Books To Inspire Your Alcohol-Free Journey This World Book Day
Cutting down your alcohol intake or experimenting with sobriety can be very difficult. One way to keep yourself motivated and inspired on your mindful drinking or sober curious journey is to listen to podcasts and read all about the alcohol-free lifestyle.
So here are six of our favourite alcohol-free books.
1. Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget by Sarah Hepola
This unwaveringly honest memoir tells the tale of Sarah Hepola. She once considered alcohol to be “the gasoline of all adventure” as she embarks on her new, unwanted adventure of sobriety.
This mix of laugh-out-loud fun and poignant honesty explores the freedom Sarah felt whilst drinking. It shows the price she paid, with long periods of being blackout, trying to figure out exactly what she had done the night before, and covering it all up with self-deprecating jokes.
We watch as she rediscovers herself, her creativity and her energy. All of this away from the very thing she used to believe brought it to her: alcohol.
2. Drinking Games: A Memoir by Sarah Levy
This book, part memoir part social critique, tells the story of a different Sarah this time. It shows her stumbling through her alcohol-filled twenties, surrounded by alcohol in all parts of her life. She explores how her relationship with alcohol becomes toxic, and the impact that alcohol had on her identity in some of the most formative years of her life.
This book is darkly funny and intimately honest. It takes us through Sarah’s personal experiences with blackouts, dating, relationships, wellness culture, startups, social media, friendship, and self-discovery. All the big parts of the average life of someone in their twenties.
3. Dry: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs
Augusten Burroughs is a very typical, normal man, like so many men you have met. Except when “normal people” go to bed he keeps drinking. That is until his work forces him to go to rehab. Whilst in rehab things start to stick. He realises that he has to start living his drunken New York life, but completely sober.
This moving, yet funny memoir explores his feelings of loss as he renegotiates his life in New York without alcohol.
4. Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol by Holly Whitaker
In this New York Best Seller, Holly Whitaker takes a look at the culture of alcohol that surrounds us, and particularly the way that this targets women. Having gone through the journey to sobriety already, Whitaker felt called to create a feminine-centric sober community. Done with the likes of alcohol anonymous, she wants to help people cultivate a deeper understanding of their own identities. She wants to help them take control of their lives.
What comes out of this is a highly relatable, honest and witty book that looks at today’s drinking culture. It creates a roadmap to help people cut out alcohol, and live an empowered life away from alcohol.
5. Mindful Mixology by Derek Brown
This book by spirits expert Derek Brown is a collection of recipes, techniques and different sources, to create the perfect no or low-alcohol drink. Brown’s aim is to teach the sober curious how to mix sophisticated and nuanced alcohol-free drinks so that you don’t have to miss out on a delicious drinking experience just because you don’t drink alcohol.
This book contains 60 recipes and instructions on how to create the perfect at-home, alcohol-free bar.
6. Zero Proof Cocktails: 90 Non-Alcoholic Recipes for Mindful Drinking by Elva Ramirez
Veteran reporter Elva Ramirez has spent the last years visiting some of the top and most renowned bars across cities like London, New York and Paris in order to collect recipes for the most delicious and sophisticated alcohol-free drinks.
With recipes from Death & Co (Denver and NYC), Employees Only, The Aviary (NYC), Broken Shaker (LA), Everleaf Drinks (London), Little Red Door (Paris) and more, this book is guaranteed to inspire your creative alcohol-free cocktail ideas.
Sign Up For Jomo
Want to enjoy an alcohol-free cocktail whilst you read your new quit-lit or alcohol-free books? Then sign up for a JOMO subscription box. That way you can dive in and explore the world of alcohol-free drinks.
Each JOMO box contains:
One full-sized alcohol-free spirit
Mixers, garnishes and cocktail recipes paired with the spirit
A range of ready-to-drink alcohol-free beverages
Tasty snacks to enjoy whilst you drink
A glossy magazine with everything you need to know about alcohol-free drinks in it.
All of these drinks are mindfully sourced and will help you taste test and discover your new favourite alcohol-free drink, making any sober curious experiments just that bit easier.