MIA Reading Challenge
Mental Illness Advocacy (MIA) Reading Challenge
About the Challenge:
I started the Mental Illness Advocacy (MIA) Reading Challenge in December 2010 in an effort to raise awareness, knowledge, and acceptance of mental illness. Reading, both fiction and nonfiction, is an excellent way to broaden one’s horizons and expose one to new ideas and ways of thinking and being. Many reading challenges already exist in the book blogging community to address racism, sexism, and homophobia, but I could not find any to address the stigma faced by those suffering from mental illness. In spite of mental illnesses being recognized by the scientific community as diseases just like physical ones, many still think those suffering from one are at fault for their own suffering. I hope reading and reviewing books featuring characters struggling to deal with mental illness, whether their own or another person’s, will help remove the stigma faced on a daily basis by those with a mental illness. They already have to struggle with an illness; they shouldn’t have to face a stigma too.
Challenge Levels:
Acquainted–4 books
Aware–8 books
Advocate–12 books
Reading Suggestions:
I’ll be maintaining a listing here of books featuring characters with a mental illness depicted in a sympathetic light. I do my best to organize the book by the main type of mental illness featured, although some feature more than one.
Reading list last updated on 12/22/12. Books reviewed after that date will be added to the list on the next page maintenance day.
Addictive Disorders
- Dry: A Memoir
by Augusten Burroughs
- Germline
by T. C. McCarthy
- Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines
by Nic Sheff
Alzheimer’s
- Elegy for Iris
by John Bayley
- The Madonnas of Leningrad
by Debra Dean
- Still Alice
by Lisa Genova
Anorexia
- Abject Relations: Everyday Worlds of Anorexia
by Megan Warin
- Diary of an Exercise Addict
by Peach Friedman
- Hunger
by Jackie Morse Kessler
- Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia
by Sheila Himmel
- Lying in Weight: The Hidden Epidemic of Eating Disorders in Adult Women
by Trisha Gura
- Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
by Marya Hornbacher
Antisocial Personality Disorder
- American Psycho
by Bret Easton Ellis
- The Craigslist Murders
by Brenda Cullerton
- Darkly Dreaming Dexter
by Jeff Lindsay
- I Am Not A Serial Killer
by Dan Wells
- Mr. Monster
by Dan Wells
Asperger’s Syndrome
- 600 Hours of Edward
by Craig Lancaster
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
by Mark Haddon
- Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s
by John Elder Robison
Bipolar Disorder
- Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania
by Andy Behrman
- Emotional Geology
by Linda Gillard
- Manic: A Memoir
by Terri Cheney
- An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
by Kay Redfield Jamison
- Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Family’s Journey Through Bipolar Disorder
by Karen Winters Schwartz
Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
- The Adonis Complex: How to Identify, Treat and Prevent Body Obsession in Men and Boys
by Harrison G. Pope
- The Broken Mirror: Understanding and Treating Body Dysmorphic Disorder
by Katharine A. Phillips
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)
- The Buddha and The Borderline: My Recovery from Borderline Personality Disorder Through Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Buddhism, and Online Dating
by Kiera Van Gelder
- Girl, Interrupted
by Susanna Kaysen
- I Hate You–Don’t Leave Me: Understanding the Borderline Personality
by Jerold J. Kreisman
- Waiting For Daybreak
by Amanda McNeil
Bulimia
- Perfect
by Natasha Friend
- Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia
- Wintergirls
by Laurie Halse Andersen
Depression
- The Bell Jar
by Sylvia Plath
- Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness
by William Styron
- A Long Way Down
by Nick Hornby
- Prozac Nation
by Elizabeth Wurtzel
Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder or MPD)
- Alias Grace
by Margaret Atwood
- Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
by Matt Ruff
- The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor’s Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder
by Olga Trujillo, JD
- When Rabbit Howls
by Truddi Chase
Mental Retardation
- The Story of Beautiful Girl
by Rachel Simon
Munchausen by Proxy
- More Than It Hurts You
by Darin Strauss
- Sickened: The True Story of a Lost Childhood
by Julie Gregory
Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD)
- Almost Perfect
by Alice Adams
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood
