Having read “Beautiful Boy,” I can say that “Tweak” not only complements “Beautiful Boy,” but also provides an alternative route to the same ending. “Tweak” is aimed at a younger generation. And even though it is basically an addict discussing his horrible experiences with drugs, Sheff never preaches or seems pretentious. He remembers who his audience is; young, hip and liable to experiment.

Nic has wild adventures, rivaling hardcore experiences in books like “A Million Little Pieces” (only, you know, they are real).  From running with gang members in San Francisco, to shacking up with an old classmate in his parents’ summer estate, he’s not kidding around. He doesn’t shy away from the gritty reality of drug abuse, even though he has relapsed several times and doesn’t believe he’s completely over his addiction. It’s interesting because even though he realizes how horrible his addiction is, he admits that he can often not stop. This book portrays the reality and helplessness of addiction wonderfully and really paints addiction as a disease.

All in all, this book was enthralling and one of the best I’ve read in awhile. I have a penchant for drug/rehab books, especially during the summertime. I have no clue what induces this combination in me, but needless to say, “Tweak” fit perfectly. If you’re looking for an uncomplicated look at drug culture, abuse and rehabilitation by an author who is down to earth and so real, then pick up this read! And if you just want a real page-turner to bring you back to the world of reading for pleasure, this is it.

Well, I’ve got a list of books here that are no waste. In fact, these are books that will change the way to think, the way you read and the way you view reading for pleasure. In that it may actually bring you some. I’m not selecting these books for their literary merit or their fantastic use of the English language. These are books that struck something in me, pulled at heartstrings, made me feel something. And I think that evoking such emotion is the only criteria for a great book.

In our desensitized world, when someone can make you feel so much with only paper and ink, I believe that’s an achievement.

1. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita was published in 1955, and when you read it, you can understand why there is so much hype surrounding it. It tells the story of Humbert Humbert, a man who claims he can never love adult women, only children. He calls them “nymphets” and one day stumbles upon the perfect nymphet, Dolores Haze. The book chronicles his love for Dolores, but what I found to be fascinating was how you eventually sympathize with Humbert, even though nowadays his picture would be plastered all over “Dateline.”

2. My Friend Leonard by James Frey

I know, I know. Oprah hates James Frey. Even with the scandal, this book is amazing. And if you haven’t heard the scandal, here’s a summary: this book (and it’s prequel A Million Little Pieces) is in the biography section of your local book store and James Frey has admitted that some details are fabricated or exaggerated. Now, I’m not going to get into the politics of biographies (even thought 10% can be fabricated!), because I think this scandal takes away from this beautiful work. It may be fiction, but it is still a great work of fiction. The fact that it may not be 100% true, heck, may not be true at all, does not make me falter in my love for it. My Friend Leonard is so REAL. You can’t help but get wrapped up in the book and feel for the main character (James).  And Frey’s writing is so unique and different. He doesn’t use puncuation (less confusing than it sounds) and often repeats words or phrases for pages on end. He is refreshing and his books, true or not, are inspiring and raw.

3. Heavier than Heaven by Charles Cross

Now this one is more of a general selection, more than the specific book. Heavier than Heaven is one of my favorite books ever, but it is the biography of Kurt Cobain, and if you’re not a Nirvana fan, then it’s really not that great of a read. Still a well-written book, but it doesn’t strike you in the same way. So I am highly recommending you read a biography of someone you admire or are a fan of! I think you appreciate a person’s work so much more when you know about their life before fame and how they succeeded. In the case of Kurt Cobain, many people see him as a god and this book knocked him off his pedastal for me. It’s a fascinating book and Charles Cross is an exceptional writer.

4. Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer

This book mixes fiction and non-fiction elements and makes you feel so much emotion you think you’re going to burst. The book rotates between three stories: one told in Nazi Ukraine, one through letters and one in the modern day. The story revolves around a writer (coincidentally named Jonathon Safran Foer) and his search for a mystery woman in his grandfather’s past. He is penning a novel, which is the story told throughout the book in Nazi Ukraine and as he uncovers clues about the mystery, they become incorporated in his novel. This one really makes you think, and Foer’s beautiful writing style complements the emotions of the story perfectly. It’s also a bit educational and helps you truly understand the emotions involved in such tragedies as the Holocaust.

