Fans pick 100 books like Getting Off

By Erica Garza,

Here are 100 books that Getting Off fans have personally recommended if you like Getting Off. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Book cover of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity

K. E. Garland Author Of In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a Sex Addict

From my list on understanding female sex addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is K. E. Garland, and I am a recovering female sex addict. I didn’t know it until I was 42. In 2014, I had a rock-bottom moment that forced me to confront my compulsions. I self-therapized through writing. As a blogger, I described ways I’d buried interrelated traumas. During the nine years it took for me to research and write my memoir, there were few books about female sex addiction. Now, there are several! The books I’ve recommended not only provide a well-rounded understanding of a little-known phenomenon, but they also help to demarginalize stories of how women live with behavioral addictions. I hope you’ll find them useful.

K.'s book list on understanding female sex addiction

K. E. Garland Why did K. love this book?

I really enjoyed this book because it was the first narrative I read about a woman who was only a sex addict. Sex addiction is primarily viewed as something men (and out-of-control celebrities) deal with. I thought I was alone as a female sex addict until I read about Cohen’s life.

Her book helped me feel less alone, and it showed me that I shouldn’t be ashamed to tell my story. I saw myself in each of her experiences, especially when she described being a sex-craved teenager. 

By Kerry Cohen,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Loose Girl as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

For everyone who was that girl.

Loose Girl is Kerry Cohen's captivating memoir about her descent into promiscuity and how she gradually found her way toward real intimacy. The story of addiction-not just to sex, but to male attention-Loose Girl is also the story of a young woman who came to believe that boys and men could give her life meaning.

For everyone who knew that girl.

In rich and immediate detail, Loose Girl re-creates what it feels like to be in that desperate moment, when a you try to control someone by handing over your body, when the touch…


Book cover of No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction

K. E. Garland Author Of In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a Sex Addict

From my list on understanding female sex addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is K. E. Garland, and I am a recovering female sex addict. I didn’t know it until I was 42. In 2014, I had a rock-bottom moment that forced me to confront my compulsions. I self-therapized through writing. As a blogger, I described ways I’d buried interrelated traumas. During the nine years it took for me to research and write my memoir, there were few books about female sex addiction. Now, there are several! The books I’ve recommended not only provide a well-rounded understanding of a little-known phenomenon, but they also help to demarginalize stories of how women live with behavioral addictions. I hope you’ll find them useful.

K.'s book list on understanding female sex addiction

K. E. Garland Why did K. love this book?

I LOVED this book because the author does a great job of explaining and describing female sex addiction with anecdotes.

Ferree spent 30 years as a certified sex addiction specialist. As a scholar, I appreciated how she wove in her personal experience with what studies have shown. This approach made reading about sex addiction clinical yet relatable. I also liked that she gave advice on how to talk to family members about this type of addiction. These tips were helpful. I even photocopied some of the pages and gave them to my husband.

By Marnie C. Ferree,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked No Stones as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In this book Marnie C. Ferree offers a unique resource for women struggling with sexual addiction. Taking her book's title from the parable where Jesus extends grace to the woman caught in adultery, Ferree bravely shares her own story of sexual addiction, recalling her years of shame from living a double life and the moment when she ultimately had to tell the truth. But more than just offering her story as a hopeful example of God's transforming power, Ferree distills her clinical expertise on female sexual addiction accessibly and gently, providing a much-needed resource for women struggling with any degree…


Book cover of The Return Trip: A Memoir

K. E. Garland Author Of In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a Sex Addict

From my list on understanding female sex addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is K. E. Garland, and I am a recovering female sex addict. I didn’t know it until I was 42. In 2014, I had a rock-bottom moment that forced me to confront my compulsions. I self-therapized through writing. As a blogger, I described ways I’d buried interrelated traumas. During the nine years it took for me to research and write my memoir, there were few books about female sex addiction. Now, there are several! The books I’ve recommended not only provide a well-rounded understanding of a little-known phenomenon, but they also help to demarginalize stories of how women live with behavioral addictions. I hope you’ll find them useful.

