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Food & Drink

Vintage selections for wine lovers

Review by bookpagedev

For a country, and a generation, accustomed to immediate gratification, the idea of waiting for wine either to understand it or to enjoy it is only beginning to take hold. Even with the growing availability of wines by the glass or tasting flights, most Americans still know few words of winespeak beyond “Cabernet” and “Chardonnay” and still think them synonymous with steak and seafood. And the concept of drinking wines that were bottled before the Bastille fell or the 19th century turned, as I’ve been lucky enough to do, strikes many casual and perfectly contented drinkers as sheer pretension. But for those who may be increasingly intrigued by the subtleties of the world’s wines, the Christmas season turns up several prime gift ideas.

Robert Parker is the 900-pound gorilla of wine criticism, and during the last few years has arguably become the industry guerrilla, as well. His own personal preferences and the undoubted power of his ratings, published monthly in the Wine Advocate, has clearly pressured many winemakers to alter their style. And his castigating of other wine writers who accept free samples is more than a little disingenuous (“I purchase more than 75 percent of the wines I taste, and though I have never requested samples, I do not feel it is unethical to accept unsolicited samples.”). Although the latest (the sixth) edition of Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide (hardcover, Simon &and Schuster, $60, 1,648 pages, ISBN 0743229312; paperback, Fireside, $30, 1,696 pages, ISBN 0743229320) occasionally falls prey to this sanctimony, it is yet another example of his thoroughness, bulldog bluntness and unexpected humor. His tongue-in-cheek translations of winemaker jargon are priceless, as are his comments on the distinction between consumers and mere “collectors.” Nor is he a price snob: His lists of regional best bargains under $12 or $15 should be bookmarked for quick reference. Still, this may not be the best choice for someone just setting out to make respectable choices from restaurant wine lists. Parker’s knowledge of seasonal affect, so to speak, may be more than many beginners need to know, although serious collectors will find his summaries of older vintages helpful. The book’s subtitle describes it as “The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Prices and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions,” and one can well believe it.

Michael Broadbent has been a Master of Wine for more than 40 years and head of Christie’s wine department for 35 years. His Vintage Wine: Fifty Years of Tasting Three Centuries of Wines (Harcourt, $50, 560 pages, ISBN 0151007047) is an unobtrusively erudite mixture of history and anecdote with personal observation and characterization it has an unmistakably British sense of propriety and, well, good sportsmanship. Broadbent writes with a fine painterly palate, to force a pun, and a sometimes surprising sensual abandon that fully captures each wine. Again, however, this is a fairly compendious reference aimed at the serious drinker, or at least the platinum-card diner.

The small but wide-ranging Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2003 is disappointing only because the limited space allotted each entry Clarke covers regions, specific wineries and varietals alphabetically forces him to omit the pungent thumbnail witticisms that are his trademark. But it would be a fine volume to keep in the car’s glove compartment for unexpected buying sprees. The revised version of Clarke’s New Wine Atlas (Harcourt, $60, 336 pages, ISBN 0151009139), on the other hand, is very nearly what it sounds like a collection of maps but its glossy photos and labels and cut-to-the-chase intelligence are just the things to remove a budding connoisseur’s terror of terrior.

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher have made their career, and marriage, drinking as unabashed ordinary people, and their Friday “Tastings” column in the Wall Street Journal is democratically aimed at casual wine clubs and amateur collectors. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine (Broadway, $26, 304 pages, ISBN 0767908147) is ideal for novice wine drinkers, focusing on the basic flavors of various wines basic in description, too, which may reassure less experienced readers put off by “hints of tobacco” or “musty bookbindings.” It’s not a comprehensive guide, and is sometimes too conversational (“Whoa! the first blind flight of these [New Zealand sauvignon blancs] blew us away!”), but it would make a good gift for a neighbor you’d like to swap Friday dinners with. Eve Zibart is a writer for The Washington Post and author of The Ethnic Food Lover’s Companion.

