30 Recovery Memoirs to Inspire You to Quit Drinking

An alcoholic family member can have a significant and lasting impact on you. Traumatic stress, author Mark Wolynn argues, may actually be passed from generation to generation. Author Veronica Valli is an addiction therapist and recovered alcoholic herself, offering a deep and sincere understanding of an alcoholic’s journey. For as prevalent as drinking is, there is really only one acceptable way to get help – admit you’re an alcoholic and abstain forever. While addiction specialist Michael S. Levy agrees that is very successful for most, in his 35-year career, he’s found that many can successfully moderate with professional help.

But in this memoir, Burroughs recounts his very regular and ordinary life of working in advertising and enjoying a drunken Manhattan life—until his employers force him to attend rehab. His investigation into his own history is an epic story through addiction, recovery, cancer, and life as a single parent that you won’t be able to put down. In this essay collection, Coulter writes with wit about a life in transition—and what happens when you suddenly look up and realize that maybe everyone else isn’t quite doing things the right way. After getting sober, Allen devoted her life to recovery, and her memoir explores the life she lived through to get to where she is today. During the latter years of high school and the early ones of college, I remember impatiently counting down the months, days, (and if I’m being honest… seconds) until I turned 21. All around me, at dinners, meals out with family, and even watching SATC make Cosmos look cool, I looked on as people sipped charmingly from coupes and gracefully from glasses. Drinking, it seemed, was the epitome of elegance—and it was a natural milestone that would confirm my emergence into adulthood.

The Sober Diaries

Lawyer and veteran William Porter struggled with alcoholism at various points in his life. His sobriety inspired him to heavily research alcohol and its effects on the body, mind, and we continue to drink even when we know it harms us. The result is a thorough, in-depth scientific look that is still easy to digest. After becoming sober, they wanted to see how much vibrancy they could put back into their daily living. The Sober Lush is for those looking to find joy again in a decadent life after sobriety or for hope of a fulfilling life after recovery.

Before we dive into sobriety books, let’s address how alcohol use disorder relates to mental health in the first place. There are many resources available to help you reach your goal to stop drinking. Among them, literature supporting recovery from alcohol abuse, often referred to as “quit lit,” is a popular choice for informative support within the recovery community. Online sobriety groups and local resources are both key resources to stop drinking. Searching for Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, free to all, in one’s area is a good place to start. Speaking to loved ones, and explaining one’s problem, can also be a valuable means to find help and achieve recovery. There are also movies about alcoholism that you can watch if you’re not big on reading. This kind of realization can happen for many people seeking sobriety, and Unwifeable resolves with Stadtmiller seeking rehabilitation and recovery from her addictive habits. “The Big Book,” has sold over 30 million copies to date, making it one of the most purchased books in history. Not only a tool used by members of Alcoholics Anonymous, it has been endorsed by doctors and critics alike as a positive force in the battle against alcohol dependency.

Last year, more than 107,000 lives were lost to overdose.

Always seek the advice of a physician or qualified health provider with questions regarding a medical condition. A new horror film explores how the hardest person to learn to love is sometimes yourself. I used to work in fashion/beauty/celebrity PR, and I related to her lifestyle before she got sober. I thought my party-girl ways were so glamourous, but it was really sad and unfulfilling, despite the glitz and glamour. I did many things I am deeply ashamed of, and reading her book taught me that I am not alone. I very much related to her always feeling “less than” in normal life, and only becoming Sober House confident and alive once she poured alcohol down her throat. Healthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical associations. I like that you get the option of reading the blinks or listening to them podcast style. Although not an exhaustive list, these seven books are a wonderful starter list for diving into the world of Quit Lit. Especially the evolution of mommy drinking culture and how we got this place where we’ve tried to normalize drinking as a way to cope with the stresses of being a woman in today’s modern world.

Sethe is haunted, literally and figuratively, by the daughter she killed while escaping slavery in this devastating Pulitzer Prize-winning classic. This is a book about the abject horror and howling trauma of slavery, but it’s also about how we best sober books metabolise the nightmares of our lives before. There are certain jobs that are simply more difficult; being an Emergency Room physician is certainly one of them. This may be why so many ER doctors get burned out or deal with addiction issues.

The biggest factors in your success will be whether or not you’re equipped with the right tools and support to get where you want to be. We’re here 24/7 to help you get the care you need to live the life you want. Talk to our recovery specialists today and start treatment immediately. Equally, Letting Go of the Thief is an empowering book if you have alcohol use disorder yourself. If you’re already in recovery, you quite possibly attend a 12-step group like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous. This is a highly instructive read for anyone grappling with an addictive personality and a tendency to overindulge. Author Dr. Harry Haroutounian worked as the physician director at the world-famous Betty Ford Clinic. In Being Sober, you benefit from his expertise at the forefront of recovery and addiction treatment. Once we started, we realized there was still room for many more of our personal favorites. Consider this the first in an ongoing series as we help you throughout the ongoing pandemic.

In his first novel, Burroughs gives a vivid, semi-autobiographical account of heroin addiction in the early 1950s. 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.

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

This vulnerable, sobering book is a deep look into gangs and guns, near-death experiences, sex work, masculinity, composite fathers, the concept of “hustle,” and the destructure power of addiction. It is all told through the eyes of Jackson, his family, and his community. Often, we hear the stories of people with addiction finding redemption once they have children—but this is not that kind of story, which is precisely why we love it. It’s about a woman who longs to belong and find comfort in her new life with her husband and baby but instead develops a gripping addiction to wine.

• In one scene in the book, Brown describes losing her apartment and going on a four-day crack binge.
• In a brilliant narrative style, she constantly flips back and forth between her personal story and a history of the alcoholic creatives who came before her, their lives intersecting in fascinating ways.
• I am, probably, by way of my history, more attuned to picking up on it than others.
• It’s a testament to how one moment, completely out of our control, can drastically change our lives.

She went from enjoying a privileged youth to tumbling into a terrible drug addiction, but her story finishes with her ability to overcome her destructive habits to make a better, healthier future for herself. Sober Grid connects those who want to get sober or who are in recovery from alcohol use disorder with other people focused on sobriety. Some individuals join the app to receive support, while others join to give support. 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 bethe addict and what it’s like to be the friend of one. When AA Doesn’t Work For You,” there’s another approach to treating alcoholism. Despite Alcoholics Anonymous helping many people in their recovery, Ellis argues people with alcoholism have irrational thoughts and beliefs that keep them tied to their addiction. Through rational emotive therapy — developed by Ellis — people with alcohol addictions can challenge these thoughts and beliefs and replace them with healthier ones. About 21.5 million people in the United States ages 12 and above have substance abuse disorders.

Ballad of a Sober Man: An ER Doctor’s Journey of Recovery by J.D. Remy

Without scare tactics, pain, or rules, she offers a strategy to give you freedom from alcohol. By addressing causes rather than symptoms, it is framed as a permanent solution rather than lifetime struggle. It removes the psychological dependence; allowing you to easily drink less . Written by Mackenzie Phillips, former star of the 70s sitcom One Day at a Time, “High on Arrival” is a 304 page autobiography published in 2009. Phillips’ life started off very unique, with parents who were fully engaged in the counterculture hippie movement of the 1960s, which guided Phillips into a life of drug use, and then abuse, very quickly. Several apps may help support a person to moderate or stop their alcohol consumption. Most apps are available on iOS and Android and are free or charge a low flat fee for access. According to the surgeon general of the U.S., it can take up to 5 years after being in remission for alcohol use disorder for the risk of relapse to fall below 15%.