The Best Addiction Memoirs Five Books Expert Recommendations
Horrified and enthralled, we see the world through Clegg’s increasingly despairing gaze—and a part of us longs as much as he does for another fix to provide some relief from the horror. Although both are worth reading, it’s the first I find myself returning to, marvelling at its ability to conjure the insanity of addiction from inside its diabolical reality. Reading a few chapters of a recovery-related book each day can help weave your sobriety or moderation goals into your everyday life. It can provide ongoing reminders of why you’re making a change, and give you new tools to incorporate as you continue on your journey. Plus, you’ll get to read beautiful writing, and expand your worldview and perspectives.
Notable Nonfiction Books of Mid-2024
We seem to experience Ditlevsen’s life with her, moment by vivid moment. Meanwhile successful writing always surprises and challenges us, perhaps by defying the conventions of the form to which it belongs or simply by refreshing them in some way. These pages are filled with the teachings of ancient Stoics such as Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Stoicism is an ancient philosophy that believes self-control, courage, justice, and wisdom are the keys to happiness.
About the writer
- Only a handful of the addiction memoirs of recent decades are also, in my view, singular works of art.
- Developed by registered dietitians, this book takes a new twist on classic cocktails.
- Always seek the advice of a physician or qualified health provider with questions regarding a medical condition.
- Nobody in my real life could meet that need, so I turned—as I always do when I need comfort, encouragement, or inspiration—to books.
- This book provides language for sharing our most heartbreaking moments as a way to connect.
Resmaa Menakem shares the latest research on body trauma and neuroscience, as well as provides actionable steps towards healing as a collective. These insights can introduce a whole new dimension of healing while on a sobriety or moderation journey. Check out our picks for the best addiction and recovery memoirs. In college, my friends and I joked that it’s not alcoholism until you graduate. Then I told myself it was because I was a journalist working the night shift.
Become a Lit Hub Supporting Member: Because Books Matter
A Piece of Cake is her gripping tale of crashing down to the bottom and crawling back to the top. 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 https://ecosoberhouse.com/ 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.
She keeps showing up to 12-step meetings, even when they do nothing for her. Her breakthrough arrives as much through exhaustion as some kind of epiphany. She discovers in Catholicism a spirituality that makes sense to her and seems to keep her sober, but she doesn’t proselytise or become too holy for irony. Instead she presents herself as a kind of Godly schmuck, chronically slow on the spiritual uptake. For now I’ll mention one more convention of addiction memoirs, although it differs slightly from the others because it’s more directly concerned with how they’re read than with how they’re written.
The Recovering by Leslie Jamison
She thought the normal people who could drink casually were lucky. She wasn’t self-medicating and was able to truly feel her feelings and live honestly. We Are the Luckiest is a life-changing memoir about recovery—without any sugarcoating. I recently came to terms with my own problematic relationship with alcohol, and my one solace has been in books.
More Resources on Your Sobriety Journey
Before I was old enough to simply walk out of the house and literally escape, I hid inside my room and read entire afternoons away, happily lost. I too was a high-functioning professional with a drinking and cocaine addiction. My addiction always took best alcoholic memoirs me to new lows, and cost me many jobs over the years. Drawing on neuroscience, she explains why other self-destructive behaviours – such as eating disorders, compulsive buying and high-risk sex – are interchangeable with problematic substance use.
She’s focusing on her schoolwork and is on track to finish high school at the top of her class. But then she falls for Booker, and her aunt Charlene—who has been in and out of treatment for alcoholism for decades—moves into the apartment above her family’s hair salon. The Revolution of Birdie Randolph is a beautiful look at the effects of alcoholism on friends and family members in the touching way only Brandy Colbert can master.
