Las Animas - Bent County Library District

"Patrick J. Kennedy, the former congressman and youngest child of Senator Ted Kennedy, details his personal and political battle with mental illness and addiction, exploring mental health care's history in the country alongside his and every family's private struggles. On May 5, 2006, the New York Times ran two stories, 'Patrick Kennedy Crashes Car into Capitol Barrier' and then, several hours later, 'Patrick Kennedy Says He'll Seek Help for Addiction.'...

A confessional account of the author's struggles with addiction traces his rise from a crack house regular to a columnist for "The New York Times," describing his experiences with rehabilitation, cancer, and single parenthood.

Told in essays and graphic-narrative shorts, this memoir illustrates the author's struggles with addiction and motherhood and her ongoing efforts to reconcile the two, capturing the desire to look hopefully forward, while acknowledging the darkness of the past.

Verghese's marriage is unraveling. He relocates to El Paso, Texas, hoping to make a fresh start as a staff member at the county hospital. He meets David, a medical student and former tennis pro, and their matches reawaken Verghese's passion for the game. As David's life takes some disturbing turns, Verghese finds himself forced to choose between his role as friend and that of authority figure.

"Corrections in Ink is an electric and unforgettable memoir about a young woman's journey-from the ice rink, to addiction and a prison sentence, to the newsroom-emerging with a fierce determination to expose the broken system she experienced. An elite, competitive figure skater growing up, Keri Blakinger poured herself into the sport, even competing at nationals. But when her skating partnership ended abruptly, her world shattered. With all the intensity...

"When he was two years old, Hunter Biden was badly injured in a car accident that killed his mother and baby sister. In 2015, he suffered the devastating loss of his beloved big brother, Beau, who died of brain cancer at the age of forty-six. These hardships were compounded by the collapse of his marriage and a years-long battle with drug and alcohol addiction. In Beautiful Things, Hunter recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous...

A former stand-up comic and prolific online writer chronicles her twenty-year battle with sex, drug, and alcohol addiction, and what happened when she finally emerged on the other side.

"Dave Kindred's extraordinary investigation of the death of his grandson yields a powerful memoir of addiction, grief, and the stories we choose to tell our families and ourselves. Jared Kindred left his home and family at the age of eighteen, choosing a life of riding train cars and making friends on the street. He was an addict for most of his short life, drinking far too much and lying about it he was ultimately killed by an overdose. Yet he inspired...

"Eilene Zimmerman's ex-husband, Peter, had it all: He was a partner at a prestigious law firm, lived in a $2 million house by the beach, and had two great kids. Maintaining a friendly relationship, Eilene and Peter talked and saw each other frequently. But a few years after their divorce she started noticing erratic behavior: absenteeism, weight loss, constant exhaustion and sickness. Peter explained it away as stress from the pressures of his job,...

"Stranded in a volatile, ever-shifting family, saddled with a mercurial mother mired in crack addiction, and demeaned daily for his perceived weakness, Joseph Earl Thomas was under constant threat. Roaches fell from the ceiling, colonizing bowls of noodles and cereal boxes. Fists and palms pounded down at school and at home, leaving welts that ached long after they disappeared. An inescapable hunger gnawed at his frequently empty stomach, and requests...