August 2025
    M T W T F S S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

    Hi, I recently lost my house in the Eaton wildfire in LA. I feel like I am drowning in grief. There is so much paperwork to do, phone calls, and juggling as you bounce from temp home to temp home, unpacking and repacking the few belongings you have over and over again. The stress, trauma, and grief has flared my insomnia back up and I find myself unable to sleep for 30+ hours at a time. I do have mental health support right now, but I often cope through reading other people's experiences as well as journaling.

    My whole community is grieving right now, so I know I am not alone, but I just… I feel like I need to know how someone has made it through this before. I know there is light on the other side but I feel like reading about someone's experience would really help me right now.

    I have a dark sense of humor, so most of my favorite books have a sharp, dark wit, but I can also find value in more serious books. Most of the books I've enjoyed deal with mental illness due to finding solace in shared experiences. Some of my favorite recently read autobiographies:

    • Anything Carrie Fisher – Carrie's wit has carried me through the darkest depressions, particularly her descriptors of the intense depression she faced in Shockaholic.
    • I'm Glad My Mother Died by Jeanette McCurdy – Brutally honest and absolutely hilarious in it's sincerity. I'm still recommending this one to friends.
    • Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler – I felt like I saw a lot of myself in Anna's constant looking inwards and how much she tried to mask her struggle. Less of a funny story and more of a heavy, honest relation of experience, this one hit me hard at times.

    As a predominantly fiction and history reader, I am less familiar with amazing autobiographies, so they often find me rather than the other way around. Please help me find my next great read.

    Thank you so much – I appreciate it.

    by JoanOfSarcasm

    4 Comments

    1. Check Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Not sure if it fits with the natural disaster thing, but its about survival.

    2. **Currowan, by Bronwyn Adcock** is about the Black Summer of 2020. I don’t know if you remember (that stretch of time has gone weird in people’s memories!) but about six weeks before COVID kicked off, a significant chunk of eastern Australia was on fire…

      I’m so sorry that this is happening to you and your community.

    Leave A Reply