by Jennifer Traig
- I’m Perfect, You’re Doomed: Tales from a Jehovah’s Witness Upbringing
by Kyria Abrahams
- Kissing Doorknobs
by Terry Spencer Hesser
Panic Disorder
- I Don’t Want To Be Crazy
by Samantha Schutz
- The Nature of Jade
by Deb Caletti
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
by Jonathan Shay
- Barefoot Season
by Susan Mallery
- Ceremony
by Leslie Marmon Silko
- Regeneration
by Pat Barker
- Soft Spots: A Marine’s Memoir of Combat and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
by Clint Van Winkle
- The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
Schizophrenia
- A Beautiful Mind
by Sylvia Nasar
- The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness
by Elyn R. Saks
- I Know This Much Is True
by Wally Lamb
- January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and Her Father’s Struggle to Save Her
by Michael Schofield
- Woman on the Edge of Time
by Marge Piercy
Self-Injury
- Cut
by Patricia McCormick
- Rage
by Jackie Morse Kessler
- Skin Game: A Memoir
by Caroline Kettlewell
- Women Who Hurt Themselves: A Book of Hope and Understanding
by Dusty Miller
Sleep Disorders
- Along for the Ride
by Sarah Dessen
- Insomniac
by Gayle Greene
- Man in the Dark
by Paul Auster
Tourette’s Syndrome
- Don’t Think About Monkeys. Extraordinary Stories Written by People with Tourette Syndrome
edited by Adam Ward Seligman
- Icy Sparks
by Gwyn Hyman Rubio
- Jerk, California
by Jonathan Friesen
Sign Up:
Please sign up for the 2013 challenge by commenting here with a link to your announcement post. You may sign up at any point before the end of 2013!
Participant Reviews:
Participants, please plug in links to reviews completed for the challenge in the comments below. Thanks!
Note to Authors and Publishers:
This listing is carefully researched and vetted by me. You cannot simply request to be on it to be placed on it. I must have read the book and rated it at least 4 stars or the book must be highly credited in the psychiatric field to be included on the list. I put a lot of effort into this list, and I will not add books to it on a whim. If you believe your book fits, you may offer me a review copy and specifically mention the relevance to the MIA Challenge in the email, but please do not leave comments or email me asking me to simply add your book to the list. Check out my Review Policies for further details.
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This work by Amanda McNeil is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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by Madeline Ashby, location 2581
So far when the new year starts I will be starting on the book ” Cut I will make a post for each chapter ( that will probably take 2 wks tops to read). I then will start on The Buddha and The Borderline ( that will probably take me 2 – 3 months tops to read). i am still decided on which other 2 books to read. I might read more than four in 2011 just taking it slow at first.
I’m also very curious about The Buddha and The Borderline. I can’t wait to hear what you say about it.
I’ll be starting my first book on this challenge tomorrow: I Don’t Want To Be Crazy by Samantha Schutz, but I have a whole slew in the queue through my library and from audible.com.
I’m so excited to start seeing the reviews!
Ok I have made my decision on thetwo other books I want to read …..
1. Get me Out of here
2.Hungry: A Mother and Daughter Fight Anorexia
The second is about a jounrey between a mother and daughter dealing with anorexia. It is written by both Mother an Daughter.
Those all sound like excellent choices! I’m especially looking forward to your posts for each chapter of Cut and to see what you think of The Buddha and the Borderline.
I’d like to take up your challenge. I’ve already read some of the books on your list and I haven’t yet decided which of the others I want to read. I’d like to read as many as possible and review them on my website.
I’d also like to recommend an excellent book: The Madman’s Tale by John Katzenbach. It’s a murder mystery told from the viewpoint of a schizophrenic.
Oh, excellent. I’m glad you’ll be participating, and I’ll add your suggestion to the list!
this is a read from last year but thought you might want to check out my review.
I also read Eye Contact by Cammie McGovern which fits in and was an excellent book, I just didn’t review it. It is well worth reading again
I’ve decided to join the challenge (here I also thought of another book Soft Spots, this is a PTSD memoir
I did change the graphic, I’m bi-polar and this seems to fit how I feel sometimes.
Great! Glad to have you in the challenge! And thanks for the recs.
