Bibliotherapy & Loneliness. A pre-selection of novels
- Alexander Lethen
- Jul 5
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 21
MADE-Life has now begun a pre-selection of books that may have positive bibliotherapeutic effects on loneliness. This initial pre-selection was made by selecting books that other clubs have identified as helpful for loneliness.
We have gratefully made use of these following existing lists:
Novel Cure: Loneliness and similar conditions
'Book doppelganger' (cooperation between Museum van de Geest & Letterenfonds)
Culturele Apotheek: Book recipes for loneliness
Senia Classics
From these lists ten books have been pre-selected:
Joe Speedboot, Tommy Wieringa (original Dutch)
Geest, Daan Remmerts de Vries (original Dutch)
De belofte van Pisa, Mano Bouzamour (original Dutch)
Catwalk, D. Hooijer (original Dutch)
De onwaarschijnlijke reis van Harold Frye, Rachel Joyce (original English 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry')
Het gouden kompas, Philip Pullman (original English 'His Dark Materials')
Dertien, David Mitchell (original English 'Black Swan Green')
Belevenissen van een veearts - Alle schepsels groot en klein, James Herriot (original English 'All creatures great and small')
De wand, Marlen Haushofer (original German 'Die Wand')
De dag dat de walvis kwam, John Ironmonger (original English 'The Whale at the End of the World')
To extensively test our innovative assessment model and reading and assessment process, we will start with four of these books, namely:
Joe Speedboot, Tommy Wieringa (original Dutch)
Geest, Daan Remmerts de Vries (original Dutch)
De belofte van Pisa, Mano Bouzamour (original Dutch)
De dag dat de walvis kwam, John Ironmonger (original English 'The Whale at the End of the World')
The reviewers will now begin reading the books and then assess them against our bibliotherapeutic standard. They will use our ML-BT model for this, which can be downloaded here.
We hope that several of these books will pass the bibliotherapy review. After this, these books can participate in our pilot program in January 2026.
MADE-Life wishes all reviewers a wonderful read this summer! Reviews will be submitted on or before Friday, August 29, 2025.
In parallel, we are now working on a pre-selection of books that could help with feelings of depression. The second reading and review round will then run from Monday, September 12, to Friday, November 14, 2025.
P.S. If you know of any other books we could review on loneliness, please let us know at info@made-life.nl
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