Book obsession

Author's name: Sarah Chihaya

Books can entice you, even destroy you; expose you, awaken you, and stir up buried secrets—this is what Sara Chihaya believes. Anyone who loves books incurably knows this strange kind of encounter that turns your world upside down. Sara calls these kinds of books "life wreckers."

Her devastating book was Toni Morrison's bluest eye, and it became a talisman for her during her teenage years. She believes that each of us has our own devastating book.

Sarah's entire life revolved around books: she read to find escape, identity, and rules to help her live. She became a literary critic and taught literature at a prestigious university. Then, suddenly, she collapsed, was hospitalized, and the world became a blank, unreadable page. When she tried to get back on her feet, she found herself facing a terrifying question: Can we truly rewrite the stories that control our lives?
Book Obsession is a captivating, sometimes painful, sometimes satirical memoir of collapse and survival, told through its author's books. From Anne of Green Gables to Possession, from Tale of the Time-Beast to The Last Samurai, Sara Chihaya delves into her identity, her relationship with depression, and the strange and poignant ways in which books resist those who love them too much.