Anxiety themes in books?

[jasmineharley]

Hi there

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong place or there is already a topic on this....

I was just wondering if anybody knows of any novels or indeed biographies in which the characters suffer from anxiety of anxious tendencies? I think that it may help Me with my own anxiety if I read about others going through the same thing so I see it's not so bad after all!

Also if anybody has any general book recommendations then they would be greatly received!

I'll be travelling to Paris in October via Eurostar which I'm trying to not be too worried about so a good book will be a welcome distraction (as well as a few drinks I think!!)

Thanks in advance, Jaz x

[emily67]

the only book i can think of that mentions anxiety is nim's island by Wendy Orr.

it's about this girl, nim, obviously, trapped on an island. her father goes on a trip, but never returns

fearing the worst, nim writes to her fave superhero alex rover, to come and rescue her from the island.

it turns out that alex rover isn't the real alex rover (or the one nim thought she was), and thuis alex rover is only the author of the books- and is actually an agoraphobic, and faced with the prospect of going to the island.. it scares her no end.

but her husband helps her, and soon they get to the island where nim says that she wasn't the person she asked for, go away

i'm not going to spoil anymore of it.. in case you decide to read it

[mark84]

Jaz, I know of two famous artists that suffered with mental illness revolving around anxiety if you're interested in art, I don't know any books that refrence their illness in particular but I'm sure any good biography of them would
francisco Goya
Edvard Much (who you probably know 'the scream' painting by).

Don't know if that's any interest, I'm sure there's absolutely tonnes of people, especially in the art/music scene that have suffered, both people I mention above work's benefitted from their disorder, you can really feel their torment sometimes (you didn't say it had to be happy reads did you!?)

[jasmineharley]

the only book i can think of that mentions anxiety is nim's island by Wendy Orr.

it's about this girl, nim, obviously, trapped on an island. her father goes on a trip, but never returns

fearing the worst, nim writes to her fave superhero alex rover, to come and rescue her from the island.

it turns out that alex rover isn't the real alex rover (or the one nim thought she was), and thuis alex rover is only the author of the books- and is actually an agoraphobic, and faced with the prospect of going to the island.. it scares her no end.

but her husband helps her, and soon they get to the island where nim says that she wasn't the person she asked for, go away

i'm not going to spoil anymore of it.. in case you decide to read it

Thanks Emily, it sounds like it will be a good read! I'll definitey check it out :)

---------- Post added at 13:04 ---------- Previous post was at 12:58 ----------


Jaz, I know of two famous artists that suffered with mental illness revolving around anxiety if you're interested in art, I don't know any books that refrence their illness in particular but I'm sure any good biography of them would
francisco Goya
Edvard Much (who you probably know 'the scream' painting by).

Don't know if that's any interest, I'm sure there's absolutely tonnes of people, especially in the art/music scene that have suffered, both people I mention above work's benefitted from their disorder, you can really feel their torment sometimes (you didn't say it had to be happy reads did you!?)

Thanks Mark, that's really interesting! I am familiar with Edvard Munch but not so much Francisco Goya, i've just read a brief bit about him on Wiki and seems very interesting - albeit a little disturbing!

Will be interested to read more about both these artists and how their thoughts were reflected in their art :)

[Cherryade]

M R Hall writes a series of books with the central character, a coroner, suffering from anxiety.

[Dan1975]

Into the darkest corner is a great thriller where the main protagonist suffers with chronic OCD. Brilliant book

[MyNameIsTerry]

There was another thread about this so maybe there will be some more ideas in here for you:

http://www.nomorepanic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=152267&highlight=book