Learning Resources: Mental Health and Wellbeing: Wellbeing Reads

Reading for Wellbeing

Benefits of reading for mental health and wellbeing

According to research conducted by British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) reading was one of the most popular ways that people were able to manage their stress and wellbeing during the pandemic, with 43% reporting that reading helped them deal with their stress levels during the UK’s third national lockdown..

Reducing Stress

Many people find that reading can assist them to lower their stress and a 2009 study of students found that 30 minutes of reading lowered blood pressure, heart rate and psychological distress just as effectively as other activities such as comedy and yoga did.

Improve mental health

Just like the body need to move to work the muscles, the brain needs to exercise as well to keep it strong and healthy. For someone who might overthink a lot, reading can help to quieten down their mind and bring a sense of peace and calm. Reading can also assist in easing symptoms of depression, such as isolation and loneliness, as it allows you to escape into another world or learn something new. Reading can also help the body get into a routine when it comes to sleep as it can help you to relax and this can ease stress, enabling you to sleep better.

Book Recommendations

All the books listed below are available through the Library Catalogue.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
ISBN: 9780141357034
Publication Date: 2015-01-01
A compelling and beautiful story about a girl who learns to live from a boy who's drawn to death. Theodore Finch tries to look for good things in the world, even if sometimes he doesn't always find them. Violet Markey exists for the future, counting the days until she can escape her Indiana town and its painful memories of her sister. When they meet on the ledge of a tower, what might have been their end turns into their beginning. It's only with Violet that Finch can truly be himself - a funny guy who actually wants to experience the joy in life. And when Violet's with Finch, she forgets to wish away the days and starts to live them. But as Violet's world grows, Finch's begins to shrink. He's trying to cling on to his bright places, but will it be enough this time?
Am I normal yet? by Holly Bourne
ISBN: 9781409590309
Publication Date: 2015
All Evie wants is to be normal. She’s almost off her meds and at a new college where no one knows her as the girl-who-went-crazy. She’s even going to parties and making friends. There’s only one thing left to tick off her list…
But relationships are messy – especially relationships with teenage guys. They can make any girl feel like they’re going mad. And if Evie can’t even tell her new friends Amber and Lottie the truth about herself, how will she cope when she falls in love?
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz; Benjamin Alire Sáenz
ISBN: 9781442408937
Publication Date: 2014
This Printz Honor Book is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) that distils lyrical truths about family and friendship. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.
Calm by Dr. Arlene K. Unger
ISBN: 9781845436391
Publication Date: 2015
50 mindfulness and relaxation exercises to de-stress and unwind
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon
ISBN: 9780099450252
Publication Date: 2004
Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the colour yellow. This improbable story of Christopher’s quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighbourhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in years.
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman.
ISBN: 9780008172145
Publication Date: 2018
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
I'll give you the sun by Jandy Nelson
ISBN: 9781406326499
Publication Date: 2015
At first, Jude and her twin brother Noah, are inseparable. Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude wears red-red lipstick, cliff-dives, and does all the talking for both of them. Years later, they are barely speaking. Something has happened to change the twins in different yet equally devastating ways... but then Jude meets an intriguing, irresistible boy and a mysterious new mentor. The early years are Noah's to tell; the later years are Jude's. But they each have only half the story, and if they can only find their way back to one another, they'll have a chance to remake their world.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
ISBN: 9781786892737
Publication Date: 2021
Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better? Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.
The perks of being a wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
ISBN: 9781847394071
Publication Date: 2009
This is the story of what it's like to grow up in high school. More intimate than a diary, Charlie's letters are singular and unique, hilarious and devastating. We may not know where he lives. We may not know to whom he is writing. All we know is the world he shares. Caught between trying to live his life and trying to run from it puts him on a strange course through uncharted territory. The world of first dates and mixed tapes, family dramas and new friends. The world of sex, drugs, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, when all one requires is that the perfect song on that perfect drive to feel infinite.
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
ISBN: 9781409180074
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth. As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.
Quiet the Mind by Matthew Johnstone
ISBN: 9781780331188
Publication Date: 2022-02-08
In a world where finding even ten minutes to 'do nothing' can be difficult, the benefits of meditation can be profound. Meditation is simply a way of giving our brains a well-deserved break and can actually help our brains to function healthily and happily. This beautifully illustrated guide is an inspiring and practical book which shows you how to meditate without the need for uncomfortable lotus positions or prayer beads! With his typical gentle and insightful humour, Matthew's guide to meditation will enable to you to feel more present, more youthful, have more energy and greater concentration, improve your mood and sleep more soundly.
The teenage guide to stress by Nicola Morgan
ISBN: 9781406353143
Publication Date: 2014
Explains what stress is and looks at the ways teenage stress is different This book deals with a number of issues that affect teenagers - from anger depression and sexual relationships to cyber-bullying exams and eating disorders - and offers guidance and advice. It also shows how to deal with and prevent the symptoms of stress.
Turtles all the way down by John Green
ISBN: 9780141346045
Publication Date: 2017
Aza Holmes never intended to pursue the disappearance of fugitive billionaire Russell Pickett, but there’s a hundred-thousand-dollar reward at stake and her Best and Most Fearless Friend, Daisy, is eager to investigate. So together, they navigate the short distance and broad divides that separate them from Pickett’s son Davis. Aza is trying. She is trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, a good student, and maybe even a good detective, while also living within the ever-tightening spiral of her own thoughts.