Before
becoming a psychotherapist and author focused on the stage of adulthood
between adolescence and midlife, I survived those years myself. The
stage of development that I now call “Quarterlife” is a complex and
rich period of life. Countless fictional heroes and protagonists in
novels are in Quarterlife, yet the emphasis on these years within
psychology and memoir is lacking. I personally love memoirs about this
period of life and think they offer so much to others who are struggling
through Quarterlife themselves and the trials of “adulting.”
I wrote
Quarterlife: The Search for Self in Early Adulthood
I first read this book in graduate school, and it completely changed the way I think about schizophrenia and the daily experience of living with a mental illness.
This memoir chronicles Saks’ experiences attending Oxford University and then Yale Law School with ever more progressive symptoms of schizophrenia; she details her therapy sessions as she worked closely with a psychoanalyst and then the journey to study psychoanalysis herself. I was captivated by Saks’ experience and her skilled storytelling.
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that most commonly emerges in the Quarterlife years and frequently after people have gone away to college. This book is a gift to understanding this experience more fully or for those who want to feel less alone in the struggle with mental and emotional anguish during this time of life.
Elyn Saks is Professor of Law and Psychiatry at University of Southern California Law School. She's the author of several books. Happily married. And - a schizophrenic. Saks lifts the veil on schizophrenia with her startling and honest account of how she learned to live with this debilitating disease. With a coolly clear, measured tone she talks about her condition, the stigma attached and the deadening effects of medication. Her controlled narrative is disrupted by interjections from the part of her mind she has learned to suppress. Delusions, hallucinations and threatening voices cut into her reality and Saks, in a…
This book has been on The New York Times Bestseller’s list for seemingly countless weeks now—and for good reason!
It is a memoir of grief and loss but is particularly powerful because the author was in her mid-twenties when she was caring for her mother as she died from cancer. The writing is captivating, and the book is thickly woven with scenes of Korean food, shopping, cooking, and eating, as well as scenes of the author’s coming of age and interior life.
As her mother passes away, she learns about herself as an adult and has to face her fear of living the rest of her life without her mother. Though there’s sadness on every page, and I ultimately knew how it ended, I couldn’t put this book down.
The New York Times bestseller from the Grammy-nominated indie rockstar Japanese Breakfast, an unflinching, deeply moving memoir about growing up mixed-race, Korean food, losing her Korean mother, and forging her own identity in the wake of her loss.
'As good as everyone says it is and, yes, it will have you in tears. An essential read for anybody who has lost a loved one, as well as those who haven't' - Marie-Claire
In this exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Michelle Zauner proves herself far more than a dazzling singer,…
It’s been years now since I read Moore’s story, but I find many of the scenes come back to me easily and in unexpected moments.
This book is a beautifully written, captivating story of a Black gay man finding himself and caring for himself in Quarterlife. We see him longing for a father who disappeared early, making sense of lust and dating, navigating a difficult neighborhood, commuting to school, and then experiencing college.
From a leading journalist and activist comes a brave, beautifully wrought memoir.
When Darnell Moore was fourteen, three boys from his neighborhood tried to set him on fire. They cornered him while he was walking home from school, harassed him because they thought he was gay, and poured a jug of gasoline on him. He escaped, but just barely. It wasn't the last time he would face death.
Three decades later, Moore is an award-winning writer, a leading Black Lives Matter activist, and an advocate for justice and liberation. In No Ashes in the Fire, he shares the journey taken…
I’d heard about this book many times before I finally got my hands on a copy. It’s a richly told story of battling cancer and grief, but in this case, the author is the patient herself in her early- and mid-twenties.
This beautiful book provided me a much-needed lens into an otherwise unimaginable experience of coming of age as a patient in hospital room after hospital room, fighting leukemia, and losing newly made friends to cancer, all while also sorting out romance and friendship in the most relatable ways.
I read it in a matter of days, and so many images from its pages are etched into my memory.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A searing, deeply moving memoir of illness and recovery that traces one young woman’s journey from diagnosis to remission to re-entry into “normal” life—from the author of the Life, Interrupted column in The New York Times
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Rumpus, She Reads, Library Journal, Booklist • “I was immersed for the whole ride and would follow Jaouad anywhere. . . . Her writing restores the moon, lights the way as we learn to endure the unknown.”—Chanel Miller, The New…
I read this book during a time of my life when I needed a page-turner to distract me, and it was a remarkable companion during those days; I read it in bed well into the night and was grateful to have it again in the morning.
This book tells the story of the author’s coming of age in Idaho with survivalist parents and her encounter with mind-expanding education on a journey that ultimately takes her to Oxford.
Westover is a truly masterful writer who paints vivid images through storytelling. I think I could recount almost every chapter in detail many years after reading it.
Selected as a book of the year by AMAZON, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, NEW YORK TIMES, ECONOMIST, NEW STATESMAN, VOGUE, IRISH TIMES, IRISH EXAMINER and RED MAGAZINE
'One of the best books I have ever read . . . unbelievably moving' Elizabeth Day 'An extraordinary story, beautifully told' Louise O'Neill 'A memoir to stand alongside the classics . . . compelling and joyous' Sunday Times
Tara Westover grew up preparing for the end of the world. She was never put in school, never taken to the doctor. She did not even have a birth certificate…
An innovative psychotherapist tackles the overlooked stage of Quarterlife, the years between adolescence and midlife.
While society is quick to label the emotions and behavior of this age group as generational traits, author Satya Doyle Byock sees things differently. She believes the struggles of these years are part of the developmental journey of Quarterlife, a distinct stage of life that every person goes through and which has been virtually ignored by popular culture and psychology. Everyone is looking for both stability and meaning in adulthood. In this book, Byock utilizes personal storytelling, mythology, Jungian psychology, and client case studies to provide guideposts for how to find stability and meaning and a fulfilling adulthood, even in an increasingly complex world.
When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable.
When she helps her drug-addicted father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they are…
When sixteen-year-old Ashlee Sutton's home life falls apart, she is beset by a rare mental illness that makes her believe she's clairvoyant. While most people scoff at her, she begins demonstrating an uncanny knack for sometimes predicting the future, using what could either be pure luck or something more remarkable. And when she helps her drug-addict father win enough casino cash to accidentally overdose, she becomes the target of violent people determined to exploit her, and she goes on the run. Ashlee reaches out to a distant relative, traumatized war journalist Mike Baker. Soon, at least in Ashlee's eyes, they…
