No reason to stop reading 'Quitter'

Falling under the category of Humor/Popular Culture, Dan Dunn's clever quips and drollery in his novel follow the mistakes, knowledge, experience and tribulations that come with being professionally drunk for a living.

Dunn, a notorious wine and spirits writer and columnist of "The Imbiber," chronicles his witty comedy in his book "Nobody Likes a Quitter (And Other Reasons to Avoid Rehab): The Loaded Life of an Outlaw Booze Writer."

The text follows Dunn's collection of adventures across the globe on his journeys of writing about what to drink, drinking it and what happens when you drink it for multiple publications. His articles have gotten him recognition and positions writing for E's "Talk Soup" and as a Weekend Update contributor for NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

Dunn's ways didn't start at the top, however. Living alternately on a floor and couch in Aspen, Colorado, Dunn discovered his love for booze and his ability to transform his sarcastic dribble into written words. He later moved to Santa Monica to continue his aspiration and profession in a more urban and less tourist setting.

Not only does the novel follow Dunn's many, many experiences, but also it includes his favorite drink recipes and numerous footnotes full of interesting side, yet knowledgeable, information.

While normally a footnote would cause one to glaze over and continue reading the main text on the page, Dunn's ability to tie together the strangest of events and mindless factoids makes it hard to fight the urge of not making one's way to the bottom of the page during mid-sentence.

Dunn also has a knack for interpreting situations and adding multiple analogies, which most of the time, stifle at least a chuckle. They do, however, get to be a bit too far-fetched at points, making some of them more annoying than anything else.

A deifier of the norm in any and all situations, Dunn's adventures (most of which leave the reader thinking "I can't believe he actually did that"), are amusing, truly incorporating hoards of people, places and coincidental occurrences. If one can make their way through the footnotes, spirit concoctions and histories without getting too far off track, Dunn does in fact tie everything together quite well; the reader just needs to really pay attention to the story line, then go back to the side notes, a practice that can cause one to feel a little overwhelmed with information at points.

The novel is a quick read, however. The story moves along at a fast pace-there is never an incident that the reader would find uneventful.

One of the most amusing parts of the book, ironically one that doesn't involve much alcohol, comes in Dunn's aspiration to get rich screenwriting. What's even more amusing is how his half-hearted, literal transformation of Hollywood ideas into farce actually grabbed the studio's attention. Dunn literally had to go so far outside the box to get out of writing storylines that included "Polly's Pro's," a sitcom about a brothel, and "Ride My Pimp," a spin off of the car show that transforms into pimps and hoes living together in a crack house, participating in weekly challenges.

Such lucid yet amusing incidents leave the reader not only laughing, but wondering just how far Dunn will go for a laugh, sober or not.

His screenwriting was later put into good use not only later in the book but also later in life, as one can see from his previously noted achievements. Dunn does his best to add variety to the chapters, one in which he played out a real life scene (with some obvious false additions for comic effect) in a script dialogue.

Other notable sections of the read include his 98 percent foolproof cure for hangovers, anything having to do with his bum roommate (whom he refers to as Bottomfeeder), his trip to Canada (where the strip clubs really are better) and his extensive knowledge on the manufacturing and time involved in creating numerous wines, beers and liquors.

His ability to grab a reader's attention seems at points, effortless. Yet at others, it seems his only motivation behind a paragraph is a desperate attempt to get said attention. Dunn struggles finding this sort of balance throughout the novel.

That aspect aside, "Nobody Likes a Quitter" will at least lead to inevitable light-hearted laughter and many dog-eared recipe pages. Dunn's attempt to transform a columnist writing style into a full-fledged paperback is worth a read, but perhaps more for a plane ride or to pass the time.