A is for (Books About) Anxiety

Welcome to another year of blogging A to Z, when I yet again started preparing in February and then didn’t write any posts.

Procrastination, I know thee well.

Anyhoo… For A to Z 2018, my theme is Books About ____. If you’re stopping by from your own A to Z blog, feel free to leave a link. If you need help with how to do that, you can look here.

If you’re someone looking to read a lot of great blogs, here’s the link for the A to Z challenge.

Anxiety is one of those things that a lot of people suffer with. People talk about it more than they did in the past, and I’m glad some of the stigma is going away. I think that fiction books are an important part of that process since we can see the inner lives of characters in a way that we can’t (and don’t want to) see our neighbors’, or friends’, or our family member’s anxiety.

Turtles All The Way Down, by John Green (YA): The main character in this book is struggling with obsessive-compulsive behaviors, which significantly interfere with her life. I thought this book did a great job of showing Aza’s anxiety without beating you over the head with it. I also loved that she and her best friend argue, but end up understanding one another and loving one another more than before.

Sushi for Beginners, by Marian Keyes (romance): Ashling is never diagnosed as anxious, but she worries about everything. She has a huge purse which has everything anyone could possibly need in it: band-aids, rescue remedy… everything. When she takes a new job, she has to deal with her perfect boss and the boss’s sexy boss, who probably hates her because she tries too hard. The characters in this book undergo a lot of change and learn to accept themselves and others.

Uncanny, by Sarah Fine (YA science fiction/ thriller): Cora doesn’t remember the night her sister died. She turned off her Cerepin (the computer attached to her that records everything) and even she suspects that she might have done something to her sister. She’s always struggled with anxieties and fears, but her anxiety gets worse as she tries to avoid remembering what happened that night.

Fan Girl, by Rainbow Rowell (YA Romance): Cath is uncomfortable with new people and new situations. So when she gets to college, and her twin sister doesn’t want to room with her, she’s thrown way out of her comfort zone. Her only consolation is the fanfiction she writes. But as various people push her out of her comfort zone, she realizes maybe she can have a life in the real world.

I’m trying to keep these lists short since I know there are a lot of A to Z blogs to read.

Are there any books with anxious main characters that you’d add to the list?