Lamar Public Library

"For Sarah Hepola, alcohol was "the gasoline of all adventure." Drinking felt like freedom, part of her birthright as a strong, enlightened twenty-first-century woman. But there was a price. She often blacked out, waking up with a blank space where four hours should be. Mornings became detective work on her own life: What did I say last night? Who was that guy? Where am I? Blackout is a memoir of unblinking honest and poignant, laugh-out-loud humor....

Estranged for decades after a turbulent 1969 summer spent with a free-spirited redhead, two brothers are forced by a shocking reminder to confront the past events that divided them.

"Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, living a quiet life away from neighbors' stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up during the Troubles. But underneath her seemingly predictable existence, she doesn't know where her father is, and every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella's grandmother dies, she comes to realize there may be more...

The novel starts off sweetly, with the smalltown antics of Carrie, a scrappy Scout-like eight-year-old who's always accompanied by her younger sister Emma. Carrie dreamily darts back and forth between her rough-and-tumble present (abusive stepfather, unloving mother) and the happy memories of her dead father, creating a bittersweet picture of her life in Toast, N.C., spiked with colorful Southern language and some feisty supporting characters.

Having suffered abuse and misfortune for much of her life, a young child searches for a better life and finally gets a break in the home of a loving woman with several foster children.

"Baseball all-star Cory Brand knows what it takes to win in the big leagues. But off the field, with memories of his past haunting him, his life is spiraling out of control. With an unexpected second chance, Cory finds himself on a powerful journey of transformation and redemption. Based on thousands of true stories, Home Run is a powerful reminder that with God, it's never too late-- Freedom is possible." -- Container.

An alcoholic and drug addict, 23 year-old James has two options: treatment or death. After waking up on a plane with a smashed up face and no memory of the past few weeks, he heads to rehab where he discovers much more than detox and therapy.

Wrestling with the disease of alcoholism for most of his life, Jack London tells all in his autobiography John Barleycorn. Beginning with a discussion of the prohibition movement and its effects, London explores the ways that alcohol affects daily life in the Victorian era. Because there were not many forms of affordable entertainment or reliable communication, bars were the perfect spot for social activity. People were able to sit and drink, enjoying...

A man who suffered horrific abuse as a child speaks of his adult life and how he learned to love, trust, and pursue his dreams.

"Timothy Warner, a PhD student who goes by the nickname "Moth," wakes up on his ninety-ninth day of sobriety with an intense craving for drink. He immediately calls his uncle Ed, a former alcoholic and now successful psychiatrist who has become Moth's mentor and father figure. Ed promises to meet him at an AA meeting later that day but never shows up. Moth bikes to his office only to discover a grisly scene: his uncle lying in a pool of blood, shot...