Quit Lit: Get reading in Dry January

Over summer, I made some new 'zines for Multitudes Zine Festival. One of these was a selection of Quit Lit books - essentially, books that have helped me to get and stay sober.

I celebrated five years sober in November '24 and still dip in and out of these. With Dry January about to start, I thought it would be a good time to share.

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November 2019:

I sat in bed, hunched over a book, one hand gripping the glass of gin that was leaving a ring of condensation on the bed covers, the other turning the pages as quickly as my brain could go. I was snot-crying, then laughing, then clutching my chest, then hugging my cats. It was 3am, forgive me a bit of drama. 

I don’t fully remember what led to buying the first two books listed here, but they were my first ‘Quit Lit’ (loose definition: addiction memoir). A friend had shared a podcast interview with Catherine Gray, and I’d only half-listened in that way people do when they don’t want to be confronted with themselves. But after decades of dancing around the issue, of throwing fuel on the fire then wondering why I couldn’t breathe, of trying to drown out a noise that never stopped, of thinking it was OK because I could still be so much fun (until I wasn’t)...I was so tired. 

I was probably spoiling for a fight with myself and got the books as some kind of punishment, to self-flagellate and show what a mess I was in. Well if that was the case, it was the best revenge purchase I’ve ever made…

I drank my way through reading both The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, and Blackout. But I read both in 4 days and finished Blackout at 3am on the day I decided I was not going to drink that day. And I decided that again the next day, and the next. 

I have since been to meetings, and tried different sober communities, gained new friends, been - shocker - really bloody kind to myself. It started with the books. Why? Because in the pages of the ‘Quit Lit’ I saw myself. I saw other people who had been through similar and weren’t ashamed to share their stories. They had owned their shit and the world hadn’t ended. They had experienced pain, trauma, and shame, but still found a way to hope.

Grabbing a brew and a book = actual life saver.

1. THE UNEXPECTED JOY OF BEING SOBER - CATHERINE GRAY 

   
   

   The title was a struggle. Joy was so far removed from my view of what sobriety would mean. The pop-science bits and self-help positivity were also a bit much for me on first reading. And yet, I stuck with it and the stupid thing went and changed my life. 

   I love Gray’s honesty and humour. She doesn’t shy away from the darkness, and she doesn’t let herself off the hook. She chips away at the reality of living in a society obsessed with booze, and the realities of addiction. 

   She writes about the possibility of something different. 

   The follow up, Sunshine Warm Sober (a playful word-twist on ‘stone cold sober’) is about the longer term benefits of sobriety and is also great. 

   
   

2. BLACKOUT: REMEMBERING THE THINGS I DRANK TO FORGET - SARAH HEPOLA

   
   

   Hepola didn’t want to get sober. Booze was the ‘gasoline of all adventure.’ I was instantly on board with this eye-wateringly honest memoir. 

   The reason I ended up in a snotty mess, sobbing on a cat while reading it? I learned about blackouts. Something I had experienced a lot and that I was so ashamed of - my broken brain, my inability to deal, my hiding from the truth and trauma of things that had happened to me or that I’d done. 

   Turns out, there’s Real Actual Science behind blackouts. Of course there is. But reading it alongside brutally funny tales of hitting highs and rock bottom, it opened up something inside me. 

   The shame started to shift a little. 

   
   

3. DRINKING: A LOVE STORY - CAROLINE KNAPP

   
   

   The gradual sneak of alcoholism; the rationalising of 'just one more'; the reliance on alcohol to deal with any and all emotions. Caroline Knapp used booze from a young age as 'liquid armour' and this book tells her story of drinking herself into a hole despite appearing to all around her as a successful student, dutiful daughter, and award-winning journalist.

   Knapp was, unsurprisingly for an accomplished editor and columnit, an excellent writer. She was smart and incisive, and also very honest about getting sober: "I felt like I was trading in one form of misery for another..." She doesn't hold back about the chaos she found herself in and often created, or how difficult she found coming out the other side. But she did come out the other side, and remained sober until her death from lung cancer in 2002.

   
   

4. DRY - AUGUSTEN BURROUGHS

   
   

   This is the funniest book I’ve read about rehab, relapse and recovery. It’s brave. It’s bold. It’s observant and optimistic. But overall, Burroughs is really bloody funny and such great company on the page. 

   It is also heartbreaking in places. Burroughs relapses after losing an ex-boyfriend / current friend to the effects of HIV, and he writes of the pain of grief and addiction with gut-punching honesty. 

   Burroughs, like Mary Karr (mentioned a bit further down), is a brilliant memoirist and has other books well worth checking out. 

   
   

5.  STASH MY LIFE IN HIDING - LAURA CATHCART ROBBINS

   
   

   The author of this one has spoken about how she turned to books to help make sense of her own addiction to pills and alcohol. She needed validation, and she found that in the pages of quit lit, but what she didn’t find was affinity or recognition. As was the case when she entered the ‘overwhelmingly white’ recovery meetings, and watched films like When A Man Loves a Woman, or 28 Days, she didn’t see people like her. 

   Having unsuccessfully scoured the shelves and listings for quit lit by and about Black women, Laura Cathcart Robbins decided to share her story: “Representation is the only way to normalize Black addiction and Black recovery stories. For the next Black mom who discreetly scours her local bookstore looking for a story like hers…maybe, she’ll be empowered to seek out the help she needs.”

