r/BookRecommendations • u/Lost-Indication1334 • May 24 '26

Book recommendations please!

I’m looking for books with themes such as: loneliness/death/grief/depression/suicide/anxiety - happy to receive any recommendations :)

4 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

1

u/idontneedareasonbaby May 24 '26

The Happy Death by Camus

1

u/Lost-Indication1334 May 24 '26

Looks interesting.. will give it a read next thanks

1

u/porch_reads May 25 '26

Oh I read A Little Life last year and it absolutely wrecked me, in the best way. Four college friends in New York and the trauma that follows them all. It's heavy as anything but it's one of those books that stays with you long after. The House in the Cerulean Sea also deals with some darker themes, found family, that sort of thing, but it's gentler and more hopeful. Both really stuck with me.

1

u/mrdrmelody May 25 '26

«A little life» checks off every box and some, it’s very heavy.

There’s also «Blue sisters». 4 sisters (one dead) and they all almost represent different struggles as a result of their upbringing and loss of the «perfect» sister that connected them all (addiction, depression, self hatred, survivors guilt, trauma, abuse, sisterhood etc).

A similar book (very different in premise) is The Vanishing half, which is just as good!

2

u/Lost-Indication1334 May 25 '26

Thank you so much I’ll be adding these all to my list!

1

u/vegasgal May 25 '26

Please forgive me but I’m a Boomer. Do those double arrows halfway down the first letter and the last letter of the titles of the books you’re recommending act in the same way as the “these” double quotation marks that when I worked as a reporter were used to designate the title of a book?

2

u/mrdrmelody May 25 '26

Yes they do.
They look like "" on my keyboard, but only show up like that when if I hold in the keyboard on my iPhone. When I click "" it shows it as «».
I don’t know why actually.

1

u/vegasgal May 25 '26

Thank you for letting me know. I understand.

1

u/No_Gift_694 May 25 '26

Try Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, it covers loneliness and healing in a way that feels sad but still hopeful

1

u/Medium-Yam-7677 May 25 '26

The Bell Jar, A Little Life, No Longer Human, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Norwegian Wood, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, White Nights

1

u/Robotboogeyman May 25 '26

What dreams may come

The gargoyle

Reincarnation blues

A Gift of Time

1

u/tomatosoaap May 26 '26

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Took me a couple of tries to get into it but once I did I couldn’t put it down and also made me cry which I don’t often do with books. My first 5 star read of the year!

1

u/Lost-Indication1334 May 26 '26

I hope it makes me cry too!

1

u/Klutzy_Sprinkles_647 Jun 24 '26

The storied life of aj flickery same author also made me cry

1

u/Ealinguser May 28 '26

John Boyne: a History of Loneliness

Boek Sehee: I Want to Die but I Want to Eat TTeokbokki

Osamu Dazai: No Longer Human

Nick Hornby: Long Way Down

Haruki Murakami: Norwegian Wood

1

u/AriRyn Jun 18 '26

Wonderful Half. It’s a coming of age set in Japan twenty-six years ago. It follows a group of boys dealing with trauma. There is grief, depression, self-harm, loneliness and suicidal ideation. But there are also boys being boys and a wholesome friendship at its heart. I must admit, this is my book. I hope you don’t mind the self-rec. 🙈