Beer and Reading

Anything by John Palmer or Charlie Papazian. Anything online from the Homebrewers Association is also helpful and a great read.

 

We went to a fundraiser for a documentary that has started production about Jim Harrison. It was at the Livernois Tap in Ferndale MI. The main course was Beef Bourguignon, all the beer you cared to drink (not much as I was driving). Some good readings happened. One was by Thomas Lynch, who knew Harrison. You should check out Lynch if you don't know his work.

 

Sorry to hear about the Glaucoma. In the event the visual reading does go, there are alternatives such as a library of audio books, etc. available for loan.

http://www.afb.org/info/reading-and-writing/talking-books-933/35

There should be lots of resources available locally or semi-locally. There was a local library service that was of great benefit for my mother who developed Macular Degeneration and was still able to appreciate the engagement with books even though the touch and feel wasn't really there.

 

Reading and beer in my case are pretty much patternless except that there will often be a beer and a book.

My fridge currently has about a dozen different beers to choose from and the stack of unread books ranges from history, mostly about WWII, to such things as How to Lie with Maps which is about the use and abuse of maps as a source of information. Currently I'm making my way through Merle Miller's Plain Speaking which is about Harry Truman and based on a series of interviews conducted at the Truman Library during his later years.

 

The John Palmer's book HowToBrew.com is free to read online (1st edition) and is the book most often recommended to inquirers in the homebrewing forum. You usually can find the 4th edition in good bookstores so that you can have something to highlight, write notes, etc. Papazian's The Complete Joy of Homebrewing is also frequently recommended.

 

Dude, my local library has the 2nd one you mentioned. Will be the next one I read. Gracias mi amigo.

 

Thanks. My Mom had an audio books arrangement with the state that was outstanding. There are lots of good resources available locally.

 

I'll put Atkinson's WW II trilogy aside for a breather. My next project is Fishbait, a memoir by William "Fishbait" Miller who was the doorkeeper( 1947-1975) in the House of Representatives. He lived in an iconic house just across the street.

 

Consider adding "Savage Continent" by Keith Lowe to your stack. (Lots of reviews on Amazon.) Very much an eye opener since it is about an era that has been somewhat neglected by many historians.

 

That looks great. And that was the era of Joe Stalin. Reading about North Africa in 1942-1943 was depressing. What a waste of American, French, British, German, Italian, and native Tunisians, Libyan, Algerian, and Egyptian lives. The fight for an entry to Europe cost our total culture too much. I'm a peacemaker, amateur Quaker, and looking for a beer. Maybe a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing? Cheers...

 

I think that this is a books thread, not a "what I read when I'm drinking" thread. Personally the only thing I read while drinking is Beer Advocate.

I also love Anthony Powell. "A Dance to the Music of Time" is a towering accomplishment. The WW II years of the cycle remind me of Evelyn Waugh's Guy Crouchback novels, but in general Powell does not have a peer.

I'm currently reading "Don't Hide the Madness", a transcript of conversations between Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs recorded over four days in the early 90s. These are two brilliant guys with not too many social or artistic inhibitions. Highly recommended!

 

Okay, I'll jump in with both feet -- just discovered Ken Bruen's Jack Taylor novels and am hooked. Best detective stuff (let alone original prose) I've found in some years, anyone else? You Irish guys in particular?

 

I'm thankful at least a FEW of you went for something topical... This is a fun thread! I happen to have just finished a Bavarian pils so put my bookmark in the McCullough biography of John Adams, which I've been meaning to get to for ages... but more often it would be a novel, and sadly just as often some online magazine (forgive me).

 

I always pick something new, to me, from Irish writers leading up to and during St. Patrick's day each year. This year, my reading list will consist of:
Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch
The Gathering by Anne Enright
And usually something from Iris Murdoch for good measure as well. I have yet to read The Bell which is an early work from her, so maybe that will be something I start.

Probably pick up some Foreign Extra Stout as well. I think I saw that Specs near me has got the Antwerpen Stout, which I have never had before. Will need to see if that is still available.