Book picks similar to
The Couch of Willingness: An Alcoholic Therapist Battles the Bottle and a Broken Recovery System by Michael Pond
non-fiction
journalism
mental-health
relationships
The Breakup Monologues: A Quest to Investigate, Understand and Conquer the Psychology of Heartbreak
Rosie Wilby - 2021
Tragedy plus time equals comedy, right?In 2011, comedian Rosie Wilby was dumped by email. .. though she did feel a little better about it after correcting her ex's spelling and punctuation. Obsessing about breakups ever since, she embarked on a quest to investigate, understand and conquer the psychology of heartbreak.That quest proved to be a creatively fertile one, resulting in Rosie's acclaimed podcast The Breakup Monologues. She decided to ask her colleagues on the circuit about their experiences of romantic disaster and recovery, thinking, 'if one group of people have become adept at learning from catastrophe it is comedians. The worst onstage deaths are the performances that enlighten us most about how to improve.' She wondered if comics had been able to transfer this 'fail better' logic to love.This book is a love letter to her breakups, a celebration of what they have taught her peppered with anecdotes from illustrious friends and interviews with relationship therapists, scientists and sociologists about separating in the modern age of ghosting, breadcrumbing and conscious uncoupling. Her plan is to assimilate their advice and ideas in order to not break up with Girlfriend, her partner of nearly three years. Will this self-confessed serial monogamist, and breakup addict, finally settle down?
Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir
Janice Erlbaum - 2006
From her first frightening night at a shelter, Janice knew she was in over her head. She was beaten up, shaken down, and nearly stabbed by a pregnant girl. But it was still better than living at home. As Janice slipped further into street life, she nevertheless attended high school, harbored crushes, and even played the lead in the spring musical. She also roamed the streets, clubs, bars, and parks of New York City with her two best girlfriends, on the prowl for hard drugs and boys on skateboards. Together they scored coke at Danceteria, smoked angel dust in East Village squats, commiserated over their crazy mothers, and slept with one another’s boyfriends on a regular basis. A wry, mesmerizing portrait of being underprivileged, underage, and underdressed in 1980s New York City, Girlbomb provides an unflinching look at street life, survival sex, female friendships, and first loves.“A fast and engrossing read in the spirit of Girl, Interrupted.”–Entertainment Weekly“Gripping . . . a wry, compelling memoir of what it means to stand up for yourself, especially when no one else will.”–Bust“How satisfying to watch Erlbaum survive adolescence and produce a smart, engaging book.”–The New York Times Book Review“Erlbaum’s survival is hard-won, the journey rendered with page-turning intensity.”–New York Post“A fast and engrossing read in the spirit of Girl, Interrupted.”–Entertainment Weekly“Gritty . . . perversely riveting. You want her to survive.”–The Washington Post Book World
Make Her Chase You: The Guide to Attracting Girls Who Are "out of Your League" Even If You're Not Rich or Handsome
Tynan - 2008
What really attracts women? How do you ask for her phone number without getting rejected? Which first dates really work, and which are a one way ticket to rejection? What exactly is the friend zone, and how can you get out of it? Tynan, also known as Herbal, is one of the most well known pickup artists in the world, made famous by the New York Times Bestseller, The Game. Taught by the greatest pickup artists in the world, including Mystery from The Pick Up Artist on VH1, Tynan has developed his own style which focuses on authenticity, building relationships, and integrating pickup with normal life.
Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Family's Journey through Bipolar Disorder
Karen Winters Schwartz - 2010
Jerry Benson, sees the realization of his worst fears: his daughter is not just moody, but truly ill. With his words, his diagnosis—manic depressive illness—his world and that of his family is forever altered. Carol, Amanda's mother, struggles with the guilt and shame of having raised a "crazy" daughter. Christy, Amanda's fifteen-year-old sister, denies the illness; after all, my sister's a bitch is so much easier to accept.Meanwhile, the Bensons' extended family offers up everything from unconditional support to uncomfortable scrutiny as Amanda careens between bouts of frightening violence, cosmic euphoria, and suicidal despair. Then there's Ryan, an architecture student who is initially ensnared by Amanda's manic sexuality, but is ultimately captured and held throughout the chaos by the force of love and strength of family.Where Are the Cocoa Puffs?: A Family's Journey Through Bipolar Disorder follows a family through the tragedy of bipolar disorder, but it's not tragic. It's funny, sad, and thought provoking--and as real and as raw as mental illness itself.
Don't let Your Kids Kill You: A Guide for Parents of Drug and Alcohol Addicted Children
Charles Rubin - 2013
Instead, shows them how to reclaim their power, balance, happiness...and lives. When kids turn to substance abuse, parents also become vicims as they watch their children transform into irrational and antisocial individuals. This harrowing scenario finds parents buckling beneath the stress--often with catastrophoric consequences: Divorce, career upsets, breakdowns and worse. "Don't Let Your Kids Kill You" is a landmark work that dares focus on the plight of the confused, distressed parent and not the erring child. It sets aside any preconceived ideas that parents are to blame for what is essentially a full-blown global crisis. Drawing on interviews with parents who've survived the heartbreak of kids on drugs, combined with his own experience, Charles Rubin provides practical advice on how parents can help themselves and their families by first attending to their own needs. Liberation begins when you open this book.
A Murder in Wellesley: The Inside Story of an Ivy-League Doctor's Double Life, His Slain Wife, and the Trial That Gripped the Nation
Tom Farmer - 2012
As the shock following the brutal killing slowly subsided, the community was further shaken when the focus of the investigation turned to her husband, Dirk Greineder, a prominent physician and family man who was soon revealed to be leading a secret double life involving prostitutes, pornography, and trysts solicited through the Internet.A Murder in Wellesley takes the reader far beyond the headlines and national news coverage spawned by "May" Greineder's killing and tells the untold story of the meticulous investigation led by Marty Foley, the lead State Police detective on the case, from the morning of the murder through Dirk Greineder's ultimate conviction. Exhaustive interviews with key figures in the case, including many who have not talked publicly until now, contribute to an unprecedented behind-the-scenes account of how investigators methodically built their case against Greineder and how the sides taken by Dirk and May's relatives aided the investigation but bitterly divided their families. A fascinating true-crime procedural that is also a deeply unsettling tale of the psychopath you thought you knew, of deceptions and double lives, and of families torn apart by an unthinkable crime. Culminating in one of the most dramatic courtroom spectacles in recent memory (aired nationally on Court TV), A Murder in Wellesley reveals the truth behind the murder that gripped a nation.
Be the Mom
Tracey Lanter Eyster - 2012
Rightly so, for so much is at stake during children's early years and moms are central in shaping character and personhood. However, when the going gets tough (the endless diapers, the continual messes, the endless conflict resolution, the complete lack of personal time, etc.), moms are often tempted to quit their "mom job." While few would endorse an outright abandonment of motherhood, others may recommend that a woman treat her role as secondary to personal desires in order to combat feelings of discouragement and/or unfulfillment. The enemy has laid intentional traps cleverly designed to discourage and redirect a woman towards self rather than family. Moms need to know how to recognize these traps . . . and avoid them. "Be the Mom: Overcome Attitude Traps and Enjoy Your Kids" explores and validates the life of a mom who makes her family a priority and introduces the reader to seven Mom Traps that may be preventing them from a full, joy filled life.
Imagine Me Gone
Adam Haslett - 2016
She decides to marry him. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant, anxious music fanatic who makes sense of the world through parody. Over the span of decades, his younger siblings -- the savvy and responsible Celia and the ambitious and tightly controlled Alec -- struggle along with their mother to care for Michael's increasingly troubled and precarious existence. Told in alternating points of view by all five members of the family, this searing, gut-wrenching, and yet frequently hilarious novel brings alive with remarkable depth and poignancy the love of a mother for her children, the often inescapable devotion siblings feel toward one another, and the legacy of a father's pain in the life of a family. With his striking emotional precision and lively, inventive language, Adam Haslett has given us something rare: a novel with the power to change how we see the most important people in our lives.
