Here are 100 books that RX fans have personally recommended if you like RX. Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays

Frederick E. Vars Author Of Through the Fire: How People with Mental Illness Are Empowering Each Other

From my list on how you think about mental health.

Why am I passionate about this?

My passion for mental health is both personal and professional. I have Bipolar Disorder, and I am a law professor who teaches and researches in this area. The books on this list go deeper than the usual narrative of mental illness, telling inspiring success stories and laying bare the dysfunctions of our current approach to mental illness. I have found in these books comfort and motivation to push for change. 

Frederick's book list on how you think about mental health

Frederick E. Vars Why Frederick loves this book

This book by Esmé Weijun Wang is a captivating book of essays by an author with the diagnosis.

It provides multiple perspectives on life with the illness and defies the familiar narratives of illness, treatment, and recovery. I had a hard time setting it down, even though it had natural breaks between essays. It is beautifully written.

By Esmé Weijun Wang ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Collected Schizophrenias as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An intimate, moving book written with the immediacy and directness of one who still struggles with the effects of mental and chronic illness, The Collected Schizophrenias cuts right to the core. Schizophrenia is not a single unifying diagnosis, and Esme Weijun Wang writes not just to her fellow members of the "collected schizophrenias" but to those who wish to understand it as well. Opening with the journey toward her diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder, Wang discusses the medical community's own disagreement about labels and procedures for diagnosing those with mental illness, and then follows an arc that examines the manifestations of…


If you love RX...

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Bipolar II Disorder: Modeling, Measuring, and Managing

Kathleen Founds Author Of Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable for Grownups

From my list on your bipolar bookshelf.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer and illustrator based in coastal California. I have bipolar disorder, and my writing reflects my preoccupation with the mysteries of mental health. I wrote a novel-in-stories about an idealistic young teacher struggling with bipolar disorder, and my latest book is a graphic novel about a bipolar bear who gets trapped in the labyrinth of health insurance claims. I’m also the creator of a website designed to encourage people who are fighting off depression’s Voice of Doom. 

Kathleen's book list on your bipolar bookshelf

Kathleen Founds Why Kathleen loves this book

This book is a fascinating collection of academic articles and clinician perspectives. Does this sound dry? Okay, it’s a little dry, and I did have to look up big words like “iatrogenic” and “hypophagia.” But I have bipolar II, and there are very few books on this lesser-known bipolar variant. Bipolar II (in case you’re curious) is characterized by chronic depression and infrequent episodes of mild mania (known as “hypomania”). Fun facts I learned from this book: bipolar II is more common in women, and due to the severity and chronic nature of the depression, bipolar II can actually be more disabling than bipolar I. Wait, those might be sad facts. Oops. 

By Gordon Parker (editor) ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Bipolar II Disorder as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The lifetime risk of developing bipolar II disorder is 5-7%, yet the condition is often poorly detected. Mood elevation states are less extreme than in bipolar I disorder although the depressive episodes are usually severe. When correctly treated, the outcome is positive, but bipolar II is often poorly managed, resulting in a high suicide rate. This is the only academic and clinical management review focused entirely on bipolar II, scrutinizing history, epidemiology, burden and neurobiology and including an extensive clinical debate by international experts about effective management strategies. Now in its third edition, this book features new chapters on the…


Book cover of Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide

Kathleen Founds Author Of Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable for Grownups

From my list on your bipolar bookshelf.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a writer and illustrator based in coastal California. I have bipolar disorder, and my writing reflects my preoccupation with the mysteries of mental health. I wrote a novel-in-stories about an idealistic young teacher struggling with bipolar disorder, and my latest book is a graphic novel about a bipolar bear who gets trapped in the labyrinth of health insurance claims. I’m also the creator of a website designed to encourage people who are fighting off depression’s Voice of Doom. 

Kathleen's book list on your bipolar bookshelf

Kathleen Founds Why Kathleen loves this book

This book is also full of sad facts. But understanding suicide is important. Many people with bipolar disorder struggle with suicidal thoughts, and researchers estimate that 20-60% of people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide. Kay Redfield Jamison’s book is full of compelling patient profiles, thought-provoking statistics, and beautiful poetry. This is book is gripping, compassionate, and ultimately life-affirming.

