As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. These books offer a range of perspectives on Alcoholics, covering various aspects and approaches to the subject.
- Dependency is startlingly unlike any other memoir about addiction—that I know of, at least.
- I am tempted to give examples of this, how her excessive usage of metaphors and similes and ten-dollar-words only act as a distracting barrier, but I don’t want to turn this post into a book review.
- The fact that, in so doing, she effectively obeyed a formal convention of addiction memoir helps explain how many of those conventions arose.
- Not just another celebrity memoir, Fisher’s book strikes the ideal balance between gossip-y entertainment and razor-sharp commentary.
- He details his rehab experience in a 12-step oriented facility, and offers an honest viewpoint of both the pros and cons surrounding this therapeutic model.
Books (for Adults) Featuring Talking Animals
Once his 30 days are up, he has to figure out how to return to his New York City lifestyle sans alcohol. Burroughs’ story is one of triumph and loss, professional success and personal failure, finding your way to sobriety, falling into relapse, and starting all over again. The esteemed and late New York Times columnist David Carr turned his journalistic eye on his own life in this memoir, investigating his own past as a cocaine addict and sifting through muddied memories to discover the truth. The story follows Carr’s unbelievable arc through addiction, recovery, cancer, and life as a single parent to come to an understanding of what those dark years meant. Prolific, brilliant memoirist Mary Karr shines a light on the dark years she spent descending into alcoholism and drug use as a young writer, wife, and mother.
The Heroin Diaries spares no details in the story of Nikki Sixx (Motley Crue’s bass guitarist) and his fall from grace when heroin addiction took over his life. In this poignant memoir, Mary Karr describes the depths of her alcoholism in gruesome detail, and shares the astonishing story of her recovery. Dry is a heartbreaking memoir of Augusten Burrough’s story of addiction, beginning with an intervention organized by his coworkers and boss and his first bout of sobriety. One valuable point from this book is that not everyone needs to reach a “rock bottom” before quitting alcohol.
Laura June on Representations of Addiction in Fiction
It’s a tough book to read due to the descriptions of horrific traumas people have experienced, however it’s inspirational in its message of hope. Van der Kolk describes our inner resilience to manage the worst of life’s circumstances with our innate survival instinct. We can survive and even thrive despite the traumas we have endured. Rather than dwelling on the pain of addiction,Tracey focuses on her journey of recovery and rebuilding her life, while exposing the failings of the American rehab system and laying out a path for change. Starting with the first step in her recovery, Tracey re-learns how to interact with men, build new friendships, handle money, and rekindle her relationship with her mother, all while staying sober, sharp, and dedicated to her future. Bryony puts her family, career and future at risk before a stint in rehab, loads of AA meetings and self-discovery help her to become a mother, partner and person she can be proud of.
Best Books Related to Healing and Mental Health
Bainbridge https://alate.pl/2021/03/02/alcoholics-anonymous-of-georgia-meetings-list/ combines unique ingredients with detailed preparation to create thoughtful and flavorful non-alcoholic beverages. This is more than a cookbook – it’s a captivating read and a gorgeous coffee table book to peruse over and over again. Plus, it’s sure to impress your guests at your next dinner party. Punch Me Up to the Gods is a beautifully written series of personal essays that describe Brian Broome’s experience growing up Black and queer in Ohio, and the effect early substance use had on his upbringing. Three years sober, Jowita Bydlowska celebrates the birth of her first child with a glass of champagne, and just like that, she is spiraling back into the life of drinking she thought she had escaped.
Memoirs of an Addicted Brain: a Neuroscientist Examines His Former Life on Drugs by Marc Lewis
Reading We are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen can quite possibly save your life. Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones is a writer from Puerto Rico whose poems and short fiction have appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, wildness, Ambit Magazine, Radar Poetry, and other publications. Her chapbook, Bedroom Pop, was published by dancing girl press in 2021. Her full-length debut The Hurricane Book was published by Rose Metal Press in 2023. Matt Rowland Hill was born in 1984 in Pontypridd, South Wales, and grew up in Wales and England. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent, New Statesman, the Telegraph and other outlets.
- The esteemed and late New York Times columnist David Carr turned his journalistic eye on his own life in this memoir, investigating his own past as a cocaine addict and sifting through muddied memories to discover the truth.
- It is easy to use addiction as a crutch, a way to build plot or signal “here’s a bad dude,” but it is much harder to accurately and humanely depict the life-warping pain of struggling with alcoholism.
- Denby’s narrative delves into the struggles and triumphs of the students, as well as the challenges faced by the dedicated teachers guiding them through the world of literature.
- This combination makes her story heartening, funny, and thought-provoking at the same time.
- Addiction is a disease and Maia Szalavitz acknowledges that fact.
- Part memoir and part how-to, many former drinkers credit Alcohol Lied to Me with helping them to finally beat the bottle.
A Childhood That Defies Gravity
Here, Naus recounts jail time, an attempted murder charge and an uphill battle to reclaim a life nearly lost to the stranglehold of addiction in this outrageous memoir. Ditlevsen’s trilogy, by contrast, plunges us into the perspective of a succession of her former selves. When she’s a child, we’re presented with the world as a child might see it. When she’s hooked on Demetrol, we perceive events through the distorted viewpoint of an addict. This is the kind of myopic or unreliable narrator we encounter frequently in novels – conspicuously naïve or self-delusive, and unchaperoned by a consolingly wise authorial presence—but almost never in memoir. Told in the present tense (another rarity in autobiography), the result is a stunningly immersive and intimate story.
We All Fall Down: Living with Addiction
The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober by Catherine Gray is a refreshing and insightful book on sobriety. This memoir chronicles Gray’s personal journey from struggling with alcohol addiction to finding unexpected joy in a sober lifestyle. Through candid and humorous storytelling, she shares the challenges and triumphs of navigating social situations, dating, and self-discovery without alcohol. This book about alcoholics offers practical advice, heartfelt encouragement, and a refreshing perspective on the benefits of sobriety. Whether you’re sober-curious or seeking inspiration on your own journey to recovery, Gray’s honest and relatable writing will leave you feeling empowered and hopeful.
This is one of the first books I read about addiction ever, before I realized I had a problem. I really liked Twelve-step program this book because it focuses a lot on her spiritual crisis and how it related to her alcoholism. She is a Christian, as am I, and I often battled in my head with being a Christian and being an alcoholic. Eventually my faith brought me to my knees and I began my journey of sobriety after having a spiritual experience.
If you wish to contact a specific rehab facility then find a specific rehab facility using our treatment locator page or visit SAMHSA.gov. Lauren Smith has worked as best memoirs about alcoholism a journalist and copywriter for the last decade, covering a range of topics including health, energy, and technology in the US and UK. Just like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, ibogaine therapy can help you rediscover freedom, clarity, and purpose.