Mental Health Awareness Readathon Commitment

I will be participating a unique readathon later this month.  From May 16-22nd I am participating the the Mental Health Awareness Readathon.

This readathon will have 5 challenged for books to read:

1. Read a book with green on the cover.
2. Read a book where the main character suffers from a mental illness/mental health issue.
3. Read a non-fiction book about mental health or mental illness.
4. Read a book by an author with a mental illness/mental health issues.
5. Pick a topic related to mental illness or mental health that you don't know much about and read a book about it. 

It took me a bit to get my books figured out.  Two books I was hoping to get my hands on didn't pan out.  One my library didn't offer and I didn't quite feel like investing in the purchase or and the other has me in  queue as 17 deep.  Will only 2 copies of the book, I doubt I will get it in time.  So I had to alter it some.  Then realized my grandmother is coming up to my house for a visit that weekend, part of the week.  So less time to read than I had hoped....

For me this readathon hits a bit close to home. First off I am mildly bi-polar.  I rarely hit the super lows of near  suicidal depression  and my "mania" has not reached points off delusions or utter recklessness.  Also I have moderate to severe anxiety (depending if I am on meds at the time and how stressed I am effects this).  So it is something I love the idea of bringing more awareness to mental illness.  Most people hear bi-polar or manic-depressant and think you are suicidal to crazy violent and will either kill yourself or go postal and kill them.  Well, I have never tried to kill myself (thought about it a couple times though) nor had a desire to kill someone else.  What I do have are times of hyper-like happiness where I am bubbly, friendly and full of energy.  Most people like me like this.  But that happyness can turn to irritable anger faster than you can flip a coin sometimes and it comes out of the blue.  The flip side is the depression which for me is general blahs or sadness overall.  And for no reason.  I could be fine one day, and the next wake up miserable.  This can last for a few hours or even months, depending on severity and my environment.  Most people are not even aware of this with me.  My neighbors, coworkers, etc have never been told or seem to know this.  Mine is mild enough I can usually cover it in a public setting.  There is a lot more to it all but that is another discussion.  

So the objective of this readathon I love.  Although, because this does hit closer to home, and I often prefer my books to be an escape from reality, it might be a bit of a tricky week for me as well, on how I fare with some books I have picked out.

With that here are my books:

1. Read a book with green on the cover.

  

Okay, this is my main cheat!  This is in part because of the library book I won't get in and the fact that I will be tight on time with my visitor.  Plus this is my rescue read if things get too serious, or deep and a need a temporary escape.  Graphic Novels always come in handy for this.  

2. Read a book where the main character suffers from a mental illness/mental health issue.
  

Anxiety 

3. Read a non-fiction book about mental health or mental illness.

 

A memoir about a woman who is bi-polar and starts off with trying to kill herself starting at age 7. Yikes!

4. Read a book by an author with a mental illness/mental health issues.  

  

From alcohol/substance abuse, to depression, Stephen King has admittedly been though it.  Some things he has admitted to doing and feeling (especially in the 80's) is terrifying in many ways.  I almost went with Patricia Cornwell here, but I didn't feel like starting a new series just yet...

5. Pick a topic related to mental illness or mental health that you don't know much about and read a book about it.  

 

This one has been on my shelf for a few years now.   It is actually one my grandmother bought and read when she thought I might suffer from this.  Many symptoms coincide and my irritability had her questioning it.  Apparently it has helped so I am curious to learn what she read.  

If you are participating in this readathon challenge or have any book recommendations I would love to hear about them!  Let me know!

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