Book Review: The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle

Entering her sophomore year in high school, Winifred (Fred) feels umoored - a bit nervous. While this is typical on each first day of school, it is particularly difficult for Fred because her two best (only) friends transferred to private school. Fred wondering is she will be able to move on.

It doesn't take long for Fred to reconnect with a former friend and make some new friends, but the self doubt that she constantly lives with plays havoc with her life. She is starting to swirl out of control - not being able to sleep and cutting her arms in order to feel something - even eating food which she knows will make her sick in order to punish herself.

This is a great book to view/read if you want to vicariously want to taste this brand of mental illness. And perhaps the hope that is sitting beyond mental illness if help arrives. 

This is a quick read which is more than worth the time.

 

Book Review: Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

 

I love it when someone recommends a book that really speaks to me. And this is one of those books, recommended to me by my daughter. 

This is a memoir of a new adult (early 20s) who starts struggling with her mental and physical health. Her body is getting weaker and twitchy, her moods are out of control, she can't focus, her grasp on reality is slipping away. 

Cahalan writes about her excitement for her job at the New York Post as a journalist. Her increasing struggle to get that job done, and then to get much of anything done. She shares the struggles of a month-long stay in a hospital and the support of her family and boyfriend during that stay. She talks about how she feels and what she experiences as a woman struggling with physical and mental difficulties. And she speaks about the medical professionals that cared for her through this struggle with a medical mystery. (Spoiler alert) It was not all in her head - which brings us to the hazy line between pyschology and neurology. 

This is an astounding book about struggle, fear, awareness, memory, illness, support, identity and the evolution of the medical field. 

I was going to say - if you are going into the medical field - read this. But I think that this is the type of book that everyone should read. 

You can find this book on the shelf at both South and NPL. You can listen to it through Libby/Sora if you are connected to NPL.

Book Review: Ordinary Hazards / Nikki Grimes

Nikki Grimes begins her memoir like this:

"Cards on the table:
I have a PhD in avoidance,
which kept me running from
the past for years.
I was particularly fond of 
parroting Scarlett O'Hara:
"I'll think about it tomorrow."
But now my need
for light and truth is greater than
my fear of murky memories.
Time to grab my flashlight
and step into the tunnel."

In this memoir in verse, Nikki Grimes tells the story of her growing up with a mother who was an alcoholic and had mental illness. Nikki's mom would stop taking her medications and start drinking then Nikki would find her mother talking to people who were not there. Eventually the mental illness played a part in Grimes entrance into the foster care system. The constant crisis that defined Grimes childhood robbed her of her childhood.

Nikki also had a sprinkling of adults in her life that cared deeply for her. Her father, a musician who was unable to raise her, also fed her books, took her places, introduced her to artists and encouraged her. There was a period of time with one foster family that offered her an oasis of calm and belonging. A teacher nurtured her reading and writing.

Through all of this Nikki Grimes had a love of words and read and wrote constantly.

This memoir in verse was a joy to read, despite the abuse and hardship. This is a story of survival.

My favorite quote:

"Library Card

A magic pass
I used to climb into
other people's skin
any old time
I needed."

You will find this book on SORA through both Nashua South and through Nashua Public Library. I am looking forward to borrowing this from Hoopla through NPL to hear Grimes read her own story.

Book Review: Words We Don't Say / K. J. Reilly

Joel just doesn't fit into school very well - he is more interested in cars than math (at least the way they teach it at school.) He goes to school, he does what he has to, he gets by. This is his story in his unfiltered internal dialog (along with his filtered external voice) and a bunch of unsent text messages. (Can you really save these to draft?)

Anyway, Joel must participate in community service as a graduation requirement and volunteers at the soup kitchen each Wednesday night. Luckily Eli also volunteers then and he has an incredible crush on her. At the soup kitchen he meets a bunch of characters, some who are willing to share their insights and others who remain silent. Many are veterans and many have mental illness.

Why would I recommend this book? The characters are flawed but  well formed and interesting. There is a very big difference between Joel's internal voice (lots of swearing) and his external voice (which is pretty polite.) There is some insight into mental illness and trauma. And a real value placed on intelligence that isn't of the Advanced Placement variety.  Finally, I found myself LOLing at multiple points in the story even though many of the topics in this book are heavy ones. 

If bad language bothers you - stop - don't read. If you don't enjoy visiting someone else's mind - stop. But if you like to jump into someone else's experience and see all of the richness that makes us human - jump right into this book with both your eyes and your mind wide open. 

 

Book Review: Waiting for Fitz by Spencer Hyde

Addie gets up early each school day to get ready for school. Her morning rituals, caused by her Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, can take three or more hours and often make her late for school. She has pushed her friends away because it is easier to stay within the walls of her home where her tics don't stand out. OCD impacts her life so much that she finds that it is time to get treatment in a psychiatric unit in a hospital.

In the hospital she meets other patients with various struggles including Fitz who at 17 looks like an all-star athlete and has: a quick wit, a caring nature, an amazing sense of humor - oh, and schizophrenia. Fitz feels a need to bust out of the unit and make his way to San Juan Island and he needs help. Together the teens on the unit create a plan so that Fitz can escape and Addie is going with him.

The very coolest thing about this book is that each character is a person with all the struggles, attributes, and challenges that we all face and their mental illness is just another challenge. 

If you are interested in mental health - this would be a really fun read. If you like literature, problem solving, persistence, humor, birds, or love stories - this is a good read. There is a lot to like here.

We have a copy in our library or you can check out the online catalog at the Nashua Public Library for more information. 

 

Book Review: Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman

Kiko lives with her white mother after her Japanese father divorced and moved on with his life. Kiko, an artist, craves her mother's validation - both for Kiko's art and to find her own beauty. She also wants recognition for her art, the love that we all deserve, and a pathway that is all her own. Mostly she wants to enter Prism, an art college. When her rejection letter comes in the air, Kiko's dreams are shattered and she needs figure out what is next.

This is a book about mental illness and beauty. It is about finding one's way in the world. The story starts a little slowly, but this is one you will want to stick with.

Book review: Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

Far From the Tree by Robin Benway is a contemporary novel about three siblings who first meet each other as teenagers. Grace, Maya and Joaquin are all put up for adoption by their mother when they were babies. After Grace has a baby of her own that she gives up for adoption, she seeks out the siblings she never knew. When they all meet, they discover their life journeys up to this point have been very different. As they get to know one another, they each carry with them secrets that affect all the relationships in their lives, including with each other, and also influence their decision to find their birth mother. Told from the viewpoints of all three, the story slowly unfolds as they confront their past choices and make decisions about their futures. This is an emotional story of families - realistic, painful and hopeful. I listened to the audiobook version and truthfully think I would have liked reading it better as the narrator tried to change her voice for all the characters and her male character voices were slightly annoying. However, the story is great and one that I recommend if you like intense family dramas. This book is also a Flume 2020 nominee and is also available on Hoopla and Overdrive (Nashua Public Library).