Here are 100 books that Things Nobody Knows But Me fans have personally recommended if you like
Things Nobody Knows But Me.
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Writers often get labeled as either nonfiction or fiction writers. In grad school, it was very difficult to study across genres, which I found very frustrating: To me, the most important thing about a book has always been the voice. A novel? A memoir? Essays? Stories? Don’t pin me down, just give me something with a voice that propels me forward, that is unique and sparkling and unputdownable. When I find books with voices so singular and propulsive, I return to them over and over.
There is nothing like this groundbreaking memoir—it is as good as it gets—and it has probably influenced every memoir since (including my own).
Kingston is a poet, and I find it impossible not to sink into the striking, gorgeous language and imagery as she describes growing up between multiple worlds: the China her parents emigrated from, the California of a first-generation daughter of immigrants, the ghost-filled China of her mother’s “talk stories,” and her inner life and growing awareness. She weaves family stories, famous myths, and her own girlhood experiences into a beautiful and unforgettable narrative.
NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER • NATIONAL BESTSELLER • With this book, the acclaimed author created an entirely new form—an exhilarating blend of autobiography and mythology, of world and self, of hot rage and cool analysis. First published in 1976, it has become a classic in its innovative portrayal of multiple and intersecting identities—immigrant, female, Chinese, American.
“A classic, for a reason” – Celeste Ng via Twitter
As a girl, Kingston lives in two confounding worlds: the California to which her parents have immigrated and the China of her mother’s “talk stories.” The fierce and wily women warriors of…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
My parents survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia and the aftermath of the Vietnam War, so their love for us was always tinged with anxiety, fear, and a large deal of paranoia and control. All of my books are about the complex relationship between parents and their children, and the things we knowingly or unknowingly pass down. I’ve also worked a number of years as a university student counsellor, where the same enduring themes play out in my students’ experiences. So naturally, I am drawn to stories that explore difficult but loving family dynamics.
Hope Farm moved me so much because it conveys the bitter-sweetness of being thirteen, being privy to adults who make terrible choices, and having to adapt to the consequences of those choices. It is about parents who join cults (in this case, a hippy one) and the effects of this on their children. Peggy Frew has such a seductive and captivating way of engrossing the reader in the story through her stunning prose.
A devastatingly beautiful story about the broken bonds of childhood, and the enduring cost of holding back the truth.
“They were inescapable, the tensions of the adult world―the fraught and febrile aura that surrounded Ishtar and those in her orbit, that whined and creaked like a wire pulled too tight.”
It is the winter of 1985. Hope Farm sticks out of the ragged landscape like a decaying tooth, its weatherboard walls sagging into the undergrowth. Silver's mother, Ishtar, has fallen for the charismatic Miller, and the three of them have moved to the rural hippie commune to make a new…
My parents survived the Killing Fields of Cambodia and the aftermath of the Vietnam War, so their love for us was always tinged with anxiety, fear, and a large deal of paranoia and control. All of my books are about the complex relationship between parents and their children, and the things we knowingly or unknowingly pass down. I’ve also worked a number of years as a university student counsellor, where the same enduring themes play out in my students’ experiences. So naturally, I am drawn to stories that explore difficult but loving family dynamics.
Renee’s father was in jail for murder, and her mother never got over the shame. This book is about family secrets and how corrosive they can be, and also how a child survives a manipulative mother. I was floored by the wild level of pain a parent could inadvertently bestow on their child, but there is also much grace and love in this memoir.
A gripping memoir that reads like a psychological thriller... When Anne wakes in hospital, she is unable to recognise anyone or anything, mistaking herself for a young girl at first. She can talk but cannot remember much, including, as it turns out, the birth of her daughter, her rocky relationship with a man who is said to be her husband, and a mysterious man she feels a deep longing for but is warned against. As Anne tries to recover and piece together what has happened, fragments of memory come back but do little to help and sometimes confuse her further.…
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…
I've always believed that the bonds of friendship and sisterhood among women are essential. Growing up in challenging circumstances, my sisters and I found solace and strength in each other, offering comfort and guidance during uncertain times. They became my closest friends and have remained so throughout my life. Stories that celebrate these deep connections never fail to move me. The unwavering support of my sisters has saved me more times than I can count, and I will forever admire authors who portray unity among women. I truly hope you enjoy these beautiful novels!
