Book Recommendations to Celebrate Mental Health Awareness Month!

Posted On May 22, 2021

Hi Readers! Happy Mental Health Month to all of you! I have been wanting to write this post since the first weekend of the month, but some thing or the other came up. But, finally, here I am! In this day & age, we all know how important mental health is. Be it feelings of depression & stress from your job, or feelings of loneliness & sadness from your relationships, or feelings of anxiety & compulsion from your every day life. You need to know that your feelings matter. But, if you are experiencing an intimidating amount of feelings, please talk to someone about them. It is important to talk about it, get it all out & figure it all out one step at a time. I wish you all a strong mental health! 

Talking about mental health, I naturally decided to write a post about books which focus on mental health. In some of these, we can outright see people suffering, while in others it happens more in the background. But in any case, once these issues are addressed, we can see how the characters get better. I have included fiction novels which I have read, which I believe are important in addressing mental health. I have also included fiction novels which I have not read. And, two non-fiction books which I absolutely loved & believe should be mandatory reading for all. 

~~TRIGGER WARNING~~

Most of the below novels are my favourites, which is why I talk about them so passionately. Having said that, most of these novels also have immense pain during the story. These novels, especially A Little Life contains child abuse, sexual abuse, toxic relationships, self-mutilation, suicide, rape, drug addiction & violence. Research the book well before you get into it. 

~~READ FICTION NOVELS~~

I am a big lover of fiction novels, because they teach us so much without throwing wisdom at us, unlike non-fiction books. The books I have mentioned below are a few books that spread the importance of mental health.

A Little Life is roughly about how friends are always there to support you when you are feeling down. All the Bright Places shows us how difficult it is to be in a relationship if you both are mentally unwell. Turtles All the Way Down is written really well by getting inside the head of the character & portraying how wildly her thoughts spin. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is as story about loneliness & depression divided into Good Days, Bad Days & Better Days. The Perks of being a Wallflower talks about trauma followed by depression & is addressed in the right way. The Great Alone talks about PTSD from the war, loneliness & we can actually witness the behaviours of severely mentally ill characters. Anxious People is a brilliant story & the key takeaway is just about how human we all are after all. The Midnight Library is simple a wonderful life-affirming & thought-provoking book.

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara 

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven 

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman 

The Perks of being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky 

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah 

Anxious People by Fredrik Backman 

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig 

~~UNREAD FICTION NOVELS~~

I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman 

Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram 

Wintergirls by Laure Halse Anderson 

Hold Still by Nina LaCour 

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour 

I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb 

~~READ NON-FICTION BOOKS~~

I rarely read nonfiction, but when I do I choose books which have some aspect of fiction in it. It was really difficult for me to read books like ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ or ‘The 5 AM Club’. But books like the two I have mentioned below is plain amazing. Maybe You Should Talk To Someone is the benchmark mental health book. It talks about the benefits, significance & purpose of therapy. We also read about people’s lives throughout & can feel their development. It is such an important book & one which I will always recommend. Untamed is another absolutely beautiful book with a lot of life lessons in it. It talks about the importance of self. There are so many terms & principles in it, which I still live by.

Maybe You Should Talk To Someone by Lori Gottlieb 

Untamed by Glennon Doyle 

I just wanted to list out the books, so that you can refer to them and choose to read the ones you like. Take care of yourself as much as you take care of your loved ones! 

Until next time,