My first review can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/50bookchallenge/11798989.html
Glad your first read was enjoyable! I know people with panic issues, so now I really want to read this one too.
This next book is a work of fiction and only peripherally deals with mental illness, but the illness in question does greatly impact our leading character, so I’ll leave it up to you to make the final decision whether it counts or not.
http://community.livejournal.com/50bookchallenge/11802461.html
er… that URL should be: http://community.livejournal.com/50bookchallenge/11802802.html – I was having technical difficulties with the post, so had to delete and repost.
I’d say, if you feel like it counts, then it counts.
It is a good view on what repercussions untreated mental illness can have on family members.
Then excellent!
Just finished Devil in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood by Jennifer Traig and my review is here
So glad you enjoyed it! I was unaware that Jennifer was also Jewish and used the Jewish laws as part of her OCD. That definitely makes for a unique story.
Oh yeah, the Jewish laws just gave her so much fodder for her OCD. At one point, she works with a rabbi to sort through her quirks to see what is actual law and what is the illness.
At some point, this reading furor will slow down… until then, here is my review of Kay Redfield Jamison’s An Unquiet Mind.
Wow, good going, Karen! Glad to see you’re getting so much relevant reading done.
Yeah, so the furor hasn’t slowed yet… so I have a review of Patricia McCormick’s Cut here.
BTB, I simply adore audiobooks. I kind of feel like a kid again with someone reading to me and it allows me to do other things while listening to the story!
Go, go Karen!! I also enjoy audiobooks. They’re great accompaniment to doing housework.
I’ve read and reviewed my first book for this challenge, The Silver Linings Play Book by Matthew Quick, check it out here:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/02/09/the-silver-linings-play-book-matthew-quick/
Yay! Go Jessica! Go go, go Jessica!
First book read for the challenge. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
Yay, congrats! Sorry you didn’t love The Bell Jar, but glad it was still enjoyable.
Ironically, I too just finished reading The Bell Jar. I totally agree on wishing Plath had dealt more with the treatment aspect of her illness, but from what I’ve been told about electroconvulsive therapy, she might not remember it.
I think I related better to the main character after her breakdown than before it.
Great job, Karen. I especially appreciated how you pointed out that the illnesses are the same no matter the time period, just society and the treatment of it is different.
*sigh* I downloaded the audiobook version of Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh and can only understand about one word in ten between the very strong accent and the addict speak from another country no less… *sigh* It might be better through the ear phones than my computer’s one working speaker, but I’m not holding my breath. FWIW, if you’re on the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, don’t get the audiobook of this, unless you’ve spent time in the UK or have very, very good hearing.
Ahh yes. I’ve heard the accents in the movie version of Trainspotting are thick. It makes sense they would be in the audiobook too. Too bad.
and now for Darkly Dreaming Dexter, a fictional account of a sociopathic serial killer.
If it’s anything like the tv show, it’ll be awesome!
I started watching the first episode on Netflix just to see how the book and the show compare and maybe it’s me… my dark sense of humor… but the book is funnier – much funnier. The narrator’s performance in the first audiobook is great – ironic and sardonic. Now some of the lines (even in the first 15 minutes) are right out of the book, but delivered differently between the book and the show… the performance in the show seems flat, deflated in comparison and in the book, Dexter states flat out he’s Dead Inside Dexter – he feels no emotions and fakes everything. In the show, they wimp out on that part a bit.
It took me a few episodes to get into the tv show. I do think it improves with time. However, I have yet to the read the books, and in general, books are better than the film or tv show. (The only big exception to that being True Blood).
Hi, my name is Karen and I’m completely hooked on Dexter – I can see why they made a TV show about this character. I’ll include the brief review I posted of this book, Dearly Devoted Dexter, but since it’s not a new subject or anything, I don’t want to count it towards the MIARC. Otherwise reading the whole series (as part of me really wants to do) would artificially pad my count.
Hey, however you want to count things! I won’t complain at all if you want to count each Dexter book. However, I do understand if you want to ensure more diversity in your reading.
I’m sorely disappointed… IMNSHO, Dexter in the Dark betrays its origins… ~sigh~
does the TV series jump the shark like this too??? shees!
The tv series has yet to jump the shark, but then again, I just finished the 4th season. Could still happen! Sorry Dexter in the Dark was disappointing.
