BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

[Pride before Fall]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

"Clean and Sober," starring Michael Keaton, is good, too. A really old one called "Under the Influence" I remember liking too, but that was in the 80s...of course, it didn't apply to me.

[KateH1]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

Reggie, I watched Days of Wine and Roses, again not too long ago, heart wrenching for sure! Really made me think and be even more grateful for sobriety!

Also, Postcards From the Edge by Carrie Fisher, also a good movie! I could really relate to the alcoholic mother and the unhealthy dynamic between mother and daughter!

[Kimberley]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

tlrgs;957024 wrote: saddly to say you can read and take all the meds and still not get to where you want to be ..untill you really commit to it body and soul .. oh but reading and maybe taking the meds might help you on your way .. but at the end.... it all come down to one thing YOU...

Hey trlgs,

I will bow down to you as you are a long-time compared to me. The reason I asked is because I can go sober but I do it all on my own, which has proved not conducive to staying that way. I haven't done rehab or AA but I need to learn the lessons that come with that type of treatment, otherwise I'll never be better - just white-knuckling it. I am hugely commited to my sobriety
K x

[KateH1]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

The way that I see it, books give us the knowlege and experience of others who have gone before us. Knowlege is power and that power along with our own comittment is the key to getting sober and staying sober. This is why we go to school, college and even study for our chosen field. We do not have to continually "Reinvent the Wheel". It really doesn't matter which book we pick up and read. There is bound to be something learned from each one. Something that begins to put the pieces of the puzzle together, something that perhaps gives us that "Ah Ha" moment that causes a shift in our thinking!!

[RV434]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

Zenstyle;957669 wrote: I've nothing to add as all the books I have are mentioned already. But I think it's a great idea for a thread and I'm defo going to check out those movies...

Definately check out "The Lost Weekend", it's old but it's very good - won an Academy for best picture and Ray Milland won best actor.; it's truly timeless. I enjoyed it so much that I purchased the DVD - (enjoy in the sense of how real, not enjoy in the sense of watching the character horrifically destroy himself with booze). Netflix has it, you can buy it for $12 from Amazon.

The Lost Weekend (1945)

I keep editing this but a couple of things - This and "Days of Wine and Roses" are two must sees for any alcoholic. There's one part in this movie that hit home with me for some reason. Milland walks by two elderly ladies (while he's two sheets to the wind) and one of the ladies turns around, looks at Milland and says to the other "isn't that the nice young man who drinks too much?" Instantly thought, yea, that's me.........

[Gaia]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

Others have already mentioned Knapp's Drinking a love Story and I am almost through with that. Great discussion on 'the leap' into heavier drinking. Also interesting chapter on the physical conditions which predispose certaini persons to alcoholism.

Companion book, although not just about drinking: Let's Take the Long Way Home, written by Knapp's best friend, Gail Caldwell. Knapp died of cancer several years ago, and Caldwell writes of friendship, life's roads, and dogs. Both overcame alcoholism.

I also want to read Turnabout by Jean Kirkpatrick - hear that's good.

[MF]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

One of the books I found helpful when I gave up drinking was Eric Clapton's autobiography (imaginatively titled 'The Autobiography'!). Some interesting reflections on his struggle with alcohol, relapses and recovery.

[KateH1]

BOOKS - what helped with your recovery?

MF, thank you for the suggestion of the movie, The Lost Weekend, Ray Milland was truly a remarkable actor! I will definitely be watching this soon! Also, Eric Clapton's biography.....yes, that was very, very interesting and it was one of those books that made me reflect on how alcohol truly destroys the joy, in every part of our lives. Great Book!

I definitely find those stories of the Truth about the struggle with alcohol and coming out the other side to be inspiring to remain AF and to live a sober and fulfilled life!