Books like The night of the gun by David Carr

A compelling biography of Susannah Cahalan's battle with encephalitis and the challenges of diagnosis and recovery.

Augusten Burroughs recounts his turbulent adolescence spent in a decaying Victorian home run by a psychiatrist, where ordinary rites of childhood give way to a surreal blend of family eccentricity, escape from school, and the early years of a future author.

James Frey's raw, first‑person memoir of addiction and recovery, offering an unflinching look at his struggle with opioids and the brutal path to sobriety.

After a career as a top New York ad copywriter, Augusten Burroughs must confront his own alcoholism while navigating the challenges of sobriety and a troubled relationship in this candid memoir.

The author grew up in Danvers, Massachusetts, a working-class, unforgiving town north of Boston where in the 17th century women were hanged as witches, in a trash-filled house on a dead-end road surrounded by a river and a salt marsh. Her mother, Kathi, a notorious local figure, was a drug addict and sometimes dealer whose life swung between welfare and riches. And yet she managed, despite the chaos she created, to instill in her daughter a love of stories. Kathi frequently kep her daughter home from school to watch such classics as the Godfather movies and everything by Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen. Despite the fact that there was not a book to be found in her household, Domenica developed a love of reading, which helped her believe that she could transcend this life of undying grudges, self-inflicted misfortune, and the crooked moral code that Kathi and her cohorts lived by. This is the story of the author's unconventional coming of age, a chronicle of a misfit '90s youth and the necessary and painful act of breaking away, and of overcoming her own addictions and demons in the process.

Charlie LeDuff returns to Detroit to investigate the city’s decline, drawing on his personal and journalistic perspective to explore its social and economic collapse.

Neil White, once a wealthy journalist, finds himself jailed in Carville, Louisiana—a secluded leprosy colony—where he learns the true value of friendship, faith, and simplicity while living among former prisoners and patients.

A gripping biography that examines the lives of European serial murderers, the brutal violence they inflicted on prostitutes, and the trials and journalistic investigations that followed.

When Caitlin's older sister leaves home, the 16‑year‑old feels compelled to change her life, leading her into a dark, turbulent romance with a brilliant yet dangerous boy who threatens her sense of self.