Recs if you like The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating...

A collection of non-fiction books that touch upon the stories of the natural world, and all the people who live among it. (Or, as an astronomer once said: "I love stories, and the story of our universe is the grandest one we have") Always open to suggestions!

Shorter books (under 200 pages) that are part of at least one quest. Many are also in the public domain, making them easily accessible when you want to grind for that next badge.

Book titles that represent reasons you might go to the doctor, what you might say to each other, or what treatments might be offered to cure your ailments. It's up to you to decide what is what😉

(This is not a commentary on these books or authors! The focus of this list is purely on the titles---but if you find a favorite new read here, I'd love to know🤭)

Books recommended by musician Lucy Dacus, a solo artist and member of the band boygenius. Pulled from her goodreads list.

in honor of disability pride month, here is a series on the colours of the flag! our third colour on this flag is white, which highlights invisible or undiagnosed disabilities. examples of some of these are ehlers danlos syndrome, chronic illnesses, MECFS, long covid, fibromyalgia, POTS, ulcerative colitis, IBS, and more. books within this list will be fiction and non-fiction. as always, feel free to recommend books which you feel should be added to this list.

an invitation to pause, to breathe, to notice and adore the little things around you. (recs welcome and do not have to be nature-themed)

A nonfiction list dedicated to learning about the most numerous animals on our planet - the tiny and mighty minibeasts!

"Minibeasts" is an informal term used to describe small invertebrates - this includes, but is absolutely not limited to, insects, arachnids, snails, slugs, and worms! Would you call it a creepy crawly or a bug? Then it's probably a minibeast!

List name has been altered to differentiate it from the quest. I'll likely remove the list soon, as a heads up 💚

For all of us with ME/CFS. For all of us with chronic illness. For all of us who wish to be seen and heard and loved and understood. I get you and you’re not alone.

I hope these books help heal a part of your heart, or that they teach you something valuable. Sending you love and vitality 💛

Pls note: Piranesi and Cinder House are (only) inspired by the authors’ experiences with ME, and some books don’t specify ME in a character but show the experience anyway.

Being human is hard! This list is for shorter stories/books/novellas that can help ground us, offer connection, and remind us of what truly matters in this dumpster fire of a world.

Please share your recs in the comments! Let's keep this list growing!

Nonfiction about strange, outlandish, and/or macabre subjects (books that make you more or less go “wtf?!”)

Let’s say this is me collecting spoons, aka: a list of memoirs by fellow chronically ill spoonies. May the selection give you empathy or make you feel seen ❤️

my ideal bedtime read because I will stay up until 3 am if I get too invested in or anxious/stressed about a plot

books for the spoonies, crips, & other disabled bodyminds. to read when ur feeling slow & sick & cant keep up with everyone else & want to be empowered/comforted. these are books that offer a different view on rest & being out of time/space w everyone else, either by framing rest/sickness as empowering, subversive, or neutral, or by offering a non-ableist way to accomodate disabled bodyminds.

prioritising audiobooks bc 4 me theyre easier to read on low spoon days

I love it when titles break the naming conventions of books. I’ve had enough a blank of blank and blank, I want something NEW, something STRANGE, something that immediately makes me check out the synopsis with the excitement of a dog who has seen a squirrel 🐿️

Books with short chapters!!! I started a challenge where I read a super long book a chapter-a-day and annotate it using a study guide! I found that annotating short chapters is super accessible and not overwhelming at all for me, so I wanted to share this list with anyone that wants to start over-analyzing their books :) I included a variety of stories because HOW you read is as important (if not more) than WHAT you read!!!!

Collecting animals by reading books about them.

Part memoir, part exploration of nature these books tackle environmental themes and/or science through the lens of the author’s life story.

One of my favourite niche genres is when memoirs are mixed with science, (or the other way around!— books about science that incorporate parts of the author’s life. The science also tends to be more accessible than in typical academic writing. So let’s read some books about people and their favourite science! P.S. please feel free to suggest more titles to add!

i'm constantly on the hunt for more books about snails (that aren't kids books) and these are the ones I've found so far! mix of fiction and non-fiction (anything with a snail and i'm in!!) very open to suggestions even if the snail is just included and not the main theme.

These books have all been quoted in Margaret Renkl's The Comfort of Crows. Although some poems quoted in The Comfort of Crows are not included in this list.