By Kay Redfield Jamison ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Night Falls Fast as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Critical reading for parents, educators, and anyone wanting to understand the tragic epidemic of suicide—”a powerful book [that] will change people's lives—and, doubtless, save a few" (Newsday).

The first major book in a quarter century on suicide—and its terrible pull on the young in particular—Night Falls Fast is tragically timely: suicide has become one of the most common killers of Americans between the ages of fifteen and forty-five.

From the author of the best-selling memoir, An Unquiet Mind—and an internationally acknowledged authority on depression—Dr. Jamison has also known suicide firsthand: after years of struggling with manic-depression, she tried at age…


If you love Rachel Lindsay...

Book cover of I, Robot Alien

I, Robot Alien by Joel R. Dennstedt,

“Intelligent, unique, and tremendously entertaining.” - Readers' Favorite 2025

BOOKLIFE EDITOR’S PICK!

EARTH… CENTURIES AFTER THE FALL!

I was created by beings who couldn’t touch this world... only watch it crumble. Every twenty years, a new tribe... a new hope... a new failure.

I was told, “Do not interfere.” But…

Book cover of Strength to Love

Malinda Fugate Author Of The Other Three Sixteens

From my list on for Christians to revive a stalled faith journey.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m just an everyday person. I don’t have a fancy title or lots of degrees, but I do have experience being close to God and a never-ending quest to know Him more. His love is so good that it absolutely must be shared. So if I, in all of my ordinariness, can learn extraordinary sacred things, then I can bring others along the journey, too. His presence in my heartaches, struggles, joy, and adventures has sustained my life, and I don’t know any credential that could testify any clearer that a journey with God is worth taking.

Malinda's book list on for Christians to revive a stalled faith journey

Malinda Fugate Why Malinda loves this book

We often forget that Dr. King was also a pastor in addition to his civil rights work. However, these two roles were intertwined.

Strength to Love is a collection of sermons that address the revolutionary effect of God’s love on our lives. Receiving holy love motivates us to love our neighbors in many ways, including seeking justice and taking action for their well-being. God’s love is transformative, and seeing this framed in the non-violence philosophy of social change is an inspiring, motivating illustration. 

By Martin Luther King, Jr. ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Strength to Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The classic collection of Dr. King’s sermons that fuse his Christian teachings with his radical ideas of love and nonviolence as a means to combat hate and oppression.

As Martin Luther King, Jr., prepared for the Birmingham campaign in early 1963, he drafted the final sermons for Strength to Love, a volume of his most well known homilies. King had begun working on the sermons during a fortnight in jail in July 1962. While behind bars, he spent uninterrupted time preparing the drafts for works such as “Loving Your Enemies” and “Shattered Dreams,” and he continued to edit the volume…


Book cover of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

Eric Kurlander Author Of Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich

From my list on Nazism and the occult.

Why am I passionate about this?

I would trace the genesis of Hitler’s Monsters to three distinct influences. The first was my childhood love of Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age comics––Batman, Superman, Captain America, The Avengers, The Fantastic Four––which, as illustrated by the Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, are replete with themes of Nazi occultism and border science. The second was a conversation with my thesis advisor early in graduate school, when he noted that he was advising a dissertation on German occultism (Science for the Soul). The third influence was observing the mid-2000s resurgence in rightwing populism across Europe and North America, seemingly fueled by recourse to esoteric and supernatural thinking. The rest, as they say, is history.

Eric's book list on Nazism and the occult

Eric Kurlander Why Eric loves this book

For those interested in a compelling work of fiction built loosely around Nazism and the occult, Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay is the perfect novel.

Whether it’s one of the protagonists, a young Jewish magician, escaping Nazi-occupied Central Europe in the coffin of the “Golem of Prague” or the eponymous cousins finding success with their own comic book series infused by contemporary esoterica, Kavalier & Clay evokes the world in which young, first and second generation Jewish immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe created the Marvel and DC superheroes and super(natural) villains, often allied with the Third Reich, that have defined our popular culture for the past eighty years. 

By Michael Chabon ,

Why should I read it?

7 authors picked The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay' is a heart-wrenching story of escape, love and comic-book heroes set in Prague, New York and the Arctic - from the author of 'Wonder Boys'.

