Recovery Reading List: 17 Best-Selling and or Award-Winning Books on Addiction and Recovery

books for recovering addicts

Navigating the path of addiction recovery can be both challenging and rewarding. The right resources can offer guidance, provide new perspectives, and inspire hope. Whether you are struggling with drug addiction, alcohol use disorder, or simply seeking to improve your mental health, books can be a powerful tool on your journey to recovery. Here, we’ve compiled a list of the best books on addiction that can be instrumental in your recovery. These books cover everything from addiction recovery workbooks to deeply moving addiction memoirs that showcase inspiring true success stories.

books for recovering addicts

Achieve Sobriety at New Hampshire Men’s Rehab

They help people develop a deeper understanding of their unique triggers, find healthier ways to manage stress and build a lifestyle that supports ongoing recovery. By following these plans, individuals can create sustainable routines that promote healing, growth, and self-actualization. Having been in recovery for many years, and working here at Shatterproof, I often get asked to recommend books about addiction. So here’s a list of my all-time favorite reads about substance use disorders. Customers find the content Hope House Boston Review great, informative, and helpful for dealing with addiction. They appreciate the incredible insight and wisdom, common sense approach, and practical information.

Men’s Rehab in New Hampshire: A Natural Approach

I almost wanted to snap it shut, but instead finished it in one day and have read it at least three more times since. Knapp so perfectly describes the emotional landscape of addiction, and as a literary study it’s as perfect a memoir as I’ve ever read. I often think about what it took to publish this when she did, in the 90’s, as a female and a journalist in Boston. Growing up on her family’s 25-acre farm in Maine, Erin French developed a lifelong passion for cooking and food. She worked as a line cook in her family’s diner and eventually became a professional chef herself, opening the world-renowned restaurant The Lost Kitchen.

books for recovering addicts

Commitment to Sobriety

Nina Renata Aron’s relationship with her boyfriend is a passionate fairy tale, right up to the day he relapses. Aron is convinced that if she loves him hard enough, he’ll recover. Whether the man she loves recovers or not, Aron is forced into a reckoning of her own — that she is an enabler in a codependent relationship. I too was a high-functioning professional with a drinking and cocaine addiction. My addiction always took me to new lows, and cost me many jobs over the years.

books for recovering addicts

Erica Spiegelman’s “Rewired” presents a holistic approach to recovery by emphasizing personal power and healthy space. It introduces readers to the concept of creating a personalized treatment plan, focusing on changing behaviors and thought patterns to support a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle. This book is especially helpful for those wanting to address underlying issues that contribute to drug use and addiction. When I first read this book over ten years ago it felt like I was reading my own journal (if my journal was written in incredibly eloquent prose).

books for recovering addicts

Massachusetts Women’s Rehab: A Path to Healing

As a mother, I relate to her story so deeply—our children were the same young age when we stopped drinking. She’s an iconic, witty literary voice, an engrossing storyteller, and this book too is a great study in memoir. Books about addiction include heartbreaking moments of struggle and dependency. Yet they’re also accounts of resiliency and renewal, introducing you to brave men and women who found the strength to save themselves when all hope seemed lost. Here are 11 new narratives of addiction and recovery that we recommend you read. They say it provides incredible insight and wisdom, emphasizing core principles of life.

  • Dash explains strategies and routines that helped him refocus and find recovery from his addictions.
  • They describe it as a comforting, uplifting daily affirmation book for those recovering.
  • In “Beautiful Boy,” journalist David Sheff details his sporty son’s descent into crystal meth addiction.
  • He even went on Oprah and apologized for making some of the story up.
  • When it comes to addiction and recovery, it’s important to recognize that it is a lifelong process that requires dedication and commitment.

The following books offer powerful narratives of individuals who have faced their demons and triumphed over addiction. These powerful narratives offer hope, inspiration, and a path to healing. When faced with the challenge of recovering from a drug or alcohol addiction, many people look for motivation to find a healthier path and keep from relapsing. Books can help us create emotional connections to useful information, especially when the stories they hold involve relatable characters. Educating yourself about all aspects of addiction recovery is a smart move.