The 20 Most Influential Memoirs of All Time

We Are the Luckiest is a life-changing memoir about recovery—without any sugarcoating. If you’re looking to break free of the social pressure of cocktails and bar hopping, this is the book for you. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I was desperate to know the stories of other people who’d also taken this road less traveled. 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.

Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker

But she recognizes her relationship with alcohol is different than that of the casual-drinking moms in her friend group. When she realizes sobriety is her only path forward, she keeps a diary of her road to recovery, from finding a sponsor to discovering a new social life not centered around alcohol. Wilhelmson’s story proves that alcoholism can take many forms. 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.

“The Sober Diaries: How One Woman Stopped Drinking and Started Living”

• After fifteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, a magazine investigation found much of the book to be fabricated after they couldn’t find Frey’s mugshot.
• The second major problem for anyone writing an addiction memoir—and it’s often connected to the first—is how to conclude it.
• 20) A Happier Hour by Rebecca WellerAt 39 years of age – and a health coach, no less – Weller knew better than to drink several bottles of wine each week.

Overall, this book is perfect for anyone who’d enjoy an entertaining and surprisingly uplifting story about ending the cycle of addiction. — early into her sobriety, she realized that she was actually the lucky one. Thanks to an alcohol- and drug-free life, McKowen now feels all of https://ecosoberhouse.com/ her feelings, no longer has to balance multiple lies, and is fully present with her daughter. Maybe you’ve been leaning on alcohol too much to try to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Maybe you enjoyed a successful Dry January, so you’re questioning alcohol’s role in your life.

“The Sober Lush: A Hedonist's Guide to Living a Decadent, Adventurous, Soulful Life--Alcohol Free”

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.

Supporting a Loved One: Medication & Recovery

A stunning debut novel about a short but intense friendship between two girls that ends in tragedy, Marlena pinpoints both what it feels like to be the addict and what it’s like to be the friend of one. A captivating story of a highly accomplished well-known professional in the spotlight who was brave enough to share her story. Elizabeth Vargas takes off her perfectly poised reporter mask and shows you the authentic person behind the anchor desk. She shares her personal lifelong struggle with anxiety, which led to excessive substance use, rehab, and her ultimate triumph into recovery.

• We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.
• But the challenge is particularly acute when the story is about a life that, as the reader well knows, has simply gone on and on beyond the final page.
• Once his 30 days are up, he has to figure out how to return to his New York City lifestyle sans alcohol.

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

Meanwhile solidarity and communion are often touchstones among recovering addicts. I think a trace of that worldview finds expression—again, in the best addiction memoirs—in the form’s tendency to value the authentically commonplace over sensational performance. The various accidental similarities between these books began, before long, to best alcoholic memoirs 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. She looks after her children, enjoys drinks with friends, and is a successful writer.

Drink: The Intimate Relationship between Women and Alcohol by Ann Dowsett Johnston

He viscerally paints the picture of the hope-tainted despair, anguish, and havoc that addiction wreaks on an entire family. Sarah’s writing is sharp and relatable; a more recent, modern voice in the recovery space. So many of us look at “blacking out” as benign, or normal—an indicator of a “successful” night of drinking. In Blackout, Sarah clearly explains why there’s nothing benign about it and describes what is actually happening to the brain when we reach that point of alcohol-induced amnesia. I love her perspective on drinking as an act of counter-feminism—that in reality it actually dismantles our power, our pride, and our dignity as women, though we intended the opposite. This is one of the best memoirs on alcohol recovery in my opinion.

Drinking by Caroline Knapp

Over the span of five years, Jesmyn Ward lost five men in her life to drugs, accidents, and suicide. As she grieved each loss, she questioned why, and realized the common thread between them was where they came from. Living in poverty in the South in a racist country takes its toll, and for Ward, it is gutting. Tara Westover’s memoir shook the world when it came out in 2018, and has since spent more than 125 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List. In a time when many people had lost faith in democracy, Educated sheds light on what can happen in isolated communities without government.

Here are some of the best books related to drug and alcohol use disorders. I did many things I am deeply ashamed of, and reading her book taught me that I am not alone. I too was a high-functioning professional with a drinking and cocaine addiction. My addiction always took me to new lows, and cost me many jobs over the years. I very much related to her always feeling “less than” in normal life, and only becoming confident and alive once she poured alcohol down her throat. For the past decade, Literary Hub has brought you the best of the book world for free—no paywall.

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