I'm a big fan of books. I'm also a big fan of movies. Over the past year, I have learned more from, and felt most known by the novels and films I've picked up. Some were for school, others for pleasure. Some made me cry laughing, others made me ugly cry. While I wasn't consciously searching for any specific theme, a pattern formed. I realized the thing that was drawing me in: art as an empathetic tool. It says, "Me, too."

So here's a list of great works--on mental illness, death, love, a false sense of perfection, failure, transitions, loneliness, female friendship, and family--that have deeply resonated with me. No character loses his or her dad by suicide, but that never really mattered, because they're each still telling parts of my story. 

Books

1. The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
2. The Giver - Lois Lowry 
3. A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle
4. Teardrop Soup - Pat Schwiebert
5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - C.S. Lewis
6. East of Eden - John Steinbeck
7. "The Anointed" - Kathleen Hill 
8. Lucy Gayheart - Willa Cather
9. "Soldier's Home" - Ernest Hemingway 
10. Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
11. Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee
12. It's Kind of a Funny Story - Ned Vizzini
13. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
14. Me Before You - JoJo Moyes
15. Me After You - JoJo Moyes
16. When We Collided - Emery Lord
17. Mosquitoland - David Arnold
18. Summerlost - Ally Condie
19. In My Heart: A Book of Feelings - Jo Witek and Christine Roussey
20. Boundaries - Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend

Movies

1. Beginners
2. Adult World
3. About Time
4. Girl, Interrupted
5. About Alex
6. The Big Chill
7. Short Term 12
8. The Road Within
9. Amélie
10. Silver Linings Playbook
11. Good Will Hunting
12. Trainwreck
13. The Way Way Back 
14. Big Hero 6
15. Inside Out 

*** I don't want to sway your opinion by adding descriptions, plus, hunting down titles and researching plots are half the fun.