What’s in it
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24 books with the same feel
Include books by the same authorFor One More Day
Mitch Albom · 208 pages
In an inspirational debut novel by the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Charles "Chick" Benetto, grieving over the death of his mother, uses alcohol as a crutch to deal with his loneliness, isolation, and depression and the disintegration of his life, until an encounter with his mother's ghost brings him new awareness and leads him to attempt to put his life back together.
White Lines
Jennifer Banash · 304 pages
In 1980s New York City, seventeen-year-old Caitlin tries to overcome her mother's abuse and father's abandonment by losing herself in nights of clubbing and drugs, followed by days of stumbling aimlessly through school.
Run the Game
Jason Myers · 518 pages
A cocaine-addicted teenaged guitarist in a rock band falls dangerously in love with a fourteen-year-old prostitute.
The Goldfinch
Donna Tartt · 817 pages
"The Goldfinch is a rarity that comes along perhaps half a dozen times per decade, a smartly written literary novel that connects with the heart as well as the mind....Donna Tartt has delivered an extraordinary work of fiction."--Stephen King, The New York Times Book Review Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present day America and a drama of enthra
The Spectacular Now
Tim Tharp
In the last months of high school, charismatic eighteen-year-old Sutter Keely lives in the present, staying drunk or high most of the time, but that could change when starts working to boost the self-confidence of a classmate, Aimee.
Bottled Up
Jaye Murray · 222 pages
Pips desperate to escape his lifehes been skipping classes, drinking, getting high. Anything and everything to avoid his smug teachers, his sweet but needy little brother, his difficult home life. Now hes been busted by Principal Giraldi and given an ultimatum: either he shows up for all his classes and sees a counselor after school, or hes expelled. Pips freaked out; not because he might get kick
Dry
Augusten Burroughs · 304 pages
Fans of Augusten Burroughs's darkly funny memoir Running with Scissors were left wondering at the end of that book what would become of young Augusten after his squalid and fascinating childhood ended. In Dry, we find that although adult Augusten is doing well professionally, earning a handsome living as an ad writer for a top New York agency, Burroughs's personal life is a disaster. His apartment
Freefall
Mindi Scott · 315 pages
A bass guitar player in a teen rock band deals with alcoholism, his best friend's death, and first love.
Fallout
Ellen Hopkins · 720 pages
Hunter, Autumn, and Summer—three of Kristina Snow’s five children—live in different homes, with different guardians and different last names. They share only a predisposition for addiction and a host of troubled feelings toward the mother who barely knows them, a mother who has been riding with the monster, crank, for twenty years. Told in three voices and punctuated by news articles chronicli
Last Night I Sang to the Monster
Benjamin Alire Saenz · 271 pages
Zach is eighteen. He is bright and articulate. He's also an alcoholic and in rehab instead of high school, but he doesn't remember how he got there. He's not sure he wants to remember. Something bad must have happened. Something really, really bad. Remembering sucks and being alive—well, what's up with that?I have it in my head that when we're born, God writes things down on our hearts. See, on so
Maya's Notebook
Isabel Allende · 408 pages
After the death of her beloved grandfather, nineteen-year-old Maya Vidal, turning to drugs, alcohol, and petty crimes, becomes trapped in a war between assassins, the police, the FBI, and Interpol, until her grandmother helps her escape to a remote island off the coast of Chile where she tries to make sense of her life. After the death of her grandfather, teenager Maya falls into depression, drug
Other Broken Things
Christa Desir
Forced to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where she bonds with a much older man, seventeen-year-old Natalie, a recovering alcoholic, confronts issues in her family and life as she tries to turn her life around.
Smack
Melvin Burgess · 348 pages
After running away from their troubled homes, two English teenagers move in with a group of squatters in the port city of Bristol and try to find ways to support their growing addiction to heroin.
A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich
Alice Childress · 126 pages
Benjie can stop using heroin anytime he wants to. He just doesn't want to yet. Why would he want to give up something that makes him feel so good, so relaxed, so tuned-out? As Benjie sees it, there's nothing much to tune in for. School is a waste of time, and home life isn't much better. All Benjie wants is for someone to believe in him, for someone to believe that he's more than a thirteen-year-o
Smashed
Lisa Luedeke · 336 pages
Maine high school senior Katie Martin is set to win a field hockey scholarship until her life is derailed by drinking, a car accident, and an angry classmate.
Girl in Pieces, You'd Be Home Now, How to Make Friends with the Dark
Kathleen Glasgow · 1,296 pages
The River Is Waiting
Wally Lamb · 451 pages
Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness
Trainspotting
Irvine Welsh · 352 pages
Scottish writer Irvine Welsh's first novel, Trainspotting, is a collection of short-stories revolving around a group of friends, their drug use, and struggles in the city of Edinburgh.
A House Divided
Robert Whitlow · 456 pages
Lawyer Corbin Gage's problem with alcohol wreaks havoc on his practice and his family relationships, even as he takes on a high stakes case involving two boys who were exposed to dangerous chemicals, against a prominent fertilizer company.
Candy
Kevin Brooks · 368 pages
When Joe meets Candy, it seems like a regular boy-meets-girl scenario. They chat over coffee, she gives him her number, and he writes her a song. But then Joe is drawn into Candy's world --- a world of drugs, violence, and desperation. As the dark truth about Candy's life emerges, Joe finds himself facing real danger at every twist and turn. Soon Joe's conflicting emotions begin to mirror Candy's,