1. Drinking: A Love Story - Caroline Knapp
An interesting story because it details the life of a functional alcoholic who maintained a successful career for many years despite being as drunk as the proverbial skunk. Caroline Knapp is devastatingly open about her 'love affair' with alcohol. She started drinking at fourteen, drank away her college years at a prestigious Ivy League university, drank constantly in her professional career as an award winning journalist. However, there was a dichotomy between the way she appeared to others - in control, professional and successful - and how she felt inside - a nervous wreck, incompetent and useless. Eventually a string of personal calamities forces our narrator to examine how alcohol is ruining her life and how she must learn to live without this particular love affair between alcohol and herself blighting her life. Knapp's book is crucial in proving that the stereotypical image of an alcoholic - someone who is down and out - is mendacious. Lots of alcoholics have very prominent roles in society, and Knapp was one of them. She speaks with total honesty about her relationship with alcohol and the negative impacts it had on her life even though she couldn't tear herself away from it. She writes with considerable clarity and depth about the psyche of the addicted, however, she doesn't really take personal responsibility for her drinking, blaming it mainly on the actions of the male gender. Despite this flaw, the book is utterly compelling and to be fair to Knapp, it is full of rich insights and stunning vignettes that will keep you spellbound.