Suzanne Harrington: Reading for mental health is cheaper than therapy

A good book can reset your entire central nervous system, said no neurologist ever, but we readers know better

Go somewhere quiet. Close the door, turn your phone off.

If the pope, Iran, and — squints, adjusts varifocals — Tucker Carlson were not on your 2026 bingo card as entities you found yourself nodding along with, you’re probably not alone. Disorientated, yes, like that feeling of tilting nausea after a frantic fairground ride, but not alone.

Maybe it’s time to step back from the dystopian non-fiction unfolding all around us, and step into some illuminating non-fiction instead.