Here are 100 books that Like a Rolling Stone fans have personally recommended if you like
Like a Rolling Stone.
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For years, I was the guy who loved a party and never knew when to stop. What started as having fun with my mates eventually became an addiction I couldn’t control. After a near-fatal seizure in 2023, I finally got sober and began the long process of understanding my addiction and rebuilding my life. Since then, I’ve become passionate about showing people that there’s a better life waiting for them on the other side of addiction. These books resonated with different parts of my own journey, from understanding how to change the habits that were destroying me to genuinely enjoying being sober. I hope they help others see that there’s life after addiction too.
I connected with Matthew McConaughey’s way of looking at the shit life throws at you.
He says we should look at what the bad moments are trying to teach us and how even the red lights can eventually lead somewhere worthwhile. That resonated with me because some of the darkest moments in my life ended up forcing me to change in ways I never would have when things were comfortable.
Greenlights reminded me that you can’t always control what happens to you, but you can control what you do with it, and sometimes the worst experiences can become the ones you grow from most.
From the Academy Award (R)-winning actor, an unconventional memoir filled with raucous stories, outlaw wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.
I've been in this life for fifty years, been trying to work out its riddle for forty-two, and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last thirty-five. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel, and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less.…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
I started reading and listening to memoirs in preparation for writing my own, and they inspired me to be honest and vulnerable about my story in ways that helped me overcome sexual shame. I lived a fascinating lifestyle as a sugar daddy for a few years, but talking about it was scary as hell. Reading other men who admitted their fears and failings gave me the courage to be radically honest and lay it all out there. Writing the book was cathartic in ways decades of therapy failed!
I read Matthew Perry’s memoir only a month before his tragic death and was so moved by his honesty and vulnerability to every personal fear and failure.
I imagine reading it now would be a little more difficult, but it still stands as a powerful look inward at ambition, addiction, and fear of failure.
INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
The BELOVED STAR OF FRIENDS takes us behind the scenes of the hit sitcom and his struggles with addiction in this “CANDID, DARKLY FUNNY...POIGNANT” memoir (The New York Times)
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK by Time, Associated Press, Goodreads, USA Today, and more!
“Hi, my name is Matthew, although you may know me by another name. My friends call me Matty.”
So begins the riveting story of acclaimed actor Matthew Perry, taking us along on his journey from childhood ambition to fame to addiction and recovery in the aftermath of a life-threatening…
I started reading and listening to memoirs in preparation for writing my own, and they inspired me to be honest and vulnerable about my story in ways that helped me overcome sexual shame. I lived a fascinating lifestyle as a sugar daddy for a few years, but talking about it was scary as hell. Reading other men who admitted their fears and failings gave me the courage to be radically honest and lay it all out there. Writing the book was cathartic in ways decades of therapy failed!
What a shame Will’s fascinating and vulnerable reflections on the demons on his back have been disgraced by his famous slap.
But once you read (or even better listen) to him, you’ll understand where that slap came from, as Will opens up about his poor relationship with his abusive father that led to a lifetime of hidden anger and, well, a desire to slap anybody he sees as a threat!
The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller The Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller
PRAISE FOR WILL 'The best memoir I ever read' Oprah Winfrey 'If you read one book this year, make it this one' Jay Shetty 'Incredible' Idris Elba 'The book is awesome. So candid and considered...fascinating' Chris Evans 'A triumph...really inspiring, so well written, vulnerable and deep. I highly recommend it' Mindy Kaling 'It's fantastic...very moving' Zoe Ball 'Incredibly honest...inspiring' Greg James 'A wild ride' New York Times 'Raw, comedic, inspirational' GQ
One of the most dynamic and globally recognized entertainment forces of our time opens up fully about…
The problem is not with the actions young women take but with the toxic, sexist conditions they are responding to.
Tanenbaum found, based on six years of interviews with young people ages 14-30, that young women are navigating a culture littered with gendered dress codes, revenge porn, and sexually explicit…
I started reading and listening to memoirs in preparation for writing my own, and they inspired me to be honest and vulnerable about my story in ways that helped me overcome sexual shame. I lived a fascinating lifestyle as a sugar daddy for a few years, but talking about it was scary as hell. Reading other men who admitted their fears and failings gave me the courage to be radically honest and lay it all out there. Writing the book was cathartic in ways decades of therapy failed!
Though Mister Ovitz might not be as famous as the others whose books I suggested, as the power broker who ran the Hollywood talent agency CAA from the 1980s through 2000, Mister Ovitz’s admission of how he mowed down the competition in order to build actors like Tom Cruise into mega stars is surprisingly vulnerable and inspiring.
