By Kelli DeWalt
Whether it's legal or not, drinking is a popular college pastime. It's not uncommon to walk outside ones' dorm on a Friday night and see barely dressed people running around screaming nonsense. Yet, very few people actually condone this behavior: they just happen to turn their heads.
Dan Dunn does just the opposite in his new book, "Nobody Likes a Quitter (and other reasons to avoid rehab): The Loaded Life of an Outlaw Booze Writer."
Dunn, best known for his wine and spirits column, "The Imbiber" in Metro International Newspapers, and his Web site, theimbiber.net, penned his first book based on his alcohol-drenched life.
"It's compulsory if you're a writer to want to write a book," Dunn said in a recent interview.
The book chronicles his life from a young boy in Philadelphia to a young ski bum in Aspen and eventually to a syndicated columnist in California. Along the way, Dunn comes across an interesting cast of characters while living his life usually inebriated.
While the book is based on Dunn's life, much of it is made up.
"Roughly 37.78 percent of it is true," Dunn said, "the parts that piss off my mother aren't true."
The book is filled with drunken nights, celebrities and, of course, beautiful women. Yet, one of the most interesting characters in the book is Dunn's roommate, dubbed Bottomfeeder.
Bottomfeeder is unemployed, lives at Dunn's for free, uses all of his personal things and is unapologetic about all of it. And the best part: he's seemingly real.
"Bottomfeeder lives, baby," Dunn said, "he dwells in a realm very few people tread." Yet, he continued, "I can neither confirm nor deny his existence."
Dunn also coverts with a range of people from the late writer Hunter S. Thompson, to conscienceless agents, jinxed Hollywood executives and porn-star neighbors.
His status as a wine and spirits writer has allowed him to travel the world and party with celebrities such as Kid Rock, Bono, the Culkin brothers and Bon Jovi, just to name a few. This just adds to the entertaining nature of the book.
Besides Dunn's amusing escapades on the job, the book is also filled with cocktail suggestions throughout and a guide on how to make them. It also includes wine and liquor history and reviews of the latest alcoholic beverages.
While provocative and at many times raunchy, the book is hilarious. It doesn't take itself seriously, and the reader shouldn't either.
If there's a message in the book, it's that "there's a way to enjoy adult beverages in a fun way without landing in a pine-box," Dunn said.
He does admit that in "Nobody Likes a Quitter," "he turns it around to make himself the butt of a joke," when he's intoxicated.
The title of the book is tongue-in-cheek, explains Dunn, and he isn't worried about anyone being offended by his writing.
"You can't worry about it- creative works would never get made if you do," Dunn said.
One of Dunn's lines from his forward best describes the overall philosophy of the book.
"Look upon the time spent reading this book as you would a visit to Mr. Roger's neighborhood-sometimes we'll be kicking it real in my house, only instead of sneakers and cardigan sweaters my closet will be full of liquor and skeletons."
Currently, Dunn is traveling around, promoting his book, as well as continuing to write his weekly column. He also finds time to write for magazines such as Playboy and Maxim.
(Dan Dunn)