I am no stranger to homesickness. I've spent close to half my life moving town and country with a regularity that's truly baffling when you consider how little I enjoy change. Until I turned 16, I had always lived in the same town - Basingstoke: the butt of many jokes about England's quietly unattractive (and … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Homesickness: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
Of all the challenges that we face as individuals, grief is perhaps the most universal. There are few - if any - people able to get through life without experiencing loss, making grief an inevitability for all of us. I am lucky to have reached 30 without losing any of the people close to me … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Grief: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
One of the most prevalent challenges facing society today is undoubtedly loneliness. The news abounds with headlines showing that loneliness among almost all generations is on the increase. Although counterintuitive at first sight - we might expect that both the internet at large and social media in particular offer us plentiful opportunities for connection - … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Loneliness: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
Over the course of my life, I've faced a few different challenges with my mental health. By far the most persistent, however, has been my battle with anxiety and panic attacks. I've suffered from crippling anxiety for as long as I can remember and have lived with panic attacks since childhood. All of us have … Continue reading Bibliotherapy For Anxiety and Panic: Fiction Recommendations For Tough Times
In last week's Monday Musing, I wrote about the ways in which I process and account for my dislike of particular novels. Inspired by my troubled impression of Haruki Murakami's Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (although my continued love for his work is reflected in today's choice of quote), I found myself contemplating the meaning … Continue reading Monday Musing: How Literature Offers An Intoxicating Salvation From Life’s Challenges
I'm no stranger to challenging weeks (or, let's face it, months). Since moving to the US, my life has undergone an overhaul that I certainly couldn't have anticipated when living as a fresh-faced and hopeful PhD student in the UK. While I figured that, by 30, I'd have a solid career, life plan, and the … Continue reading Monday Musing: How Bad Weeks Can Be A Book Worm’s Best Friend
As someone who has been reading for almost as long as I've been talking, it can be difficult for me to appreciate the direct but subtle ways in which fiction helps me to navigate the peaks and troughs of life. Only over recent years - and as a result of suffering from various kinds of … Continue reading Can Fiction Help You? An Introduction To Bibliotherapy
Readers and non-readers alike understand that life involves more ups and downs than an English umbrella. Regardless of country of residence, employment status, age, and other variables, no one is immune to the trials and tribulations that characterise the human existence. Within this, however, there is undeniably a spectrum of experience. And, at the most … Continue reading Reading For A Cure: An Introduction To Bibliotherapy
