The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less

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Adrian recently married Guardian editor Katharine Viner at Jervaulx Abbey in North Yorkshire. Viner was raised in Yorkshire and went to Ripon Grammar School, so the pair spend a lot of time in Yorkshire. Have to say, this was a really well written and easy to follow read on Chiles' life with alcohol and how he kept it in his life without losing the ability to have it altogether. DisobedientBodies explores society’s patriarchal and capitalist beauty standards and calls on us to rebel against them! This is a powerful and inspiring new way of looking at beauty. Ah, this was excellent. Not quite 5* but not far off. Adrian’s story is quite something and many reading it, like me, won’t be drinking anything like the volumes he does. But it serves as a cautionary reminder that alcohol can be enjoyed, but in moderation. This book resonated with me - Adrian's journey with alcohol, and his sensible, relatable, reasonable, and above all, achievable approach to reducing alcohol intake turned out to be very similar to my own.

The Good Drinker by Adrian Chiles | Waterstones The Good Drinker by Adrian Chiles | Waterstones

In terms of advice on cutting down, he says ultimately it’s about being mindful. “The main thing is to count units, and not judge yourself. Use an app like Drink Less. Don’t judge yourself, don’t worry yourself stupid, just monitor it.” I’ve occasionally been asked why it is that I need to go for a drink before watching the Albion play. I’ve always answered with something lame, along the lines of, “You wanna try watching us sober”… where does this urge come from? I’ve raced off to games hours early to give me a chance to drink a lot of beer in a relatively short time … the craic is good, usually. Sometimes it isn’t, Occasionally it’s all rather boring. But I always make the effort. Why? Well..’ I gave this interesting book a try even though I was 75% certain that it would be a bait and switch to abstinence only. It's all padded out with some long-winded percentage calculations of how many drinks he "WANTED/NEEDED/ENJOYED" in certain phases of his life - you can skip these. If you’re planning on doing Dry January that’s good. But if you’re doing it to give yourself a free pass to drink like a fish over Christmas and New Year, that maybe isn’t such a good thing. Perhaps use it to incentivise yourself to have some days off the booze over Christmas – for every dry day you have, shorten your Dry January by a day.” 5. Alternate booze with water

Moderating your drinking during the festive season

Other chapters consider work, and telling lies. Throughout, there are exercises to do. The “soul” of the book’s title doesn’t refer to a religious idea by the way, but more to an internal essence we all have. And Carder doesn’t claim that we are all addicted to alcohol or drugs either!). I wouldn’t say We Are All Addicts is a typical quit lit book. But it is well written, and has some interesting things to say about how we see addiction and recovery, especially for American readers. He blames ‘social norming’ for binge drinking. “We all think everybody drinks too much, but half the adult population never go to pubs or clubs. The figures show about 70per cent of people do drink within the guidelines. The problem is, drinkers like me surround ourselves with other drinkers. So, every greeting card you see has drink on the card. We’re only choosing to see the other drinkers.” Then he made the documentary. “For the first time ever, I did what I now recommend everyone to do, which is to record how much you’re drinking. On the first day I’d gone to the football, then to a party, and didn’t feel particularly drunk and it didn’t feel like a big drinking day but I’d done 36 units. I thought, ‘hang on there’s something wrong here, that’s a monstrous amount’.”

The Good Drinker by Adrian Chiles | Waterstones

Opening in 1963 New York, to Renaissance Florence, to the birth of theatre in fifth-century Athens, and the Sex Pistols shattering Thatcherite Britain - take your seat for the history of performance. Chiles's self-deprecation may be stage-managed, but the underlying modesty is real. Sitting alongside his propensity to admit his ignorance is an attractive willingness to listen to anyone, of any age or social station, who might tell him something meaningful ... This is why Adrian Chiles is beautiful' He remains honest. Today, he says he drinks between 20 and 30 units a week, still greater than the recommended 14 but much less than he was. Every year in January I have a dry month and I always read at least one book on the topic to remind me of the need to consume carefully for the year ahead.Discover the captivating origins and hidden meanings of the flags that we all know today in this sparkling tour through this universal subject! Chiles started drinking enthusiastically in his teens, continued in his 20s and although by his 30s he had small children, he still spent a fair amount of time in the pub. By his 40s he was famous and successful, socialising a lot, which always involved drinking. But then, conscious of how much he was drinking, he focused on himself for a 2018 BBC documentary Drinkers Like Me to test how his regular drinking affected his health. He discovered he was drinking up to 100 units a week and a doctor told him he had signs of liver damage. We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. Adam Sisman`s definitive biography, published in 2015, revealed much about the elusive spy-turned-novelist; yet le Carré was adamant that some subjects should remain hidden, at least during his lifetime. #TheSecretLifeOfJohnLeCarré is the story of what was left out, and offers reflections on the difficult relationship between biographer and subject. More than that, it adds a necessary coda to the life and work of this complex, driven, restless man.

The Good Drinker by Adrian Chiles | Goodreads The Good Drinker by Adrian Chiles | Goodreads

Irresistible by Joshua Paul Dale delves into the surprisingly ancient origins of Japan’s #kawaii culture and uncovers the cross-cultural pollination of the globalised world 🦊 Books telling us to give up drinking are 10 a penny, but how about something for those of us who like a social drink but are occasionally worried that two turn into four rather too easily? That’s where Adrian Chiles’s likable and highly readable memoir of his relationship with booze comes in. He writes that “the vast majority of drinkers like me believe they are not problem drinkers”. He details his experiences in cutting down, to comic and insightful effect, and skilfully but never preachingly, offers suggestions for others, too. The Little Blue Flames First book of the year as I wasn't entirely sure where to start but this stood out to me. As someone who enjoyed Chiles' 2018 documentary Dry January after a rather Wet December has been the sort of moderate conversation I've always really wanted to have with someone.Honest, funny and full of strategies on how to moderate your drinking, Chiles is genuinely passionate about his pints and the need to enjoy them without ever coming across as preachy - a fine line many have failed to tread ... sage ... funny and touching'