K.'s book list on understanding female sex addiction

K. E. Garland Why did K. love this book?

I enjoyed this book because Golden is a Black woman, and rarely do Black women admit to being sex and porn addicts, much less write about their experiences. I also like that Golden is from the South; her book destroys the “prim and proper” American Southern trope with which I’ve been familiar due to living in the South for over two decades.

Also, although I am a recovering female sex addict, I’ve never been to therapy. Golden’s book showed me what that would have been like. Overall, her memoir helped me to know my life was not an anomaly.

By Maya Golden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Return Trip as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


If you love Getting Off...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Book cover of The Mother of Black Hollywood: A Memoir

K. E. Garland Author Of In Search of a Salve: Memoir of a Sex Addict

From my list on understanding female sex addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

My name is K. E. Garland, and I am a recovering female sex addict. I didn’t know it until I was 42. In 2014, I had a rock-bottom moment that forced me to confront my compulsions. I self-therapized through writing. As a blogger, I described ways I’d buried interrelated traumas. During the nine years it took for me to research and write my memoir, there were few books about female sex addiction. Now, there are several! The books I’ve recommended not only provide a well-rounded understanding of a little-known phenomenon, but they also help to demarginalize stories of how women live with behavioral addictions. I hope you’ll find them useful.

K.'s book list on understanding female sex addiction

K. E. Garland Why did K. love this book?

I loved this book because, while it is common for celebrities to write tell-all memoirs, it is not common for esteemed actresses to write so candidly about mental illness and sex addiction.

I was shocked when I read that Lewis was diagnosed as bipolar, and that is what led to a subsequent diagnosis of being a female sex addict. Reading her words and descriptions made me question if I, too, needed to seek out a psychiatrist to confirm if I was bipolar.

This book also helped me to see that there didn’t need to be shame attached to being a female sex addict, and I don’t have to be a celebrity to “tell it all.”

Book cover of Your Brain on Porn: Internet Pornography and the Emerging Science of Addiction

Havard Mela Author Of How to Thrive in the 21st Century: By Avoiding Porn and Other Distractions

From my list on porn addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who has felt the consequences of spending too much time online on distractions, I am compelled to share how much better life can be when we are conscious of the time we spend online. In my early twenties, I experienced digital addiction. I managed to turn things around by cultivating discipline and finding purpose in life. In the process, I developed a deep interest in neuroscience and psychology. My book explains how you can take conscious control of your life in a practical way based on my experience backed up by research.

Havard's book list on porn addiction

Havard Mela Why did Havard love this book?

This book is kind of like the bible of porn addiction. It clearly shows the negative effects you can experience by showing both science and anecdotes.

This book was eye-opening for me as I saw many reports of similar side effects as I had experienced myself grappling with this problem. This book is a must-read book about this topic.

By Gary Wilson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Your Brain on Porn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Over 100,000 copies sold!

When Your Brain on Porn was first published the porn industry and its lobbyists reacted with outrage. How could a commodity so popular - and so profitable - be a problem? But evidence of porn's addictiveness has been accumulating ever since. In February 2022 the peer-reviewed journal Psychological Medicine published a large-scale, longitudinal study that confirmed what many users and former users of digital pornography had figured out for themselves: 'porn - a male-dominated industry that targets a male-dominated audience - is associated with the erosion of the quality of men's sex lives.'


In the same…


Book cover of Addictions: A Banquet in the Grave: Finding Hope in the Power of the Gospel

Harry Schaumburg Author Of Undefiled: Redemption from Sexual Sin, Restoration for Broken Relationships

From my list on to survive and recover from marital unfaithfulness.

Why am I passionate about this?

When writing about sexuality it is important to me to write about true intimacy. Especially for those who have broken their wedding vows and for those who have been betrayed, who still long for real intimacy with spiritual and sexual maturity. My book, False Intimacy: Understanding the Struggle of Sexual Addiction (1992), was the first Christian book published on the subject of sexual addiction. I have for over thirty years counseled 1000s of sexually broken people from all across the U.S. who came to see me for a week of intensive counseling. I have taught on the subject of sexuality in all fifty states as well as over twenty foreign countries. No subject is more important to our spiritual maturity and sexual maturity.

