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Overview
Bibliotherapy uses books to address mental health. This list is of books mentioned in Emely Rumble's 2025 release Bibliotherapy in the Bronx. This collection is broad and deep, covering many genres and demographics. In cases where authors are mentioned without a specific book, a book has been selected. No time limit because this list is enormous.
Poems are referenced in collections they can be found in. Non-fiction books are specifically labeled as such. I tried to identify the kinds of issues brought up in each book per the original text. They also are useful as content warnings if something hits too close to home.
Poems are referenced in collections they can be found in. Non-fiction books are specifically labeled as such. I tried to identify the kinds of issues brought up in each book per the original text. They also are useful as content warnings if something hits too close to home.
Bibliotherapy in the Bronx Reading List
48 participants (69 books)
Overview
Bibliotherapy uses books to address mental health. This list is of books mentioned in Emely Rumble's 2025 release Bibliotherapy in the Bronx. This collection is broad and deep, covering many genres and demographics. In cases where authors are mentioned without a specific book, a book has been selected. No time limit because this list is enormous.
Poems are referenced in collections they can be found in. Non-fiction books are specifically labeled as such. I tried to identify the kinds of issues brought up in each book per the original text. They also are useful as content warnings if something hits too close to home.
Poems are referenced in collections they can be found in. Non-fiction books are specifically labeled as such. I tried to identify the kinds of issues brought up in each book per the original text. They also are useful as content warnings if something hits too close to home.
Challenge Books
49
The Word: Black Writers Talk about the Transformative Power of Reading and Writing
Marita Golden
Non-fiction: discussion of finding the strength to bear anything by reading.
50
Beloved
Toni Morrison
A meditation on the price some of us will pay to be free.
51
Our Minds, Our Selves: A Brief History of Psychology
Keith Oatley
Non-fiction: "A great deal of psychology focuses on the individual, but for emotions this is not ideal. Although we experience emotions personally, most of them are interpersonal."
52
The Great Gatsby
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Struggling to accept a breakup.
53
Moby-Dick: Or, the Whale
Herman Melville
An exploration of obsession and revenge.
54
Letters to the Sons of Society: A Father's Invitation to Love, Honesty, and Freedom
Shaka Senghor, Shaka Senghor
We do not walk our dark paths alone. "Reading Anne Frank, it's amazing to think that though our outward experiences were so different and took place at such different times in history, our shared sense of despair makes us siblings in pain."
55
The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank
Referenced by Shaka Senghor.
56
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The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Stephen Chbosky
Explicit book, but it can help bring someone back from despair.
57
The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are
Tariq Trotter
Non-fiction: a memoir of rebuilding after trauma of the author's home burning down.
58
Before I Let Go
Kennedy Ryan
Trauma-informed romance. No glamorization of unhealthy dynamics. Deals with the death of a child and how it impacts the parents' relationship.
59
Maame
Jessica George
Embracing the role of the villain for self-preservation. In other words, setting healthy boundaries and accepting that others won't like you for it. Living in the morally grey areas.
60
A House of My Own: Stories from My Life
Sandra Cisneros
Non-fiction: "I believe books are medicine. A library is a medicine cabinet. What can heal one person may not work at all for somebody else. You know when something is healing you, just as you know when something isn't."