Mental Health Bookclub discussion

This topic is for mod announcements about new things in the group

New today:

The bookshelf has been updated thanks to links and suggestions from members. I should stress that the categorisations come from those links (e.g. bipolar, depression etc), not from having personally read the book, so if anyone feels they have been miscategorised, please let me know.

I'm looking for task ideas for an official MHB Reading Challenge - put your thinking cap on and head on over to make some suggestions!

Still ongoing:

Nomination threads for our May/June Group Reads are open all this week, please get your ideas in before Saturday 30th April ready for a poll

New today:

The first official MHB Reading Challenge is now ready to go! For 12 months from 1st May, you can read 13, 26 or 52 books according to the tasks on the list.

Head over to the MHB Reading Challenge Folder to find out more!

Still ongoing:

The Nomination threads will close tomorrow (30th Apr), after which I'll send out a poll to decide our reads for May-June. Thanks for all the nominations so far!

New today

It's 1st May and there's plenty of things going on, so get stuck in! :)

The polls for our May-June reads are up! Please do vote for your favourite, they close 5th May

May is also Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, Marina is leading a discussion about BPD, and Topher has shared some info about his books with us - two accounts of his experiences with BPD. Go check them out!

As it's now 1st May, the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge is up and running, yay! Click on the link to find out more, or here to sign up. You can also create your own shelf and link it to the group so you can track your progress!

New today

Introducing Book it Forward - an opportunity for members to get hold of group reads if they can't get them at their local library/afford to buy them

Still ongoing

You can still sign up for our very first MHB Reading Challenge - the more the merrier!

There's still three days left to vote on our polls for our May-June Group Reads. One of the polls currently has two books tying for first place so I would be delighted if one of you would kindly break it :D

New today

A new thread for when you're not sure whether or not to read a book and you want to see if anyone else has any opinions about it. Alternatively you can start a new thread about that particular book in the same folder.

A calendar so you can see when nominations and voting will open for future group reads this year

Still ongoing

There's still a few hours left to vote on our polls for our May-June Group Reads. The polls close at midnight and I'll announce the winners tomorrow.

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge - delighted to see so many members getting involved!

May is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, so Marina is still posting new content and resources about BPD. She has a wealth of knowledge on the subject, not to mention personal experience, so head over there and take advantage of the opportunity to find out more!

We also have a couple of different threads for you all to give feedback on various aspects of the group. There's the new Group Reads Feedback to let me know if there's anything you'd like to change about the frequency and categories of our Group Reads (admittedly we still haven't started our first one, so there might not be a lot of feedback yet!).

Alternatively, if you have more general feedback or ideas about the group - new ideas, things you don't like or things that are confusing, then throw them into the Suggestion Box!

New today

Polls have closed and I can announce that our May-June Group Reads will be:

Mental Health Read - All the Bright Places - 40% of the vote
Non-Mental Health Read - I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban - 54.2% of the vote

Reading and discussion will kick off on Monday 9th May

Still ongoing

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge

May is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, so Marina is still posting new content and resources about BPD. She has a wealth of knowledge on the subject, not to mention personal experience, so head over there and take advantage of the opportunity to find out more!

New today

I've kicked off some discussion threads for our MH Read All the Bright Places. You've still got plenty of time to read the book and join in the discussions, but if you're already there, then head over to the folder and take a look. Please also feel free to start your own threads about the book, the more the merrier! The only rule is if you want to talk about anything that could be deemed a spoiler, please put 'spoilers' in the thread title!

Also if you want to participate in a thread and think something could be a spoiler, you can always hide it using html formatting. Simply put < spoiler > (without spaces) at the beginning and < /spoiler > (without spaces) at the end.

Without the spaces, it'll look like this: (view spoiler)[ahhhhhh I'm a spoiler!! (hide spoiler)]

I'm still working through our Non MH Read, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, but if other people have already read it and want to kick off the discussion, please do! The folder is here. In theory the same spoiler rules apply, but as it's a non-fiction book, and everyone knows she's the girl who got shot by the Taliban, I'm not sure what's left to spoil...

We've also had a couple of new authors joining us in Author's Corner, so go take a look if you're interested in reviewing their work.

Still ongoing

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge. I'm working through the list to set up threads for each prompt to discuss what we've read. Even if you're not participating in the challenge, you can still recommend books for our challengers that might fit - every contribution is always welcome!