Well, looky… I stumbled upon this one quite by accident… Missing by Karin Alvtegen. Long before this story takes place, the main character spent time in a mental hospital after some breakdown. We see some of her experiences then through random flashbacks. While no diagnosis is presented in the story, the symptoms (and environmental factors/triggers) are there. And, yes, in the story, the main character is demonized, but not directly due to her illness… In fact, they vilify her and then pull up the hospitalization as a sort of vindication for doing so.
And now, House Rules by Jodi Piccoult…
OK, true, this book I would have read with or without the MIARC – I like Piccoult’s work for the most part, but, without going into too much detail here, this is a gem.
Finished Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood, never fully know for sure, but hinted that the character, Grace has Multiple Personality disorder. Also an interesting read on how people who were mentally ill were treated in the late 1800s.
My Review
Oh very cool! Atwood is one of my all-time favorite writers, but I have yet to read Alias Grace. I’ll have to add it to my wishlist asap.
I have now read and reviewed my second book for this challenge, The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean, check out my review here:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/the-madonnas-of-leningrad-debra-dean/
Now I have read and reviewed my third book, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, check it out here:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/05/06/the-bell-jar-sylvia-plath/
Gosh, I must say I’m surprised, but also pleased, at how popular Sylvia Plath is among all you challenge participants! Way to go, Jessica.
Hi, I’m back… did ya miss me?
My latest entry into this challenge is The Silver Linings Playbook. My interest was sparked after reading jessicabookworm’s review.
FWIW, I’ve also been working through a “technical manual” style book, which is so much harder for me to read than the fictions & semi-autobiographical works. Hopefully, I’ll be posting about that soon as well.
I love seeing the interaction going among you guys!
And of course I missed you.
Me again. Back with a review of Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Asperger’s by John Elder Robinson. OK, technically, I didn’t write a review, but I carefully picked the reviews from another website with which I agreed – that should count for something, right?
Yay more Asperger’s books!
I have now read and reviewed my fourth book for this challenge, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. Check out my review here:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/06/07/the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time-mark-haddon/
Excellent, Jessica!
Since my 16yo niece was just diagnosed with Asperger’s, there will be a lot more books coming up about the syndrome as I further educate myself.
I’m sorry to hear you now have mental illness in the family, but what a great thing for your niece that she has such an advocating aunt!
I want to highly recommend The Noonday Demon: an Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon. An incredible, humane, and instructive book. I have learned and felt so much. It will help and inform many people!
Thanks for the rec!
Hey there, I’ve had a busy month of reading… Here are my write-ups for Running with Scissors, Dry, Manic, and Along for the Ride. In my own list, I include Running with Scissors in the “undisclosed/unknown” category.
just poking a little fun at myself because I can… to reiterate, the Challenge Levels:
Acquainted – 4 books
Aware – 8 books
Advocate – 12 books
I propose that for someone who reads 16+ related books in a year, the level should be “Consumer” or “Client”
because those titles above represent 13, 14, 15, & 16 and I have 17 sitting in my purse right now as well as another dozen or two in my Library reading list. So either I am very committed to this or I should be … 
Lol, I like your sense of humor with yourself! And you definitely are very committed, and that’s a nice thing to see!
Oh, Dry has been on my reading wishlist for a long time! I’m glad to see you picked it up.
I really enjoyed Dry. You can read it with Running with Scissors or on its own – it can stand alone. Burroughs is entertaining and really doesn’t seem to hold anything back, so you can see the dark and grungy as well as the strength and beauty.
The humor about his misconception of rehab, its sad reality, the core of addiction, the strength it takes to recover – amazing stuff really
I’m sorry to hear you now have mental illness in the family, but what a great thing for your niece that she has such an advocating aunt!
Oh, my niece’s Asperger’s diagnosis wasn’t the first in the family. It’s kind of rampant in my family. My maternal uncle was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. My brother was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, though I don’t think his therapist knew his complete history. Unfortunately, he died before it could come to light. Additionally, I have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder (so I’m not only an Advocate, I’m also a Consumer
. I think I commented on the other post about all the books on BPD – I’ve read all but one on this list and could name quite a few more. I’ve done a lot of research on it since my diagnosis. My research there has also shaped my reading list here – I’ve been focusing my reading on other illnesses and conditions.
