Leslie Jamisons The Recovering and the Stories We Tell About Drinking

Knapp so perfectly describes the emotional landscape of addiction, and as a literary study it’s as perfect a memoir as I’ve ever read. I often think about what it took to publish this when she did, in the 90’s, as a female and a journalist in Boston. With a reputation for hilarious honesty, as read in previous memoirs detailing her struggles with everything from mental illness to single life, Bryony Gordon is true to form in this detailed account of her alcohol-fueled downward spiral.

• In addition to authoring two books (her second comes out March 2023), McKowen hosts the Tell Me Something True podcast.
• Perhaps this is due to the contrast between her way with words and theirs, or between her talents as a memoirist and as a reporter.
• After finishing A Happier Hour, the bar was set high for future reads (no pun intended).
• Exhibit is a haunting romance about desire, obsession, and ambition that is sure to get your heart rate up.
• It can be read alone, but why would you want to miss out on reading all three in order?
• Quit Like a Woman is a sobriety book that delves into the toxic culture of alcohol in society—and specifically, its impact on women.

Between Breaths: A Memoir of Panic and Addiction

From novels about survival and friendship, to new memoirs from Tom Selleck and Tiffany Haddish  — here are PEOPLE’s picks for the best books of May 2024. In an era of opioid addiction, wellness obsession and internet oversharing, stories of substance abuse best alcoholic memoirs are back. Animals by Emma Jane UnsworthSome of the closest friendships are forged in the crucible of hard partying. This lyrical, dark, biting novel is about one of those friendships, between Tyler and Laura, roommates and codependent hot messes.

Lit by Mary Karr

Gilbert helps us understand the noisy voice in our head, which can often be our greatest critic. She offers generous vulnerability in her lessons and encourages you to find your gift within. A life of recovery is an awakened life of purpose, service, and meaning. This is an approachable recipe book using everyday healthy ingredients to make delicious alcohol-free drinks for every occasion. Developed by registered dietitians, this book takes a new twist on classic cocktails. You’ll also find options for dessert drinks, frozen drinks, and holiday drinks without relying on sugar for flavor.

We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life by Laura McKowen

• Bates travels the country speaking with those on the frontlines of what many have deemed a public health crisis that has only gotten worse since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Reading We are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen can quite possibly save your life.
• When the cycle of druggy nights and hardcore hangovers starts getting to Laura, their bond must be reevaluated.
• Freixenet Alcohol Free is a convincing stand-in for its alcoholic fizz.

It features daily meditations, thoughts, and prayers to aid readers in maintaining sobriety. Authored by addiction professionals, Beyond Addiction illustrates how people can use positive reinforcement, behavior strategies, and kindness to help their loved ones achieve sobriety. Pairing insights on treatment options and how to navigate the rehab system, content is designed to not only help someone change but also prompt them to want to change. Former “20/20” anchor Elizabeth Vargas shares her story of anxiety and alcohol use disorder in this compelling memoir. Between Breaths reveals how she lived in denial and secrecy for years before finally entering rehab and a life of sobriety. The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober explores the role alcohol plays in our world and insights from top neuroscientists and psychologists about why we drink.

So, if you’re looking for a convincing champagne stand-in, or a “nosecco”, today’s non-alcoholic sparklers are often a dead-ringer for the real deal. In Fiona Warnick’s quirky debut, The Skunks, Isabel returns to her hometown after college graduation to take on a few odd jobs and figure out what she wants to do with her life. To take her mind off of her post-adolescent fears and anxieties, she starts thinking about the book’s titular creatures. Specifically, the three baby skunks that unexpectedly show up in the yard of the place she is house sitting. Their presence forces her to ponder life’s existential questions—and question her own romantic desires. The Skunks is a hilarious look at post-grad life and the loneliness, uncertainty, and occasional joy that comes with it.

Alec Baldwin Discusses Being Almost 40 Years Sober After Snorting a ‘Line of Cocaine from Here to Saturn’

Next you’ve chosen to recommend Tove Ditlevsen’s Dependency, the third book in her Copenhagen Trilogy. It was first published in Danish in the 1970s, but has only recently been translated into English by Tiina Nunnally and Michael Favela Goldman. I’ll mention some more in relation to the books I’ve chosen, but these are, I think, the four most fundamental ones.

• Most of their friends spent their weekends living the “rose all day” lifestyle, and every first date wanted to meet at a bar.
• She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be.
• These insights can introduce a whole new dimension of healing while on a sobriety or moderation journey.

2000’s Cherry picked up the story by showing Karr as an adolescent, already dabbling with drugs and profoundly lacking any sense of belonging. Second, they contain sections describing the lurid drama and dreadful effects of addiction in unsparing detail. Unvarnished accounts of the havoc and disaster of addiction, whether played for farce or pathos, are as reliably found in the most artistically ambitious addiction memoirs as in the least. Meanwhile the reader is tacitly licensed to enjoy all this mayhem and calamity with a degree of voyeuristic relish and, equally, to take a vicarious pleasure in the author’s recklessness and transgression. The various accidental similarities between these books began, before long, to harden into a blueprint, which countless books have faithfully reproduced. Most are forgettable and forgotten, but some accomplished authors—like Caroline Knapp and Sarah Hepola—have created very good books by bringing real skill to the standard formula.

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