Top Five Wednesday | Mental Health

 

Hello! Welcome to another Top Five Wednesday! This week's Top Five Wednesday is my top five books with mental health rep. Mental health and the importance of it is increasingly a topic that is being discussed in fiction. In honour of World Bipolar Day, we are looking at some books that touch on or centre around the importance of mental health. I will say that creating this list has made me realise how few fantasy books there are with mental health rep. There are definitely a few with PTSD rep but other than that, I don't think I know of many! So the ones I've chosen are mostly contemporary and non-fiction, but if you know any fantasy books with good mental health rep then let me know in the comments!

1. Am I Normal Yet? by Holly Bourne

Holly Bourne is actually my favourite contemporary author because she writes characters and women's lives so well. Her adult books are my favourite, but this YA series, starting with Am I Normal Yet? is probably the best YA contemporary that I've read as an adult. This book follows Evie, a teenager recently off her meds and trying to make friends at a new college where no-one knows her as the 'girl-who-went-crazy'. But relationships are messy - especially romantic ones. Evie has OCD and anxiety and I've never read rep as good as I have in this book relating to those mental illnesses. It's so well done. Also, Evie's relationship with her two female friends, Amber and Lottie, is just so refreshing to see in YA because they so clearly care about each other and there's no competition or cattiness. I also loved to see the UK college setting, which is so rare - you mostly see American high school books. Overall, this is a funny, feminist, contemporary with fantastic mental health rep so I highly recommend it.

2. Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

Now, first of all, I know everyone already knows John Green's books. Secondly, I didn't actually love this book, but I'd still recommend it as a book with good mental health rep, and I'll explain why in minute. This book begins with a fugitive billionaire and the promise of a cash reward, but it primarily centres around Aza Holmes, a young woman going through her daily existence with the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts. The plot itself is a little weird and a bit unrealistic (as with a lot of John Green books). However, the mental health rep of anxiety and OCD was too well written for me in the sense that I actual found it a little bit triggering (I know loads of people who didn't find it triggering though so do read more reviews than just mine if that's something that might bother you!). Because this is an own voices novel about anxiety and thought spirals, John Green is very good at writing about them, which was hard for me to read. Overall, it's fantastic rep and great to see more books normalising it, but this one just wasn't quite for me. I know a lot of people who adored this book though which is why I still wanted to put it on people's radar as a book with good rep.

3. Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig

I absolutely love Matt Haig's non-fiction work. His books centre around depression and anxiety and this is a life-affirming memoir about his own struggle and how he's learned to appreciate being alive. Everyone’s lives are touched by mental illness: if we do not suffer from it ourselves, then we have a friend or loved one who does. Matt’s frankness about his experiences is both inspiring to those who feel daunted by depression and illuminating to those who are mystified by it. Above all, his humour and encouragement never lets us lose sight of hope. He teaches the reader to celebrate the small joys and moments of peace that life brings, and reminds us that there are always reasons to stay alive. It's just a beautifully touching book that has helped so many people I know, not only with their own mental health, but also with understanding how those illnesses can make others feel even if you don't suffer from it yourself. 

4. Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

I haven't yet read a Fredrik Backman book that I haven't loved, but this one is my absolute favourite so far. Anxious People starts with an ordinary, open-house apartment viewing that soon turns into a hostage situation when a failed bank robber bursts in. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths. Before long, the robber must decide which is the more terrifying prospect: going out to face the police, or staying in the apartment with this group of impossible people. The whimsical plot and beautifully translated writing gives the reader an insight into the human condition and all the anxious people that exist in our world. It is the perfect combination of serious conversation, humour, and positivity. It will make you cry but it is so heart-warming overall and I highly recommend it.

5. First, We Make the Beast Beautiful by Sarah Wilson

I was given this book by a friend who has also suffered from anxiety. This is another non-fiction book that pulls at the thread of accepted definitions of anxiety and reframes it as a spiritual quest. While I didn't agree with some of the topics/views in this book (e.g., quitting sugar) there were some great quotes that I think are really helpful to both anxiety-sufferers, and also to people who have loved ones with anxiety who want to understand it better. Some of the issues I had with the book included the author's assumption that people just had money to go on retreats and solve their problems. But overall, I do feel like this book (if used alongside others) can definitely help people with their understanding of anxiety overall.

So, those are my top five books with mental health rep! I do think it's often hard to find books with genuinely good mental health rep, especially since mental health conditions can affect people in such different ways, so let me know what your Top Five are below, or if you have a blog post then link it! Just in case anyone is new to this, Top Five Wednesday was created by Lainey (Gingerreadslainey on YouTube) and is now run by the Goodreads Group so that people can share more of their favourite (or sometimes least favourite) books in an interesting way. The people in the Group create weekly topics each month so Bloggers and YouTubers alike to discuss books. The group can be found here! And if you want to see more of my previous Top Five Wednesday Blog posts, you can click here!