The First Will Be Last: A Biblical Perspective On Narcissism
D.C. Robertsson - 2019
Maybe you didn’t realize you were dealing with a narcissist at first, but the pain and damage caused by this selfish, arrogant, condescending, and domineering person might have driven you to search for answers about what was going on, and how to deal with them. As you searched online or in books, you collected the conventional wisdom available, but feel there is still more to it. While the Bible does not use the exact term "narcissism" - a word from Greek mythology - it most certainly speaks to the subject. In fact, if you look carefully, you might be surprised at just how much and how directly Scripture speaks about narcissism and narcissistic people.The First Will Be Last: A Biblical Perspective on Narcissism is just what the title says - an A-Z look at the Biblical perspective on these toxic people; including who they are, how they got that way, and how to deal with them. From key words to Biblical case studies, it will unlock a new perspective and provide a framework in your search for truth.CONTENTSLET’S BEGIN How to Read this Book WHO SHOULD I LISTEN TO?
The Range of Perspectives
The Secular Perspective on Narcissism
There’s Another Option
THE BIBLICAL PROFILE OF A NARCISSIST
Painting the Biblical Picture
Layer 1 - Key Words and Definitions
Layer 2 – Key Word Usage
Layer 3 – Case Studies in the Bible
Enhancing the Portrait
Additional Case Studies
THREE QUESTIONS
#1 - Can A Narcissist Be a Christian (& vice versa)?
#2 - Do They Really “Get Away With It”?
#3 - Can A Narcissist Ever Change?
CAUSES – ONE ROOT, SEVERAL BRANCHES
The Root Cause
Four Examples
Ultimately They Look In, Not Up
A PATH TO GENUINE CHANGE
The Foundation
God’s Radical Revelations
Making it Real
Choices
COPING WITH NARCISSISTS
God’s Responsibility…and Ours
Protect Yourself
Be Smart in Your Interactions
Learn to Pray in the Situation
Practical Solutions … and God’s Grand Plan
FROM WHY, TO HOPE, TO LOVE
Asking “Why”
God’s Plan for A Purpose of Love
The Four Pillars of Trust
Turning Tears into a Life-giving Spring
Why to Hope to Love
YOUR JOURNEY FORWARD
Crying Out, Seeking God
Praying
Walking Forward
Coming Full Circle
Written by someone who understands the journey, this book starts with discovery, and ends with comfort. NOTE: The Amazon "Look Inside" formatting does not accurately represent the much higher quality format of the actual Kindle book.
Her Best-Kept Secret: Inside the Private Lives of Women Who Drink
Gabrielle Glaser - 2013
One note said, "One bottle for you, one to share." Why, Glaser wondered, would she drink a bottle of wine by herself? She was nursing, for God's sake. But alcohol—and wine, in particular—is an acceptable, legal way for women to muscle through their lives, whether they are postfeminist breadwinners or stay-at-home mothers. It's a drug women can respectfully use in public and in private, even if it carries the risk of taking them under.Women of all ages are drinking more, while men's alcohol use is staying the same. They are hitting the bottle to ease pressure from work, the stress of teething toddlers, the anxiety of trying teenagers, and the guilt of aging, faraway parents. Young women pound shots of tequila; women in their thirties, forties, and fifties guzzle secret bottles of wine as they cook dinner; and even senior citizens say they regularly down more than four drinks at one sitting several times a month. Between 1992 and 2007, the number of middle-aged women who entered alcohol treatment programs nearly tripled. In this book, Glaser investigates the problem and traces the history of women and alcohol in America, leading up to today when, for the first time, women are beginning to question the common prescription for abuse: AA.Glaser shows how this problem is beginning to be aired in public, just as a new kind of treatment tailored to women’s bodies and psyches is taking hold. Her Best-Kept Secret is a meticulously researched, eye-opening look into an ever-growing affliction that cannot be ignored.
