Book Group: This month's title - 'Dry' by Augusten Burroughs

There's a fine tradition of the writer's love affair with drink. Not the journalist's, of course. We prefer Perrier, or perhaps a Britvic orange. Augusten Burroughs did not. He was 19 and working in advertising when he hit the bottle.

There's a fine tradition of the writer's love affair with drink. Not the journalist's, of course. We prefer Perrier, or perhaps a Britvic orange. Augusten Burroughs did not. He was 19 and working in advertising when he hit the bottle.

His bestselling first memoir, Running with Scissors, was a hilarious account of a dysfunctional childhood. Now set to hit Hollywood, it reads like a well-crafted and crazed sitcom. Dry continues the story of Burroughs's extraordinary life. Forced by his employers into rehab, he embarks on a new life of fluorescent-lit group therapy and "McFish thing" lunches.

Does the rapid-fire flow of one-liners strengthen or weaken his tale? Is the influence of telly a good or a bad thing?Is it, in fact, too funny? Now, dear readers, it's over to you. Time for a good read and perhaps a little tipple.

'Dry' by Augusten Burroughs (Atlantic,£7.99)