The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion
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OLD TASK HELP THREADS
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20.3 (Best Review Contest - Amy MO - Mental Health)
Great task! There are a lot of amazing memoirs about mental health disorders.Would alcoholism count? Isn't it sort of a result of mental anxiety? If so, I recommend Lit: A Memoir. I read it over Christmas break and it was amazing.
Just edited my comment since originally I thought this was a two book task but then saw the big OR in the middle. I get way too excited when the new tasks post!
I'm going to read either Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia or Switching Time: A Doctor's Harrowing Story of Treating a Woman with 17 Personalities.
I Know This Much Is True was a great book.Still Alice would work if Alzheimer's was allowed.
Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
The Bell Jar
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Girl, Interrupted
The Hours
A Beautiful Mind
Fight Club
Choke
Shutter Island
We Have Always Lived in the Castle
Wintergirls
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Unless
But Inside I'm Screaming
American Psycho
The Drowning Tree
ETA: this is where I got the books listed above, but there are a ton more
http://www.librarything.com/tag/menta...
Cait, first I couldn't find a spot for Set This House In Order and now I've got 2 spots for it. LOL! Funny how that happens.Oh....thanks for reminding me about Still Alice. I hope Alzheimers is allowed. This book has been on my bookshelf for a long time now.
Hi everyone ...Alcoholism or drug addiction would both work ...
Alzheimers also works ...
And, yes, The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook would work.
Here are some links that might help as you look for books for this task ...http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/m...
http://www.abebooks.com/blog/index.ph...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_i...
http://www.jocolibrary.org/upload/lib...
Women & Mental Illness - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/92...
Petra wrote: "Cait, first I couldn't find a spot for Set This House In Order and now I've got 2 spots for it. LOL! Funny how that happens.Oh....thanks for reminding me about Still Alice. I hope Alzheimers is..."
No problem! That is funny about Set This House in Order. I've wanted to read that book for quite some time now.
Cait wrote: " That is funny about Set This House in Order. I've wanted to read that book for quite some time now...."Me, too. We'll have to compare thoughts once we've read it.
Petra wrote: "Cait wrote: " That is funny about Set This House in Order. I've wanted to read that book for quite some time now...."Me, too. We'll have to compare thoughts once we've read it."
Absolutely. :o)
I have no idea what to read. I don't want to read about something I know a lot about from experience (not only me but my family) anxiety, depression, alcoholism, post traumatic stress disorder and Alzheimers. Plus all these books sound sad and depressing, I know they all are but....
Sarah wrote: "I have no idea what to read. I don't want to read about something I know a lot about from experience (not only me but my family) anxiety, depression, alcoholism, post traumatic stress disorder and ..."Throwing out some more options
Breakfast of Champions - Vonnegut
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove - Christopher Moore
A Long Way Down - Nick Hornby
Bad Monkeys - Matt Ruff
All Families Are Psychotic - Douglas Coupland
Darkly Dreaming Dexter - Jeff Lindsay
Chuck Palahniuk specializes in whack jobs. Along with Fight Club and Choke, there's
Survivor
Diary
Invisible Monsters should work too
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream - Hunter S. Thompson
The Shining - Stephen King
The Wasp Factory: A Novel - Iain M. Banks
I Am the Cheese - Robert Cormier
Cut - Patricia McCormick
Also, these books from your TBR would work:
Sharp Objects: A Novel - Gillian Flynn
Just Listen - Sarah Dessen (I'm pretty sure this would work)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
Veronika Decides to Die - Paulo Coelho
Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane
Less Than Zero Bret Easton Ellis
The Pact: A Love Story by Jodi Picoult should work.Nineteen Minutes would probably fit too, but someone would have to back me up on that.
I personally loved A Long Way Down and was not depressed by it. That might be a good choice for those who don't want to read the more harrowing tales about mental health.The Bell Jar is one of my all time favorites.
Amy, can you tell me if Just Listen would work please
Also thank you everyone for helping me!
I am thinking of reading Prozac Diary by Lauren Slater. I read her memoirLying: A Metaphorical Memoir and enjoyed her writing style.So many choices for this one...
Hey Amy! GREAT TASK! Since Alcoholism counts, I was wondering if Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. I have had this on my TBR for a while. Thanks!!!
I feel like since I started this job (disability stuff), I see mental illness in half the books I read. Here are some I thought of: The Amnesiac - depression
Slaughterhouse-Five -PTSD
Of Mice and Men - MMR
Zombie
The Eye by Nabokov - depression/psychotic disorder
New Moon - depression
I hope OCD counts, that's where my book comes from.
I don't know if Nineteen Minutes would work- but I'd highly recommend that book if it does- I thought it was fantastic!
Would the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield count? Someone put it on the goodreads mental disorder list but the blurb seems sort of vague as to who has a mental disorder....
May I use The Gargoyle Yes!Amy, can you tell me if Just Listen would work please Yes!!
would you accept amnesia? Yes, I will accept amnesia
OCD count? YES! OCD definitely fits!