Harry's book list on to survive and recover from marital unfaithfulness

Harry Schaumburg Why did Harry love this book?

After 30 years of counseling and 1000s of people in bondage to various sexual behaviors, I take a minority view, and do not believe that addiction, and sexual addiction in particular, is a disease; it is a bondage to sin. This book, I believe helps supports that view. I find in counseling, that when you deal with the sin problem as sin, not just a behavior problem, which is a symptom of sin, lives are radically changed. I could give hundreds of examples, but one that stands out was a sexual predator who seduced 100s of women, but after a radical heart change, his marriage survived and he went on to minister and help others, rather than to continue to use others.

By Edward T. Welch,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Addictions as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Addiction, according to Welch, is when we worship ourselves and our desires instead of the true God.


If you love Erica Garza...

Ad

Book cover of A Long Way from Iowa: From the Heartland to the Heart of France

A Long Way from Iowa By Janet Hulstrand,

This memoir chronicles the lives of three generations of women with a passion for reading, writing, and travel. The story begins in 1992 in an unfinished attic in Brooklyn as the author reads a notebook written by her grandmother nearly 100 years earlier. This sets her on a 30-year search…

Book cover of The Porn Pandemic: A Simple Guide To Understanding And Ending Pornography Addiction For Men

Havard Mela Author Of How to Thrive in the 21st Century: By Avoiding Porn and Other Distractions

From my list on porn addiction.

Why am I passionate about this?

As someone who has felt the consequences of spending too much time online on distractions, I am compelled to share how much better life can be when we are conscious of the time we spend online. In my early twenties, I experienced digital addiction. I managed to turn things around by cultivating discipline and finding purpose in life. In the process, I developed a deep interest in neuroscience and psychology. My book explains how you can take conscious control of your life in a practical way based on my experience backed up by research.

Havard's book list on porn addiction

Havard Mela Why did Havard love this book?

This book explains why watching porn is a problem and how ingrained it has become in our society. You will understand why watching porn can be harmful at a deep level after reading this book.

The book also explains why objectification is a problem and how watching porn contributes to it. It is an easy read and a good place to start for an introduction to the topic.

By Andrew Ferebee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Porn Pandemic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WARNING: If You’re Watching Porn Every Day, You’re On a Slow Path To Sabotaging Your Life & Romantic Relationships.

Stop your porn addiction and take back your life and relationships with best selling author and men's coach Andrew Ferebee.

Congrats, on taking an important step toward acknowledging that porn has become a serious problem for you, and being open to solutions.

Now, it’s time to to learn how to stop an addiction to porn

Breaking addictive cycles is not easy, whether it’s booze, drugs or porn, but I’m here to guide you towards your personal freedom.

Why am I the…


Book cover of Project Chartreuse

Christopher Church Author Of The Mythical Blond

From my list on LA detectives with complex emotional lives.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a longtime Angeleno, I’ve read a lot about the dark underbelly of our dysfunctional metropolis, both in the news and in fiction. I try to incorporate the City of Angels as a strong presence in my writing, and when I read other writers who have put Los Angeles at the center, it gives me a sense of things the way they really are, a glimpse at a deeper reality. I see the detectives in LA noir and crime fiction as inextricably intertwined with the city, their weaknesses, and their emotional quandaries emerging from this place.

Christopher's book list on LA detectives with complex emotional lives

Christopher Church Why did Christopher love this book?

I’d be afraid to meet this detective, Slater, in a dark alley, as he’s unpredictable and has a quick temper. At the same time I have to admit he’s the kind of guy I’d want to date. Smart and competent in his investigative work, Slater is a mass of contradictions, a textbook sex addict and in complete denial about it, plus he drinks too much. His pugilistic approach to the world evolves through the series, and in this book his slightly warped moral compass has him working to outsmart the cops to track down a violent conspiracy theorist.

