has excelled in every area of entertainment. She is among the handful of EGOT winners (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) and has one of the greatest and most recognizable voices in the history of popular music. She has been nominated for a Grammy 46 times, and with Yentl she became the first woman to write, produce, direct, and star in a major motion picture. In My Name Is Barbra, she tells her own story about her life and extraordinary career, from growing up in Brooklyn to her first star-making appearances in New York nightclubs to her breakout performance in Funny Girl on stage and winning the Oscar for that performance on film. Then came a long string of successes in every medium in the years that followed. The book is, like Barbra herself, frank, funny, opinionated, and charming. She recounts her early struggles to become an actress, eventually turning to singing to earn a living; the recording of some of her acclaimed albums; the years of effort involved in making Yentl; her direction of The Prince of Tides; her friendships with figures ranging from Marlon Brando to Madeleine Albright; her political advocacy; and the fulfillment she’s found in her marriage to James Brolin.
No entertainer’s memoir has been more anticipated than Barbra Streisand’s, and this engrossing and delightful book will be eagerly welcomed by her millions of fans.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 7
After an all-too-brief physical connection, Chelsea promptly decided to keep her distance from Saxon by tossing some reading materials at him to continue his own spiritual education. While the full stack of books comes into play in the final episode, in this scene we see he's acquired a book on tantra.
By Swami Satyananda Saraswati
This is a totally revised Edition of Kundalini Tantra brought out by Yoga Publications Trust which has been formed as a separate entity exclusively for Publishing the Books brought out by Bihar School Of Yoga.Kundalini Yoga is a part of the tantric tradition. Even though you may have already been introduced to yoga, it is necessary to know something about tantra also. Since ancient times, the wise have realised that mind can be expanded and that experiences do not necessarily depend on the object. This means that if somebody is playing music, I can hear it, and if somebody has painted a picture, I can see it, but I can also see if there is no picture, and I can also hear if there is no music. This is also a quality of man's personality which has been ignored in the last 150 to 200 years. This Book presents a systematic and pragmatic approach to the awakening of kundalini, which arouses greater intelligence from it's sleep and you can give birth to a new range of creativity. This particular edition is brought out to commemorate the Golden Jubilee Celebrations in 2013. Includes colour plates,diagrams and charts.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 8
After his encounter with Chelsea the night before, Saxon is seen moving through her reading list with "When Things Fall Apart". The book explores the notion that moving toward painful experiences - instead of away from them - can help build intimacy and ultimately improve your openness to a joyful existence. After the head-spinning trip he's had, Saxon seems ready to break negative patterns and transform his life into one of connection and meaning.
By Pema Chodron
Pema Chödrön's perennially best-selling classic on overcoming life's difficulties cuts to the heart of spirituality and personal growth--now in a newly designed 20th-anniversary edition with a new afterword by Pema--makes for a perfect gift and addition to one's spiritual library.
How can we live our lives when everything seems to fall apart—when we are continually overcome by fear, anxiety, and pain? The answer, Pema Chödrön suggests, might be just the opposite of what you expect. Here, in her most beloved and acclaimed work, Pema shows that moving toward painful situations and becoming intimate with them can open up our hearts in ways we never before imagined. Drawing from traditional Buddhist wisdom, she offers life-changing tools for transforming suffering and negative patterns into habitual ease and boundless joy.
Buy Now: Amazon
Season 3, Episode 8
With what appears to be the final literary prop created for the show, Lochlan is seen reading a book titled, "A Wall of Ocean". It doesn't appear to be a real book, but likely represents something the character would have picked up during his stay at the monastery the evening before.
In Buddhism, the phrase "wall of ocean" often refers to a visual metaphor for barriers that individuals face in achieving enlightenment. It's also used to illustrate how seemingly separate individuals or experiences are interconnected and part of a larger whole, like waves in an ocean. This sense of interconnectedness is a theme in The White Lotus and something Chelsea references with Saxon on the beach; how people can be linked and in the same "groups" without even realizing it.
Season 3, Episode 8
In our final scene with Saxon, he is reading another one of Chelsea's books while departing Koh Samui. In a heartbreaking full-circle moment, it's the same book Chelsea was reading in episode 1 when the characters first met. This is a beautiful representation of the circle of life, known as "Samsara" in Bhuddist teachings, as the book symbolizes birth, death, and rebirth in our characters' quest towards enlightenment.
By Pema Chodron
Start Where You Are is an indispensable handbook for cultivating fearlessness and awakening a compassionate heart, from bestselling author Pema Chodron. With insight and humour, she presents down-to-earth guidance on how to make friends with ourselves and develop genuine compassion towards others. This book shows how we can 'start where we are' by embracing rather than denying the painful aspects of our lives. Pema Chodron frames her teachings on compassion around fifty-nine traditional Tibetan Buddhist maxims, or slogans, such as: 'Always apply a joyful state of mind', 'Always meditate on whatever provokes resentment' and 'Be grateful to everyone'. Working with these slogans and through the practice of meditation, Start Where You Are shows how we can all develop the courage to work with our own inner pain and discover joy, well-being and confidence.
Buy Now: Amazon
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Thank you so much for sharing so many hidden gems! This is valuable content!!