   
   

6. QUIT LIKE A WOMAN - HOLLY WHITAKER

   
   

   "The radical choice to not drink in a culture obsessed with alcohol." Holly Whitaker's call to arms challenges the reader to consider the behemoth that is the alcohol industry, and the insidious nature of drinking culture (for women in particular). She shares about her own recovery in a voice that is candid without being preachy. Whitaker challenges some of the patriarchal and archaic approaches recovery, talks of the power of finding community and sharing resources, and wants to show what is possible when we question our elationship with drinking and dismantle the power / economic / belief systems around it.

   
   

7. LIT - MARY KARR

   
   

   The first Mary Karr book I read was The Art of Memoir, before moving on to her actual memoirs, essays and poems. With her life writing, I started backwards: Lit is the most recent, preceded by Cherry (about her teens), and The Liars' Club (about her childhood).

   Lit is written in Karr's funny, poetic, frank style. She can't outrun her past and, despite her best attempts, doesn't manage to completely sabotage her future. As with a number of quit lit books that veer towards 12 step/Alcoholics Anonymous recovery, there's some religion and God in here so something to be mindful of it that's potentially triggering for you. However, Karr talks of her new-found faith in the same way she discusses parenting - as it relates to her, and without judgement or generalisations.

   
   

8. THE OUTRUN - AMY LIPTROT

   
   

   We follow Amy from London (girl-in-the-city excess and chaos) to her childhood home on Orkney (wild landscapes, inner reckoning), via rehab. 

   
   

   For those who might be drawn to a combo of sweeping landscape melancholy, the pull of urban hedonism and the restorative qualities of swimming in freezing cold water. 

   
   

   The film is out now, starring Saoirse Ronan.

   
   

9. OUT OF THE WOODS - LUKE TURNER 

   
   

   This isn’t a booze focused quit lit memoir, but I really want to mention it, and here next to another book (The Outrun) so connected to nature. Out of the Woods is about Luke Turner’s complex relationship with a religious upbringing, sexual abuse, guilt, shame, and his bisexuality. All of this is explored through the lens of his relationship with Epping Forest. A really unique and compelling memoir. 

   
   

10. IN THE REALM OF HUNGRY GHOSTS - DR GABOR MATE

    
    

    This is a tough but compassionate read about various kinds of addiction. Gabor Mate believes that addiction is not a disease, but stems from the human difficulty with processing and dealing with pain, trauma, and disconnection. 

    
    

11. THE TRIP TO ECHO SPRING - OLIVIA LAING

    
    

    Described as ‘part literary criticism, part biography, part travelogue, part memoir’, this is a brilliant dive into the lives of six alcoholic writers and the link between addiction and creativity. Laing focuses on: Ernest Hemingway, F Scott Fitzgerald, Tennessee Williams, John Berryman, John Cheever, and Raymond Carver.

    
    

12.  RACHEL’S HOLIDAY &  AGAIN, RACHEL - MARIAN KEYES

    
    

    Yeah, yeah, these aren’t strictly ‘quit lit’. But Marian Keyes is 30+ years sober and she says that rehab and group therapy were some of the happiest times in her life because of what they gave her. She draws on her own experiences in her writing, so I’m including them here. 

    
    

    Rachel’s Holiday is part romance, part rehab, very funny and a perfect holiday read for anyone but especially folk who might see a bit of themselves in the pages. It was released in 2007, so fans had a long wait until Keyes finally delivered a sequel in 2022. Again, Rachel, sees the lead character older, wiser, sober and working as an addiction counsellor. But as is the way with life and getting older, she has to navigate some wobbles. 

    
    

    Even more book recommendations …

    
    

    We Are The Luckiest - Laura McKowen

    The Recovering: Intoxication and Its Aftermath - Leslie Jamison (this is on my TBR pile)

    Drink - Ann Dowsett Johnston

    Girl Walks Out of a Bar - Lisa F Smith

    Glorious Rock Bottom - Bryony Gordon

    The Sober Diaries - Clare Pooley

    Me - Elton John

    This Ragged Grace - Octavia Bright

    Smashed - Koren Zailckas

    Shuggie Bain - Douglas Stuart (fiction)

    Prozac Nation / More, Now, Again - Elizabeth Wurtzel

    
    

    If you want something that will talk more about science, psychology, or the sober 'toolbox': Annie Grace, William Porter, David Nutt, Allan Carr, Millie Gooch (as Sober Girl Society) all have books in that vein.

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Do let me know if you have other recommendations!

If you're looking for resources around Dry January, Alcohol Change UK has some good ones on their website and other info applicable year round.

There are loads of sober support groups now, both online and in person. Whether you are looking for 12 step support, social activities, or regular meetings for different communities, it's worth trying different things to see what works for you. If something doesn't feel quite right, ask around and do some research; unfortunately there are some folk out there who take the right royal piss out of the newly sober.

Some of the social media folk / accounts I like (I won't link as will depend on what platforms you / they use): Brutal Recovery, Boozeless Book Club, fucking_sober, Millie Gooch, happywithoutthehooch (Michael).

If you are concerned about the physical and psychological impact alcohol is having, speaking to a professional can help you to figure out the best support.

Always happy to be emailed and share experiences I've had: thebetterwithbooksclub@gmail.com

I'll end with one of my fave sobriety memes: