5. More Now Again - Elizabeth Wurtzel
Famous for her über misery fest memoir Prozac Nation, which struck a chord with depressive Generation X'ers worldwide, Elizabeth Wurtzel tackles the subject of her consequent decline into Ritalin and cocaine dependence whilst she was writing her second book entitled Bitch. Of course Wurtzel is self obsessed, narcissistic and totally focused on herself and her boring life (she does a lot of pontificating on what cereal to eat and what TV programmes to watch) but she is quite unique in the scope of her addiction - ritalin - so the book is worth reading for that aspect. It goes to show that fame and fortune do not make you happy or change your inner core. While Wurtzel was an internationally acclaimed writer and experienced much success, she was still depressed and hated herself and her life. She viewed herself as a colossal failure who could not sustain a paid job or a relationship. Ritalin filled the void and the memoir is a timely one for pointing out the dangers of amphetamine based prescription drugs. Wurtzel fans will lap this one up but others - especially addicts both active and recovering - may find it lacks depth in its tackling of addiction. Often accused of self indulgent whining and shameless exhibitionism, Wurtzel can, nevertheless, write in a spell binding manner. We follow her into rehab, numerous fallings of the wagon and an abortion. She plunges to the depths yet she is very resilient and admits to her own faults by the very act of writing about them. A compelling account of her addiction, brought to life by her sparkling wordsmithery, you will veer between wanting to hit her and wanting to hug her.