This book holds a cherished place in my heart as it delves into the intricate dynamics of mother-daughter relationships and the profound journey of self-discovery. Growing up, I often felt the weight of cultural expectations, and choosing a different path inevitably strained my familial bonds.
As I read, memories of my mother and sisters flooded back, reminding me of the unique connections we share. An artfully crafted story that made me question so much about myself and the way that culture has influenced me as a person. Tan’s lyrical prose eloquently voices the experiences of so many young girls who have long been silenced, making this, without a doubt, one of my most treasured reads.
'The Joy Luck Club is an ambitious saga that's impossible to read without wanting to call your Mum' Stylist
Discover Amy Tan's moving and poignant tale of immigrant Chinese mothers and their American-born daughters.
In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, meet weekly to play mahjong and tell stories of what they left behind in China. United in loss and new hope for their daughters' futures, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club.
Their daughters, who have never heard these stories, think their mothers' advice is irrelevant to their modern American lives - until their own inner…
Dave has lived with bipolar disorder and severe anxiety all of his adult life. He has also worked with over 800 people with mental illness in a certified peer support role. Dave is a blogger with Bp Magazine for Bipolar and a mental health influencer. His blog posts have been read by over a million people. Dave has been hospitalized, had most of the treatments available for bipolar disorder including ECT. Dave has come out the other side and has the rare ability to put all of his emotions and experiences in his writing with complete openness and honesty, making him a best-selling author about bipolar disorder.
This is the second book about bipolar disorder that my wife read on her journey of understanding this illness. Family members of people with bipolar disorder are usually left in the dark. Loving Someone brings light and hope to the loved ones of people with bipolar disorder.
This fully revised and updated second edition of the bestselling Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder discusses all aspects of readers' relationships with bipolar partners: work, money, sex, medications and their side effects, therapeutic treatments, and more.
Also called manic depressive disorder, bipolar disorder can cause extreme mood swings, and people who suffer from this disorder can alternate between manic and depressed behavior without much warning.
Loving Someone with Bipolar Disorder, Second Edition, builds on the practical advice offered in the original book by offering critical new information on the medications that are sometimes prescribed to manage bipolar disorder symptoms. Readers…
I have been fascinated by the richness of fairy tales since I was a child. The fantasy writing offers endless possibilities to nourish my mind’s eye and pearls of wisdom that I can transfer to real life. I remember from childhood that I cried reading the Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. This childhood memory never left me. Fantasy writing is interwoven with the realm of nature and beings other than humans that offer a tapestry for the tradition of storytelling and nature writing, which I found a fascinating field to explore. I hope you can find the same in the books on this list.
I was enthralled by the narrator's voice in this story, told from the perspective of a little girl. She shares her life and adventures with her beloved parents and cat. The girl is Julia, and I also love her name.
I found the setting for this story, a lighthouse on one of the small islands of the Shetlands in Scotland, fascinating. This fascination grows with the strong connection to the sea life that in this book takes the form of the Greenland shark and the blue night sky filled with stars at night and flocks of birds during the day.
The poetic prose of this book, combined with the stunning illustrations, captivated me profoundly.
At the same time, serious issues are approached, such as the pollution of the oceans. And the drama of this story is woven with such humanity around the mental illness of bipolar disorder and the bullying…
A captivating, powerful and luminous story from a bestselling, award-winning author about a mother, a daughter and the great Greenland shark. Wrapped up in mesmerising illustrations and presented as a deluxe hardback, this is a perfect gift for the holiday season, for 9+ fans of Philip Pullman, Sally Gardner and Frances Hardinge.
The shark was beneath my bed, growing large as the room, large as the lighthouse, rising from unfathomable depths until it ripped the whole island from its roots. The bed was a boat, the shark a tide, and it pulled me so far out to sea I was…
Big Ideas... For Small Businesses
by
John Lamerton,
Big Ideas… for Small Businesses is a straight-talking, no-nonsense guide to growing a small business without sacrificing your lifestyle. Written by a former civil servant turned entrepreneur, the book challenges hustle culture and instead champions the idea of an "ambitious lifestyle business" - one that provides freedom and financial stability,…
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.
