These days, he’ll have a shandy (but with soda water instead of lemonade) and alternate his drinks with glasses of water. To celebrate the publication of #DisobedientBodies – the new manifesto on beauty from Emma Dabiri, the bestselling author of #WhatWhitePeopleCanDoNext – we’re running a giveaway with UK indie nail polish brand Télle Moi. 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. When broadcaster Adrian Chiles started to investigate his drinking, he was in for a rude awakening.

The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less

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' 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. 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. The presenter, who was divorced from broadcaster Jane Garvey with whom he has two daughters in 2009, and married Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner in September this year (he’s a regular columnist with the paper), recalls: “I was looking at my drinking charts the week before my wedding and the week after and the numbers were very high. But the point is, I can see it and I forgive myself. He wasn’t a fall-over drunk, didn’t get hangovers or reach for a bottle in the morning, never woke up in shop doorways after a heavy night.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..’ Secrecy came naturally to John le Carré, and there were some secrets that he fought fiercely to keep, nowhere more so than in his private life. Seemingly content in his marriage, the novelist conducted a string of love affairs over four decades. To keep these relationships secret, he made use of tradecraft that he had learned as a spy: code names and cover stories, cut outs, safe houses and dead letter boxes. The book is for people who like drinking. “The point is you can drink less and enjoy it more. If you boil it down to drinks you enjoy, you will enjoy your drinking more; there’s no doubt of that in my mind.” 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.

The Good Drinker: How I Learned to Love Drinking Less

Whilst I'm sure for a lot of people abstinence is the only way, cutting down and being more thoughtful about my drinking of wine works for me. 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.” Fantastic, honest book. So much of what Adrian writes resonates with me. I recently spoke with a friend who told me for years she had a three drink limit on a night out and never once did she feel like she’d missed out by swapping to soft drinks after that. I thought if only I had been blessed with her will power, as I certainly could never do that! But this book has made me realise that’s utter rubbish. Of course I can do that, I’ve just never really wanted to. I do now! Discover the captivating origins and hidden meanings of the flags that we all know today in this sparkling tour through this universal subject!

I am completely in the same headspace as in that I enjoy drinking and if I can do it moderately then why give up the habit of a lifetime. Since the new year my drinking diary says I have averaged 15.78 units/week so not quite to the government's safe drinking guide level yet but close. This was a very interesting read. I think there’s a lot of value in a book that recognises that for most people, total abstinence from alcohol is not a realistic decision, given societal reliance on it in social situations. 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. The Good Drinker also has the stories of other moderate drinkers, interviews with experts, and practical tips and strategies for cutting down. Adrian is a good and engaging writer so the book is a pleasure to read, and there is lots to digest for anyone considering or practising moderate or mindful drinking. I didn’t agree with everything (for example I think Adrian puts too much emphasis on units, though if they work for him then calculate away!). But this book is a great addition to the still very small collection of books aimed at the moderate drinker. 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.

The Good Drinker and other mindful drinking books for 2023 The Good Drinker and other mindful drinking books for 2023

He thanks "the clinicians who’ve given me so much of their time sharing their expertise", but why not put some in the book? He assures us "there are mountains of scientific studies on all this" and he has done "a fair amount of reading and listening on the subject". Drinking 100s of units a week, he says, meant facing "some pretty dire consequences with my innards". Don't buy this book thinking you'll learn anything at all about the effects of alcohol on health. Having had Allan Carr's The Easy Way to Control Alcohol for a few years and never had the inclination to get round to reading it, I thought I would give this a go as it seemed a bit more likely and a bit more achievable for me. I really enjoyed the "moderators" he includes as real people with their own tactics to keep consumption at a healthy level. I also enjoyed Adrian's personal stories which made this far less like a medical self help guide and more just about his own journey with Alcohol, which many should relate to. He never ignores arguments for people choosing to go completely teetotal and he also seems honest about the fact that there is no right answer for everyone and in some circumstances, moderation just isn't an option. A meandering love letter from Chiles to his other half - alcohol. Any occasion without it is rubbish, even those with his 500 closest friends and his family. Cirrhosis, fatty liver and being old don't deter Chiles from moaning "I don't know what to do with people who don't drink". He actively avoids making friends with teetotallers and light drinkers, believing that meaningful connections can only be forged with alcohol.The thought of never drinking alcohol frightens me as there are so many social and cultural influences around us to drink alcohol and similarly to Adrian, the happy times of my life have been about socialising and drinking with friends. It is certainly easier to be at an event where you know no one to have a glass of wine in hand. However, the glass of wine after a hard day at work (oh poor me working in a book shop) I can generally do without, they've become a habit and the "hard day at work" is just an excuse. 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.” He calculated that if he lined up every drink he’d ever had it would stretch over three miles. “A lot of the drinking was just pointless. The real tragedy is if I looked at how many of those were drinks I really wanted, needed or enjoyed I think it’s only about a third of them. So I cut the pointless drinks out. I just thought which drinks do I really need, want and enjoy and try and restrict myself to them.” This book is generally light hearted and easy going despite the occasionally mean and hurtful things it has to say about alcohol.

book The Good Drinker to Ilkley Adrian Chiles brings his book The Good Drinker to Ilkley

There were a few figures and facts that stood out to me. Although, also a few that felt incredibly obvious and common sense. It never felt overly preachy or overly "self-help", as it was littered with enough personal and other stories to keep it enjoyable whilst trying to give an argument for moderation. Adrian is a British TV and radio journalist, perhaps best known as a football commentator and fan. He did a TV programme a couple of years ago called Drinkers Like Me, where he examined his drinking habits and wondered whether he should cut down. This book is a sort of follow-up to the TV show. 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 it’s somewhere where there’s wine flowing, I’ll have a glass of wine but when I’ve finished that I wouldn’t drink any more wine until I’d filled that same glass with water and finished that. That’s reducing the volume and stops you being dehydrated.” 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 Adrian never talks down to the reader and is very open about his shift in perspective when faced by medical advice to cut down (after being sure he wasn't doing much harm with his weekly units each week). These adverts enable local businesses to get in front of their target audience – the local community.