One night in 1939, Josef Kavalier shuffles into his cousin Sam Clay's cramped New York bedroom, his nerve-racking escape from Prague finally achieved. Little does he realise that this is the beginning of an extraordinary friendship and even more fruitful business partnership. Together, they create a comic strip called 'The Escapist', its superhero a Nazi-busting saviour who liberates the…


Book cover of Blank Comic Book: Draw Your Own Comics

Art Roche Author Of Art for Kids: Comic Strips, 3: Create Your Own Comic Strips from Start to Finish

From my list on for kids to learn about cartooning.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is Art Roche and I've been drawing cartoons and comic strips for over twenty-five years. I wish everyone drew comics! Comic strips are an amazing art form that has been around for thousands of years. With a simple pencil, pen, and paper the artist can tell thrilling stories, make hilarious jokes, or illustrate their own diaries. Once you learn the basic mechanics of how comics are designed and built, anyone can begin drawing them regardless of talent level or experience.

Art's book list on for kids to learn about cartooning

Art Roche Why Art loves this book

I really like this book because, while it doesn’t teach much about the actual drawing, it does give the young artist a jumpstart to begin drawing and telling their own stories. The authors include pages and pages of drawn-out panels with word balloons ready to go. I’ve always believed in letting kids find their own path with drawing style, and this book is perfect for that.

By Blank Comics ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Blank Comic Book as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Blank comic notebook for drawing your own comics

Hours of drawing and cartooning practice!

75 sheets/150 pages 4 different template styles Graph paper in the back of the book
Matte finish cover
Measures 8.5x11"

Great Gift For:

Homeschool students
Elementary grades preschool, k-2
Kids who love to create, draw and write Birthday present for teens Back to school supplies Christmas stocking stuffer Gift for art and design students and 

If you love RX...

Book cover of An Heir of Realms

An Heir of Realms by Heather Ashle,

An Heir of Realms tells the tale of two young heroines—a dragon rider and a portal jumper—who fight dragon-like parasites to save their realms from extinction. 

Rhoswen is training as a Realm Rider to work with dragons and burn away the Narxon swarming into her realm. Rhoswen’s dream is to…

Book cover of Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Author Of Diana: My Graphic Obsession

From my list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been passionate about making, reading, and studying comics for my whole life. When I first encountered autobiographical comics, they were all by women who I looked up to for their ability to tackle their lives with both words and images. This is a small list and biased towards the cartoonists I first encountered in the world of female autobiographical comics. There is so much more out there. I love how the flexibility and history of the comic form have allowed for so much blending of genres and styles. 

Sivan's book list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Why Sivan loves this book

Fun Home is Alison Bechdel’s most famous work (and it is phenomenal), but this one captured my heart. While the former focuses on her father, here Bechdel turns her focus on her relationship with her mother, weaving in a lot of psychoanalysis and modernist literature.

Bechdel’s characteristic intricacy and attention to detail are on full display, and the frequent inclusion of dreams and their interpretation (a particular interest of mine) make the whole book feel almost surreal yet completely grounded.

By Alison Bechdel ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An expansive, moving and captivating graphic memoir from the author of Fun Home.

Alison Bechdel's Fun Home was a literary phenomenon. While Fun Home explored Bechdel's relationship with her father, a closeted homosexual, this memoir is about her mother - a voracious reader, a music lover, a passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel's childhood... and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter goodnight, for ever, when she was seven.

Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf.

'As absorbing as…


Book cover of Need More Love

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Author Of Diana: My Graphic Obsession

From my list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been passionate about making, reading, and studying comics for my whole life. When I first encountered autobiographical comics, they were all by women who I looked up to for their ability to tackle their lives with both words and images. This is a small list and biased towards the cartoonists I first encountered in the world of female autobiographical comics. There is so much more out there. I love how the flexibility and history of the comic form have allowed for so much blending of genres and styles. 

Sivan's book list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Why Sivan loves this book

I owe so much to this book. Aline Kominsky-Crumb pulls her art and comics from multiple decades of her life into this huge collection, making an incredible mixed-media autobiography that captures so much of who she was. Her unfiltered honesty set the bar high for what autobiographical comics could be. 