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.
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…
I am passionate about sharing my story of having it all and then losing it all due to my bipolar disorder. I tell my story of living with the flights above the clouds of bipolar mania, the unbearable hopelessness of bipolar depression, the fear and dread of severe anxiety, and the overwhelming impulse to run and escape during panic attacks with complete honesty and openness so other people can see themselves in my story and realize they are not alone and that they too will come out the other side.
William Styron takes us to Paris, where he is receiving an award for his book Sophie’s Choice. Before and during his trip, he slid into the deep darkness of depression, which he calls the Black Dog.
Styron is masterful at describing the Black Dog. He doesn’t sugarcoat it. He uses his literary skills to describe it as it is happening. I was in my own dark depression, as I was reading, and I saw myself.
A calm came over me as I read Darkness Visible and realized OMG that’s me.
This is a story of depression a condition that reduced William Styron from a person enjoying life and success as an acclaimed writer, to a man engulfed and menaced by mental anguish. With profound insight and remarkable candor, Styron tracks the progress of his madness, from the smothering misery and exhaustion, to the agony of composing his own suicide note and his eventual, hard-won recovery. Illuminating an illness that affects millions but which remains widely misunderstood, this book is about the darkness of depression, but it is also ultimately about survival and redemption.
I’m a psychiatry professor, researcher, and author at Stanford University. Besides OCD, my research has focused on the interface between technology and psychology, both in its negative manifestations (e.g., video game addiction, online narcissism, cyberbullying) and positive applications (e.g., telemedicine, virtual reality therapy, AI digital therapeutics). My reading tastes and non-scientific writing topics reflect the same interests—deep and highly personal psychological explorations of individuals on a quest for meaning or facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles, symptoms, or character tests.
This book parlays the author’s personal experience with bipolar disorder and mental illness and her experience as a clinician treating these conditions to describe the sometimes clinical roots of genius.
How "artistic temperament," as expressed in literature, music, and the visual arts, differs from the euphoric highs and desperate lows of full-blown psychiatric conditions is the very worthwhile question she passionately tries to answer with and for us.
The anguished and volatile intensity associated with the artistic temperament was once thought to be a symptom of genius or eccentricity peculiar to artists, writers and musicians. Kay Jamison's work, based on her study as a clinical psychologist and researcher in mood disorders, reveals that many artists subject to exalted highs and despairing lows were in fact engaged in a struggle with clinically identifiable manic-depressive illness. Jamison presents proof of the biological foundations of this disease and applies what is known about the illness to the lives and works of some of the world's greatest artists including Byron, Van Gogh,…
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
I am passionate about sharing my story of having it all and then losing it all due to my bipolar disorder. I tell my story of living with the flights above the clouds of bipolar mania, the unbearable hopelessness of bipolar depression, the fear and dread of severe anxiety, and the overwhelming impulse to run and escape during panic attacks with complete honesty and openness so other people can see themselves in my story and realize they are not alone and that they too will come out the other side.
This book touched me because she is telling her story that is similar to mine.
Like me, she goes from having it all to losing it all due to her bipolar disorder. She was a high-powered lawyer until her manic episodes blew up her life. Page after page, she talks about her success and mania and her crushing crashes into deep, dark depression.
I love that she talks about the seductive power of mania and its devastating cost on relationships, career, and self-worth. I shared her experience of bipolar disorder, including shame, denial, and the eventual path toward diagnosis and stability.
I related it to realizing again what I tell others. We are not alone. There is help, and there is hope to come out the other side and live a full life.
An attractive, highly successful Beverly Hills entertainment lawyer, Terri Cheney had been battling debilitating bipolar disorder for the better part of her life—and concealing a pharmacy’s worth of prescription drugs meant to stabilize her moods and make her "normal." In explosive bursts of prose that mirror the devastating mania and extreme despair of her illness, Cheney describes her roller-coaster existence with shocking honesty, giving brilliant voice to the previously unarticulated madness she endured. Brave, electrifying, poignant, and disturbing, Manic does not simply explain bipolar disorder—it takes us into its grasp and does not let go.
