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Book Recommendations by Sav | Shattering Stigmas 4.03 min read

Posted on 13 Oct 201827 Jan 2019

Hey everyone, I’m Sav and before I get started with recommending some books, I want to briefly talk about my own experience living with mental illnesses. Ever since I was young I’ve always known I had anxiety, and now I’ve discovered that I have generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) along with panic disorder and depression. It’s been a long journey discovering my mental health and figuring out what’s best for me. I still don’t have it all figured out but I’m kind of hopeful lol.

I wanted to share some books with y’all that have some of my favorite representations of mental illness. I also want to add that; not everyone experiences mental illnesses in the same way. For example, anxiety is such a varied, diverse experience and it may not happen in the same way it does for someone else. So even if you may not see YOUR anxiety, I think it’s still important to see it through the lens of someone else.


StarfishStarfish by Akemi Dawn Brown

Content Warnings: toxic maternal relationship, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, suicide attempt by a minor character

A beautiful story inside and out (the cover is stunning). The story of Kiko Himura as she learns to heal and grow out of a toxic environment really helped me heal in many ways.  Kiko is a biracial teen who has social anxiety and faces emotional abuse. This book is also #ownvoices! I do recommend some caution with this one because of the difficult topics mentioned.

Goodreads | Amazon

some kind of happinessSome Kind Of Happiness by Claire Legrand

Content warnings: depression, anxiety, description of panic attack

This is actually a middle grade but I think it’s still a great read for those dealing with anxiety and depression. Finley is a young girl who stays with her grandparents during the summer while her parents are going through a divorce. She writes about a fantasy world called Everwood as a way to escape from her growing depression and anxiety. The way anxiety and depression are described in this is exactly how mine feel and I cried reading this. This has a similar vibe to Bridge to Terabithia.

Goodreads | Amazon

nice try jane sinnerNice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke

Content Warnings: depression, suicide attempt, suicidal ideation, germophobia/OCD, bimisia (challenged)

This is one of the funniest books I’ve read about depression. Humor helps me a lot with dealing with anxiety and depression and this book made me feel so much. I also appreciated that this was a book about depression where the depression wasn’t conflated with grief representation (which sometimes marketing in YA mixes up)

Goodreads | Amazon

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

little & lino

Content Warnings: bimisia, ableism (challenged in text, racism (challenged), microaggressions

A stunning #ownvoices YA contemporary about step-siblings, Suzette and Lionel. Suzette, a bisexual Black girl questions and explores her sexuality, while also coming to terms with her brother, Lionel’s Bipolar II diagnosis.The thing I liked about this was how it called out the ableism in the story that, Lionel faces and that he has a supportive family, especially from Suzette. I also related to the depression that Lionel finds himself in and it helped me understand myself more.

Goodreads | Amazon


You can find more from Sav at:

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0 thoughts on “Book Recommendations by Sav | Shattering Stigmas 4.0”

  1. Pingback: October Wrap Up | booked on a feeling
  2. Madalyn @ Novel Ink says:
    16 Oct 2018 at 6:42 pm

    I also loved Starfish, Jane Sinner, and Little & Lion! I’m slowly but surely making my way through Claire Legrand’s backlist, and now I’m very excited for Some Kind of Happiness!

    Reply
  3. Inge says:
    16 Oct 2018 at 7:07 am

    I loved Starfish and Nice Try, Jane Sinner!

    Reply
  4. Marie says:
    14 Oct 2018 at 12:16 pm

    These are GREAT recommendations! I read and really loved Starfish and especially the social anxiety representation. I have Nice Try, Jane Sinner on my TBR and it’s a book I’ve been wanting to read for so long, I’m so happy to see you’re recommending it and that you enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing! 🙂

    Reply

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About Ben

I’m a 23-year-old trying to finish a college degree and find the time to talk about books and the world. When I’m not reading or writing, I’m usually talking someone’s ear off about baseball or hockey. One day I hope to speak all the languages so I can read all the books.

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