All About Books discussion

Since Girl, Interrupted won our first non-fiction poll. I thought it would be interesting to see how many memoirs about madness you have already read.

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/65...

I have read:

The Bell Jar
The Yellow Wallpaper
Wide Sargasso Sea

Because I am going to be studying Madness in Literature this year, I would be interested in coming back to this at the end of the year to see what else I have read.

Only The Wide Sargasso Sea!

I have read:

The Bell Jar
Wide Sargasso Sea
and Knots by R.D. Laing, which is a series of poems. I was a bit surprised to find it on that list.

Just The Doors of Perception

I have read a few more of these since last I posted, Girl, Interrupted, which was one of our group nonfiction reads, and The Yellow Wallpaper.

I think I'd like to read both The Bell Jar and Wide Sargasso Sea, as I have heard so much about them!

Strongly recommend them both Shirley.

Strongly agree! :D

I've read Running with Scissors which was very good, and The Diary of Vaslav Nijinsky, which was definitely an experience - the latter part was written first-hand during the throes of his schizophrenia. (He wrote what's called "word salad", an incoherent jumbling of words and phrases often found in this illness.)

The Bell Jar has been on my TBR a long time, and I'm planning to read it very soon.

Thanks for sharing this list! I'm definitely going to go through and add some of these.

Strongly recommend The Bell Jar.

I need to check this again when I'm on my laptop, I'm sure I have read more since September.

What about In Cold Blood?

Alannah, The Bell Jar I will be starting today. I have read just a teeny bit but will start again from the beginning.

I've read Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia, Girl, Interrupted and I'm currently rereading The Bell Jar. Mental disorders are always very interesting so thank you for sharing this list, I've already added 5 books from there :D

Jakurino wrote: "I've read Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia..."

Ah, Wasted is on my TBR. How was it?

Shannon Noel wrote: "Jakurino wrote: "I've read Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia..."

Ah, Wasted is on my TBR. How was it?"

I loved it. I was really into eating disorders then so I found it very interesting, definitely worth reading. The way she writes makes you feel like you're right there with her. Some of it is quite scary actually and the fact that it's all real makes it even more so. I'm planning to read Madness: A Bipolar Life because it's like the sequel to Wasted written ten years later.

Does anyone know why ECT (Electro-convulsive Therapy or shock treatment) works? What exactly changes so depression is lessened? I don't understand.

I've only read The Bell Jar and Running with Scissors

I have heard The Ha-Ha is good but have not read it. It is soon to be available as an unabridged audiobook.

Nobody really knows how ECT works. A couple of theories include changing blood flow in the brain and inducing the release of certain chemicals. People with severe depression have been found to be deficient in certain brain chemicals such as serotonin (I cannot remember the others) and so potentially ECT causes the release of more of this.

It's only used in severe cases refractory to other treatments

@chrissie

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice...

That link is good if you're interested in ECT

Thank you, Heater, for both the link and your explanation. Wow, the link info was very clear!

Have read:

The Bell Jar
Girl, Interrupted
Running with Scissors
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
Speak
Confessions of an English Opium Eater
The Golden Notebook

Highly recommend Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness.

I've read 16 of the books on the list, I won't list them all. This is a real area of interest of mine, and now I have lots of new ideas!

As far as ECT, when I trained as a psych nurse, I understood the theory of this treatment. When my son underwent several courses of ECT, I saw personally the adverse effects of this treatment.

Any in particular you'd recommend Terri? It's something I'm really interested in too.

Katie, you can't go wrong with the classics:

The Bell Jar
The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland, and Selected Writings
Darkness Visible (the definitive book on depression as far as I'm concerned)
Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities

Some I also thought were very good:

The Ha-Ha (5 stars for me)
An Unquiet Mind
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me
Anne Sexton: A Biography (her poetry is also quite interesting)

Thanks for the recommendations :) I've added them to my to-read list. They all look interesting especially the biography of Anne Sexton.

Look out for The Faber Book of Madness. A great anthology.
Professor and The Madman the amazing true story of the Broadmoor inmate who contributed an enormous percentage of the OED
Tollesbury Time Forever is an interesting story by someone who works in mental health. It's actually the first in a trilogy.
Books which explore the ways in which people who are not mad but who have been permanently put away as insane or mentally unfit include Skallagrigg and The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox
And then of course there is The Madness of George III
Folks may also find Sane New World: Taming The Mind interesting to read. Ruby Wax talks about her own journey through mental illness and explores how mindfulness can help.
Seized: Temporal Lobe Epilepsy as a Medical, Historical, and Artistic Phenomenon explores the ways temporal lobe epilepsy affects people's perceptions and personas through a series of case histories starting with Vincent Van Gogh.
However the book I think everyone should read who is interested in the subject for any reason is not a memoir but very important Cracked: Why Psychiatry is Doing More Harm Than Good this is a book which really questions how much psychiatry and diagnosis are being heavily influenced by the pharmaceutical companies and raises serious questions about what actually helps .

Thanks for these Tweedledum. I've added quite a few to my to-read list. I'd never heard of any of them but they all look really good.

Tweedledum, I have heard really good things about Skallagrigg, but have not read it. What did you think of that one?

I finished History Lessons: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, and the Brain, where a historian investigates his own past and the mental illness that plagued his family. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Diane S. wrote: "I finished History Lessons: A Memoir of Madness, Memory, and the Brain, where a historian investigates his own past and the mental illness that plagued his family. https://www.goodr..."

Sounds very interesting Diane, will definitely check it out.

I have read The Yellow Wallpaper and... and that's it.

Adding to:

The Bell Jar
The Yellow Wallpaper
Wide Sargasso Sea

I have also read,

Girl, Interrupted
Prozac Nation

I've read The Yellow Wallpaper and Girl, Interrupted, and enjoyed both.

I've had The Bell Jar on my to-read list for ages.

Chrissie wrote: "Tweedledum, I have heard really good things about Skallagrigg, but have not read it. What did you think of that one?"

I think it is superb. I ended up lending it several times and each time failing to get it back so having to get a new copy. They made a film of it too which stuck pretty well to the plot but there is so much more in the book. Quite harroŵing to read at times especially if you happen to have any friends or relatives with Cerebral Palsy.

I have read Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
The Yellow Wallpaper
Girl, Interrupted
Read the bell jar long ago, up for a re-read soon I think.
Also read The Boy Who Could See Demons, which I liked a lot.

Tweedledum, I am ar real chicken in relation to reading about medical problems. I have a friend who BEGGED me to read the book, and when you said you had read it I had to ask, to get another viewpoint! Do I dare?

Christie the book is a great mystery story. You don't need to be anxious about it. William Horwood is a first class story teller. In many ways the book was ahead of its time because the main character uses her computer to find out stuff she cannot personally investigate years and years before the www.

Tweedledum, oh my that is a special twist. It is not available at Audible, at least for me; I will check out Kindle. THIS is why I read all sorts of books even ones that are out of my usual scope, and this is why I love GR. Thank you for your explanations.

Chrissie wrote: "Tweedledum, oh my that is a special twist. It is not available at Audible, at least for me; I will check out Kindle. THIS is why I read all sorts of books even ones that are out of my usual scope, ..."

You are welcome :)