Float like a Butterfly, Drink Mint Tea: How I Quit Everything

• This is the fourth title in the Robin’s Egg Books series of literate humor books on culturally relevant subjects. The previous titles are What I Think Happened (Evany Rosen, 2018), So You’re a Little Sad, So What? (Alicia Tobin, 2020) and You Suck, Sir (Paul Bae, 2020).

• Alex Wood is a Toronto-based stand-up comedian, writer, and podcaster. His book Float like a Butterfly, Drink Mint Tea is a simultaneously harrowing and comedic memoir about his history of substance abuse and his subsequent recovery with the help of boxing and herbal tea. At the age of 22, Alex was a suicidal drug and alcohol addict living in his mother’s basement. Over the course of the next ten years, he suffered from a staph infection, pancreatitis, and ulcers, and was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder and finally, PTSD as a result of childhood trauma. Fed up with his life, he finally quit everything all at once: not only drugs and alcohol, but also cigarettes, caffeine, red meat, dairy, porn, biting his nails, sugar, social media, smartphones, gossip and credit cards. He launched a podcast called “Alex Wood Quits Everything,” in which he candidly discusses his former vices with black humor, clinical research, and interviews conducted with fellow recovering addicts. This memoir is the story of his recovery, told with disarming honesty and self-deprecating humor that promises to be a source of inspiration for others.

• The most successful recovery memoirs (James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces [before it was exposed as fraudulent] Nic Sheff’s Tweak) tend to be bleak and shocking exposés; here, the blows of his drug and alcohol-fueled escapades are softened by his comedic POV that makes him more relatable to readers.

• The book will appeal to those in recovery and their loved ones.

• In lieu of an in-person tour as a result of the pandemic, Alex will engage online with addiction and recovery groups and we plan to prepare a promotional video featuring him.

© 2021 Arsenal Pulp Press (Ebook): 9781551528342

Release date

Ebook: 11 May 2021