Funny Mental Health Memoirs
Funny Mental Health Memoirs
From Sara Benincasa, Kelly Williams Brown, and Maria Bamford
Hi, friend.
Welcome to another edition of Crooked Reads, a monthly collection of bite-sized book reviews, based on a theme.
Happiest of new years! I hope your reading goals are off to a strong start and you’re staying bundled up if you, too, are getting hit with a blizzard this weekend.
Over the last few months, I’ve been taking my mental health memoirs with a dash of humor, and it really is an excellent combo. A chef’s kiss, even.
Here are three of my recent favorites that deal with agoraphobia, anxiety, depression, and disordered eating. These books also discuss suicidal ideation and attempts, so do take care while reading.
The books
Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom by Sara Benincasa
Only a comedian like Sara Benincasa could turn tales of agoraphobia and peeing in cereal bowls kept under her bed into something not wholly terrifying. In Agorafabulous! she chronicles her life through her anxieties—a trip abroad where she felt bad but didn’t know how else to describe it, a stint as a high school teacher in a new city, the myriad challenges as stand-up comedian new to the stage. It’s more than that, too; it’s an exploration of a life lived in spite of the mental illnesses that once held her hostage.
“I subscribe to the notion that if you can laugh at the shittiest moments in your life, you can transcend them.”
—Sara Benincasa, Agorafabulous!: Dispatches from My Bedroom, 2012
Easy Crafts for the Insane: A Mostly Funny Memoir of Mental Illness and Making Things by Kelly Williams Brown
The queen of Adulting gets personal with this moving memoir about depression and the easy crafts that helped her get through her darkest days. A series of unfortunate events—a divorce, several broken limbs, her father’s cancer diagnosis—led her into a deep depression and a stay at an inpatient facility. When she got home, she turned to crafts to settle her mind. But they were small, silly crafts, like tiny paper stars, which helped her build her life again. Crafting tutorials are included if you, too, need something to accomplish in a day.
Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult: A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere by Maria Bamford
I’d somehow never heard of Maria Bamford before, but if you give your book a snappy title and add “mental illness” to the subtitle, I’m gonna read it. Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult is a delightful journey through Bamford’s life in the business we call show and the shocking number of anonymous groups she’s joined with hopes of being cured—of being broke, of being mentally ill, of being a lover of love. She’s candid and hilarious about her mental health struggles and psychiatric stay. And, bonus for me, she briefly mentions having scoliosis and trichotillomania, my two biggest and silly-sounding ailments! Bingo!
The nightstand
If you’re having a lousy day, I recommend taking a stroll or drive through an unfamiliar neighborhood. Chances are you’ll find a Little Free Library or two. Maybe you’ll find something as adorable as this Snoopy one I spotted!
The backlist
In case you missed ’em, or want to peep the mental health archives:
Take care of yourself, friend.
xoxo
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Ashley! Thank you so much! I deeply appreciate this. It was my first book and I’m so happy it is still reaching folks after all these years. ❤️❤️❤️
I LOVED Maria Bamford’s “Sure I’ll Join Your Cult” only complaint is her audio book is phenomenal with how good her voice impersonations are but it kept referencing photos and I was driving while listening and felt like I was missing out on gems from the photos in the book. I would follow Maria off a cliff, which is counterintuitive towards the theme of her book. But truly- I work in Addiction Medicine and every day I tell my patients that line from Jonathan Winters “Kid, you just gotta keep going.” Salt of the Earth that woman. And I felt awful after hearing how soul sucking it was for her making Lady Dynamite because my husband and I devoured every season. I’m sorry she suffered so deeply for Netflix to treat her so shabbily.