As the publication of our book of essays, Drinking Diaries: Women Serve Their Stories Straight Up draws near–just days away, actually–we are thrilled to share the news about reviews, mentions and excerpts and hope you will share with others as well. And of course, we’d be thrilled if you ordered your own copy (great as gifts too)!
The anthology is a compilation of original essays, written by women of varying age, background, culture and perspective. ELLE magazine featured the Drinking Diaries book in their September issue, calling it “a collection of 28 essays exploring what it means to imbibe, be it casually or problematically. From ELLE contributor Daphne Merkin on how good Jewish girls drink (pass the Manischewitz!) to Elissa Schappell on the early, joyful, and booze-soaked days of her marriage and the shift that occurred when her husband decided to get sober, there are lessons in these sloppy, sad, ridiculous, dangerous, and celebratory experiences.”
And in yesterday’s New York Times, Ellissa Schappell’s Drinking Diaries essay was excerpted for the popular ”Modern Love” column. It begins:
When I picture my favorite moments with my husband over our 23 years together, someone is always holding a glass, or a bottle of wine, or a plastic cup — well, except for the last 11 years, since Rob stopped drinking.
I can plot the timeline of our relationship by what we were drinking.
First, the bloody mary in a can I had bought for us to share on the Amtrak train, where we had just met. The cold Rolling Rock beers we drank the next night on our first date at a bar on the Lower East Side called Downtown Beirut. The glasses of Pernod on the rocks we sipped while listening to the Velvet Underground, after I had moved in with him (and his three actor roommates) on Staten Island. The coveted 100-year-old Armagnac my father — clearly drunk with happiness that his daughter had finally brought home a man he approved of — decided to break out and share with Rob.
To read the full essay in the Times, click here.
And thanks to all of you for supporting our blog and book!
~Caren & Leah