By Aline Kominsky Crumb ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Need More Love as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Aline Kominsky-Crumb, one of the earliest female cartoonists, presents a collection of her own highly inventive and daring artwork from over four decades, along with unusual photographs and memorabilia. The road to becoming an underground- comics legend begins with Komisky-Crumb as a nice jewish girl from Long Island, carries her to Greenwich Village in the 1960's, and to California, land of hippy cartoonists, and on to a more or less sedate life with hubby(equally legendary R. Crumb) and daughter, Sophie. Her funny/sad tales show a woman bewildered by her place in society and determined to find her own way. These…


Book cover of Don't Go Where I Can't Follow

Vince Galea Author Of Leviathan

From my list on graphic memoirs with creativity and flair.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am from Scranton, Pennsylvania. I have always had a passion for art and literature. I started drawing at a young age and never stopped. Constantly drawing on scrap papers from my father’s graphic arts business. Always pulling from my imagination and the world around me for inspiration. Books were a major outlet for my creativity. Graphic novels in particular were always my favorite form of expression. To be able to tell a story using pictures and share my own personal feelings with others was a means of communication for me. I began to study illustration in school and college. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Marywood University. I currently work as a graphic designer and illustrator.

Vince's book list on graphic memoirs with creativity and flair

Vince Galea Why Vince loves this book

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is a masterpiece in my opinion. This deeply personal story is based on the author's own life and the loss of his fiancé. A look into someone else’s struggles and hardships using drawing and photographs, notes, and sketches this novel is truly a beautiful collection of their relationship together. This one really resonates with me and hurts my heart, but I love it so much and I highly recommend picking up a copy as soon as you can.  

By Anders Nilsen ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Don't Go Where I Can't Follow as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A STORY OF LOVE AND LOSS INSCRIBED IN PHOTOGRAPHS, POSTCARDS, LETTERS, AND BEDSIDE SKETCHES

In this collection of letters, drawings, and photos, Anders Nilsen chronicles a six-year relationship and the illness that brought it to an end.

Don't Go Where I Can't Follow is an eloquent appreciation of the time the author shared with his fiancée, Cheryl Weaver. The story is told using artifacts of the couple's life together, including early love notes, simple and poetic postcards, tales of their travels in written and comics form, journal entries, and drawings done in the hospital in her final days. It concludes…


If you love Rachel Lindsay...

Book cover of The Tao of Poison

The Tao of Poison by Isham Cook,

A poisonous maiden, a Daoist sex cult, and a violent insurgency.

The polyandrous Yan family in China's rural Shaanxi Province takes in two carpenter brothers. When one brother is convicted of murder after killing their neighbor in a dispute, a constable threatens to expose the family's rumored polyandry and extorts…

Book cover of Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened

Jane De Suza Author Of When Impossible Happens

From my list on books to make you laugh when you’re trying to look serious.

Why am I passionate about this?

Out of all the flattering reviews of my books, my favourite is of a reader choking on her lunch. My book was about death. The reader, who survived, said it made her laugh so hard. I write about tough times by bringing out the it’s okay to smile now bits. The Midnight Years is about teen mental health, Happily Never After is about loneliness, and Flyaway Boy is about stereotyping. Making people laugh through tears is a tough task. Here are some books that cracked it.

Jane's book list on books to make you laugh when you’re trying to look serious

Jane De Suza Why Jane loves this book

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. 

By Allie Brosh ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Hyperbole and a Half as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“Funny and smart as hell” (Bill Gates), Allie Brosh’s Hyperbole and a Half showcases her unique voice, leaping wit, and her ability to capture complex emotions with deceptively simple illustrations.

FROM THE PUBLISHER:
Every time Allie Brosh posts something new on her hugely popular blog Hyperbole and a Half the internet rejoices.

This full-color, beautifully illustrated edition features more than fifty percent new content, with ten never-before-seen essays and one wholly revised and expanded piece as well as classics from the website like, “The God of Cake,” “Dogs Don’t Understand Basic Concepts Like…


Book cover of The Collected Schizophrenias: Essays
Book cover of Bipolar II Disorder: Modeling, Measuring, and Managing
Book cover of Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide

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Interested in cartoonists, medications, and bipolar disorder?

Cartoonists 53 books
Medications 29 books
Bipolar Disorder 47 books