May is Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, so Marina is still posting new content and resources about BPD. She has a wealth of knowledge on the subject, not to mention personal experience, so head over there and take advantage of the opportunity to find out more!

New today

Discussion threads for our Non-MH group read, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, are now up for any who have finished the book

Marina's last post for Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month, check it out!

Still ongoing

Discussion threads for our MH Read All the Bright Places. You've still got plenty of time to read the book and join in the discussions, but if you're already there, then head over to the folder and take a look. Please also feel free to start your own threads about the book, the more the merrier! The only rule is if you want to talk about anything that could be deemed a spoiler, please put 'spoilers' in the thread title!

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge. I'm working through the list to set up threads for each prompt to discuss what we've read. Even if you're not participating in the challenge, you can still recommend books for our challengers that might fit - every contribution is always welcome!

New today

Nomination threads are up for our July/August Group Reads - get nominating!

We've also had a few new authors in the group, so head over to Author's Corner to take a look

Still ongoing

Discussion threads for our May/June Reads - All the Bright Places and I Am Malala - are underway. You've still got plenty of time to read the books and join in the discussions, just remember to mark any spoilers so you don't ruin it for others who haven't read them yet.

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge. I'm working through the list to set up threads for each prompt to discuss what we've read. Even if you're not participating in the challenge, you can still recommend books for our challengers that might fit - every contribution is always welcome!

New today

The polls are now live so it's time to cast your vote for our July/August Group Reads:

Mental Health Read
Non-Mental Health Read

Still ongoing

Discussion threads for our May/June Reads - All the Bright Places and I Am Malala - are underway. You've still got plenty of time to read the books and join in the discussions, just remember to mark any spoilers so you don't ruin it for others who haven't read them yet.

You can also still sign up for the inaugural MHB Reading Challenge. I'm working through the list to set up threads for each prompt to discuss what we've read. Even if you're not participating in the challenge, you can still recommend books for our challengers that might fit - every contribution is always welcome!

New today

Technically last week, but never mind! The winners of the polls have been announced, so our July/August reads are:

MiXED NUTS or What I've Learned Practicing Psychotherapy
House of Leaves

Still ongoing

We're coming to the end of our May/June window, but the discussion threads will be left open so don't let that stop you from reading All the Bright Places and I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban!

New today

Nominations are now open for our September/October Group Reads. I've also put in place some guidelines to assist you when thinking about potential titles.

Mental Health Read
Non Mental Health Read

Still ongoing

We've still got a few weeks left of our July/August reads so do give them a go!

MiXED NUTS or What I've Learned Practicing Psychotherapy
House of Leaves

New today

Thanks all for making your nominations, the polls are now open!

Mental Health Read
Non- Mental Health Read

They will remain open until midnight on Saturday 20th August - happy voting!

Still ongoing

In the meantime, we're coming to the last couple of weeks of our July/August reads so there's still plenty of time to get stuck in.

MiXED NUTS or What I've Learned Practicing Psychotherapy
House of Leaves

The threads will stay open so you can always give them a go at any time and come back to the discussions.

Fancy a challenge? Want to diversify your reading but don't know where to start? Why not try our MHB Reading Challenge?

It runs for a year and you can backdate and still count books you read before you sign up, as long as they fit into the year window of the challenge.

A new member sparked an interesting discussion about the benefits of reading non-mental health literature and generally trying to distract ourselves from thinking too much about mental health and our own situations. We have the Non-Mental Health Chat folder and I'd love to get more threads going. Why not tell us about a hobby or interest you have? Favourite films, TV shows, bands? This is a folder to make your own and hopefully connect with others who have similar interests.

New today
Thank you to all who voted, I can now announce that our group reads for September/October are The Silver Linings Playbook and The Well of Loneliness

Reading will start on 1st September and discussion threads will go up shortly after.

Still ongoing
In the meantime, there's still a week or so left of our July/August books MiXED NUTS or What I've Learned Practicing Psychotherapy and House of Leaves, why not give them a go and tell us what you think?

New today
Discussion threads are now up for our Sep/Oct group reads The Well of Loneliness and The Silver Linings Playbook. Sorry it's taken a while to get them all up!

Still ongoing
Our MHB Reading Challenge is still going and you can sign up at any time! Don't forget to tell us all what you've been reading for each prompts in the individual threads.

