My favorite memoir of addiction remains "Drinking: A Love Story" by Caroline Knapp, where she does a great job of explaining what is going on in the mind of a functional but deeply pickled alcoholic, followed by "Dry" by Augustin Burroughs in which he shows how some of the goofiest parts of AA really do help save people.

I did enjoy reading "Parched" too, and it showed a different part of the picture; the life of a very intelligent woman who had a caring family and a few good friends, but who was basically doomed by her third sip of beer at age 13.

My favorite quote: "I once heard a sober alcoholic say that drinking never made him happy, but it made him feel like he was going to be happy in about 15 minutes. That was exactly it, and I couldn't understand why the happiness never came ... Next time, next time! Next time I drank it would be different, next time it would make me feel good again. And all my efforts were doomed, because already drinking hadn't made me feel good in years."

Share/Like this Review?

Heather King became addicted to alcohol since her first sip of beer at age thirteen. She was not an abused or neglected child, she simply liked the way alcohol made her feel (at first). The memoir is hazy at times, but that is to be expected. Always interesting, the book chronicles the years she wasted away as a drunk while somehow getting through college and law school. Highly personal and meaningful.

Share/Like this Review?

very good book, well written, I recommend it!

Share/Like this Review?

Powerful book about addiction. It will be required reading in my Intro to Addictions course.

Share/Like this Review?

This book is a memoir by Heather King. Heather is a writer, lawyer, and NPR commentator. This book is her memoir, about her addiction to alcohol. I found this book to be very well written, and it definitely kept my interest through out. But wow, she really makes what I consider to be my drinking problem laughable. Some of the things she did made me shudder with disgust. Like telling of how she would wake up so in need of a drink, she would skim floating dead cockroaches off of stale and warm cups of beer, left in her apartment from the night before, to drink. Often putting her life in danger, it's a miracle she is here today. I would definitely recommend this book.

Share/Like this Review?