Top 5 Wednesday: Top Books with Mental Health/Illness

Top 5 Wednesday
hosted by Lainey @ GingerReadsLainey on Youtube
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Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Lainey. You get a new topic every Wednesday, and you then list your Top 5 books related to the particular topic.

TODAY's topic:
September 16th - Top Books with Mental Health/Illness

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Read:

All the Bright Places
by Jennifer Niven
-mental illness, YA
Amazon | Goodreads | my review

Hyperbole and a Half:
Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and
Other Things That Happened...
by Allie Brosh
-humor, memoir
Amazon | Goodreads

Both of Me
by Jonathon Friesen
-christian, YA
Amazon | Goodreads | my review

Currently reading:

A Little Life
by Hanya Yanagihara
-Contemporary Fiction
Amazon | Goodreads

On my TBR shelf:

Finding Audrey
by Sophie Kinsella
Amazon | Goodreads

Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen

Both of Me
by Jonathan Friesen

Find out more about this book and author:
Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
MySpace
Twitter @FriesenJonathan

Just released: December 23, 2014
Publisher: Blink
Genre: YA
Hardback: 256 pages
Rating: 4

It was supposed to be just another flight, another escape into a foreign place where she could forget her past, forget her attachments. Until Clara found herself seated next to an alluring boy named Elias Phinn—a boy who seems to know secrets she has barely been able to admit to herself for years.

When her carry-on bag is accidentally switched with Elias’s identical pack, Clara uses the luggage tag to track down her things. At that address she discovers there is not one Elias Phinn, but two: the odd, paranoid, artistic, and often angry Elias she met on the plane, who lives in an imaginary world of his own making called Salem; and the kind, sweet, and soon irresistible Elias who greets her at the door, and who has no recollection of ever meeting Clara at all. As she learns of Elias’s dissociative identity disorder, and finds herself quickly entangled in both of Elias’s lives, Clara makes a decision that could change all of them forever. She is going to find out what the Salem Elias knows about her past, and how, even if it means playing along with his otherworldly quest. And she is going to find a way to keep the gentle Elias she’s beginning to love from ever disappearing again.

My two-bits:

I found this to be a story with themes of coming-of-age and coming-to-terms via road trip.

As one of the characters had dissociative identity disorder, it was interesting to learn about it and how it affects day to day living. Also, amazing how the mind works to cope with situations. The mind can protect so extremely to the point of splintering.

Some scenes were surreal and poignant with interesting perspectives of life and living.

There is also a kind of mystery within the story in trying to figure out the secret that the main character, Clara, is holding close.

PeekAbook:



About the author:

Jonathan Friesen is an author, speaker, and youth writing coach from Mora, Minnesota. His first young adult novel, Jerk, California, received the ALA Schneider Award. When he’s not writing, speaking at schools, or teaching, Jonathan loves to travel and hang out with his wife and three kids.

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* review copy courtesy of Fall Reading Challenge 2014. @booksparks #FRC2014

Stacking the Shelves - 11.29.14

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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For Review:

The Unimaginable
by Dina Silver
- contemporary romance
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2014
Thanks Janay!
Amazon | Goodreads

Both of Me
by Jonathon Friesen
-christian, YA
courtesy of BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge 2014
Thanks Janay!
Amazon | Goodreads

The Borzoi Killings
by Paul Batista
-thriller
courtesy of publisher, Astor+Blue
Thanks Jillian!
Amazon | Goodreads
Won from contest:

The Glass Magician
(The Paper Magician Trilogy, #2)
by Charlie N. Holmberg
-fantasy, YA
-courtesy of Goodreads First Reads
Amazon | Goodreads
Library:

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour
by Joshua Ferris
-literature, humor
-on Man Booker Prize 2014 short list
Amazon | Goodreads
Paul O'Rourke is a man made of contradictions: he loves the world, but doesn't know how to live in it. He's a Luddite addicted to his iPhone, a dentist with a nicotine habit, a rabid Red Sox fan devastated by their victories, and an atheist not quite willing to let go of God.

Then someone begins to impersonate Paul online, and he watches in horror as a website, a Facebook page, and a Twitter account are created in his name. What begins as an outrageous violation of his privacy soon becomes something more soul-frightening: the possibility that the online "Paul" might be a better version of the real thing. As Paul's quest to learn why his identity has been stolen deepens, he is forced to confront his troubled past and his uncertain future in a life disturbingly split between the real and the virtual.

At once laugh-out-loud funny about the absurdities of the modern world, and indelibly profound about the eternal questions of the meaning of life, love and truth, To Rise Again at a Decent Hour is a deeply moving and constantly surprising tour de force.

-----> listening to the audio and liking it, picked this one up for a personal challenge of reading Man Booker Prize nominees and winners

Dreaming about getting soon:

The Mime Order
(The Bone Season #2)
by Samantha Shannon
-dystopia
release date: January 27, 2015
Amazon | Goodreads
Paige Mahoney has escaped the brutal penal colony of Sheol I, but her problems have only just begun: many of the fugitives are still missing and she is the most wanted person in London.

As Scion turns its all-seeing eye on Paige, the mime-lords and mime-queens of the city’s gangs are invited to a rare meeting of the Unnatural Assembly. Jaxon Hall and his Seven Seals prepare to take center stage, but there are bitter fault lines running through the clairvoyant community and dark secrets around every corner.

Then the Rephaim begin crawling out from the shadows. But where is Warden? Paige must keep moving, from Seven Dials to Grub Street to the secret catacombs of Camden, until the fate of the underworld can be decided. Will Paige know who to trust? The hunt for the dreamwalker is on.

-----> just finished, book 1, The Bone Season, loved it! And really excited to continue reading about this world

-----> the author, Samantha Shannon, will be answering questions at Goodreads Read-Along Group for The Bone Season here on December 1 - feel free to leave her a question

OTHER things: kinda book-related

The Hunger Games:
Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
Per imdb:
When Katniss destroys the games, she goes to District 13 after District 12 is destroyed. She meets President Coin who convinces her to be the symbol of rebellion, while trying to save Peeta from the Capitol.

-----> I saw it. I loved it :-)

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Bookish Games: Ready Player Two
hosted by Oh, The Books!
details here
starts December 6, 2014
As the game ended faster than normal with a triple kill session. The gamemaster is offering to reboot the game if enough contestants enter.

Although stressful at times, it was interesting to see how everything played out. And, I am curious to give it another go. So, I signed up for another bout of the Bookish Games.

Please sign up if you think this might be a fun diversion for the holidays as signups are currently open with 3 more slots to fill.

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* some of these may be offered as giveaways within the next two months

* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers