AbsentFriend

I found this book in a used book store, and picked it up in the hopes of understanding the hold cigarettes have on my parents, whose lives I've feared for since I knew what fear was.

The book is a memoir of one woman who tries to quit once and for all by chaining herself to the radiator in her living room for a week.

The most fascinating part, to me, is that she is also a recovering alcoholic and has done harder drugs, but NICOTINE is the addiction she dedicates a book to.

I can also relate to her dysfunctional upbringing, and the attitudes she has as a result. I'm only partway through the book, but I'm starting to have a "there but for the grace of God go I" attitude about smoking, rather than a resentful one. I can see how, if I hadn't had my parents' smoking to rebel against - if they had gotten along and I'd learned to associate smoke with love, rather than danger - my own anxieties could have easily led to the same self-medication.

Plus, she's an amazingly vivid writer.

Amazon link: Amazon.com: A Life in Smoke: A Memoir: Julia Hansen: Books