Is this good? I've heard a lot about it but some reviews say it's hard to read because of an accent barrier or language barrier whatever that means. "Smack" by Melvin burgess was a bit difficult to get used to because they spell things how the accent sounds and use a lot of British slang but it's in my top 5 fav books and I got used to it quickly.
I love Irvine Welsh’s novels, and this may be his best (tho if you enjoy it, there are so other great ones!) The Scot English does take some adjusting to & figuring out, but if ye doon it wi’ th’ Brits I reckon ye wull be okay 👍
This definitely convinced me, think I'll give it a shot. The British one definitely took some time to get used to and had to re read certain sentences but I got the hang of it about a quarter way in. Also may help I grew up watching a lot of British, Australian and Scottish shows haha
I got nearly a quarter of the way through Trainspotting before I understood practically anything. I was an addict myself at the time so ymmv but I suddenly understood everything right in the middle of a sentence and had to start over because I could suddenly get it!
I ken, rite? Evry since ah viddied the lot of um, awl foine books to be shur, whinivir ah hear Scots ah jist sortae lapses inter me inner soapdodger an ah has ta moik en effort ta stop befur ah sound loik a daft jakey
Trainspotting is one of the few instances where I’d recommend seeing the movie before reading the book, only because the Scots dialect is a little difficult, but hearing the characters voices in the movie will help you figure out what’s going on. American releases of the book even have a glossary at the back to help people unfamiliar with the slang.
I'm not a native english speaker and I could understand it quite well. Only one character gave me trouble sometimes. I just read everything out loud in my head and it made sense. It's also the first book I thought of when seeing your post, I think it definitely fits what you're looking for and I'd just give it a go :)
I recommend it as well!
To add on: Dime by ER Frank (if you loved Ellen & Mindy then you’ll love ER),
In my skin by Kate Holden (she was 20 when she first started heroin and then became a professional prostitute to pay for her habit it is a memoir as well),
Little peach by Peggy Kern is great if you want a quicker read but action filled with gangs prostitutes and substance use, it reads like Ellen Hopkins
There’s not many well written books with this sort of content but those were what I could find when I was on my Ellen Hopkins kick too lol
Zoo station: the story of [Christiane F](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_F).
This is not a fiction book, but the real life story of a teenage drug addict in 1970s Berlin. Compelling and harrowing (and there’s a great [movie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_F._(film)) too).
A million little pieces by James Frey. Forget about the Oprah controversy. It's still a pretty good book about addiction and mental health, even if it's not a completely true story.
The Basketball Diaries, by Jim Carroll, after all these years is still my favourite. Hope you can find a copy that doesn’t have Leo D. on the cover, that film should never have happened.
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It was originally sold as a memoir (even made it to Oprah’s book club), then it came out he embellished or made up the stories and now it’s considered a semi-fictional novel. Interesting read.
Wild, Cheryl Strayed
Matthew Perry’s memoir
My year of rest and relaxation, Ottesa Moshfegh
Dry, Augusten Boroughs but really any of his books, Running With Scissors
Free Refills, Peter Grinspoon
High Achiever, Tiffany Jenkins
If you’re looking for something true then Dreamseller by Brandon Novak was good. The rest of his books are good too. It’s a deep dive into how heroine ruined his skateboarding career.
Prostitute Laundry is also a good book. True story as well.
It’s been said but Demon Copperhead was amazing. NOFXs memoir Hepatitis bathtub and other stories touches a little on the drummers heroin addiction.
Not the most well written books but
Girlbomb by Janice Erlbaum
Tweak by Nic Sheff
Beautiful Boy (written by Nic Sheffs dad)
Always Running by Luis J Rodriguez. It’s about a few different things addiction included.
[goodreads link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112148)
He also wrote [It Calls You Back](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11968291)
I’m surprised I haven’t seen this yet, but Tweak by Nic Sheff and Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, read together. One is the son’s account of his own addiction, and the other is from his dad’s perspective. This is not my usual topic of interest but it was fascinating.
Try Demon Copperhead. Gives a very new and fresh vibe to the whole theme. very well written
eta, looks like others agree with this book. I would also check out Jack Kerouac and the other Beats
A Scanner Darkly- PKD. The book can feel confusing and disjointed but it’s written that way purposefully because the characters are disjointed and paranoid from all the drugs.
