I’m excited to be starting my 10th year sober by hosting a discussion of Augusten Burroughs’s book Dry. Addiction/recovery autobiographies like Dry were crucial to my staying sober in my first few months alcohol-free. It wasn’t the instructional self-help books that helped me the most in those early months, it was the autobiographies. For the first time in this writing, I found other people expressing the feelings that I had, the feelings that I’d been afraid to express, and that sense of commonality with the authors helped me begin to accept myself.
I had never been a reader of biographies. Before reading these addiction/recovery autobiographies I had not finished a single biography. I have biographies and autobiographies on my bookshelves but they simply do not hold my attention. The stories of the lives of historical figures and celebrities have never been my cup of tea. I open them, read a few chapters, and then lose interest.
But the autobiographies of people overcoming alcohol issues? Autobiographies with quotes like this one from Dry?
I read them voraciously for my first 4 months alcohol-free.
The reason that these books held my attention was that these were MY story.
I may not have been able to relate to many of the details of the author’s life but their perspective on alcohol? The love-hate relationship that had tormented me for years? The denial? The wash-rinse-repeat, hamster wheel. groundhog days and groundhog nights?
That was ME! That was MY struggle. That was the life or death challenge that faced me.
Join us in our Boom Rethink the Drink Community Book Club for a discussion of Dry by Augusten Burroughs
Open the discussion posts with the links below and join the conversation
- High Functioning and the Intervention
- What is Normal?
- Thoughts After Watching “Running With Scissors”
- Remembering the Dark Stuff and the Beginning of the Romance
- Chapter 2 – Fantasy vs Reality
- “The Rules of Group” and more thoughts on “Cologne Drinking Alcoholics”
- Monkey Wonky and Blue Blue Kitten
- The Things that Make a Lasting Impression
- The Elephant in the Room Hiding in Plane Sight
- Coming Home – Augusten’s Relapse
JOIN US ! IN A BOOK CLUB ABOUT MUCH MORE THAN QUIT LIT
You can access our Boom Community Book Club archive with the titles below.
- The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Sober Diaries – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Blackout – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Chasing the Scream – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Untamed – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Push Off From Here – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- Staying Sober Without AA – A Boom Community Book Club Selection
- In the Realm of the Hungry Ghosts – A Boom Community Book Club Discussion
Books to Help you Stop Drinking and Fuel Your Sober Momentum
Join us at www.BoomRethinktheDrink.com
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Life is too Short to Waste it Wasted
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