Nobody Likes a Quitter (and Other Reasons to Avoid Rehab): The Loaded Life of an Outlaw Booze Writer.

Dunn, Dan (author).

This offering from “rockstar booze writer” Dunn feels a bit thrown together, but what else would you expect from someone with that job description? (Note to publicists: combining “rockstar” with “writer” never works, not even for Tom Robbins.) It’s a picaresque memoir with a few sidebars of drinks lore, the latter usually told in exaggerated straight face (see, I’m a journalist, wink, wink). If you’re looking for serious drinks writing, look elsewhere: Dunn seems enthralled by the notion that he’s getting paid to drink and so spends more time writing about his real or imagined exploits (look at me, I’m being bad) and tweaking the people who are milking him for publicity. Drinking hasn’t dulled his wit; some passages are terrifically funny, even if it’s often clear that the telling is funnier than the events themselves. Dunn was apparently a protégé of Hunter S. Thompson, and while his style and frenetic pace ape the gonzo great, comparisons end there. Thompson used booze and drugs as a way of getting at his stories; for Dunn, getting drunk is the story.