One of the most important topics that I explored in Boop and Eve’s Road Trip was that of depression. In part, the novel is the story of Eve’s healing journey from depression to self-actualization. I tapped into my own experiences with depression and anxiety to express Eve with what I hope came across as authenticity. Many books explore topics around mental health. Below is a list of several that I especially enjoyed:
If this is the first you’ve heard of Group, it won’t be the last. It’s the newest book on this list having come out October 27, 2020. Christie Tate’s debut memoir manages to be raw, honest, and humorous around some heavy topics. It’s the story of how group therapy and an offbeat therapist helped Tate overcome an eating disorder and intimacy issues. Her story is so zany at times I had to remind myself that it was a memoir. What a life! Tate shares intimate details with a generosity that speaks to her bravery both that which it took to overcome her challenges and also to share them with the world. For a list over other not-to-be-missed 2020 releases, click here.
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson is perhaps the oldest of the books on this list. The National Book Award-winning YA novel hit me hard and has stuck with me for over a decade. This is a story of #metoo written before #metoo was a hashtag (heck, before we even spoke in hashtags). It’s about a high school freshman who refuses to speak after an incident at a party and the subsequent shunning of peers leaves her traumatized. If this novel somehow missed you in 1999, it’s time to catch up. Or if you think you’re too old for YA novels, make an exception for this one.
For another oldie, but goodie YA recommendation, check out this.
Time for a confession. I was halfway through the book before I realized that it’s a work of fiction and that Daisy Jones and the Six isn’t a real band. Maybe it’s the fact that the novel is written in an interview format or maybe it’s that Taylor Reid Jenkins is that good or maybe it’s that my knowledge of the music is so pathetic I believed that there could be an amazingly popular band that I’d never heard of. Whatever the reason, this story wonderfully captures the rock and roll lifestyle with all its highs (pun intended) and lows. Word on the street is there’s going to be a movie too. Okay, maybe not the street. I mean there’s a pandemic going on. Is there any word on any street anymore? Word on the net? That sounds cool. Just like this book.
I’m kind of surprised Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine has done as well as it has. Not because I didn’t like it, I loved it in fact, but rather because it took me about a hundred pages before I got into it and I’d have guessed that most people would have given up before then (the Virgo in me makes it awfully hard to abandon a book). Before getting to know Eleanor she’d kind of offputting, which is her struggle in the book too, but as her story unfolds she becomes this beautiful quirky soul that you can’t but root for. I think this one is destined for the screen as well. If you can find the patience to stick with it, you won’t be sorry.
Alison over at Mind Joggle compared Boop and Eve’s Road Trip to this novel. I consider that among the highest of compliments.
Another fascinating memoir, Brain on Fire one is written by journalist, Susannah Cahalan, who woke up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there. The memoir chronicles doctors’ attempts to figure out what brought her to this state and how to help her. To write the memoir Susannah has to research her own life, piecing together her forgotten state of madness from other people’s memories. It’s a wild medical memoir.