OBOC 2009 - Additional Reading

Nonfiction

Personal Experiences

A journalist’s account of his teen son’s meth addiction.
 
Biography of a mathematical genius who suffered from schizophrenia; basis for the popular film directed by Ron Howard.
 
"Sally’s" is the Salvation Army Soup Kitchen, which the author relied on for meals after his successful business collapsed and he became homeless.
 
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey through Madness by Elyn R. Saks
The author describes her battle with schizophrenia.
 
Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness by William Styron
The classic account of a writer’s struggle with depression.
 
Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
The author details his young daughter's sudden onset of mental illness and her long and difficult journey back to life.
 
Relative stranger: piecing together a life plagued by madness by Mary Loudon
A clear account of how schizophrenia affected a promising young life while exploring the assumptions people make about mental illness.
 
Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters
The author traces the history of a man living on the streets of Cambridge, England, to find what led to a life of homelessness.

Mental Illness/Mental Health

 
 
 

Homelessness

 
 
 
 
 
 
Under the Overpass by Mike Yankowski
 

Schizophrenia

 

Music and the Mind

 
 
 
 

Adult Fiction

Body & Soul by Frank Conroy
Claude Rawlings, a child of the streets, is taken in by the owner of a music store, who fosters the boy’s musical genius and his introduction to a world of affluence.
 
The Genius by Jesse Kellerman
When a recluse disappears from his shabby Queens apartment, he leaves behind hundreds of drawings which an art dealer appropriates, only to find that they are connected to decades-old unsolved murders.
 
Lowboy by John Wray
Possessing paranoid schizophrenic beliefs that he can save the planet from climate change by cooling down his own overheated body, sixteen-year-old New York youth Will Heller pursues a terrifying and delusional odyssey through the city's tunnels and back alleys while his frantic mother attempts to find him.
 
RL’s Dream by Walter Mosley
Aging bluesman “Soupspoon” Wise, who once played with the legendary Robert “RL” Johnson, is evicted from his apartment and is taken in by a neighbor who has survived plenty of hard times in her own life.
 
The Soloist by Mark Salzman
When a hearing disorder ends his performing career, former child prodigy Reinhardt Sundheimer teaches cello students and becomes involved in a murder case when he is called to jury duty.

Young Adult Fiction

Humming Whispers by Angela Johnson
Sophy fears that she will become like her older sister Nicole who has schizophrenia.
 
Inside Out by Terry Trueman
A sixteen-year-old with schizophrenia is caught up in the events surrounding an attempted robbery by two other teens who eventually hold him hostage
 
A Portrait of Pia by Marisabina Russo
As childhood friendships change, her brother's schizophrenia worsens, and her mother's latest boyfriend seems likely to become her stepfather, twelve-year-old artist Pia Crossley tries to gain control of her life by contacting her father, who returned home to Italy before she was born.