I want to read something that gives me some sort of clarity. The book does not need to be overly optimistic, I fear that'll annoy me. I just need something introspective, doesn't need to be a self-help book and I don't mind reading memoirs.
I love magical realism, Piranesi was in my opinion, very comforting and profound.
by icantfix_you
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Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle
It’s been nearly a decade since I read it so I’m not sure if today me would still like it, but The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson.
The Suicidal Thoughts Workbook by Kathryn Hope Gordon
The Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Workbook by Matthew McKay
The Negative Thoughts Workbook by David A. Clark
*We Could Be Rats* by Emily Austen. Contemporary literary fiction, it deals with suicidal ideation and some other heavy topics in a way that felt real without being too depressing. Ultimately it’s about the sense of loss we can feel as we try to become an adults and the grief as we lose people or have terrible things happen that we can’t talk to anyone about, and transitions into reconnecting with loved ones and trying to understand them.
At the end of the book, things are better but not all fixed (which felt more hopeful to me than if everything had been magically fixed, because that just doesn’t feel realistic). Slightly spoilery reference: >!Maybe we can’t be rats, gorging ourselves on junk food at the fair, but we can play pretend together – and that can be good enough to be happy.!<
Try the midnight library by Matt Haig