Decode your taste →

Books like Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry reads as candid, humorous. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.

What Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is like to read

A raw, wisecracking celebrity memoir that oscillates between Friends-era anecdotes and harrowing accounts of addiction and near-death — Perry's voice is intimate, self-lacerating, and darkly funny in equal measure. Best for: readers who want a candid celebrity memoir that doesn't flinch from the ugliness of addiction.

Greenlights cover
Greenlights
Matthew McConaughey · 2020
A loose, drawl-voiced scrapbook of diaries, tall tales, and hard-won bumper-sticker wisdom — episodic and warm rather than confessional deep-dive.
complete storydeep cut
Educated cover
Educated
Tara Westover · 2018
A propulsive, clear-eyed memoir that moves from a violent Idaho mountainside to Cambridge lecture halls — the emotional weight comes from Westover's steady, unsentimental reckoning
complete story
I'm Glad My Mom Died cover
I'm Glad My Mom Died
Jennette McCurdy · 2022
A raw, darkly funny memoir that swings between gutting confession and deadpan humor — short, propulsive chapters trace a child actor's eating disorders, addiction, and the smotheri
complete story
Kasher in the rye cover
Kasher in the rye
Moshe Kasher · 2012
A stand-up comic's memoir of a childhood spent careening through rehab, mental wards, and Oakland schools, told with self-lacerating irreverence that turns horror into punchlines.
complete storydeep cut
STRIPPED DOWN cover
STRIPPED DOWN
Bunnie Xo · 2025
A brash, funny, tell-all celebrity memoir that swings from trailer-park hardship to Nashville success, told in an intimate, unfiltered voice with plenty of self-aware humor.
complete story
You're on an Airplane cover
You're on an Airplane
Parker Posey · 2015
Shares the vvoice thread
Full service cover
Full service
Scotty Bowers · 2012
A gossipy, matter-of-fact tell-all narrated by an insider who treats scandalous Hollywood liaisons as everyday business, blending nostalgia with candid explicitness.
complete storydeep cut
Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered cover
Stay Sexy & Don't Get Murdered
Karen Kilgariff · 2019
Shares the vvoice thread
Me cover
Me
Elton John · 2019
Shares the vvoice thread
Hyperbole and a Half cover
Hyperbole and a Half
Allie Brosh · 2015
A rapid-fire, illustrated tour through absurd childhood memories and unflinching depression essays — laugh-out-loud one page, gutting the next, all in a confiding first-person voice.
complete storydeep cut
The Princess Diarist cover
The Princess Diarist
Carrie Fisher · 2016
A wry, intimate excavation of young Carrie Fisher's diaries reveals the vulnerable, funny truth behind her Star Wars fame and a hidden youthful romance.
deep cut
Broken cover
Broken
Jenny Lawson · 2020
Reading Broken feels like sitting with a funny, exhausted friend who swings from absurd tangents (bears, vacuums, Shark Tank pitches) to raw, unguarded honesty about depression and its treatment.
complete storydeep cut

About Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing — what the genome says

Is Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing a complete story or a cliffhanger?

It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.

Who is Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing for?

readers who want a candid celebrity memoir that doesn't flinch from the ugliness of addiction

Find your next read by its genome

Tell Novelome one book you love — get recommendations tuned to your taste, including the ones other sites never surface.

Start free →
More readalikes: Books like THE LET THEM THEORY · Books like EXTREME OWNERSHIP · Books like WINGS OF STARLIGHT · Books like DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK, EXPANDED EDITION · Books like I WILL TEACH YOU TO BE RICH, SECOND EDITION · Books like FAKE SKATING · Books like THE CREATIVE ACT · Books like IF ONLY I HAD TOLD HER