I’m looking for books about mental illness, such as The Bell Jar. I prefer fiction to memoirs, but list any you know of.
I’m looking for books about mental illness, such as The Bell Jar. I prefer fiction to memoirs, but list any you know of.
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Running with scissors (nonfiction bio) and White Oleander (fiction) are AMAZING!!
@Crissy both are favorites of mine.
Loved both
Shutter Island is interesting.
Silence of the Lambs is popular.
It’s kind of a funny story by Ned Vizzini
@Lauren omg I loved this
Me too! It’s one of my top 10!
It’s kind of a funny story is a great one
The Yellow Wallpaper
oldie but goodie!
Made you up was also amazing
Challenger Deep, All the Bright Places, Finding Audrey
I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb
@Lisa love that book
Shes come undone, by Wally Lamb
@Dawn lol i was going to list that as well
Strong. Through a glass darkly
Correction.sorry didn’t pay attention to autocorrect. Styron is author of memoir through a glass darkly. Reads like fiction.
“The Accidental Truth” by Laurie Taylor
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Yes! I forgot about this one!
An Unquiet Mind is a memoir, but a smooth read.
The curios incident of the dog in the nighttime
The Glass Castle
The man who mistook his wife for a hat.
Oliver Sacks I believe the author could be??
I Never Promised You a Rose Garden by Joanne Greenberg.
I recommend this also.
Made You Up is really good as well as Eliza and Her Monsters
Graphic novels by Lynda Barry are amazing. One of my all time favorites is “100 Demons!”
There are a couple books out there about film actress Francis Farmer. Shadowlands is one, and there’s a second one. I’ve heard one is a far more accurate account than the other (I dont remember which is which now), but they’re both riveting.
We need to Talk about Kevin
@Cheri this book wrecked me so hard. I LOVE IT.
Any biography on today’s politicians. ?
I never promised you a rose garden.
The Patrick Melrose novels
Actually he didn’t have mental illness. He was fighting addiction and demons from child incest
@Molly I think that’s sort of splitting hairs if you look at the DSM addiction and depression are considered mental illness.
@Lisa yes I understand that. But you missed the point of the series. This is a man bringing himself back from Hell and conquering the demons of horrific abuse. That’s far beyond “depression”. Patrick Melrose is a tour de force work spanning 4 decades of a man’s life and how he nearly loses himself as he battles these demons. Its not some little book on addiction and depression
By the way, The Bell Jar is a memoir by Silvia Plath – it just reads like fiction.
@Ann Nope. It is a highly autobiographical novel, not a memoir.
@Christine and how many years have you taught literature?
Several. Then I got a better job.
@Christine This is not a spot for haters. Take out your anger somewhere else.
I don’t hate anything or anyone, except maybe people who deliberately spread misinformation.
Carolyn Haines’s second Pluto’s Snitch Book looks at one of the mental hospitals Zelda Fitzgerald was a patient in. Very well-researched and interesting look at mental health hospitals for that time. It’s called House of Memory.
Addition by Toni Jordan it is about a woman with OCD.
Eternal Youth by Alexander Williams is about a woman with mental illness.
Fight club!
The Shock of the Fall, Nathan Filer. Written by a nurse who suffered mental health issues, and he went on to be, or already was, a teacher.
The Benefits of Being A Wallflower; Wuthering Heights; Lolita.
Furiously Happy – it is HILARIOUS
Did you ever hear of poppy Shakespeare?
When Rabbit Howls – Truddi Chase. – multiple personality
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest.
Turtles all the way down.
Both are fiction
My Year of Rest and Relaxation was surprisingly good.