Books about drugs..

[roxy00786]

I would love to have some suggestions on reading for either:
1. books about people on drugs
2. books written by people on drugs
or etc..

I am reading Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis, and I find it fascinating to read about the drug aspect to his life.

So, I want to progress with this theme. Any suggestions?

[OrphanPip]

Burrough's Naked Lunch is quite influenced by his experiences on drugs.

[manolia]

And "Junky" by the same author :nod:

[Rachel1965]

Hi I remember reading many years ago a book called "Christiana F" its about a young girl in Germanys struggle with heroin addiction.
think it was made into a very hard hitting film indeed. Hope that helps you cant think of anymore unless you class Sherlock Holmes as a drug addict, but he was
yours
Rachel

[vonsvin]

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater – Thomas De Quincy
Requiem for a Dream - Hubert Selby Jr.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson
A Scanner Darkly – Philip K. Dick
Revolt of the Cockroach People - Oscar Zeta Acosta

[pagebypage]

The Electric Kool-aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe is a classic.

Kerouac mentions drugs quite a bit (as well as being quite fried) so you might try On the Road.

[Eryk]

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. A lot about addiction and AA.

[Paulclem]

Carlos Castenada wrote books about peyote and a native shaman. They werer presented as autobiographical, but there has been some doubt thrown on this.

Aldous Huxley wrote about drugs in The Doors of Perception.

[roxy00786]

Wowwee, thanks!

My list of books to read has increased dramatically.

[Vladimir777]

I know when I was into drugs I would always read books like Scar Tissue just for the drugs, if I couldn't get any at that point and was craving. Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx is alright if you are into the rock star bios. Slash has a book too. I'm not sure if I'd read these for their literary value (which probably isn't as high as the Kiedis book), but they have plenty of coke and heroin in them, which is what I was itchin' for.

[mal4mac]

Try Orlando by Woolf, it's about the drug called reading :)

[Veva]

Try Orlando by Woolf, it's about the drug called reading :)

I read this one.... but I think that it is mediocre... pity:cold:

But I would go in for Trainspotting - Irvine Welsh, if you have no problems with reading Scottish dialect... :banana:

[Barbarous]

I liked Orlando a lot, not my favorite piece by Woolf, but up there!

check out The Recognitions by William Gaddis, though it's not totally about drug use, it touches upon it. Plus it's a great piece of 20th century prose.

[hellsapoppin]

Confessions of an English Opium-Eater – Thomas De Quincy


CLASSIC!!!

[hellsapoppin]

Back in the 60s Piri Thomas's Down These Mean Streets were extremely popular for its vivid portrayal of life in a NYC ghetto and the horror of drug addiction. It's been largely forgotten in recent years.

[hellsapoppin]

Ah! I just remembered another one from the 60s:

Manchild In The Promised Land by Claude Brown.

[hellsapoppin]

One last thing: I remembered many moons ago reading about Toulousse-Latrec and his circle of French intellectuals with their predilection for absinthe. His circle may have included Oscar Wilde and other intellectuals who lived in exile. I believe that such a proclivity also existed during the 1920s in Paris as the ''Lost Generation'' succumbed to that evil potable.



http://bullmurph.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/absinthe_greenfairy_oliva.jpg

[Night_Lamp]

Of course you need to include some Crowley:

The Green Goddess - about absinthe

Diary of a Drug Fiend -

about a couple who spend their honeymoon on a coke and heroin binge and when they run out, kick the habit with black magic. Pretty shocking for 1923.

[vonsvin]

On Wine and Hashish - Charles Baudelaire

[breathtest]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Hunter S. Thompson


I was going to suggest this, too. Very vivid and detailed and crazy.

[Phaedra's Love]

Surprised no one mentioned Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Was very comprehensive and difficult to tackle at first, but after I lost my copy I watched the film 10 times, then found it in a bookstore and read it again for the first time in 4 years. Completely blew me away. Once you can digest the whole thing, it's amazing.

A little synopsis though it's super-famous and you may be familiar with it: the plot is mainly about Mark Renton, a young Scottish guy doused in heroin with his bunch of junky/psychotic/criminal friends. Along with that, you get about four more different spotlights on other minor characters, and I think there's five or six changes in perspective. One minute it's Mark's narration, then it's Spud's. Then focus on Mark's cousin. & on...

The film adaptation is fantastic despite the fact that it cuts out half the content. I highly recommend the book & film to anyone.