5.  The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffennegger

One of the best love stories I have ever read. Period. The relationship between main characters Clare and Henry is so real that you can’t help but get completely wrapped up in it. Just like any couple, they have their hardships, but their relationship is particularly strained. This is a must-read and one of my favorite books ever. I bawled like a baby at the end. That’s all I’m going to say.

Did I Type Life? I Meant Lie.

The phenomenon started with James Frey and his supposed memoir A Million Little Pieces. After getting all kinds of recognition, including the nod from Oprah, Frey’s book was discovered to be filled with lies.

But why would someone decide to write a bunch of lies? After a little more sleuthing, it came to light that Frey had originally pitched his book as fiction, but that it wouldn’t sell. In order to make the story more compelling — to editors as well as readers — Frey then repackaged it as nonfiction.

Fast forward to 2008, and here we are again — except this time, one fake memoir has become two. In late February, Misha Defonseca admitted that she lied about being Jewish, being a Holocaust survivor, and being raised by wolves. One week later, Margaret B. Jones, a.k.a. Margaret Seltzer, was outed by her sister when she tried to pass a fiction of foster care and gang activity off as her real childhood.

Jones’s book never made it to the stands, but Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years is another story. The book has circled the world in 18 different languages, and the author was once awarded $22.5 in damages when she took her publisher to court for breach of contract (!). To add insult to injury, the French have made a film about Misha’s remarkable LIFE, only to find out the F was in there by accident.

Why would these women make up such heart-wrenching tales, and then falsely market them as personal experience? “Misha of the Wolves” justifies the international falsehood by saying she believes her story in her heart, a roundabout way of admitting that it really didn’t happen. Jones, on the other hand, takes a different approach: She claims to have sold her book for completely selfless reasons, in order to give a voice to the people whose stories she stole.

Stranger Than Fiction

Some writers will stop at nothing to sell a story, even if it means claiming fiction as fact. So what do the real fiction writers do?

They steal, of course.

I don’t know about you, but my teachers have been drilling the anti-plagiarism mantra into my head since middle school. So I really don’t get how anyone can claim that they didn’t know copying another writer’s work is illegal, not to mention immoral.

But apparently neither Kaavya Viswanathan nor Cassie Edwards got the message. Viswanathan was a teenaged chick lit author who was caught taking entire passages from other writers’ books, paraphrasing them, and dropping them right into her own. She later claimed that it was an accident, a result of a nearly photographic memory. But as a Harvard student, you really have to wonder how she could overlook something like plagiarism.

But the Cassie Edwards scandal is an even bigger mystery. Edwards has been writing historial romance (read: smut books with a historical flavor) for more than 25 years, and is rather well known for her Indian romances (read: fantasy erotica). Early this year, a popular book review blog discovered stolen passages in Edwards’s most recent book, Shadow Bear — and then went on to find rampant plagiarism in several others. When the story broke, Edwards claimed she didn’t know that what she was doing was wrong, which begs the question: How many other works has Edwards plagiarized since 1982?

Anything to Succeed

With scandals like these rocking the literary world every few weeks or month, it’s even more appalling to remember that these are only the ones we’ve caught. How many other authors have published under false pretenses?

Anyone who aspires to write has been told how competitive the market is. If you’re lucky, a publisher will pick up your book after only a few years of shopping it around. With stakes such as these, is it any wonder some writers will go to any lengths to increase their odds of success?

Unfortunately, these scandals only muddy the waters for the rest of us. Now the publishing industry is talking about being more careful to fact-check memoirs before accepting them for publication — imagine what that will do to writers who have perfectly true, but difficult-to-prove, stories to tell. And Viswanathan and Edwards certainly haven’t helped the chick lit and romance genres much: Many people view these types of books as “trash,” and the plagiarism scandals only adds to that perception.

The Price of Success

When James Frey decided to pitch his book as nonfiction, when Margaret B. Jones first started to write down the stories she heard from people on the streets, and when Cassie Edwards copied entire passages of her “research” into her books, you can bet that they never thought they’d eventually be where they are now. Frey just wanted to increase his chances of making a sale, Jones wanted to raise awareness, and Edwards wanted to make her books as accurate historically as they were…um…anatomically.

These authors all found success by lying, cheating, and stealing. Unfortunately, they all had forgotten about what happens when you become successful: The more people read your books, the more likely someone is to find something amiss. For Frey, it happened pretty quickly; Jones never even got off the ground. For Edwards, on the other hand, it took 26 years.

It just goes to show that if you sell your soul for success, sooner or later you’ll be called upon to pay up.