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Has anyone else read Caroline Knapp?

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BelAir:
I've read "Pack of Two" about people's relationships with their dogs, and "Appetites: Why Women Want" - about her own struggle with anorexia, and why women 'want' in general.

I have "Drinking: A Love Story" and "The Merry Recluse" (a collection of essays) to read.

I think she has interesting ideas, thoughts on women's issues, and just wondered if anyone else was familiar with her work...

Mandy21:
I LOVE Caroline Knapp.  Being an alcoholic, sometimes on and sometimes off the wagon, "Drinking:  A Love Story" remains firmly planted on my coffee table at all times.  I must have read it cover-to-cover a hundred times over the years.  It is truly heartbreaking, but also hopeful at the same time.  I've read the rest of her stuff as well, but this one resonated the deepest in me, because of the aforementioned reasons.  I also believe it to be her finest work, from a literary standpoint, but perhaps I'm just biased.  I didn't find the others to be quite as smooth reading as "Drinking".  Let me know what you think of it after you read.

You do, of course, know she passed away from lung cancer in her early 40's, right?

BelAir:
Yes, I know about her death from lung cancer....

As depressing to me as Heath's death really.

Smoking, the one addiction she never wrote about.

I can't help but wonder what she would say, and how she felt, about her battle with cancer.  And I would LOVE to read someone's memoir of her...

At the end of Appetites, she recounts watching the birth of her niece.

And she died of cancer six months later.

 :-\

Like Heath, I feel she was a kindred soul, and I'm sad she's gone.

Well, I didn't mean to depress myself so, but in Appetites I agreed with some of her perspectives, but felt sometimes she was sort of repeating the party line in terms of culture and women and image...

(PS - I'm glad I found another fan!)

serious crayons:
OMG! My copy of Drinking: A Love Story arrived from Amazon last week!

I have read chunks of it over the years, and been really impressed, but never got around to reading the whole thing. Finally, though, I ordered it for my husband, because he has drinking issues he is trying to deal with, and I thought it would help him. I was going to read it after he does, but Amazon sent it here accidentally, so I will read it first (he lives in another state).

I think her writing is beautiful and powerfully honest. As a memoirist, a sometimes excessive drinker, and a lover of good writing, I'm really looking forward to it. Once I've finished it, I'll probably read some of her other books.

As I was ordering the book and reading parts online, I googled her name. I already knew she had died a few years ago, and young, but I didn't realize how quickly she went until I came upon her NY Times wedding announcement. She was diagnosed in April, married in May, died in June.

Heartbreaking.

BelAir:

--- Quote from: serious crayons on March 16, 2009, 11:25:05 pm ---OMG! My copy of Drinking: A Love Story arrived from Amazon last week!

I have read chunks of it over the years, and been really impressed, but never got around to reading the whole thing. Finally, though, I ordered it for my husband, because he has drinking issues he is trying to deal with, and I thought it would help him. I was going to read it after he does, but Amazon sent it here accidentally, so I will read it first (he lives in another state).

I think her writing is beautiful and powerfully honest. As a memoirist, a sometimes excessive drinker, and a lover of good writing, I'm really looking forward to it. Once I've finished it, I'll probably read some of her other books.

As I was ordering the book and reading parts online, I googled her name. I already knew she had died a few years ago, and young, but I didn't realize how quickly she went until I came upon her NY Times wedding announcement. She was diagnosed in April, married in May, died in June.

Heartbreaking.



--- End quote ---

Well, come report back as you read, please...

(My copy of Drinking arrived today...)

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