I’m back with another book about Asperger’s: John Elder Robison’s Be Different. Loved it!
Woo go Karen!
Have another book this time its Depression/PSTD -Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson My Review
Oh I’m glad to see a review of Speak! I’ve heard many good things about it.
It’s well worth reading, hopefully you get a chance to read it soon.
I have now read and reviewed my sixth book for this challenge, Mr Monster by Dan Wells, the best read for the challenge so far! For my review use the link below:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/09/29/mr-monster-dan-wells/
I’m so glad you like the I Am Not a Serial Killer series! We’ve finally found non-cozy violence you like.
*high-five*
Haha yes I must be getting used to the violence because I’ve just read and reviewed my seventh book for the challenge…and surprise surprise its I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells. Technically only one more book to read now for my level!! For my review use the link below:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/11/01/i-am-not-a-serial-killer-dan-wells/
Clearly my evil secret plot is working….
Great job, Jessica! So close to being finished with the challenge this year.
I have now read and reviewed my eighth and final book for this challenge, Emotional Geology by Linda Gillard, to check out my review use the link below:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/emotional-geology-linda-gillard/
Wooooooo!!! *applause*
I would love to be a part of the MIA reading challenge. I think breaking up the stigmas of mental illness is important. I suppose I feel this way to because I currently suffer from mental illness. I have a blog on wordpress called Depressionandbpd.me . I created this blog to help Borderline Personalities and non-BP’S. Please stop by and check it out some time. I would love to post your blog link on my blogroll links page so that other readers can participate in your challenge and learn more about mental illness.
I’m so excited to have a new participant already this year!! Welcome to the challenge, and please feel free to link and promote however you like.
I’m so excited to find out about the Mental Illness Advocacy Reading Challenge, because one of the reasons I wrote my new novel, Playing the Genetic Lottery, was to raise awareness and understanding about schizophrenic. My novel is a fictional story of a 32-year-old who grew up with two schizophrenic parents. I published it in November 2011 as an e-book, and am planning to release it as a paperback in 2012. May I send you a digital copy for you to review?
Finished the challenge, just late posting my final thoughts! Thanks for the challenge, my final reviews are included with the link below. But I read some great books in the end.
Piano Man’s Daughter, Halfway House, Alias Grace, Woman on the Edge of Time and Unless are all noteworthy!
http://bkwrmjchallenges.blogspot.com/2011/01/mental-illness-advocacy.html
Thanks again for the challenge!
Thanks for being such an amazing participant, Jules!
This is amazing. Thank you so much for doing this! As someone with DID/MPD you just made all of us want to read more.
My pleasure!
Hello Amanda, just to officially let you all know I’ve signed up for this challenge again this year. Here is the link to my sign-up post:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/mental-illness-advocacy-reading-challenge-2012/
Thanks, Jessica! So glad to have you back this year.
I have read and reviewed my first book for this challenge in 2012, Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters, check out my review with this link:
http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/stuart-a-life-backwards-alexander-masters/
Back again! Not a read this time but have done a relevant review of the screen adaptation of Girl, Interrupted which I thought people might be interested in.
My review: http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/girl-interrupted-2000/
Hi everyone! I never made an official announcement, I am part of the challenge this year. I have mentioned that I am participating on my blog though. http://daniellewood728.wordpress.com
I’ve read & reviewed 2 books now (I know these are 2 from the list, but in case anyones interested):
http://daniellewood728.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/book-review-the-curious-incident-of-the-dog-in-the-night-time/
http://daniellewood728.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/the-madonnas-of-leningrad/
I’m so glad you’re joining us!! The challenge is so important, and I’m glad to be getting more participants at any point in the year
And please do always link your reviews, even if they’re already on the list. Actually, especially if! It’ll help let the community know about your reviews.
Yay!
I have now read and reviewed my second book for the challenge this year, Untying the Knot by Linda Gillard, which focuses on post-traumatic stress disorder.