If you're going to read one book about Hollywood, this is the one.
As co-founder of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), Michael Ovitz earned a reputation for ruthless negotiation, brilliant strategy and fierce loyalty to his clients. He reinvented the role of the agent and helped shape the careers of hundreds of A-list stars and directors, including Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, Sean Connery, Steven Seagal, Bill Murray, Robin Williams and David Letterman.
But this personal history is much more than celebrity friendships and bare-knuckled deal-making. It's an underdog's story: How did a kid with no connections work his way…
I teach historical martial arts for a living. 25 years ago, one of my students asked me to write a training manual about medieval Italian longswords, so I did… it took me four years and changed everything. Teaching in person is my favourite thing, but writing books about my art is a close second. I’m always on the lookout for ways to write better and faster and sell more books. Being an effective writer means I make enough money from my books that I can spend my time researching, writing, training, and teaching historical martial arts and have plenty of time to spend with my wife and kids.
I hated marketing, and I was scared it would turn me into a shrill and shallow person. But I realised I needed to learn to sell my work if I was ever going to make a decent amount of money with it—enough to justify the time I was spending on writing, editing, and publishing.
This book gave me the basic tools I needed to get over my internal resistance and start helping my readers better by letting them know about books they actually wanted.
Do you want to sell more books and reach more readers? Do you want to discover how to build an author career for the long-term as well as spike your book sales right now?
If you don’t know much about marketing, don’t worry. We all start with nothing.
I’m Joanna Penn and back in 2008, I had no book sales, no audience, no website, no social media, no podcast, no email list. No nothing.
Now I’m a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of thrillers and non-fiction. My books have sold over 600,000 copies in 162 countries, and…
As an avid reader, I'm curious about where books come from and what they do. How does a story get to be a book? How does someone become an author? What is happening to us as we read? I worked in publishing, and eventually, I started teaching other people how to become editors and publishers. As a faculty member, I had time to study and write about book history. I joined the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing when it was formed and became its president. The conferences helped me to learn about the history of books throughout the world and from pre-print times to the present.
I always like to start learning about a subject with an overview, and this book brings together experts on topics ranging from technology to censorship, marketing, copyright, and book clubs in the period starting with World War II. I turn to this volume, again and again, to refresh my knowledge and enjoy excellent writing by the top scholars in book history. Earlier volumes in the series cover the topic from colonial times.
This is the only comprehensive, interpretive survey of the history of the book in the United States since 1945.The fifth volume of ""A History of the Book in America"" addresses the economic, social, and cultural shifts affecting print culture from World War II to the present. During this period factors such as the expansion of government, the growth of higher education, the climate of the Cold War, globalization, and the development of multimedia and digital technologies influenced the patterns of consolidation and diversification established earlier.The thirty-three contributors to the volume explore the evolution of the publishing industry and the business…
Crossing is a vividly human re-imagining of the love, sacrifices, and accomplishments that two Chinese brothers - American Immigrants - experience as they travel to California to build the Transcontinental Railroad.
In 2008, as an author who had a message that I was desperate to get out into the world, I had a decision to make… to continue to pitch my non-fiction book for new moms to traditional publishers or to create a publishing company and publish it myself. I chose to create a publishing company and publish it myself. I loved the publishing and book marketing process so much that I started to help other authors to market their books.
Any writer who wants to sell their book needs some book industry information details. This book is a compendium of writing, publishing, book marketing, and publicist resources.
The book is separated into sections that include all the information you would need to reach out to publishers, literary agencies, publishing trade organizations, and book industry folks for hire–their names, addresses, websites, and the types of books they publish. The price is crazy reasonable, and the time it will save is invaluable.
For the new author, the list of literary agents is perfect to start a list of who to send your first query letters for possible representation. The book industry resource guide is a fabulous way to find the specific help that you may need on your marketing and publishing journey. There are editors, book cover designers, interior book graphic designers, and publicists listed for hire as well. I used this…
The most trusted guide to getting published, fully revised and updated
Want to get published and paid for your writing? Let Writer's Market, 100th edition guide you through the process. It's the ultimate reference with thousands of publishing opportunities for writers, listings for book publishers, consumer and trade magazines, contests and awards, and literary agents—as well as new playwriting and screenwriting sections, along with contact and submission information.
Beyond the listings, you'll find articles devoted to the business and promotion of writing. Discover 20 literary agents actively seeking writers and their writing, how to develop an author brand, and…
I’m fascinated by what people make of political events at home and abroad. The rapid expansion of public opinion in later eighteenth-century Britain, in tandem with the explosion of the press—newspapers, books, sermons, plays, poetry, novels, magazines, and cartoons—makes it a wonderful period to explore. People in the past were no less complex and sophisticated than we are; they simply lived in different circumstances, opportunities, and constraints, with different assumptions and priorities. My British Visions of America, 1775–1820 (2013) also deals with the British trying to understand foreign affairs, while The Wodrow-Kenrick Correspondence, 1750–1810, eds Fitzpatrick, Macleod and Page is full of events at home and abroad.
This is a fantastic recent book that offers a walk-off-the-page sense of its large cast of characters—Mary Wollstonecraft, William Godwin, Thomas Paine, William Cowper, William Blake, Benjamin Franklin, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and many others.
They were all regular guests at the dinner table of the London publisher, and bookseller Joseph Johnson, where he sat back and listened to his talented collection of authors talk about the issues of the day.
It’s both a great way into the world of publishing and selling books and a wonderful introduction to lots of famous writers of the period from a fresh new angle.
A fascinating portrait of a radical age through the writers associated with a London publisher and bookseller-from William Wordsworth and Mary Wollstonecraft to Benjamin Franklin
Once a week, in late eighteenth-century London, writers of contrasting politics and personalities gathered around a dining table. The veal and boiled vegetables may have been unappetising but the company was convivial and the conversation brilliant and unpredictable. The host was Joseph Johnson, publisher and bookseller: a man at the heart of literary life. In this book, Daisy Hay paints a remarkable portrait of a revolutionary age through the connected stories of the men and…
There is a plethora of novels that feature writers, readers, bookstore owners, editors, and publishers. It’s no surprise that bookish themes are so appealing to both writers and readers. After all, writers love to write about writing, and readers love books. Bookish characters allow authors to write about what they know and readers to see themselves in the pages of the stories that captivate their minds and steal their hearts.
As a romance novelist, writing and love are my two greatest passions. From the beginning of my career, I have always tried to combine them. My debut novel was set in the publishing world, and ever since, my novels have favored the bookish.
I love a fresh take on a classic story, and this slow burn romance offers a modern spin on the classic Beauty and the Beast story.
Izzy Marlowe is an editorial assistant who aspires to higher levels in publishing. Beau Towers is a reclusive former child star. When Izzy goes to Beau’s mansion to try to get his memoir, she has no idea she’ll end up staying to help him write it.
In the process, the two find love and self-worth in a world that isn’t always kind, and a publishing industry that shatters as many dreams as it fulfills.
From New York Times best-selling author Jasmine Guillory comes the much-anticipated second book in the Meant to Be collection inspired by the classic fairy tale stories we all know and love, perfect for adult readers who crave contemporary, escapist rom-coms.
Sometimes to truly know a person, you have to read between the lines.
Isabelle is completely lost. When she first began her career in publishing after college, she did not expect to be twenty-five, still living at home, and one of the few Black employees at her publishing house. Overworked and underpaid, constantly torn between speaking up or stifling herself,…
At five years old, Kasiel was found with the pointed ends of his ears cut off. Despite that brutal start, he’s lived twelve peaceful years with the man who took him in. Keeping his hair long over his mutilated ears helps him hide the fact that he is Vanrian, a…
We have backgrounds in writing, activism, and being messed up, so making The Sad Bastard Cookbook together made sense. Our inspiration was partly realizing that most of the recipes purporting to be “good for mental health” require a laundry list of unusual ingredients and a drawer full of spoons, and partly meeting someone who didn't know about cooking eggs in instant ramen. So we crowdsourced recipes from our community, added our naturally witty, radically progressive commentary, and roped in Marten Norr as illustrator. The ebook's free—we know that dealing with poverty, overwork, mental health issues, physical disability, and exhaustion is hard enough without scraping up money for your emotional-support cookbook.
I (Rachel) first encountered this tiny book at a 2002 anarchist ‘zine fair as a twentysomething punk and has been recommending it to everyone I meet ever since.
While the age of social media has given us new tools for communicating our ideas about politics, culture, and identity with friends and strangers alike, what if the power goes down, or your platform is taken over by an unhinged billionaire and collapses?
There’s nothing more DIY, cheap, or practical than a ‘zine for getting your voice heard, and Wrekk’s book tells you how to make one. It’s also updated regularly, so even as technology and distribution channels change, over two decades after its initial publication, it remains as relevant as ever.
Since 2002, Stolen Sharpie Revolution: a DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture has been the go-to guide for all things zine related. This little red book is stuffed with information about zines. Things you may know, stuff you don't know and even stuff you didn't know you didn't know! Stolen Sharpie Revolution contains a cornucopia of information about zines and zine culture for everyone from the zine newbie to the experienced zinester to the academic researcher.
