Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Use this space to discuss books you're reading or that might fit the 23rd Read Harder task.

Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.

I was also tempted by Spectrum Women: Walking to the Beat of Autism, M is for Autism, and Camouflage: The Hidden Lives of Autistic Women and all were added to by TBR list. I also definitely recommend All the Weight of Our Dreams: On Living Racialized Autism for a great intersectional read.

An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

Some of my favourites that'd work for this:
Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me: Depression in the First Person
The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (more academic and dense than the others but essential reading for PTSD and trauma-related disorders)
For a lighter read, Shockaholic or Wishful Drinking

What I'm thinking of reading for this challenge:
I'm Telling the Truth, but I'm Lying: Essays
Dear Scarlet: The Story of My Postpartum Depression
Inferno: A Memoir of Motherhood and Madness (I hesitate on this one because by some definitions, postpartum psychosis is rare at .1 - .2% of all births, but both psychosis and postpartum mental illness in general are common enough and psychosis is stigmatized enough that I want to count this!)

Katie wrote: "Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.
[bookcover:Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a ..."

The only thing I would say on this is that Autism is not a mental illness so I do not think that it really qualifies for this category.

Amy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.
[bookcover:Odd Girl Out: An Autist..."

I understand this point of view but as an autistic woman who found her way onto the path of diagnosis through books such as these that did demystify the experience of being an autistic adult woman it is my personal feeling and experience that for me it is a mental illness and many other autistic individuals feel the same way and would not want to be told how they should label their own life- though not all and that is their right to identify as they feel appropriate. I in no way feel labeling it as such is a judgement of my ability to function or worth but instead simply an acknowledgement that my brain pathways and processing are different than the norm and that due to that I can feel quite distressed navigating the world at times and impeded in tasks.

Katie wrote: "Amy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.
[bookcover:Odd Girl Ou..."

I love your perspective. I work with adults with Autism and most of them do not like this label. Thank you for sharing your point of view and perspective. It is always good to have understanding of others points of views so I do respect this. Thank you again.

Katie wrote: "Amy wrote: "Katie wrote: "Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.
[bookcover:Odd Girl Ou..."

And thank you! I also enjoy different perspectives and know these things are highly personal and variable across individuals since we all experience the world a bit differently.

One I read a few years ago and enjoyed was My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind. It draws from the author's personal experience, but is also an in-depth look at the science behind and therapies related to anxiety disorders.

I recommend Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, about a teenage girl living with OCD.

Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family should work. And I read Long Walk Out of the Woods: A Physician's Story of Addiction, Depression, Hope, and Recovery this year which would work. His goal is to demystify depression and resulting addiction.

Lynn wrote: "Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family should work. And I read [book:Long Walk Out of the Woods: A Physician's Story of Addiction, Depression, Hope, and Recovery|..."

Hidden Valley Road was one of my favorite reads this year. Fascinating!

I was thinking of reading A Biography of Mrs Marty Mann: The First Lady of Alcoholics Anonymous for this one. It has been sitting in my TBR shelf for years now.

I'm thinking of The Hilarious World of Depression by Jon Moe. The podcast is wonderful, too.

Still Alice, I read it as a friend was being diagnosed,

Would The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls work for this prompt? I know eating disorders are addressed but I’m not sure if it “demystifies” since I haven’t read it

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me would be great for folks that want a graphic novel for this challenge.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a book by Oliver Sacks that would fit this category?

If I hadn't already read it, I'd go for The Trick is to Keep Breathing. It's a fantastic look inside the mind of someone with serious depression. Hard to read at times, but amazing.

Katie wrote: "Books on autism have been eye-opening for me so for this challenge I chose Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a Neurotypical World.
[bookcover:Odd Girl Out: An Autistic Woman in a ..."

I think these would be great for a category about neurodivergence, but not mental illness. Autism is not considered by many (including people with autism) as a mental illness.

I recommend Carrie Fisher's memoirs:
Wishful Drinking and Shockaholic.
She's delightfully candid about living with bipolar disorder.

Also, I Love the Bones of You: My Life, My Family, My Father. Christopher Eccleston writes about his depression and eating disorder.

Does anyone know if Anxious People would count? I just got it and have been meaning to read it.

A really great book I'm in the middle of — for those looking for a wild but also politically-charged Joycean stream-of-consciousness experience – is Insane by Rainald Goetz. It blends the voices of patients with various psychotropic illnesses with healthcare practitioners who doubt whether the system is actually working.

The book was published in Germany in the 1980s, and as a publicity stunt the author cut himself in front of a late night tv audience before proceeding to read from his book while blood was dripping down his forehead. While that's nuts, this book is a fascinating examination of many different sides of the mental health system.

Abe wrote: "A really great book I'm in the middle of — for those looking for a wild but also politically-charged Joycean stream-of-consciousness experience – is Insane by Rainald Goetz. It blends the voices of..."

Thanks for posting about a book I am interested in and was unlikely to come across on my own. From your description it doesn't sound like it demystifies anything, but I am already seeking it out and dying to read it.

Does anyone know if Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed demystifies anything?

reading 'the boy between:a mother and son's journey from a world gone grey' by Amanda prowse and Josh Hartley

Reade wrote: "Does anyone know if Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed demystifies anything?"

I read this book this past year and from my recollection no one had a mental illness, just distressing personal issues. There was no discussion of diagnoses since it is about talk therapy. (That said, I still recommend it, it was interesting.)

I'm wondering if any of Jenny Lawson's books would work for this? Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things or Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir

Megan wrote: "Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me would be great for folks that want a graphic novel for this challenge."

I think I am going to choose this because it also works for prompt #13 for me!

Shoshana wrote: "I'm wondering if any of Jenny Lawson's books would work for this? Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things or [book:Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoi..."
I've only read let's pretend this never happened but I don't think it would be a great fit

Maybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed

I've wanted to read this one for a while!

Yes, I think both of Jenny Lawson's books would work and they are both sad and hilarious. I think part of "demystifying mental illness" is being open about it and, people like Lawson talking about how it effects their lives so other better understand it, does that.

Same about Maybe You Should Talk to Someone - a lot of the problem with mental illness is the stigma of receiving treatment. Being open about therapy, how it works, how it helps and showing people going through it helps to reduce that stigma, make it more acceptable and allows people to be honest about it.

Tina wrote: "Does anyone know if Anxious People would count? I just got it and have been meaning to read it."

I don't think so. It doesn't really address anxiety, nor does it really portray it.

Any fiction fit the prompt? (Looking for something different than the non-fiction suggestions that first pop to mind)

Samantha wrote: "Any fiction fit the prompt? (Looking for something different than the non-fiction suggestions that first pop to mind)"

It was mentioned above but I highly recommend Turtles All the Way Down by John Green. There's a mystery aspect and the main character deals with anxiety and OCD behaviors. Green also deals with those issues personally so his descriptions are vivid.

Shoshana wrote: "I'm wondering if any of Jenny Lawson's books would work for this? Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things or [book:Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoi..."

Yes, she demystifies her mental illness by addressing it openly with humor.

I am nearly through The Hilarious World of Depression and the book perfectly fits the prompt. It is excellent.

Samara wrote: "Books by Brene Brown would they work? Or is that a stretch?"

What mental illness would that be?

Shoshana wrote: "I'm wondering if any of Jenny Lawson's books would work for this? Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things or [book:Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoi..."

I was wondering this too - I think Furiously Happy would fit!

I will go with The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath

The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays has been on my list for a while, so I'm going with that.

Sid wrote: "I'd be curious to find a book that discusses OCD. I very rarely see it represented plausibly! the best fictional rep. I've seen so far - the kind that made me go "That's me!" out loud - was Alan fr..."

Willing to read romance? There are a number of options but this is a good place to start https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3.... Also, I have not read it but many people said good things about Turtles All the Way Down.

I would definitely suggest Everything Here Is Beautiful. I'm trying to work down my TBR so I will probably to with All the Bright Places

Sid wrote: "I'd be curious to find a book that discusses OCD. I very rarely see it represented plausibly! the best fictional rep. I've seen so far - the kind that made me go "That's me!" out loud - was Alan fr..."

I wonder if The Weight of Our Sky, which Book Riot recommended for task 14, would be a good fit here?

Samantha wrote: "Any fiction fit the prompt? (Looking for something different than the non-fiction suggestions that first pop to mind)"

I just finished "Shuggie Bain" by Douglas Stuart, hard topic (alcoholism), but excellent read. To me it fits the category.

Sid wrote: "I'd be curious to find a book that discusses OCD. I very rarely see it represented plausibly! the best fictional rep. I've seen so far - the kind that made me go "That's me!" out loud - was Alan fr..."

It's not out until April, but if you like romance, The Heart Principle could work. I've read her other books and enjoyed them, and his one features a main character with OCD.

If you like fantasy, the main character in Borderline has borderline personality disorder, and she talks a lot about it as just a part of her life, which I think demystifies it.

Jennifer wrote: ...I wonder if The Weight of Our Sky, which Book Riot recommended for task 14, would be a good fit here?"

I just got that from my library for Task 14 (and 21). The main character's OCD is undiagnosed and she thinks of it as possession by a djinn.

Personally I don't consider this as demystifying, but if you take the term to mean a realistic, first-person portrayal of the condition, then maybe.

I have had The Day My Brain Slipped Out My Head and Onto the Kitchen Floor: A Journey Through Psychosis on my TBR for a long time so that's my pick for this one. Also Group: How One Therapist and a Circle of Strangers Saved My Life might work.

Happy Monday, everyone! Our recommendations post for this task is now live: https://bookriot.com/read-harder-2021...