The Best Addiction Memoirs Five Books Expert Recommendations

The book is short, easy to read, and will leave you with some immediate tools for addressing social situations, sex, and friendship while navigating an alcohol-free lifestyle. This is one of the most compelling books on recovery and humanity ever written. Dr. Maté shares the powerful insight that substance use is, in many cases, a survival mechanism.

Gripping Books About Alcoholism and Recovery

• She’s brilliant in writing and shares many actionable tips and strategies.
• They say the story is harrowing, heartbreaking, and hopeful.
• And I can’t think of a better compliment to a writer of addiction memoir – or, indeed, any writer – than that.

I remember when I first saw this title, I wished I had thought of it myself. Though mine may have been, Girl Walks Into a Bar and Stays Way Too Long. Another memoir by a woman who excelled professionally, as she hid her alcohol and coke addictions from herself and others, until it got so bad she couldn’t hide it anymore. They say the story is harrowing, heartbreaking, and hopeful. However, others feel bored after the first two chapters and say the story never matures the way they wanted it to.

Reviews with images

Using your mobile phone camera – scan the code below and download the Kindle app. Ahead, see the 15 stories of struggle, failure, recovery, and grace that have moved us the most.

Drunk-ish: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving Alcohol Hardcover – January 16, 2024

Reading her book is like sharing a cup of coffee with your wise best friend. She’s brilliant in writing and shares many actionable tips and strategies. After finishing A Happier Hour, the bar was set high for future reads (no pun intended). Weller has a relatable story for any high-achiever who finds themselves with boozy, foggy evenings that turn into hangovers the next morning. Written with raw vulnerability, the pages of this book are filled with an honest look at her own relationship to alcohol.

• Excessive drinking has numerous impacts on your body and mind, ranging from mild to severe.
• Customers find the book’s pacing powerful, poignant, and honest.
• Lewis provides a description of life in recovery that I relate to myself; that sober life is not a life of deprivation, but one of fulfillment, continued growth, and personal development.

I’m Black and I’m Sober: The Timeless Story of a Woman’s Journey Back to Sanity by Chaney Allen

Ultimately, Augusten tells the story of how his most difficult experiences led him to getting clean and helping others. 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. Augusten Burroughs’ memoir covers a decade-long battle with sobriety, with a variety of wins and losses along the way. During his days as a young Manhattanite working in advertising, he tried everything to hide his constant drinking, including spraying cologne on his tongue. Shortly after accepting she had a problem with alcohol, she thought a lot about how some people are lucky enough to be able to drink normally without it controlling their life. It’s understandable to feel alone and like no one can relate to your addiction.

Blackout by Sarah Hepola is a brutally honest quit lit memoir of living through blackout after blackout—something that many who’ve struggled with heavy alcohol use can relate to. In this tale, author Catherine Gray describes the surprising joys you can experience when you ditch drinking. She covers why alcohol is so detrimental to a person’s well-being, and how your life and health can blossom without it. For more books about alcoholism and addiction, check out this list of 100 must-read books about addiction. Customers find the memoir touching, relatable, and inspiring. They also say the author is good at telling her story, bringing home a poignant message.

Top reviews from the United States

As you embark on a sobriety or moderation journey, building a toolkit to keep you motivated and inspired can help you reach your goals. Recovery-related books, AKA ‘quit lit,’ can be great for seeing how others have navigated similar experiences, gaining tips that can help you along your journey, and learning more about the science behind substance use. Here are my 29 favorite books related to alcohol recovery. Having said that, I did—while reading Ditlevsen’s Dependency—occasionally need to put the book down and take a few deep breaths. Even the second alcohol memoirs time around I found it so viscerally powerful that at times I was overwhelmed.

• If you’re feeling down about “missing out” on life if you cut back on alcohol or got sober, read this book.
• A captivating story of a highly accomplished well-known professional in the spotlight who was brave enough to share her story.
• She started sneaking sips from her parents’ wine glasses as a kid, and went through adolescence drinking more and more.
• And for the first time ever, I started writing, because all those feelings I pushed down wanted a voice.

They say it’s an insightful read that allows them to relate and reflect on their behavior. Readers also mention the book is well-written and self-deprecating. Whereas my progress was from religion to addiction, Mary Karr’s was the other way around. 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. Occasionally reminiscent of Sylvia Plath, Karr’s writing style is simultaneously unsentimental and moving.

Notable Self-Help & Psychology Books of 2024

Ward and Libaire show you how to get intoxicated, but with life instead of alcohol. Pooley walks us through a year of her life spent battling alcohol addiction and a recent breast cancer diagnosis, two battles — spoiler alert! Straightforward and to the point, Carr helps you examine the reasons you drink in the first place in The Easy Way to Control Alcohol. For example, he explains why stating alcohol is poison and repeating the tagline “Never Question the Decision” can help you change your unconscious thoughts about alcohol, and shift your mindset. This book is a great place to start if you’ve been feeling sober curious. A 1996 bestseller, Caroline Knapp paints a vivid picture of substance use and recovery that every reader can appreciate, whether you struggle with substance use or not.

Drinking: A Love Story

Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them. Creating healthy boundaries is one of the most useful practices we can put into place in early sobriety. But what does that mean, exactly, and how do you go about establishing boundaries?