Senior Contributor Amy Liz Harrison came for the Aqua Net nostalgia and stayed for the uncomfortable recognition. Her review of Christie Brinkley’s “Uptown Girl” explores what happens when a celebrity memoir holds up a mirror to the people we loved while we were drinking.
From Wham! fangirling to sober reinvention, Senior Contributor Amy Liz Harrison finds plenty to love in Janey Lee Grace’s memoir. This four-sobees review explores music, midlife and the many versions of ourselves we bring along for the ride.
Megan A. Schikora’s A Woman in Pink examines what happens when love, loyalty and the desire to save someone begin to look dangerously like self-abandonment.
Laura Clery’s What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Hotter is a funny, vulnerable and occasionally uncomfortable account of divorce, single motherhood, dating and staying sober when life refuses to follow the script.
Nearly 30 years after hearing Anthony Hopkins speak at a Los Angeles recovery meeting, Senior Contributor Lane Kennedy revisits that experience through his memoir, We Did OK, Kid. As Hopkins celebrates 50 years sober, Lane reflects on why getting sober is only the beginning—and what it really means to stay.
Aerosmith accidentally invented recovery coaching in the 1980s. Forty years later, coach Stephanie Hazard wrote the first mainstream book about it. Our #QUITLIT review of Making Sobriety Stick, including the Sobees score and the one chapter written for readers with decades of sobriety.
Evan Cason’s memoir, *Beyond the Street Lamp*, offers a sincere look at the journey from gang life to sobriety. In her review, Patti Clark highlights the book’s heartfelt nature while also noting its structural challenges. Cason’s story is a poignant reminder of the power of vulnerability and honesty in the recovery journey.
In Drunk Daddy, Trixie Rose tells the story of growing up with an alcoholic father and the emotional survival strategies that followed her into adulthood. Amy Liz Harrison reviews this short, funny and quietly devastating addition to the Bad Memoir series.
Daisy Jones & the Six isn’t told like most novels. Taylor Jenkins Reid structures the story as an oral history,…
“The River Is Waiting” is a painful, honest novel about guilt, grief, and the long road toward forgiveness. Wally Lamb…
“The Weight of Air” tracks Poses through multiple relapses, treatment centers, and the grinding dailiness of trying to stay clean.…
The first thing you need to know about “Leaving Las Vegas” is that John O’Brien wrote it to die. Not…
Bob Huppert delivers a chilling blend of psychological horror and addiction drama, portraying alcoholism not as a subplot but as…
Maia Szalavitz’s “Unbroken Brain: A Revolutionary New Way of Understanding Addiction” lives up to its title. It doesn’t simply reframe…
Malcolm Lowry’s Under the Volcano is widely regarded as one of the greatest novels of the 20th century. What makes…
What does it mean to be “the most human”? In “The Most Human”, Adam Nimoy invites readers into a deeply…
All I could think about while reading Megan Swan’s memoir, Marinating in Chaos: Live Intuitively, Make Bold and Authentic Decisions,…
I grew up in the 1960s and 70s. And Dick Van Dyke was a mainstay on our TV. He was…
Some books are tough to review because of the writing itself. Others are challenging because of the uncomfortable truths they…
Jack London’s “John Barleycorn” isn’t just another book about drinking — it’s one of the most honest and personal looks…
I loved this book! It captures the absolutely insane nature of co-dependency. This book is for anyone who has ever…
William G. Borchert’s “The Lois Wilson Story: When Love Is Not Enough” tells the real, painful and hopeful story of…
Kaveh Akbar’s “Martyr!” is a bold, emotional novel that wrestles with loss, purpose, addiction, identity and the hard work of…
Hubert Selby Jr.’s “Requiem for a Dream” is one of those novels that stays with you long after you close…
You might know Kid Cudi from his song “Pursuit of Happiness”, one of his earliest hits. Interestingly, the song was…
“Confessions of an English Opium-Eater” is a true story, written in 1821 by Thomas De Quincey about his experiences with…
“The Lost Weekend” takes us into the depths of addiction as it follows a five-day binge taken by the main…
“Trainspotting” by Irvine Welsh is a raw and gritty novel that tells the story of a group of young men…
At The Sober Curator, we’re always looking for stories that crack open the complexities of addiction, recovery, and family dynamics.…
In Shine of the Ever, Claire Rudy Foster crafts a collection of short stories that hums with the spirit of…
