Six top books about addiction

Leslie Jamison is the author of the essay collection The Empathy Exams, a New York Times bestseller, and the novel The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Her latest book is The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath.

At The Week, Jamison tagged six favorite books about addiction. One title on the list:

Good Morning, Midnight by Jean Rhys (1939).

How can a book so unapologetically bleak also be so deeply compelling? With sentences like razors, Rhys makes the story of an alcoholic drinking herself to the brink of death impossible to turn away from. It's a gripping story that feels simultaneously sadistic and illuminating.

Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue