The Book of Drugs: A Memoir
Rock musician Doughty, former leader of the band Soul Coughing, makes clear from the start that he loves drugs, especially heroin. He just doesn’t like what they do to him, and at this point in his life, he has no desire to try them again. Cognizant of the James Frey syndrome, Doughty admits that he has changed names in an effort to avoid problems even as he asks, “Isn’t memory itself an act of imagination?” In this conversational, rambling, and picaresque memoir—one without chapter breaks—Doughty recalls a childhood and adolescence where after his sophomore year in high school, he attended an experimental college (“a weird school,” he says) in Massachusetts. He recalls, too, his various druggie activities, including dancing in a club under the influence of acid and snorting  heroin  in a basement dressing room. Although Doughty’s many drug escapades become a bit redundant after a while, anyone with an interest in pop culture generally and rock music in particular should appreciate this insider’s account of life on the road. --June Sawyers