Winnetka Native Courtney Cook Discusses Her New Book, The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline, in Picture & Pieces

The Book Stall welcomes debut author Courtney Cook for a virtual event. She’ll be celebrating the release of her new illustrated memoir, The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline, in Picture & Pieces. Courtney will be in conversation with fellow writer Piper Weiss. This program is free and open to the public.

Courtney introduces the book: “What does it feel like to fall in love too hard and too fast, to hate yourself in equal and opposite measure? To live in such fear of rejection that you drive friends and lovers away? Welcome to my world. I’m Courtney, and I have borderline personality disorder (BPD), along with over four million other people in the United States. Though I’ve shown every classic symptom of the disorder since childhood, I wasn’t properly diagnosed until nearly a decade later, because the prevailing theory is that most people simply “grow out of it.” Not me. In my illustrated memoir The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces, I share what it’s been like to live and love with this disorder. Not just the hospitalizations, treatments, and residential therapy, but the moments I found comfort in cereal, the color pink, or mini corn dogs; the days I couldn’t style my hair because I thought the blow-dryer was going to hurt me; the peace I found when someone I love held me. This is a book about vulnerability, honesty, acceptance, and how to speak openly–not only with doctors, co-patients, friends, family, or partners, but also with ourselves.”

Courtney Cook is a writer, illustrator, teacher, and lover of naps. She received an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of California, Riverside. She grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, and now resides in Chicago with her cat, Bertie.