cambie03

I can't remember the last time I went a day without a drink, and now I'm exactly three weeks sober! Woo hoo!

I honestly believe that the thing that is keeping me sober this time (because it's the only thing I haven't tried before) is obsessively reading recovering alcoholic/sobriety memoirs... turning my obsessive nature (previously towards drinking) towards reading through others' full stories has been the difference maker, I think, between all the other times when I've tried to stop drinking for a day, or a week, etc in the past and failed.

So to help others I've make a list of my favorite books that have helped me! [Note - I know there is a much larger thread on sobriety books but I wanted to share what I think is the best of the best.]

My favorite books, in order, so far are:
- Drinking: A Love Story by Caroline Knapp
- Dry by Augusten Burroughs (got this rec from someone on this board and it was amazing, thank you!)
- Unwasted: My Lush Sobriety by Sacha Scoblic
- Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol by Ann Johnston (both memoir and contains research/facts - I thought it was a very helpful combination, especially for women)
- Sober is the New Black by Rachel Black
- Best Kept Secret by Amy Hatvany (a novel, but apparently based on her true life, so I count it here as a memoir)

And I'm currently reading "Everything I never Wanted to Be" by Dina Kucera - will report back!

I also read My Last Rock Bottom by Sara Berelsman, but unfortunately it couldn't hold my attention and I had to move on (to "Unwasted", which is great!)

Please please let me know if you have any recommendations to add to the list! I am honestly SO afraid of what is going to happen when I run out of books to read..... so please add to the list!

Soberween

Drinking: A Love Story is my personal favorite. I'm currently reading High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze by Jill Stark. So far I like it. My Last Rock Bottom wasn't a favorite of mine either. The author Sarah Berelsman must have mentioned how "smokin hot" she was in every single chapter. I thought it was my imagination, but then I read the book reviews for it on Amazon and many others pointed out this same thing. Weird.

Thank you for your post. I will let you know if I come across any other little gems.

ScottFromWI

Sounds like you are ding great, thanks for sharing Cambie. Reading other people's stories and learning how similar they are to mine helps me a lot too. Looks like a great list of reading, I'll have to check some of them out myself.

Anna

We have a whole section of bios/memoirs on our Book List Sticky, so check it out:

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/...rituality.html

anattaboy

Any which way we can! Congrats on 3 weeks!