Cocktails for Book Lovers: (Literary Gift for Readers, Housewarming Gift)

By Tessa Smith McGovern

Host the perfect book club discussion night or literary-themed party with 50 fun author-themed cocktails for the budding home mixologist and book lover!

From Jane Austen's little-known fondness for wine to Hemingway's beloved mojitos, each entry pairs a classic or contemporary author with a cocktail recipe that's inspired by either one of their works or a popular drink from their era, along with an excerpt, a bio, and an additional book recommendation. It's a fabulous, chic pairing that's the perfect book club idea! After all, what's better than cocktails, conversation, and culture?

Cocktails inspired by your favorite bestselling authors:

Jane Austen's Miss Austen's Delight paired with Pride and Prejudice

Isabel Allende's Madrina's Banana Rum Cocktail paired with Eva Luna

F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gin Rickey paired with The Great Gatsby

Dani Shapiro's Caramel Apple Martini paired with Devotion

Other authors featured include:

Jhumpa Lahiri

Junot Diaz

Zora Neale Hurston

Joyce Carol Oates

Anne Tyler

Charlotte Bronte

Dorothy Parker

Flannery O'Connor

Virginia Woolf

Makes a perfect housewarming or hostess gift for readers and book lovers!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sourcebooks
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781402293412

Tessa Smith McGovern

Tessa Smith McGovern is an award-winning English short story writer who moved to America in 1993. First published in 1996, her many publication credits include the Connecticut Review and the English Arts Council at the Southbank Centre, London. She is host and executive producer of BookGirl.TV, an award-winning web series of video interviews and book recommendations for book clubs, readers and writers. The series features little-known and surprising facts about emerging and best-selling authors, literary cocktails inspired by their books, and tips for writers. She is founder and editor of eChook Digital Publishing’s short story and memoir collections on multiple platforms: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, GooglePlay, Nook, and Kindle, as well as original Web-based stories at eChook.com. In 2012, eChook Digital Publishing’s ‘Memoir, Vol. 1 won a silver medal in the eLit Awards. Also in 2012, Tessa Smith McGovern’s ‘London Road: Linked Stories’ won a gold medal in the eLit Awards. Tessa teaches in the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York, and is currently at work on a novel in short stories.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Tessa Smith McGovern

Cover and internal design © 2014 by Sourcebooks, Inc.

Cover design by Katie O’Leary

Cover image by Caili Helsper

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Contents

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

1. Isabel Allende

2. Diana Athill

3. Jane Austen

4. Alan Bennett

5. Anne Brontë

6. Charlotte Brontë

7. Emily Brontë

8. Willa Cather

9. Kate Chopin

10. Colette

11. Junot Díaz

12. Charles Dickens

13. Olivia Howard Dunbar

14. William Faulkner

15. F. Scott Fitzgerald

16. Elizabeth Gaskell

17. Charlotte Perkins Gilman

18. Gail Godwin

19. Jane Green

20. Lorraine Hansberry

21. Ernest Hemingway

22. Georgette Heyer

23. Zora Neale Hurston

24. James Joyce

25. Jamaica Kincaid

26. Jhumpa Lahiri

27. Wally Lamb

28. Joan Steinau Lester

29. Alison Lurie

30. Katherine Mansfield

31. Alice Munro

32. Flannery O’Connor

33. Joyce Carol Oates

34. Dorothy Parker

35. Katherine Anne Porter

36. Matthew Quick

37. Nina Sankovitch

38. Dani Shapiro

39. Mary Shelley

40. Sandi Kahn Shelton

41. Elizabeth Taylor

42. Christina Thompson

43. William Trevor

44. Joanna Trollope

45. Gail Tsukiyama

46. Anne Tyler

47. Thrity Umrigar

48. Helen Wan

49. Virginia Woolf

50. Dan Zevin

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Bibliography

Text Permissions

Photo Credits

Back Cover

In joyous memory of my dad, Ken Smith (aka Papa Ken), who always loved a good time and made the best champagne cocktails.

1934–2013

Introduction

Growing up in England, I was obsessed with Virginia Woolf—her luminous prose, her melancholy brilliance—and the glamorous image of the Bloomsbury set, a famous group of London intellectuals and writers in the early 1900s. After moving to the United States at the age of thirty, I was delighted to discover the Bloomsbury set had an American counterpart: the Algonquin Round Table in New York City, an equally famous group of intellectuals and writers, led by the acerbic and amusing Dorothy Parker. The elegance of these writers and their Bohemian lifestyle, mixing and mingling over literature and libations! The parties! The cocktails! The witty repartee! It all added up to the most glamorous life I could imagine.

