100 Books Like Bomb Shelter

This memoir was written in 1955 but its wisdom is evergreen because, nearly seventy years later, it’s still very difficult to be a woman.

We are many things to many people and it’s easy to lose ourselves in that swirl of activity and to-dos, which is precisely what happened to me. Depression and anxiety had reading off limits to me for a time, and this was the kind, gentle book that brought me back to the page, the one that said, Yes, yes.

That’s how it is, to love. It’s hard, not because you’re doing it wrong, but because you’re doing it right.

I passively disliked gerkhins until I met this pink, clueless one who’s writing and drawing a book on mental challenges, among other things. 

Yes, there are drawings and multicolored pages in an autobiographical book about depression so deep that it keeps the author in bed. Gaspingly funny and told with searing honesty, the book is about dogs, a partner, and a house that needs caring for–caring that she isn’t in the mood to do–and a to-do list that stays undone while she whiles away her time doing nothing. 

This exquisite memoir validated for me what I already know but sometimes resist in my own writing: let it bleed onto the page. The grief, the heartache, the anger, the resolve.

I read this book nestled safely in bed and caught myself thinking: Yes! Do more of this. Throw off the damn blankets and tell the truth! That’s how we heal.

Tara was the best friend I needed when I picked up this book.

I felt like I was sitting on the couch across from her while she gave me all sort of kind, direct, no-nonsense advice. She reminded me to be good to myself, and taught me that I’m worthy of my own care and attention. Just seeing the spine of this book on my shelf makes me feel less alone. I can hear her encouraging voice. (See? I am a little crazy!)

I enjoyed reading about how a woman’s epilepsy impacted her life and yet she also pursued her dreams.

As a person who has had seizures and has gone through epilepsy brain surgery, I felt her determination and struggles to live each day not knowing if a seizure would happen. I could relate to her motivation and courage to earn a college degree and undergo brain surgery to obtain a better quality of life. While each person’s story is different, Deanna Brady’s story and mine story have some things in common.

Through reading this book, I learned some practical things people with epilepsy can do that might decrease their seizure frequency.

I appreciated that the author emphasizes the importance of people with epilepsy taking control of their lives and being engaged in doing what they can to prevent seizures. This book was written from the perspective of a person with epilepsy, Andrienne Richards, and a doctor, Joel Reiter, which helped me understand epilepsy from two different perspectives. I liked learning about what various treatments there are for epilepsy aside from prescription medication.

I liked learning about the different types of epilepsy and the terminology pertaining to epilepsy. I enjoyed learning about different forms of treatment for epilepsy, such as vagus nerve stimulation, responsive neurostimulation, and deep brain stimulation. I liked learning about practical ways that people with epilepsy can manage their seizures.

It was refreshing to read a book written by a neurologist that recognizes that the side effects of seizure medications are serious and that the whole person is important when considering what treatment to provide to a person with epilepsy. I liked reading about the medical tests that are used to diagnose people that might have epilepsy and what the results mean. I appreciated reading about how epilepsy and seizure medication impact women.

I could relate to Abby’s struggles of living with epilepsy and how her family was impacted by her seizures.

I liked that Abby explained what she felt before she had a seizure, the emotional toll her epilepsy took on her, and how her seizures impacted her everyday life. I liked that Abby explained how she dealt with having seizures in high school and college. I enjoyed reading about her determination to earn a college degree despite having seizures.

I found her story to be inspirational and one that I could relate to since we both have experience with having epilepsy.

Dr. Carson’s story is an inspiration and is an example of how a person can overcome obstacles.

Through reading Dr. Carson’s book, I was reminded that it is important to not use life circumstances to deter you from pursuing your goals. I was inspired by Ben’s determination to not let people’s opinions about him stop him from going to college and being successful.

As a person who has had epilepsy brain surgery, I enjoyed reading about his experiences as a neurosurgeon. Parts of this book were heart-touching and made me cry. It was encouraging to learn about how one person can make a huge impact on other people’s lives.

Claire is an irreverent delight in person, but you won’t see much of that persona in her stories – this book is heavy with gooey and bizarre body horror that always has a deeply personal context for her characters.

She’s admitted that writing is a vehicle for talking about her epilepsy, but you don’t need to share that with her to relate to the strange changes that take place on her pages.

This is just her first collection, an opening salvo across the bow of Australian horror, so it will be interesting indeed to see how her work evolves and metamorphosises over time – to meet the creature that crawls, slime-slicked and hungry, from the casing of her next books.