My review: http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/untying-the-knot-linda-gillard/
I read a book for the OCD category. Addition by Toni Jordan. The young lady, Grace, is obsessed with numbers— everything in her life is controlled by counting. It’s a romance novel but has some wonderfully poignent messages along the funny and quirky writing. Here’s my review, it took me a long time to get around to writing it so it’s not as fresh in my mind— but I still recommend checking out the book. http://daniellewood728.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/addition-by-toni-jordan/
Woo yay! *applause* Glad to see a returning fresh face.
I’ll be sure to check out your review tomorrow.
I have now read and reviewed my third book for the challenge this year, a slightly more unconventional choice but once I read it thought it would be appropiate, Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.
My Review: http://thebookwormchronicles.wordpress.com/2012/05/30/wide-sargasso-sea-jean-rhys/
I went over and commented on your blog but forgot to do so here. Thanks for finding a unique book for the challenge, Jessica!
Finished my 4th book for the challenge. The Cloud of Unknowing by Thomas Cook.
As I mention in my post I was on the fence reading this whether the book really was about schizophrenia and thus if it’s a good awareness book. I’m still not sure it is but I do look at everything I read in a different light after reading the ending to the book. Actions, and words match with textbook paranoid schizophrenia and thus it’s a good book overall— plus it’s a good suspenseful read.
http://daniellewood728.wordpress.com/2012/06/09/the-cloud-of-unknowing-by-thomas-cook/
I love how you go into detail in your post about how you went about making a list of holdings that count for the challenge in your local library. Thanks for all the effort, Danielle!
Hi, Wasn’t sure how to contact you. I’m working on a website collecting titles of written work by people with mental health issues. Could I link to this page in my ‘links’ section? The site isn’t up yet but my blog is ephena.wordpress.com
Hi Annette,
Thank you for asking! Yes, feel free to link to this page, but please do be aware that not *all* of the titles on the list are by someone with a mental illness. Some of them are by advocates/supporters/friends.
That’s great. My list will be people with mental illness/madness, but I want to have a section with links to other reading lists, some of which might have other authors etc. The site is supposed to be for people with issues/challenges, but we’ll have to see what happens.
Jumping on board! Here is my intro post http://bkwrmjchallenges.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mental-illness-advocacy-challenge-2013.html
And here is my first review: http://www.julesbookreviews.com/2013/01/book-review-curious-incident-of-dog-in.html
So great to have you back again! Thanks for linking up to your posts.
I admire this challenge. I think mental illness awareness is very important. I was hoping I’d find someone who was hosting an Autism Awareness theme in April, but this is even better. I’m not sure how many books I’ll end up reading, but I really look forward to seeing what everyone else reads!
http://rachelreadingnthinking.blogspot.com/2013/01/mia-reading-challenge-2013.html
What an awesome entry post! I’m so pleased that you found a challenge to suit your hopes.
Looking forward to seeing your 2013 reads.
What a wonderful challenge! The fact that you are doing this challenge means a lot to me. I suffer from severe depression and possibly BPD and/or bipolar. Doctors can’t agree. http://booksareportablemagic.blogspot.com/2013/01/mental-illness-advocacy-mia-reading.html
Hi Julie!
I’m sorry that doctors struggle for a diagnosis for you. That must be very difficult. But keep up the hope! Recovery is a step-by-step process for everyone. And I hope you find the challenge encouraging in your process.
Welcome to the challenge! I’m so glad you found it
Alright, here goes. I only put down four books due to current time constraints, but so many on the list sound interesting that I may have to extend that at some point! In any case, here’s the link: http://bookingitup.wordpress.com/2013-challenges/. On a side note, I’m halfway through Hunger already, and it’s really good!
Welcome to the challenge, Alexandra! So glad to have you and glad you’ve found the suggestions list helpful. I’m glad you’re enjoying Hunger as much as I did so far. Hope the rest of the challenge is just as engaging for you!
And I finished Hunger! Review is at: http://bookingitup.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/hunger/
Can’t wait to get started on Rage…I plan to have that review up on 2/7.
Just finished another book. This one touches on Depression/Post-Post-partum depression. It’s the Age of Hope by David Bergen. http://www.julesbookreviews.com/2013/02/book-review-age-of-hope.html
That looks like it was an interesting read, Jules, although it’s too bad you didn’t enjoy it more.