so i’ve realized as of late that a character type i find incredibly compelling is that of a character who has a pure obsession with an achievement/goal, to the point where they will do almost anything to achieve it. couple examples are the book To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage (main character is obsessed with the goal of becoming an astronaut) and the documentary Free Solo (about free-solo climber Alex Honnold and his quest to climb El Capitan). would love to know what books you guys can recommend that have characters/plotlines like this!! thank you!! (both fiction and non-fiction is fine with me)

Wondering if there are any other readers here that deal with just as the title points out - some sort of mental health situation impacting their reading for fun. So here’s a sort of transparent tangent and seeing if there’s anyone who can relate 🫶🏼

In my case it is diagnosed OCD with perfectionism and anxiety that get in the way and hinder my reading for fun. I have been in therapy working on exposure therapy but it is absolutely exhausting basically learning to read for fun again.

I half joke that higher education ruined my reading for fun since I took literature classes and dissected writing, annotated, what does it really mean, could it have been written differently or better, and so on.

I’ve been doing better and my compulsions appear in a variety of ways but still catch myself rereading the same things repeatedly to try and really understand it. To make sure I pay enough attention to the text that I am respecting the author and so on…

If anyone has either words of encouragement or dealt with something similar please lmk. Could use some encouragement right now 💝

Happy reading 📚

✨UPDATE: thank you all so much for the lovely, thoughtful, and kind comments. Not only was this my first post on PB so I wasn’t sure if anyone would respond, but I’ve never had anyone share these experiences with me. While I obviously wish all of us could exist and read uninhibited - I find comfort knowing I’m not alone. I’ve never found other people who have overlapping experiences (even on Reddit normally just crickets). And yep posting on PB is definitely another sort of exposure therapy. I absolutely love it but OCD is trying to sink its claws into my enjoyment.

So yeah wanted to say thanks and keep doing what you can everybody 🫶🏼📚

Hey, could you guys recommend me any books with some kind of time travel: past lives, loops, parallel timelines, memories or changes of destiny?

I have already read; The Midnight Library, See You Yesterday and I’m currently reading The Seven Year Slip.