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The Night of the Gun
The Night of the Gun | David Carr
10 posts | 16 read | 27 to read
David Carr was an addict for more than twenty years -- first dope, then coke, then finally crack -- before the prospect of losing his newborn twins made him sober up in a bid to win custody from their crack-dealer mother. Once recovered, he found that his recollection of his 'lost' years differed -- sometimes radically -- from that of his family and friends. The night, for example, his best friend pulled a gun on him. 'No,' said the friend (to David's horror, as a lifelong pacifist), 'It was you that had the gun.' Using all his skills as an investigative reporter, he set out to research his own life, interviewing everyone from his parents and his ex-partners to the policemen who arrested him, the doctors who treated him and the lawyers who fought to prove he was fit to have custody of his kids. Unflinchingly honest and beautifully written, the result is both a shocking account of the depths of addiction and a fascinating examination of how -- and why -- our memories deceive us. As David says, we remember the stories we can live with, not the ones that happened.
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cxg
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Random library snag! 🤙

8 likes1 stack add
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mrozzz
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Pickpick

I vacillated between being annoyed at Carr's callousness and the misleading title- named for the first chapter while the rest of the book details his battle with addiction. Ever the reporter he revisited family/friends 20 years after his last rehab to conduct interviews that confirm or tear down his previous assumptions about how his addled brain remembered time. By the end I was appreciative of his overt self-awareness and return from the edge.

emilyhaldi Sounds very interesting 🤔 7y
mrozzz @emilyhaldi A father getting his act together for his own health and the well being of his twin girls. ?? Based on Goodreads reviews it's very hit or miss and has gotten some negative feedback about how he wrote to cash in and only "dude bros" would like it, but I picked it up in a store and thought I'd enjoy the audio so I went in blind and I'm glad I did. He died in 2015 (this was written in 2008 I think) so it's even weightier now. 7y
65 likes1 stack add2 comments
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mrozzz
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Beautiful day for an #audiowalk

I 💗 Autumn 🍂 ☺️

CathyJ Beautiful! Love audiowalks! I'm about to head out on one now. 7y
mrozzz @CathyJ 👌🏻👍🏻🙌🏻 Enjoy!! 7y
sisilia Beautiful ! 😍 7y
britt_brooke Pretty! 7y
mrozzz @sisilia @britt_brooke Thanks!!! ☺️ 7y
73 likes5 comments
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RanaElizabeth
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Reusing a photo from a past recommendation for today's memoir pick. Much more than an addiction memoir, it's the story of how memories are made and shaped by circumstance. It really is one of my favorites.
#funfridayphoto

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RanaElizabeth
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Addiction memoirs can be tricky; too inspirational, too saccharine, too much just a listing of substances and events and people hurt. But not this one. First, David Carr was an amazing writer. Second, he doesn't examine his addictions so much as the memory of it, his and those around him. This is really much more about how we create and store and relive memories. Absolutely one of my favorite books, top ten at least.
#recommendsday

29 likes1 stack add
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HLouiseM
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This is a cool article about a super-awesome, heavy book by/about an AMAZING journalist. https://contently.com/strategist/2016/06/08/every-young-writer-should-read-night...

Shortstack I literally came to add this to my TBR pile after reading this article elsewhere. lol 9y
4 likes2 stack adds1 comment