{"id":27184,"date":"2025-09-17T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-17T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27184"},"modified":"2025-09-12T11:16:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:16:58","slug":"how-to-hide-from-heartache-books-to-help-during-hard-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2025\/09\/17\/how-to-hide-from-heartache-books-to-help-during-hard-times\/","title":{"rendered":"How to hide from heartache: books to help during hard times"},"content":{"rendered":"

My dog died very suddenly recently of massive organ failure, and I have no answers as to why. My heart is broken, and as I grieve, I turn to media that is fit to nurse a mournful condition. Below are books that I rediscover when I need to leave this painful world behind.<\/p>\n

Who doesn\u2019t love a bit of gay romance and science fiction? T.J. Klune\u2019s The Bones Beneath My Skin<\/i> is a departure from his more saccharine offerings, like his Cerulean Sea schmaltz. When I want to feel the love, but I want it to hurt, this book delivers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The author and his dog, Mr. Gabby; during times of grief, turning to literature can be a way to cope (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Another one that totally shows you the harsh side of loving life is by a Canadian author, and every word is true. Wild Swans<\/i> by University of Toronto professor Jung Chang is a hefty tome, and it tells the story of her grandmother fleeing a Chinese warlord, followed by her mother standing her ground against the Kuomintang, and wrapping up with the author herself becoming disillusioned with her place amongst Chairman Mao\u2019s red army and fleeing to Canada. Wild swans indeed.<\/p>\n

Another book that makes my dark heart sing is Devil\u2019s Knot<\/i> by Mara Leveritt. It\u2019s true crime at it\u2019s best, and, boy howdy, this book will mess you right up. You\u2019ll be too busy getting furious at the legal system and orchestrating a crusade against judge Barnett to worry about whatever this brutal universe is throwing at you.<\/p>\n

A book I pick up whenever my heart is sore and I need some reprieve is Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam<\/i>. It\u2019s like Rupi Kaur before Rupi Kaur was a thing. Soft poetry full of metaphors for getting messed up on homemade booze that will take you out of yourself.<\/p>\n

Young Mungo<\/i> by Douglas Stuart will bring you some more queer tears of gay joy, as you also slowly wish you were dead. It\u2019s fantastic. Set in the brutal streets of impoverished Glasgow, a young man finds some semblance of peace when he meets a strange boy his age that hates the thug life and loves his dovecote. Pigeons are cool, and we owe them our adoration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been smacked in the heart with a horrible thing that you\u2019re not sure how to navigate, and you need to just lose yourself forever in a book series, then I have just the ticket. The Three Pines series by Louise Penny will sweep you away into a different world, and if you\u2019re like me and miss Montreal with every fibre of your being, there are so many nods to la belle province<\/i>. Each book has a murder mystery at its heart and a warm soul to carry you through. There are roughly 20 books, and they are all golden. My favourites are The Brutal Telling<\/i> and A Trick of the Light<\/i>, but I highly encourage you to go in order, starting with Still Life<\/i>. This series is so worth it.<\/p>\n

These are the books I have stacked in teetering towers around my bed as I try to figure out who I am without my sweet boy, Mr. Gabby. My reading list gets more adventurous when I\u2019m not just trying to carry on in the face of horrendous heartache, but, I promise you, if you\u2019re having the blues, these titles will take care of you.<\/p>\n

Wish me luck as I delve into a new Allan Bradley book and try to forget and remember at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dog died very suddenly recently of massive organ failure, and I have no answers as to why. My heart is broken, and as I grieve, I turn to media that is fit to nurse a mournful condition. Below are books that I rediscover when I need to leave this painful world behind. Who doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27186,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,238,338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","category-life-sports","category-september-17-2025"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27184"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27187,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27184\/revisions\/27187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}