When February came around this year and I decided to give my body a break from the alcohol,  I was looking for some inspiration or encouragement and saw this book.

Jill Stark is a senior journalist for The Age (Melbourne). Her specialty is health issues. She has won a journalistic award for her “alcohol Timebomb” series. The interesting thing is Jill describes herself as “the binge-drinking health reporter.” She has regularly engaged in drinking alcohol since she was 13 years old in Scotland.

At the age of 35, after a shocking hangover following New Year's Eve, she decides to go off the grog. Her initial alcohol free period was to be three months but this turns into a year. The book is about her year off the booze and the place alcohol takes in our social lives.

For me the book was insightful, funny, challenging and interesting.

It includes a clever social commentary on how Australians relate to drinking. It covers our  history with alcohol from convicts to the 6 o’clock swill. Stark investigates the common use of alcohol in work environments, among uni students, around sporting events, at life celebrations, attached to Australian icons like Anzacs and even its place in finding a man to date.

Jill Stark's wit and insight in this book shows that alcohol is so ingrained in our society’s psyche that  it’s hard to be different and not drink.

I highly recommend this for a book club. It’s a subject that would get people talking.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this account of a reporter's year without drinking.