Addiction Memoirs Are a Genre in Recovery The New York Times

She also provides some really insightful best alcohol recovery bookss of life after quitting-navigating dating, holidays, work situations that revolve around drinking, and the pressures of social media. Really great debut, and as someone who reads a lot of memoirs about substance use and mental health, this one takes a unique and fresh approach to the subject. First, Levy is so incredibly brave and vulnerable sharing her story. Because drinking is such an accepted, celebrated, even – aspect of our society, I believe many can sweep its potential severity under the rug quite easily. But the fact of the matter is that alcoholism is one of the most problematic issues of our culture.

Listening to audiobooks helped me to get sober and continues to be an important part of my recovery today. Whether you’re looking to stop or are just sober curious, audiobooks are the perfect medium for stories like these. If you’re struggling, in withdrawal, or just really hungover – you can plug in and listen with minimal effort required.

The Night of the Gun: A reporter investigates the darkest story of his life. His own. by David Carr

Capturing the drama, tension, paranoia and short-term bliss of drug addiction, his book explores how the patterns of addiction can be traced to the past. Sober since 2016, Blair hopes that sharing her journey and the more shocking events from her past will help those living with similar burdens. “My therapist said, ‘The next time you think about taking Oxycontin, just think about having a colostomy bag for the rest of your life,'” Perry recalls. “And a little window opened and I crawled through it and I no longer want Oxycontin anymore.” Though Perry tried to hide his condition, the dramatic changes in his appearance each year reflected his state of sobriety.

She’s a practising Catholic and I’m an atheist. But though our world-views are in some ways profoundly different, few books have enriched me as a reader and a person more than hers. Ditlevsen’s trilogy, by contrast, plunges us into the perspective of a succession of her former selves.

blackout By Sarah Hepola

During the most unsettling time of my life, I craved all the messy, tragic, complex, wonderful stories that could show me what was on the other side. 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.

  • I never felt as though she dived very deep into her experiences other than mentioning vaguely going home with some good looking strangers.
  • As will her overall anxiety and body image issues.
  • Decades later, Cat reminisces about those days with Marlena and learns to forgive herself and move on from those days.
  • I mean, you can’t really be well when you’re an alcoholic, even if the next morning you try to make up for it by taking an excess amount of vitamins and doing strenuous exercise until you start seeing stars.

Most people just ask my why I don’t but that’s the end of it. Easy read, slight “meeting that could have been an email” vibes but I still found it compelling and insightful. Not everything she talked about was relatable but enough of it was to make me think about my relationship with drinking. Because this was more a collection of essays, the timeline was totally nonlinear. I could’ve used more reminders about when things took place but all in all, it did work. I listened to the audio version published by Macmillan Audio narrated by the author and thought that this added to the experience.

drinking: A Love Story By Caroline Knapp

It is all told through the eyes of Jackson, his family, and his community. Sarah Hepola’s evenings were always about drinking. Alcohol, after all, tasted to her like freedom itself.

laura mckowen