When sailing is less than smooth in our lives, there are many things we can reach for. For many, books and movies are a powerful source of support or escape, with familiar characters and places always awaiting us onscreen or within a story’s pages. These titles helped the Bookstr team ride the current through even the lowest lows.
Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
It’s not strictly a book, but the poem Wild Geese by Mary Oliver (from her selected anthology of the same name) has helped me through all sorts of difficult times. During one particularly rough patch during my final year of university, I made a habit of reading it every morning just to help me through the day. I love all of Mary Oliver’s poetry, but this one in particular feels like a warm hug and grounding exercise all rolled into one.
Whenever I feel overwhelmed with anxiety or on the verge of a nasty burnout, this poem is a beautifully articulated piece of writing that I always find myself returning to. It reminds me that whatever I am facing is temporary, and that the world is full of mundane, everyday miracles happening concurrently to the things that I might be dreading or worrying over. All I have to do is take a breath and remember that I exist as a part of something much bigger, and that, even in the event that things go wrong, I will always have a home “in the [broader] family of things.”
—Brooke Deyes, Editorial
The Princess Bride
There was a time in my late teens/early twenties when I was going through a pretty rough time: I had recently escaped an abusive relationship by moving across the country, I was homeless and couch-surfing, and I was living hand to mouth working at a sports bar where I was harassed daily. During that time, I found a $10 DVD copy of one of my favorite childhood films, The Princess Bride. I splurged on it and brought it back to the place where I was crashing, where I was graciously allowed to use the DVD player.
I think I watched that DVD around a dozen times in the first couple of weeks I owned it. I watched all the behind-the-scenes features. I watched it with the commentary on (remember those?). After a horrible shift of coming home to a filthy apartment to sleep on a smelly couch, Wesley and Buttercup and Inigo and Fezzik and the whole Princess Bride gang were just… there for me. It made me smile and gave me a little hope at a time when I was feeling pretty hopeless.
—Cara Broel, Editorial & Outreach
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
I had a few rough patches in high school, especially during my junior and senior years. I was one of those kids who would never stop studying and wouldn’t rest until I was absolutely certain that I would get an A+ (admittedly, I’m still like that with my college coursework, but have been much better at balancing my academics and social life). You can imagine how draining that was for a teenager! During this time, I rewatched Scott Pilgrim vs. the World whenever I gave myself a night off from studying. Due to its humor and absolute absurdity, this movie served as a comforting distraction from the rest of the world! I never got around to reading the books, but I definitely want to someday.
—Laura Marine, Editorial
Stranger Things
It is true that Stranger Things is TV rather than a movie, but the stories and characters of the early seasons were a big part of making and strengthening my closest friendships in middle school. Though grades six through eight passed for me without major incident, they live in my memory as the most awkward, scary, and uncomfortable times, especially entering a new school without friends from past years. Stranger Things was an escape from all the insecurity and anxiety about being cool or embarrassing that was flying around through the halls at school, and in social circles.
It makes me giggle now to think about how much time I spent thinking about Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobbie Brown; it was something I could obsess over with the newer friends I had made, even leading us to a Calpurnia concert (Finn Wolfhard’s now-defunct band) at the peak of our fangirling. To have a story about kids my age to follow along with as they struggled through their own coming-of-age was a comfort in ways I wasn’t even fully aware of at the time.
—Clara Johnk, Editorial
Rose Madder by Stephen King
I’m one of those people who had a rough childhood. We’re talking the kind of abuse that makes the national news from time to time. My life didn’t start out that way, thankfully, but by the time I got to high school, I was in survival mode. And I was always bookish, so it is no surprise that I started hiding books and journals under a loose floorboard in my bedroom closet. Classic, right? There was room for five novels and two journals at any given time, though.
One of the books that never lost its slot is Rose Madder by Stephen King. It follows the life of a sweet, good woman who grows up to marry an abusive monster shortly after graduating from high school. She spent over fifteen years in captivity, living a life of unimaginable trauma and gradually losing her sanity. On impulse, she stops what she’s doing mid-chore one day and grabs her husband’s bank card while he’s at work. She walks out her front door, with only the clothes on her back and her purse on her shoulder. Now, the rest of the story does get supernatural, but her journey to escape her abuser and save herself was an incredible source of strength for me—so much so that I did a very similar thing just before I turned eighteen.
—Erin Dzielski, Editorial
These selections prove that for many of the most difficult struggles we face, there is a book, movie, or show out there to help us through. The hope, comfort, or recognition that stories provide may not always be the biggest part of how we navigate hard times, but it can be essential nonetheless.
Find more titles that brighten up our low moments here!
Keep reading the Bookstr Team’s favorites on our Bookshop Bookstr Team Recommendations list!