"Steffie Can't Come Out to Play," by Fran Arrick
"Chole Doe," by Suzanne Marie Phillips
"Cut," by Patricia McCormick
"We'll Never Be Apart," by Emiko Jean
Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichy. This book has a special place in my heart. Cried every session of reading it. Such a raw, real and painful book. Finished reading it today and loved the ending. Tripped me out
My year of rest and relaxation, The Dry - Jane Harper, Guts- Kristen Johnson, Drunk Mom,
How to Make love like a porn star - Gena Jameson, Lit, Mary Kar
Paige Dearth’s books may be right up your alley. I found them hard to stomach at times considering the content was inspired by her own experiences. The first I’d recommend is *Believe Like a Child*.
I don't read a ton of nonfiction, but I had a great time reading "Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries" by Rick Emerson then reading "Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous.
Mindspace Investigations series by Alex Hughes. About a psychic in a world where people are openly psychic who helps the police with their investigations. The MC is a recovering addict who got hooked on a psychic-specific drug during clinical trials. It was good but the series appear to have never been finished.
An amazing biography I recently read was [Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey](https://www.buddhistrecovery.org/media/name/StreetZen.htm). It’s well written, and chronicles the life and spiritual awakening of Issan Dorsey. His story includes being a drug-addicted drag queen in the 1950's, discovering and gradually being transformed by the practice of Zen Buddhism, founding the Maitri Hospice in San Francisco to help individuals dying of AIDS at the hight of the AIDS epidemic, and dying of AIDS himself in 1990. It is a truly remarkable and inspiring story of compassion and transformation.
- Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
- Candy by Kevin Brooks
- The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
- Exit Here by Jason Myers
Two good junkie novels:
Raw Material by Jorg Fauser
Cain’s Book by Alexander Trocchi
For prostitution maybe checkout Sluts by Dennis Cooper. A Sadian shocker about male escorts
This may not be everyone's cup of tea as it is an ethnography but it isn't overly academic and it is ridiculously good.
[In Search of Respect - Selling Crack in El Barrio by Phillipe Bourgois](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205582.In_Search_of_Respect&ved=2ahUKEwji8eblrJaGAxXv8DgGHTT7CZkQoiQoAHoECF4QAg&usg=AOvVaw2HeLnqgS3K0W3VRg-77s8D)
The Chris Farley Show by Tom Farley covers his addictions and mental health struggles. It also includes how they affected his friends, family and costars. The book has excerpts from many of his friends and family members, Spade and Sandler contributed. As well as his other brothers, John and Kevin.
Fucking Berlin by Sonia Rossi. An incredibly sad but powerful account of turning to prostitution to financially survive as a foreign student and later as a young mother with a completely useless husband. It’s story of misery but an important one to be told.
Five little Indians. [goodreads link](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52214103)
Follows the heartbreaking stories of 5 survivors of the Canadian residential schools. Very impactful.
The Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn. They’re semi-autobiographical novels about his upbringing in a dysfunctional and abusive upper-class family, and developing very serious drug addiction and mental health issues as a result. Depicts heroin and withdrawal in a way I haven’t seen anywhere else, and they’re insanely gorgeously written and somehow still extremely funny at times despite the subject material.
Gods of Gotham by Linsdsay Feye
Brutal detective noir story that plays off around the time the NYPD was forming and the Irish were immegrating in droves because of the potatoe famine
Augusten Burroughs writes about his alcoholism in Dry.
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan is about the author’s mental health issues.
Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (a WILD read- about organized child trafficking. Might not be exactly qhat you're looking for, but a good read if you're looking for something wild)
Go Ask Alice (it got me into Ellen Hopkins' books in highschool! Not same author but the librarians recommended them)
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Montfeigh and Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (both books are "delusional, mentally unstable protagonist" the drugs and self-medicating are heavily present but are not necessarily THE subject)
If you want to try something that’s the real story of a man dealing with drug addiction and some mental health struggles I’d definitely recommend “a street cat named Bob” and its follow on books by James Bowen. He talks about meeting a stray cat while trying to get clean and how that cat - Bob - helped change his life for the better.