By George Bixley,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Project Chartreuse as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of Los Angeles, rooting out insurance fraud, not afraid to use whatever means necessary to get things done, and not about to hold back with his fists. A queer antihero for a new age, Slater walks the line between ordinary life and the frayed fringes of society, keeping his balance with…


Book cover of Deep Clearing: Balance Your Emotions, Let Go Of Inner and Outer Negativity, Shift To Higher Consciousness: A Radical Inner Process

Finnian Kelly Author Of Intentionality: A Groundbreaking Guide to Breath, Consciousness, and Radical Self-Transformation

From my list on living life with intentionality.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m the founder of Intentionality Inc., a speaker and high-performance coach, and a master breathwork facilitator. I help world-changing leaders implement the Intentionality® methodology to find new levels of fulfillment and growth in their creative endeavors, relationships, and overall well-being. I have been dubbed "the Business Mystic'' because of my unique ability to awaken consciousness in business and inspire CEOs and leadership teams to have a more expansive human experience. I love books that emphasize ancient wisdom but also have practical applications for modern-day living and weave the universal aspects of spirituality into personal development. I hope these books are as thought-provoking to you as they were to me!

Finnian's book list on living life with intentionality

Finnian Kelly Why did Finnian love this book?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book because it shifted my outlook with actionable tools that helped me in my healing journey and self-perception. Applying the spiritual principles of awareness, acceptance, direct experience, and witnessing that Ruskan outlines helped me ‘do the work’ without the fight or flight mechanism that can sometimes hijack us when facing pain or discomfort.

This author has really outlined the purpose of our emotions and how to relate to them as an energy.

By John Ruskan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Deep Clearing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THERAPIST RECOMMENDED! Learn a superb holistic self-therapy process for complete inner healing. Release painful feelings and destructive NEGATIVE EMOTIONS. Clear depression, anxiety, trauma, and emotionally-based physical health issues. Make yourself impervious to outside negative forces by clearing inner negativity. Open your heart and start to genuinely love yourself.
Drawing upon his 25 years as a holistic psychotherapist, John Ruskan presents a brilliant self-therapy system for complete inner healing and well-being. Based on a unique synthesis of Eastern meditation-mindfulness principles and Western humanistic psychological insights, the DEEP CLEARING program will empower you with a feeling-based, holistic, inner process that will clear…


If you love Getting Off...

Ad

Book cover of Who Is a Worthy Mother?: An Intimate History of Adoption

Who Is a Worthy Mother? By Rebecca Wellington,

I grew up thinking that being adopted didn’t matter. I was wrong. This book is my journey uncovering the significance and true history of adoption practices in America. Now, in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the renewed debate over women’s reproductive rights places…

Book cover of Choke

Haresh Daswani Author Of Evolution of Insanity

From my list on off tangent stories.

Why am I passionate about this?

Fiction is oftentimes a difficult genre to recommend, as we are in the area of storytelling. Fiction though is also an important genre as it opens the reader to another perspective. I chose off-tangent books because we crave the mystery and fresh perspective these books have to offer. The books I have recommended are books that will lead you to another place you’ve never been to before.

Haresh's book list on off tangent stories

Haresh Daswani Why did Haresh love this book?

I’ve read this book before I’ve even watched Fight Club. Choke was the reason I opted to see the movie in the first place. Chuck Palahniuk brings his story to you as if he’s guiding you through a dark, risky alleyway that you’ve always been advised not to visit. He brings information, psychological disorders, and more into a strange normality that is scary to find relatable. It has indeed widened my perspective and brought me to see the absurdity, and observe closely.

By Chuck Palahniuk,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Choke as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Victor Mancini, a medical-school dropout, is an antihero for our deranged times. Needing to pay elder care for his mother, Victor has devised an ingenious scam: he pretends to choke on pieces of food while dining in upscale restaurants. He then allows himself to be “saved” by fellow patrons who, feeling responsible for Victor’s life, go on to send checks to support him. When he’s not pulling this stunt, Victor cruises sexual addiction recovery workshops for action, visits his addled mom, and spends his days working at a colonial theme park. His creator, Chuck Palahniuk, is the visionary we need…


Book cover of Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity
Book cover of No Stones: Women Redeemed from Sexual Addiction
Book cover of The Return Trip: A Memoir

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,581

readers submitted
so far, will you?

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Bangkok, addiction, and Thailand?

Bangkok 21 books
Addiction 60 books
Thailand 44 books