BLACKOUT by Sarah Hepola
If you have ever questioned your own drinking or someone else's, if you enjoy personal stories that contain compelling grains of universality, if you simply like good, lively writing, I encourage you to pre-order BLACKOUT: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forgetby Salon personal essays editor Sarah Hepola, which will be out in June. I was lucky to get my hands on an early copy of this book and devoured it this weekend. It is raw, honest, and very powerful. From Kirkus:
As much as readers will cry over the author’s boozy misadventures—bruising falls down marble staircases, grim encounters with strangers in hotel rooms, entire evenings’ escapades missing from memory—they will laugh as Hepola laughs at herself, at the wrongheaded logic of the active alcoholic who rationalizes it all as an excuse for one more drink. This is a drinking memoir, yes, and fans of Caroline Knapp’s Drinking: A Love Story (1996) will recognize similar themes, but Hepola moves beyond the analysis of her addiction, making this the story of every woman’s fight to be seen for who she really is.
For a taste of Hepola's drinking writing, read her Salon.com essay Lush for Life.