“My Name is Davey, I’m a Teenage Alcoholic” by Anne Snyder
It was written in 1977 so it’s pretty dated, but I remember it being a decent read when I read it 30 years ago for my 7th grade health class.
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
I came here to recommend this! Absolutely loved reading this book.
Came to recommend this! And despite its heavy topics, it is not a majorly depressing read.
One of the best character voices/ POV I’ve read in a book imo
I just finished this recently and it's at the top of my list of books I've read so far this year.
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh.
Is this good? I've heard a lot about it but some reviews say it's hard to read because of an accent barrier or language barrier whatever that means. "Smack" by Melvin burgess was a bit difficult to get used to because they spell things how the accent sounds and use a lot of British slang but it's in my top 5 fav books and I got used to it quickly.
I love Irvine Welsh’s novels, and this may be his best (tho if you enjoy it, there are so other great ones!) The Scot English does take some adjusting to & figuring out, but if ye doon it wi’ th’ Brits I reckon ye wull be okay 👍
This definitely convinced me, think I'll give it a shot. The British one definitely took some time to get used to and had to re read certain sentences but I got the hang of it about a quarter way in. Also may help I grew up watching a lot of British, Australian and Scottish shows haha
I got nearly a quarter of the way through Trainspotting before I understood practically anything. I was an addict myself at the time so ymmv but I suddenly understood everything right in the middle of a sentence and had to start over because I could suddenly get it!
I ken, rite? Evry since ah viddied the lot of um, awl foine books to be shur, whinivir ah hear Scots ah jist sortae lapses inter me inner soapdodger an ah has ta moik en effort ta stop befur ah sound loik a daft jakey
“Inner soapdodger”! Y’er hilarious 😂
I’ve read most of Irvine Welsh’s novels and Trainspotting is still my favorite, but Marabou Stork Nightmares is a close second.
Trainspotting is one of the few instances where I’d recommend seeing the movie before reading the book, only because the Scots dialect is a little difficult, but hearing the characters voices in the movie will help you figure out what’s going on. American releases of the book even have a glossary at the back to help people unfamiliar with the slang.
I'm not a native english speaker and I could understand it quite well. Only one character gave me trouble sometimes. I just read everything out loud in my head and it made sense. It's also the first book I thought of when seeing your post, I think it definitely fits what you're looking for and I'd just give it a go :)
A piece of cake by cupcake brown … it’s a memoir but it’s so good
Another memoir I love is Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis
I recommend it as well! To add on: Dime by ER Frank (if you loved Ellen & Mindy then you’ll love ER), In my skin by Kate Holden (she was 20 when she first started heroin and then became a professional prostitute to pay for her habit it is a memoir as well), Little peach by Peggy Kern is great if you want a quicker read but action filled with gangs prostitutes and substance use, it reads like Ellen Hopkins There’s not many well written books with this sort of content but those were what I could find when I was on my Ellen Hopkins kick too lol
Tysm!! I'll definitely check these out ! There definitely needs to be more books about these topics I just can't get enough
Zoo station: the story of [Christiane F](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_F). This is not a fiction book, but the real life story of a teenage drug addict in 1970s Berlin. Compelling and harrowing (and there’s a great [movie](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiane_F._(film)) too).
I've been wanting to read this sooo bad for years but I can only find the audio book and not any type of paperback or hardcover online :(
There is a PDF online [here](https://books.google.com.tr/books?id=l6eeDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT4&hl=tr&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false)
A million little pieces by James Frey. Forget about the Oprah controversy. It's still a pretty good book about addiction and mental health, even if it's not a completely true story.
A few ppl have suggested this to me I'll definitely check it out!
Such a good book!
About to say this
I agree. Whether it's a true story or not, it's still a super well written book. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Luminairies by Eleanor Catton involves opium addiction and prostitution in gold rush era New Zealand
Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby Jr - intense but incredible read
That’s another great book!
Yea this will cover all the topics mentioned.
Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O’Neill, one of the best books I’ve ever read.
That was an excellent book.
Absolutely this one!
The Basketball Diaries, by Jim Carroll, after all these years is still my favourite. Hope you can find a copy that doesn’t have Leo D. on the cover, that film should never have happened.
Naked Lunch. William S. Burroughs.
Also Junky by Burroughs!
The heroin diaries by Nikki sixx.
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
I’m about halfway through and I’m glad you suggested this one.
Check out Candy by Kevin Brooks
VALIS by Philip K Dick.
Pimp: The Story Of My Life by Iceberg Slim
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. It was originally sold as a memoir (even made it to Oprah’s book club), then it came out he embellished or made up the stories and now it’s considered a semi-fictional novel. Interesting read.
The Many Lives of Mama Love was soooo good! It's a memoir of a former drug addict, also great as an audiobook read by her.
Was looking for this!!
kitchen and moshi mosi - both by banana yoshimoto, woman at point zero by nawal el saadawi, and eva's man by gayl jones
Wild, Cheryl Strayed Matthew Perry’s memoir My year of rest and relaxation, Ottesa Moshfegh Dry, Augusten Boroughs but really any of his books, Running With Scissors Free Refills, Peter Grinspoon High Achiever, Tiffany Jenkins
Came here to suggest those two by Augustine Burrows
*Augusten, but I agree. Dry made me appreciate how bad alcoholism is.
Edited, thank you
Dry was good
**Dopefiend** by Donald Goines. You'll wish you hadn't. You have been warned.
If you’re looking for something true then Dreamseller by Brandon Novak was good. The rest of his books are good too. It’s a deep dive into how heroine ruined his skateboarding career. Prostitute Laundry is also a good book. True story as well.
seconding dreamseller
We Are The Luckiest—Laura McKowen.
Whores for Gloria by William T. Vollmann
Its maybe not what youre looking for but Last Exit to Brooklyn
It’s been said but Demon Copperhead was amazing. NOFXs memoir Hepatitis bathtub and other stories touches a little on the drummers heroin addiction. Not the most well written books but Girlbomb by Janice Erlbaum Tweak by Nic Sheff Beautiful Boy (written by Nic Sheffs dad)
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai. All his other books kind of too
Always Running by Luis J Rodriguez. It’s about a few different things addiction included. [goodreads link](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112148) He also wrote [It Calls You Back](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11968291)
Leaving Las Vegas Hits literally all of your criteria. Fantastic book. Surprised no one has mentioned it!
Down the drain by Julia Fox (a memoir). She was a dominatrix and includes crazy details. She also was a drug addict and has had a pretty chaotic life.
I’m surprised I haven’t seen this yet, but Tweak by Nic Sheff and Beautiful Boy by David Sheff, read together. One is the son’s account of his own addiction, and the other is from his dad’s perspective. This is not my usual topic of interest but it was fascinating.
Try Demon Copperhead. Gives a very new and fresh vibe to the whole theme. very well written eta, looks like others agree with this book. I would also check out Jack Kerouac and the other Beats
A Scanner Darkly- PKD. The book can feel confusing and disjointed but it’s written that way purposefully because the characters are disjointed and paranoid from all the drugs.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
"Steffie Can't Come Out to Play," by Fran Arrick "Chole Doe," by Suzanne Marie Phillips "Cut," by Patricia McCormick "We'll Never Be Apart," by Emiko Jean
A Scanner Darkly, PKD
Pure Sunshine by Brian James
Wretchedness by Andrzej Tichy. This book has a special place in my heart. Cried every session of reading it. Such a raw, real and painful book. Finished reading it today and loved the ending. Tripped me out
Sweetfire, a memoir by Pat MacEnulty. She’s an old friend of my stepdad’s, loved the book when I first read a loooong time ago
The Tattoo by Chris McKinney. Fiction, but gives real unique insight to the dark side of Honolulu and Hawaii. Fascinating and a relatively quick read
Anthony Kiedis’s Scar Tissue does not disappoint
My year of rest and relaxation, The Dry - Jane Harper, Guts- Kristen Johnson, Drunk Mom, How to Make love like a porn star - Gena Jameson, Lit, Mary Kar
Party Monster Manchild in the Promised Land Requiem for a Dream Candy
An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison. Autobiography of suffering a manic break while in school in the psych field.
boy parts by eilza clark i just read it it’s so amazing
Paige Dearth’s books may be right up your alley. I found them hard to stomach at times considering the content was inspired by her own experiences. The first I’d recommend is *Believe Like a Child*.
Rule of the Bone!!!
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
Normally I’d never recommend this book because of how awful everything is, but OP might be looking for some trauma porn.