I was wondering if Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities. Yes, Pledged would work
Would the Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield count? I don't remember any mental illness in The Thirteenth Tale but if someone else can confirm it was in the book, it's fine. Anyone remember? It's been awhile since I've read that one.
Hi Amy,I'm wondering if The Night of the Iguana would work.
The wikipedia entry says:
"In 1940s Mexico, an ex-minister, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, has been locked out of his church after characterizing the Occidental image of God as a "senile delinquent," during one of his sermons. Shannon is not de-frocked, but rather institutionalized for a "nervous breakdown."
-and-
"Shannon, in the middle of another nervous breakdown, tries to manage not only his tour party..."
I'm not sure if nervous breakdown is too vague or if we could assume he has some sort of anxiety disorder.
Thanks.
Yes, Katie, that would definitely work. Nervous breakdown is plenty close!
Some Suggestions... Panic Attacks Workbook A Guided Program for Beating the Panic Trick by David Carbonell
Don't Panic Revised Edition Taking Control of Anxiety Attacks by R. Reid Wilson
Purge Rehab Diaries by Nicole Johns
The Quiet Room A Journey Out of the Torment of Madness by Lori Schiller
Madness A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher
An Unquiet Mind A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison
Manic A Memoir by Terri Cheney
Would Thirteen Reasons Why work? It was on one of the Goodreads lists that Cait posted, but I wanted to double check. It's about a YA book about a girl who commits suicide. My cousin recommended it to me.
Yes, Nicole. I would say Thirteen Reasons Why works.
The sister of the writer in The Thirteenth Tale was mentally ill. She lived in the shed in the garden!
Sarah wrote: "Hey Amy would The Feeling Good Handbook work?"Yes, I'd say this one would work, Sarah!
Alice wrote: "The sister of the writer in The Thirteenth Tale was mentally ill. She lived in the shed in the garden!"Oh ... that's right! I completely forgot. Thanks, Alice. So, YES, The Thirteenth Tale would work!
There are so many fascinating books on this subject. Great task. A few of my favorites are:And I Don't Want to Live This Life: A Mother's Story of Her Daughter's Murder by Deborah Spungen
This is the story of Nancy, Sid Vicious's girlfriend and their relationship. It is written by her mother.
The Cracker Factory by Joyce Rebeta-Burditt This was my favorite book last challenge. May be hard to find because it is out of print, but my library carries it.
Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess by Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess Sugarman became the Manager for The Doors, while still a teenager. Compulsively readable.
A few unique picks:
Sickened: The Memoir of a Munchausen by Proxy Childhood byJulie Gregory It's one of those "I can't believe that really happens" reads.
My Lobotomy by Howard Dully Dully's stepmother makes Joan Crawford appear sensitive.
I'm going to read one of these:
An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madnessby Kay Redfield Jamison
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden byJoanne Greenberg
Gracefully Insane: Life and Death Inside America's Premier Mental Hospital by Alex Beam
I'm considering either the non-fiction The Man Who Made Lists : Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus or (as mentioned above) Slaughterhouse-Five. Are both OK for the task? Thanks!
Deedee wrote: "I'm considering either the non-fiction The Man Who Made Lists : Love, Death, Madness, and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus or (as mentioned above) Slaughterhouse-Five. ..."Yes, Deedee, both of those would work just fine :)
The YA novel Looking for Alaska would work for this task. I just read it recently and it was wonderful.
i was wondering if you would take Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir? it's the memoir of a woman raised by a manic-depressive mother. it looks fab!
kiki wrote: "i was wondering if you would take Daughter of the Queen of Sheba: A Memoir? it's the memoir of a woman raised by a manic-depressive mother. it looks fab!"Absolutely! It sounds like a great memoir :)
Does this have to be a realistic portrayal of mental illness?Can I use Cat's Cradle or Crime and Punishment?
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The Seasonal Reading Challenge
Books mentioned in this topic
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Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life (other topics)
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Weekends at Bellevue: Nine Years on the Night Shift at the Psych E.R. (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Alex Beam (other topics)Kay Redfield Jamison (other topics)
Howard Dully (other topics)
Joyce Rebeta-Burditt (other topics)
Joanne Greenberg (other topics)
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National Mental Health Month is celebrated during the spring challenge. Today, an estimated 450 million people globally suffer from mental illness. To honor those who live with a mental illness, read one of the following...
A. A fiction book with a main character with a mental health disorder (depression, schizophrenia, anxiety or phobia, eating disorder, personality disorder, etc). The mental health disorder does NOT have to be a diagnosed condition in order to count for the challenge. The character just needs to have a clear mental health disorder that can easily be identified by the reader.
OR
B. A non-fiction book about a mental health issue/disorder (or it can be about a variety of mental health disorders). This can be a 'self-help' type book or a memoir/biography/autobiography that specifically relates to a mental health disorder(s).
When you post, tell us what mental health disorder your book featured and what you learned about that particular mental health disorder from reading the book.