Mrs D is Going Without: I used to be a boozy housewife. Now I'm not. This is my book.
Lotta Dann - 2014
One bottle a night was never quite enough. When she tried to cut down, she found it nearly impossible to have an alcohol-free day.Everyone around could see her drinking, but no one realised what a serious problem it was. She was high-functioning, fun-loving Lotta, not some messy, hopeless drunk. Only Lotta knew how sick and twisted her thinking about wine had become.Desperate and miserable, she was falling deeper and deeper into a boozy hellhole and running out of ideas about what she could do to stop it. What's a girl to do when her beloved wine becomes the enemy?Here's what Lotta did. She stopped drinking and secretly started a blog that charted the highs and lows of learning to live without alcohol. Mrs D was anonymous, honest and, as Lotta would discover, surrounded by people who would help her on her journey, and whom she could help in return.
Just Don't Call Me Ma'am: How I Ditched the South, Forgot My Manners, and Managed to Survive My Twenties with (Most of) My Dignity Still Intact
Anna Mitchael - 2010
In fact, she may even be a lot like you. In her fast-moving world, she might be called on as a friend, coworker, daughter, girlfriend, confidante, brat, cynic, or domestic-goddess-in-training. She's willing to juggle pretty much anything that gets thrown her way, but the one label she simply won't embrace is ma'am.Like so many bright-eyed college graduates before her, Mitchael begins her twenties armed with the conviction that the world is hers for the taking. And she discovers that it is, mostly—only no one told her just how often she’d have to pick herself up off the floor along the way.Written for every woman who’s experienced the ups and downs of trying to figure out who you’re really meant to be, Just Don’t Call Me Ma’am is a story of one woman and the choices that add up to be her twentysomething life—and of how sometimes you have to remember where you came from before you can figure out where you’re going.
There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
Alex Kotlowitz - 1991
This is the moving and powerful account of two remarkable boys struggling to survive in Chicago's Henry Horner Homes, a public housing complex disfigured by crime and neglect.
An Impossible Life: The Inspiring True Story of a Woman's Struggle from Within
Rachael Siddoway - 2019
Wife of a CEO, mother of three, living in a beautiful suburb, Sonja’s life appears ideal. How did she get here?In a gripping and breathtaking narrative that makes the reader feel as though they are listening in on a private conversation, Sonja tells the compelling real account of her struggle with marriage, motherhood, and mental illness.An Impossible Life is an unforgettable true story of perseverance when all hope seems lost. Intriguing and heartfelt, Sonja’s personal account of her mental health journey shines a beacon of hope to all who feel overwhelmed by the specter of mental illness.
Living the Life Unexpected: 12 Weeks to Your Plan B for a Meaningful and Fulfilling Future Without Children
Jody Day - 2016
Although some are child-free by choice, many others are childless by circumstance and are struggling in a life they didn't foresee. Most people think that women without children either 'couldn't' or 'didn't want to' be mothers. The truth is much more complex. Jody Day would have liked to have had children, but it didn't work out that way. At the age of forty-four she realized that her quest to be a mother was at an end. She presumed that she was through the toughest part, but over the next couple of years she was hit by waves of grief, despair and isolation. Eventually she found her way and created the Gateway Women Network, helping many thousands of women worldwide. In Living the Life Unexpected, Jody Day addresses the taboo of childlessness and provides a powerful, practical 12-week guide to help women come to terms with their grief, and to move on to live creative, happy, meaningful, and fulfilling lives without children.Previously titled Rocking the Life Unexpected, this inspiring and practical guide to a life without children has been extensively revised and updated, and includes significant additional content including extracts from the stories of 24 women and 2 men from around the world.