Book Review: Bottled Memories

Bottled Memories by David Ritter is a short book (40 pages) of poetry capturing both active addiction and the process of recovery.

While the poems relate to his own experiences, there are themes many others will relate to, including the lure of “one more,” “praying to the porcelain throne,” and doing the walk of shame. There was also a whole lot of pain, both in the author’s own experience and the other lives that made an appearance in the poems.

I particularly liked these lines from A Boozer’s Promise:

"I would hear the song of the bottle From the seductress in the glass
In the arms of my Lilith I succumbed My emotions raging like the sea
But I tasted her lips til my mind was numbed"

About halfway through, the focus shifted to recovery, and the essential role that finding Jesus and connecting with Alcoholics Anonymous played for the author. As he writes about dealing with depression and taking sobriety one day at a time, religion clearly forms the foundation of his work through recovery.

The poems are evocative, and pack quite a journey into a short book. While there is a strong Christian element, as an atheist reader, I got the sense that this was the sharing of an intensely personal experience rather than being directed solely at a Christian audience. Overall, I thought this book was very well done.

Bottled Memories is available on Amazon (affiliate link).

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review,

You can find my other reviews on the MH@H book review index or on Goodreads.