PhdGrad15

I find it very ironic that the people who are publicly morning Kate Spade & Bourdain on social media are the same ones that walk away from me whenever I happen to mention that I have a bad day and that I need to talk. I'm a public speaker on mental health, I've been in the media to talk about this, and I always stress on how recovery is a process, even for me. But people seem to forget about that. Being seen as "successful" is a pain in the ass sometimes, people forget that I'm a normal human being with emotions too. 

Sounds like a very sincere feeling of appreciation, and I am sure it comes through in your interactions with your advisor. For most faculty, I think it probably means a lot to know advisees appreciate (and don't take for granted, even though it's their job) the time and effort it takes to be a good advisor. So showing respect for your advisor professionally, showing consideration of his time and expertise, and saying thank you after meeting will probably go a long way. 

Ok, I'm going for the whole truth here. But before that, some context: Our comps/quals are three fields of roughly 120 books each. In general, we have a base for fields I and II, but we often tend to create a new list for field III, which is more thematic. 
The best advice I've got:
When prepping for Comps, I lurked some forums. Someone said that we have to imagine Comps as a huge conference and that you should be able to drop in ANY session and ask a question, make an observation, have a short conversation with someone. So, it shows that you are on topic and that you can engage. 
What I did:
I scanned as many books as I could and made these files word-searchable. I read reviews more than books. We all love reading but 350 books is impossible to cover. I probably read most introductions and some sections of conclusions.  My notes included a brief summary of the argument, sources, notes on introduction, possible questions that this book would be useful for (eg: "good for gender and labor"), content table and brief anything on chapters, and historical background. Did I do this with 350 books? No. You won't. Nobody does. But you get through it. I used OneNote because you have everything in one place instead of many word documents. I used historiographical essays to remember the big picture. Sometimes we are very invested in one book that we forget why this book is important.  Towards the end, I tried to make connections between authors.  Habits:
It's painful. You won't see much of other humans and you'll feel your life is not your own. But it's only three months of your life (studying and sitting for them). I had post its all over my office to remind me of beautiful things in life. Motivational quotes also worked. It sounds super cheesy, but it just worked.  Get to know what's good for you. I tried to keep up with exercise and I was set not to gain weight during exams. And I didn't (I gained a month after them!). So keep your well-being at top priority. Rely on people. Advisors, friends within the department, friends outside grad life, family. RELY ON THEM.  Enjoy it as much as you can. Remember you'll feel super smart after them! (I sort of lost that feeling by the following semester... hahaha) Hope it helps!
AP