If you don't fancy this month's Group Reads, why not start a thread about what you have been reading in the Book Discussions section. It doesn't have to be a mental health book, it's just a great place to share recommendations.

New today
Thanks to all who voted, the winners of our Nov/Dec Group Reads polls are Finding Audrey and The Help.

Discussions will begin on 1st Nov, if anyone wants to be discussion leader, let me know!

Still ongoing
We're still going with our Sep/Oct reads The Silver Linings Playbook and The Well of Loneliness. Those discussions will stay live even after Oct 31st (they'll just be a bit further down the homepage) so do check them out if you read the books.

New today

We're now up and running with a load of new ideas for 2017 - see this thread to find out more!

New today
The calendar for our non-mental health reads is now up, you can see all the books we'll be reading this year in that category here

The calendar-in-progress for our mental health reads is also up, you can find it here. As you can see we still have lots of gaps so please do volunteer to choose a book! Sign up here

Our February books have now been chosen, we'll be reading Animal Farm by George Orwell (discuss here) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales by Oliver Sacks (discuss here)

Still ongoing
Marina has very kindly kicked off the review submissions, if you've got any recommendations, please do submit a review so others can try it out! Submit a review.

New today

The April-June sign up thread for Buddy reads is now open!. Don't be afraid, it's a great way to get to know someone else in the group and read a new book.

Still ongoing

I hope you guys are enjoying our March books: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking Susan Cain (discuss here) and Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson (discuss here) - do let us know your thoughts!

I'm also still looking for volunteers to choose our monthly mental health books and lead the discussion. I really don't want this group to be all about me choosing books as that would end up wildly biased. If you would like to volunteer, sign up here, or message me if you have any questions or concerns. I'm here for support, so if you think you might like to but don't want to do it alone, we can do it together!

Finally, one of the new things we're doing in the group is building a directory of recommendations for all those who just want to swing by and get a new idea for a book. Read something good lately? Submit a review

New today

Thanks to all who voted on the poll, we now have our April & May mental health reads!
April - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
May - Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

If you'd like to lead the discussion on either book, please message me.

Still ongoing

The April-June sign up thread for Buddy Reads is up, so go and volunteer for that if you'd like to read a different book with a partner.

Our March reads are still going, hope you're enjoying those, let us know what you think in the threads!

We're also getting towards the last month of our first MHB Reading Challenge! If you've been taking part, let us all know how you're getting on and what you've been reading :)

New today

It's 1st of April so we're on to our new set of group reads:
Mental Health - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Non-Mental Health - The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

The discussion threads for our March books stay open, so do go and talk about those if you're reading Quiet or Furiously Happy.

Still ongoing
Still looking for volunteers for our Buddy Reads, please see the link in the last post.

If you'd like to volunteer to lead the discussion on May's MH book, Girl Interrupted, please send me a message - I'm here to assist if you're not sure what to do but would like to have a go. Likewise message me if you'd like to lead any other months later this year

As I said in my last post, we're into the last month of the MHB reading challenge, eek! Let us all know how you've been getting on :)

New today

May already!? Onto this month's group reads:
Mental Health - Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Non Mental Health - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Both books come with trigger warnings (though for different things) - not very well coordinated on my part, I apologise! - so if you are looking for something else to read, why not sign up for a Buddy Read? This is an opportunity to get together with someone else in the group to read a book you choose together.

Still ongoing

I've extended the deadline for the MHB book challenge, and the new one will start in June. If you have any ideas for this year's challenge, please do put them in the feedback thread, all ideas welcome!

As always, I'm looking for review submissions - I realise 'submissions' sounds WAY too formal, don't let it put you off! all reviews are welcome, good or bad, and they really don't need to be long or detailed, any thoughts on the book to help other readers are great. Submit them here

New today

This month we're reading:
Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer

Our second MHB challenge is now open! As with last year, we have three different levels according to how many books you want to read, but we have some new prompts in the mix. Sign up here

Ongoing

As always, I'm looking for review submissions - I realise 'submissions' sounds WAY too formal, don't let it put you off! all reviews are welcome, good or bad, and they really don't need to be long or detailed, any thoughts on the book to help other readers are great. Submit them here

I just did one for ya 🌟

Whoop thanks!

Ah man just realised I haven't updated this thread since June...