books that made me feel something
I have been passive-aggressive with the idea of starting a book blog for years now. The closest I’ve managed to get before this was making a WordPress account and letting it stay static for an entire year. Now I’m here to say that after one impulsive night, I finally did it.
In my head, I’ve made ‘playlists’ of books that fall into the same wavelength, give similar vibes, or can get sorted into a specific mood and tone. I thought I’d dedicate my first blog post to one of my oldest playlists, a tribute to my old, sad self and the books that helped me get through the challenging years of adolescence. These books are at most, if not all, coming-of-age books with themes circling mental health and existential crisis. I highly advise reading their respective trigger warnings before diving into them.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
If my house is burning and I can only save one book, I’d run for this. The Perks of Being a Wallflower is an epistolary novel told through our main character’s letters to a Friend. Charlie, a socially awkward and introverted teen, enters his freshman year of high school and finds himself under the wings of two extraordinary seniors, Sam and Patrick.
I first read this when I myself was a freshman. Charlie had been my friend, even when there were parts of his life I couldn’t understand back then. I read it again during my senior year, getting to know Charlie better and having a first-hand experience of the things he wrote about. I once stood in a room while everyone around me danced, and I thought, “Charlie, I see you.”
The last time I revisited these pages, I might have wallowed over the fact that I am now older than him. But at the same time, I get to return with fresh new eyes and a different perspective. Every time I open this book, I learn something new. Thank you, Charlie, for being my best friend.
We Are The Ants – Shaun David Hutchinson
Henry is being abducted and examined by aliens for years. He never knew what they wanted, until they told him that the world ends in 144 days and only he has the power to save it with a press of a button. Between his deteriorating family, the recent death of his boyfriend, and the constant bullying he receives in school, Henry attempts to answer the question: Is the world worth saving?
We Are the Ants is a profound story that explores human significance on the grand scale of the universe. Henry’s character is deeply and realistically flawed. His actions sometimes do not coincide with his wants or his needs. He tends to end up hurting himself and the people around him, which made me frustrated at some point. But he is a depiction of how people spiral into their own self-inflicted torment because of pain and isolation. Sometimes we unwittingly hurt the ones we love, trying to punish ourselves, and then we punish ourselves more because of it.
Although I usually don’t read books with slow pacing, I believe this one is rightly timed to properly narrate Henry’s story.
Turtles All The Way Down – John Green
Turtles All the Way Down follows Aza, a high school student with OCD and a never-healing scab on her finger. The book starts with her billionaire friend from childhood, Davis, whose father is missing and wanted by the government. With eyes on the reward prize, Aza’s best friend, Daisy, compels her to reignite their friendship.
The whole point of the book is not what it tells it is. I didn’t care about the search for the missing father or Aza’s developing romance with Davis. It was much more than that. It tackles family relationships, friendships, and mental illness during the sensitive years in a teenager’s life where many, if not all, of those three could make or break them.
This is the only John Green book I’ve read so far, but I get the feeling that he rose to fame as an author because of the painfully good character monologue he writes. The book’s ending is also one of the most satisfying and beautiful things I’ve ever read.
My Heart and Other Black Holes – Jasmine Warga
Aysel is a physics nerd obsessed with planning her own death. She meets Roman on a website called Suicide Partners, which as the name suggests, is a place to find someone to plot a double suicide with.
It’s a very sensitive book that requires a lot of mental and emotional strength. It dwells on depression, suicide, and finding light despite the darkness. Science is also incorporated in all of Aysel’s questions on life and death, which makes the book more interesting.
This one definitely started my love for books that are themed “science and existential crisis.”
Most of these books were read during my freshman and sophomore years in high school, which were evidently rough times for me. I’m so glad I found catharsis through the words of these wonderful authors. You don’t have to be suffering from mental illness to be able to understand or relate to these books, as we’ve all struggled to grow up and live at some point.
Some of the other books I’ve heard that are good and might be included in this playlist are All the Bright Places, Radio Silence, Girl in Pieces, and Every Last Word. I look forward to reading them and maybe adding more books to this list!
This piece was originally posted on WordPress on July 18, 2022 and migrated to BearBlog on March 19, 2026.