My favorite mental health books for Indie Bookstore Day 🤓
In honor of National Independent Bookstore Day, which falls on the last Saturday of April, here are some of my favorite wellness and mental health books.
I’m the person who packs 7 books and a Kindle for a 5-day vacation, but still plans to hit up the local bookstore once she’s there. I have three stacked full-sized bookshelves in my apartment — even after significantly culling my collection — and I’m debating whether I need another. One of my biggest fears in life is getting stuck on the train or some other place for an extended period of time without a book (this must have happened once to me years ago and I’ve since declared never again).
Books have always been my sanctuary; long before I ever had an interest in mental health, I turned to books, gravitating towards them for answers, tools, and guidance to better understand myself and the world around me.
A few years ago, I wrote a story about bibliotherapists: therapists who incorporate books as part of their treatment plans. Since then, my belief in the power of storytelling and the written word has only solidified. Those feelings of – ‘oh wow, I never thought of this that way,’ or ‘I thought I was the only one,’ or ‘I feel so seen while’ reading are beyond powerful.
In anticipation for National Independent Bookstore Day, which is this Saturday, here are some of my favorite wellness and mental health books. Not that you ever needed an excuse, but head to your local bookstore and pick a couple up, or go to Bookshop.org, which is a digital marketplace for independent bookstores across the country, and place an order through their website!
Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life with the Heart of a Buddha by Tara Branch: Branch begins the book discussing her mother, who on her death bed said, “You know, all my life I thought something was wrong with me. What a waste” — an incident that marked a turning point for her relationship with herself. If you’re on a journey to accepting your own limitations and humanity, this is the book for you. Replete with meditations, personal reflection, and Branch’s observations as a therapist, this book left a lasting impression on me, inspiring me to be more kind to myself. You can check out some of her guided meditations here!
Tell Me What You Want: A Therapist and Her Clients Explore Our 12 Deepest Desires by Charlotte Fox Weber: We all want things. We want to be seen, understood, loved. We want to be happy. We want to belong. We want success and power. Instead of shaming ourselves for our normal human desires, Fox Weber uses case studies from clients to show us that if you can be honest with yourself about having desires and accept that part of living means consistently longing for some experience that is different than the experience you’re currently living — no matter how satisfied you are with the current experience — then you can release any shame around desire and better position yourself to get what you want.
That’s Bold of You: How to Thrive as Your Most Vibrant, Weird Self by Case Kenny: I loveeeeeeed this book and lowkey highlighted every page. We are so weird and so beautiful for it. Instead of squelching the most vibrant, alive parts of ourselves, we can embrace them and live boldly. For anyone who's ever felt like too much or who’s felt misunderstood, this book is a testament to the power of embracing your originality.
The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz: This was the first book I read when I first started learning about spirituality and mental health in an intentional way and it holds up. The premise of the book is that we make these “agreements” with the world about who we are, agreements that limit us and hold us back. In order to change these patterns of thinking and acting that no longer serve us, we have to replace them with new ones. Drawing on Toltec teachings, Ruiz presents four new agreements in an accessible way by which we can live our lives — “Be impeccable with your word, Don’t make assumptions, Don’t take things personally, and Always Do Your Best” — and argues that if we can take on these new agreements, we will greatly improve our lives.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb: Are you sensing a theme with some of these books I’m recommending? In midlife, therapist Lori Gottlieb starts seeing a therapist to confront her fear of death. Maybe You Should Talk to Someone not only describes her own journey of coming to terms with her own humanity, but it contains the stories of clients who’ve overcome seemingly insurmountable situations to lead meaningful lives.
Glow in the Fucking Dark by Tara Schuster: How do we live life on our own terms? How do we confront our past so our wounded selves no longer run the show? After losing her high-profile job as an exec, which she had staked her whole identity on, Schuster’s forced to ask herself some tough questions about the way she’s living.
Swamplands of the Soul: New Life in Dismal Places by James Hollis: Ever felt like you were in the swamplands, trying to stay afloat while going through one of the darkest periods in your life? Based on Jungian psychology, this book argues that the purpose of life is not happiness, it’s meaning. Written in an accessible, compassionate way, the book maintains that even in the swamplands, there’s hope for a more cohesive, healed version of you to emerge.
High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Joy by Dr. Judith Joseph: This book came out earlier this month and I think it’s a really important, groundbreaking one. Joseph has built a platform educating people about depression and how it doesn’t always look like the way that it’s portrayed, while giving people actionable steps to take to address it.
I Might Be in Trouble by Daniel Aleman: Alright, let’s get a fiction book in here! I loved this book and couldn’t put it down. It’s about writing stories and rewriting them to discover the truth. The book begins with a date gone awry, as in the main character-wakes up-to-find-a-dead-body-in-his-bed awry, and I was on the edge of my seat watching as the main character attempts to hide the body in New York City. Genre-bending, uncanny, hopeful.
Too Soon for Adios by Annette Chavez Macias: This is a beautiful story about navigating grief, letting down your guard, and letting love in. After her mom dies, Gabby tries to build a relationship with her biological father who she hasn’t seen in years and finds the love she’s been outrunning her whole life. If you’re looking for a romance with depth, this is your book.
Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center: After her divorce, Helen yearns to do something drastic to shake her life up and step out of the numbness and despondency she’s been feeling since her marriage ended. So she decides to embark on this intense hike in Wyoming — a hike where people have been known to get seriously injured if things go wrong. A story about new beginnings and showing yourself who you are and what you’re capable of.
Next Up for me: Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry 📚💛
Got a book that made you laugh, cry in a good way, or was so enrapturing you lost track of time? I want to hear about it. Bonus points if it’s a little lighter than any of these 😅