Book reviews and more!

Posts tagged with ‘Addiction and Recovery’

LIAR by Rob Roberge

December 2, 2016

EXCRUCIATINGLY HONEST MEMOIR of a life marked by both intense creativity and by mental illness, addiction.

Grade: SOLID B

LIAR: A MEMOIR
Crown Publishing Group
2016

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POUR ME, A LIFE by A. A. Gill

November 4, 2016

A COMPLICATED LIFE, WITH ALCOHOL and after: A. A. Gill’s memoir is crushingly candid and self-pitiless.

Grade: A MINUS

POUR ME, A LIFE
Penguin
2016

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THE GILDED RAZOR by Sam Lansky

April 1, 2016

A YOUNG MAN’S ADDICTIONS—to drugs, alcohol, sex, self-dramatization—presented in an unsettling memoir. SOLID B

THE GILDED RAZOR
Gallery Books
2016

Grade: SOLID B

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THE SPLENDID THINGS WE PLANNED by Blake Bailey

May 26, 2014

A CANDID, RUEFUL MEMOIR of a difficult family life made harder by a brother’s addiction and mental illness. B PLUS

Grade: B PLUS

THE SPLENDID THINGS WE PLANNED: A FAMILY PORTRAIT
W. W. Norton & Company
2014

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WITH OR WITHOUT YOU, by Domenica Ruta

March 20, 2013

VIVIDLY DRAWN PORTRAIT of a writer’s hardscrabble childhood and her charismatic, deeply troubled mother.

Grade: B PLUS

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU: A MEMOIR
Spiegel & Grau
2013

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SMOKE SIGNALS, by Martin A. Lee

January 11, 2013

ADMIRABLY COMPREHENSIVE, ENTERTAINING social history of marijuana makes some solid points about public policy.

Grade: SOLID B

SMOKE SIGNALS: A SOCIAL HISTORY OF MARIJUANA
Scribner
2012

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RIDING FURY HOME, by Chana Wilson

December 23, 2012

A MOTHER/DAUGHTER relationship, fractured by addiction and depression, is healed by feminism and by coming out.

Grade: SOLID B

RIDING FURY HOME: A MEMOIR
Seal Press
2012

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THIS IS HOW, by Augusten Burroughs

September 19, 2012

THE STRENGTH (AND WEAKNESS) of Augusten Burroughs’s meta-self-help book is its no-nonsense candor.  Also, wit!

Grade: SOLID B

THIS IS HOW: PROVEN AID IN OVERCOMING...
St. Martin's Press
2012

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OPIUM FIEND, by Steven Martin

September 12, 2012

A US EXPATRIATE’S COMPELLING memoir of how his fascination with antique opium paraphernalia led to addiction.

Grade: SOLID B

OPIUM FIEND: A 21ST CENTURY SLAVE TO A 19TH CENTURY TRADITION
Random House
2012

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HOTELS, HOSPITALS, AND JAILS, by Anthony Swofford

August 19, 2012

ANTHONY “JARHEAD” SWOFFORD’S tough yet nuanced memoir of his years after the Marines; focus is on his father.

Grade: SOLID B

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