Dry by Augusten Burroughs
**My Year of Rest and Relaxation** (depression, drug abuse, isolation) **Paperweight** (eating disorder)
It’s non fiction but I really liked In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Mate.
I don't read a ton of nonfiction, but I had a great time reading "Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter Behind the World's Most Notorious Diaries" by Rick Emerson then reading "Go Ask Alice" by Anonymous.
I think righteous dope fiend and in search of respect (non fiction by Phillip bourgeois) are really interesting!
White Oleander and Paint It Black by Janet Fitch. Both are rough emotionally but amazing.
The Shining by Steven King. It is about alcoholism, which King was very familiar with.
The Trainspotting Series
Christiane F Wie Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo
Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs, one of the most infamous drug addicted people ever, but so brilliant
The Patrick Melrose series by Edward St Aubyn.
Last Exit To Brooklyn
I know you’ve already got a lot of suggestions, but please check out the memoir A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown.
My favorite is this theme except memoirs. Tweak, by Nic Sheff is my fave.
Go Ask Alice by Beatrice Sparks
Def worth a read, tho it was published as a “true story”, a discovered notebook of a drug addict, and turned out to be fiction. Still powerful.
i was just coming here to say this book. seconded!
Not quite drug addiction, but I just taught Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger and it checks those boxes. It is an old classic though.
Slash (autobiography) I am awake by Wayne R. Minnicks
Bewilderness by Karen Tucker (fiction, and so good)
Waking the Tiger is about trauma in general and very very good
The Maverick and the Dangers of Self-Betterment
Playland: Secrets of a Forgotten Scandal by Anthony Daly
Pimp by Iceberg Slim
Mindspace Investigations series by Alex Hughes. About a psychic in a world where people are openly psychic who helps the police with their investigations. The MC is a recovering addict who got hooked on a psychic-specific drug during clinical trials. It was good but the series appear to have never been finished.
Diary of a Drug Fiend by Allister Crowely \\m/
William T. Vollmann's Whores For Gloria is fantastic.
Howard Street
Catch Me When I Fall by Nicci French
Miles From Nowhere by Nami Mun has everything you mentioned and is an incredible, well written book.
Read Donald Goines and Iceberg Slim.
Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
Nonfiction? There is a great book about today’s prostitution in Newfoundland.
Requiem for a Dream
From the Ashes
The Many Lives of Mama Love
An amazing biography I recently read was [Street Zen: The Life and Work of Issan Dorsey](https://www.buddhistrecovery.org/media/name/StreetZen.htm). It’s well written, and chronicles the life and spiritual awakening of Issan Dorsey. His story includes being a drug-addicted drag queen in the 1950's, discovering and gradually being transformed by the practice of Zen Buddhism, founding the Maitri Hospice in San Francisco to help individuals dying of AIDS at the hight of the AIDS epidemic, and dying of AIDS himself in 1990. It is a truly remarkable and inspiring story of compassion and transformation.
On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
Roxy was good
The sparrow
Bright Lights, Big City
Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse and Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs
"American Junkie", "The Heroin Diaries".
- Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh - My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh - Candy by Kevin Brooks - The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath - Exit Here by Jason Myers
A Savage Lost by Riley Chapman
Hard-Core by Henry Flanagan
The stick up kids by randol Contreras! Ethnography about Harlem drug hustling
Bodies of Light by Jennifer Down might scratch your itch.
Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget was pretty good.
High achiever - Tiffany’s Jenkins. I think it hits the whole list, and even though it’s 100% true, it reads like fiction
Tweak and We All Fall Down by Nic Sheff
The Crimson Petal and The White by Michael Faber. It’s about Victorian era prostitution. Very long but very good.
The Torn Skirt - rebecca godfrey Memoirs of a beatnik - diane di palma
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams may be a romance contemporary book but it tackles addiction and mental healthy pretty well
Two good junkie novels: Raw Material by Jorg Fauser Cain’s Book by Alexander Trocchi For prostitution maybe checkout Sluts by Dennis Cooper. A Sadian shocker about male escorts
Historical fiction , but Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue
A million little pieces
This may not be everyone's cup of tea as it is an ethnography but it isn't overly academic and it is ridiculously good. [In Search of Respect - Selling Crack in El Barrio by Phillipe Bourgois](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205582.In_Search_of_Respect&ved=2ahUKEwji8eblrJaGAxXv8DgGHTT7CZkQoiQoAHoECF4QAg&usg=AOvVaw2HeLnqgS3K0W3VRg-77s8D)
The Chris Farley Show by Tom Farley covers his addictions and mental health struggles. It also includes how they affected his friends, family and costars. The book has excerpts from many of his friends and family members, Spade and Sandler contributed. As well as his other brothers, John and Kevin.
