When you’re recovering from alcoholism and you find an awesome tool to help you stay strongly rooted in your recovery, you want to share it with everyone you know. If you or someone you know is in alcohol addiction recovery, the following four books can help you to understand the underlying issues that are related to it, how we came to have such a problem with addiction as a society, as well as the journey toward sobriety.
4 Amazing Books to Read When You’re Recovering From Alcoholism
1. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead
By Brene Brown
While it’s not specifically about alcohol abuse and addiction, Daring Greatly touches on two concepts that are essentially engrained in the foundation of any addiction: shame and vulnerability. It takes the reader through what vulnerability is, the uncertainty of it and how it plays a huge role in our relationships not only with others but with ourselves. It’s the perfect read for someone who is new to alcohol or drug addiction recovery as well as for loved ones who want to understand with empathy what their addicted loved one is going through.
2. Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs
By Johann Hari
New York Times Bestseller, Chasing the Scream is a must read for anyone who is curious about the War on Drugs. Journalist, Johann Hari set off on a three-year long quest to find out what people around the world know about drugs, addiction, and the drug war and what he reveals is really something. It provokes a conversation and a dialogue that we, as a country, have been in dire need of for many years. It really answers the question, how exactly did we get here, and more importantly, where do we go from here?
3. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
By Cheryl Strayed
After the death of her mother and divorcing her husband as a result of her substance abuse and addiction, Cheryl Strayed embarks on a solo adventure along the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State. This book is powerful and life changing while at the same time relatable and sprinkled with humor. Strayed perfectly portrays what it’s like to find strength, recovery, and healing in an unconventional and unexpected way.
4. Blackout
By Sarah Hepola
Many addicts turn to drugs and alcohol abuse to self-medicate, to forget. In Blackout, a memoir by journalist Sarah Hepola, is the story of how alcohol became what she thought to be her key to creativity and an empowering tool in the wake of the timid, classy cocktail sipping ladies of decades long past. She dubbed alcohol “the gasoline of all adventure” in her life and thought she needed it for all the aforementioned reasons. But the price she paid was in the form of the minutes and hours that were consistently missing from her memory. This book will speak to those who have struggled with alcoholism and blackouts, and it underscores the hope found in alcohol addiction treatment programs.