How glorious, then, to witness a renaissance in the popularity of cocktails in our society today. Cocktails, conversation, and culture have always gone well together, and now, with this book, you can marry these delectable concoctions with delightful prose and compelling stories from fifty contemporary and classic authors. Each entry pairs an author with a cocktail recipe that’s inspired by either one of their works or a popular drink from their era, as well as an excerpt, a bio, and an additional book recommendation. It’s a fabulous, chic pairing that makes perfect sense.

Imagine this book is a box of chocolates—dip in and choose the most enticing author and cocktail, or start at the beginning and work your way through to the end. Have a party! Regale your book club! Cheers!

Isabel Allende

Eva Luna

Isabel Allende was born in 1942 into the cauldron of Latin American politics. Her father was the ambassador to Peru and first cousin to Chile’s president, Salvador Allende. When she was three, her father disappeared and the family took refuge in Santiago, Chile. She began telling stories to calm the fears of her two younger brothers.

From Eva Luna:

She treated me with kindness, even a certain tenderness. She worried that I did not eat enough; she bought me a good bed; and every afternoon she invited me into the living room to listen to the serials on the radio…

At twenty, she married Miguel Frias, a former classmate. Decades later, after their divorce, she likened being his wife to serving as his geisha. While raising their two children, Allende translated Barbara Cartland’s romance novels into English, until her habit of altering retrograde dialogue and demeaning characterizations of women got her fired. Later, as a TV journalist, she interviewed the poet Pablo Neruda, who told Allende her imaginative gifts would find full expression only in novel writing.

In 1973, during a military coup, the Allendes escaped to Venezuela. She continued working as a journalist for almost a decade, until her first success, The House of the Spirits, became a bestseller. This sealed her association with magic realism, a style that combines fantastic, dreamlike elements with realistic fiction.

Allende is now an American citizen. She lives in San Rafael, California, with her long-time partner, attorney Willie Gordon.

Allende holds to a practice unique among writers; she always begins a new novel on January 8, a tradition that stems from a letter she wrote to her dying grandfather that day in 1981.

ALSO RECOMMENDED:

Maya’s Notebook. A coming-of-age story and startling novel of suspense about a remarkable teenager abandoned by her parents.

Madrina’s Banana Rum Cocktail

Madrina is Spanish for godmother. In this novel, the protagonist, Eva Luna’s madrina, who assumed care of the nine-year-old Eva after her mother died, was a faithful Catholic and a lover of rum.

Place all ingredients except the fruit in a shaker with ice. Shake well. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish with fruit. Serves 1.

Diana Athill

Somewhere Towards the End

In 1917, famed English editor Diana Athill was born into an upper-middle-class life in Norfolk, England, complete with a stately mansion and servants. But life wasn’t easy: the family finances were foundering, and her parents were deeply unhappy together. In her late teens she discovered that her sister, Patience, had been conceived as a result of her mother’s affair with an army officer.

From Somewhere Towards the End:

Reviews for Cocktails for Book Lovers

[epweil · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is not just another recipe book for making great cocktails, each page pairs a delicious, easy to make drink with a book and the author's biography as well as some additional reading recommendations.

[padutchtravel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely love love this book. It is fun. Classic books and classic cocktails. What more could you want? There is a drink listed for every author listed in the book alongside one of the books they wrote. Some of the drinks are based on characters in their books and others are based on the authors themselves. I will soon be reading the books with friends and having the corresponding cocktail. This book is a must for anyone who loves cocktails and books. This book was provided to me free through the Goodreads First Reads program. This did not in anyway reflect my rating.

[rosecityreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Cocktails for Book Lovers offers 50 recipes straight from the pages of, or at least suggested by, famous authors and their books. The recipes range from classics, like William Faulkner's favorite Mint Julep, to the imaginative, like a "Sherry Alexander" inspired by Thrity Umrigar.I love books. I love cocktails. Perfect!

[eheinlen_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was neat! Not only did it give you background on some famous authors, but it also tied interesting cocktails to some of history's greatest works. I liked it!

[celticlady53 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I just have to say that this is a delightful little book. Each chapter is about an author, with a drink inspired by that author, quotes by the author and added recommendations for further reading. Oh yes, I can not forget that the book also includes recipes to make these special drinks. From such authors as Willa A. Cather, Kate Chopin, Gail Godwin and many many more, we learn a bit about the author and some of their works. With great recommendations and wonderful pictures of featured drinks, makes me want to try them!... This little book is definitely a keeper for the book lover and drink afficianado!! I received this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for said review.