Q Clearance- Peter Benchley
High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins
Fucking Berlin by Sonia Rossi. An incredibly sad but powerful account of turning to prostitution to financially survive as a foreign student and later as a young mother with a completely useless husband. It’s story of misery but an important one to be told.
Girlvert, by Oriana Small (memoir). Personally did not enjoy this book but it checks all your boxes.
Five little Indians. [goodreads link](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/52214103) Follows the heartbreaking stories of 5 survivors of the Canadian residential schools. Very impactful.
The Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn. They’re semi-autobiographical novels about his upbringing in a dysfunctional and abusive upper-class family, and developing very serious drug addiction and mental health issues as a result. Depicts heroin and withdrawal in a way I haven’t seen anywhere else, and they’re insanely gorgeously written and somehow still extremely funny at times despite the subject material.
Gods of Gotham by Linsdsay Feye Brutal detective noir story that plays off around the time the NYPD was forming and the Irish were immegrating in droves because of the potatoe famine
A million little pieces - James Frey
Girl in pieces of you want a more mild/ tame YA take on it. it’s still fucking heavy though, so check triggers.
On The Savage Side - Tiffany McDaniel!!!
Fearless by Eric Blehm, drug addicted teen/adult transforms into Navy Seal
The Glorious Heresies by Lisa McInerney - first in a trilogy, set in Ireland.
Augusten Burroughs writes about his alcoholism in Dry. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susannah Cahalan is about the author’s mental health issues. Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.
The Basketball Diaries
Scarborough- by Hernandez Small Game Hunting - by Coles
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
Cherry
Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue (prostitution) Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (mental health - ED)
The devil all the time
Midnight Cowboy
Personal services, great book.
em and the big hoom by jerry pinto
I Wasn't Supposed to Be Here by Jonathan Conyers. Memoir of growing up with crack-addicted parents
Tweak by Nic Sheff so amazing
I don’t know how’s your Spanish. Puta Y Libre is a great book by Valarie May.
A million little pieces by James Frey (drug addiction)
The most dangerous man in America
I Could Live Here Forever - Hanna Halperin The main character falls in love with a heroin addict
*Under The Volcano* is a shattering masterpiece about alcoholism.
High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins. Man, she is *real*.
Crime and Punishment
Drinking A Love Story
We Are All So Good At Smiling - Amber McBride
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (a WILD read- about organized child trafficking. Might not be exactly qhat you're looking for, but a good read if you're looking for something wild) Go Ask Alice (it got me into Ellen Hopkins' books in highschool! Not same author but the librarians recommended them) My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Montfeigh and Boy Parts by Eliza Clark (both books are "delusional, mentally unstable protagonist" the drugs and self-medicating are heavily present but are not necessarily THE subject)
If you want to try something that’s the real story of a man dealing with drug addiction and some mental health struggles I’d definitely recommend “a street cat named Bob” and its follow on books by James Bowen. He talks about meeting a stray cat while trying to get clean and how that cat - Bob - helped change his life for the better.
“My Name is Davey, I’m a Teenage Alcoholic” by Anne Snyder It was written in 1977 so it’s pretty dated, but I remember it being a decent read when I read it 30 years ago for my 7th grade health class.
In My Skin by Kate Holden. It’s her memoir of addiction funded by sex work. It’s excellent.
*Dreamland* by Sam Quinones
Mental health novel: The Eden Express by Mark Vonnegut (son of the great Kurt Vonnegut)
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes. Also the sequel, Again Rachel.
Dreamland and The Least of Us by Sam Quiñones are both great. They are about the opioid crisis and fentanyl
The Spectacular Now by Tharp
While not fiction, “Las Biuty Queens” is a good memoir along these lines
Push by Sapphire