My Fair Junkie: A Memoir of Getting Dirty and Staying Clean

Dresner, a former stand-up comic and current contributing editor for The Fix, writes about her recovery from drug and alcohol abuse with honesty and irreverent humor. Dresner hit rock bottom when she pulled a knife on her husband while high on OxyContin in 2011. She was charged with domestic violence, sentenced to community service, and was admitted into a chic Hollywood Hills rehab. Dresner’s narration of her messy recovery (she eventually got kicked out of the posh rehab, went on Medicaid, and developed an addiction to Tinder) is interwoven with insights she gains as a recovering addict: “With drugs, you can circumvent all the productive work and fulfilling relationships that you’d normally need in order to have a feeling of wholeness in your life.” While cleaning syringes and human waste off Hollywood Boulevard as part of her community service, Dresner decided to seriously rethink her life. She finds humor in the darkest moments of her addiction and recovery: “Running a women’s sober living [home] is not easy. It’s like herding cats... if the cats were on heroin.” Readers meet Dresner at her worst, but she nevertheless charms throughout her healing. Agent: Peter Steinberg, Foundry Literary + Media. (Sept.)