05/22/2026
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and while books can’t solve everything, they can offer comfort, clarity, escape, recognition, and the reminder that none of us are alone in what we carry. Today, we're sharing reading picks that have helped us slow down, feel seen, laugh when we needed it, or simply make it through a difficult season.
Sony - "Dèy" by Edwidge Danticat
In "Dèy," Edwidge Danticat captures with care and tenderness the heavy toll that migration takes on our (immigrants') mental health as we flee the violence from our home countries and how it mirrors the gun violence epidemic in the U.S.
Micaela - "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke
Translated by Joan M. Burnham (2000). I think what I would say about it is, imagine writing to your literary hero asking if your poems are good and for their advice on how to live life as an artist, only to find that it turns into a regular correspondence over a period of several years. I find myself reaching for this collection often when I need comfort or reassurance. There is some good medicine in here.
Charlie - "My Year of Rest and Relaxation" by Ottessa Moshfegh
Nina - "The Art of Losing" by Kevin Young
I've always found comfort in anthologies - a great editor can pull together familiar and unfamiliar voices in a way that feels like an embrace. So Kevin Young's beautiful anthology "The Art of Losing" has been a constant companion since I lost my dad in January. Invisible struggles, like grief, can be so deeply isolating; books like this remind us that we are not, in fact, alone.
Jordan - "The House in the Ceruleam Sea"
A quirky gay misfit discovers his found family in the most unexpected place. Add in magic, eccentric kiddos, a little romance, and a picturesque setting, and you've got chicken soup for Jordan's soul.
