Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory

Actor and director Sarah Polley’s memoir-in-essays knocked my socks off. It’s a clear-eyed examination of painful memories from her personal life and decades-long career, ranging from scoliosis to high-risk pregnancy to sexual assault. The title comes courtesy of a concussion specialist who treated Polley and advised her on how to rewire and ultimately heal the pathways in her brain by confronting whatever caused her discomfort. That same approach is used skillfully in each essay. The audiobook as narrated by the author was the right book at the right time for me.