For a country, and a generation, accustomed to immediate gratification, the idea of waiting for wine either to understand it or to enjoy it is only beginning to take hold. Even with the growing availability of wines by the glass or tasting flights, most Americans still know few words of winespeak beyond “Cabernet” and “Chardonnay” […]
Food & DrinkCookbooks

Vintage selections for wine lovers

Review by bookpagedev

For a country, and a generation, accustomed to immediate gratification, the idea of waiting for wine either to understand it or to enjoy it is only beginning to take hold. Even with the growing availability of wines by the glass or tasting flights, most Americans still know few words of winespeak beyond “Cabernet” and “Chardonnay” and still think them synonymous with steak and seafood. And the concept of drinking wines that were bottled before the Bastille fell or the 19th century turned, as I’ve been lucky enough to do, strikes many casual and perfectly contented drinkers as sheer pretension. But for those who may be increasingly intrigued by the subtleties of the world’s wines, the Christmas season turns up several prime gift ideas.

Robert Parker is the 900-pound gorilla of wine criticism, and during the last few years has arguably become the industry guerrilla, as well. His own personal preferences and the undoubted power of his ratings, published monthly in the Wine Advocate, has clearly pressured many winemakers to alter their style. And his castigating of other wine writers who accept free samples is more than a little disingenuous (“I purchase more than 75 percent of the wines I taste, and though I have never requested samples, I do not feel it is unethical to accept unsolicited samples.”). Although the latest (the sixth) edition of Parker’s Wine Buyer’s Guide occasionally falls prey to this sanctimony, it is yet another example of his thoroughness, bulldog bluntness and unexpected humor. His tongue-in-cheek translations of winemaker jargon are priceless, as are his comments on the distinction between consumers and mere “collectors.” Nor is he a price snob: His lists of regional best bargains under $12 or $15 should be bookmarked for quick reference. Still, this may not be the best choice for someone just setting out to make respectable choices from restaurant wine lists. Parker’s knowledge of seasonal affect, so to speak, may be more than many beginners need to know, although serious collectors will find his summaries of older vintages helpful. The book’s subtitle describes it as “The Complete, Easy-to-Use Reference on Recent Prices and Ratings for More than 8,000 Wines from All the Major Wine Regions,” and one can well believe it.

Michael Broadbent has been a Master of Wine for more than 40 years and head of Christie’s wine department for 35 years. His Vintage Wine: Fifty Years of Tasting Three Centuries of Wines (Harcourt, $50, 560 pages, ISBN 0151007047) is an unobtrusively erudite mixture of history and anecdote with personal observation and characterization it has an unmistakably British sense of propriety and, well, good sportsmanship. Broadbent writes with a fine painterly palate, to force a pun, and a sometimes surprising sensual abandon that fully captures each wine. Again, however, this is a fairly compendious reference aimed at the serious drinker, or at least the platinum-card diner.

The small but wide-ranging Oz Clarke’s Pocket Wine Guide 2003 (Harcourt, $14, 320 pages, ISBN 0151008760) is disappointing only because the limited space allotted each entry Clarke covers regions, specific wineries and varietals alphabetically forces him to omit the pungent thumbnail witticisms that are his trademark. But it would be a fine volume to keep in the car’s glove compartment for unexpected buying sprees. The revised version of Clarke’s New Wine Atlas (Harcourt, $60, 336 pages, ISBN 0151009139), on the other hand, is very nearly what it sounds like a collection of maps but its glossy photos and labels and cut-to-the-chase intelligence are just the things to remove a budding connoisseur’s terror of terrior.

Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher have made their career, and marriage, drinking as unabashed ordinary people, and their Friday “Tastings” column in the Wall Street Journal is democratically aimed at casual wine clubs and amateur collectors. The Wall Street Journal Guide to Wine (Broadway, $26, 304 pages, ISBN 0767908147) is ideal for novice wine drinkers, focusing on the basic flavors of various wines basic in description, too, which may reassure less experienced readers put off by “hints of tobacco” or “musty bookbindings.” It’s not a comprehensive guide, and is sometimes too conversational (“Whoa! the first blind flight of these [New Zealand sauvignon blancs] blew us away!”), but it would make a good gift for a neighbor you’d like to swap Friday dinners with. Eve Zibart is a writer for The Washington Post and author of The Ethnic Food Lover’s Companion.

For a country, and a generation, accustomed to immediate gratification, the idea of waiting for wine either to understand it or to enjoy it is only beginning to take hold. Even with the growing availability of wines by the glass or tasting flights, most Americans still know few words of winespeak beyond “Cabernet” and “Chardonnay” […]
NonfictionMemoir

Searching for a happy ending

Review by Stephenie Harrison

Ever since the publication of her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, countless readers have wondered just how much of that semi-autobiographical tale Jeanette Winterson drew from her own life. Now with Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson pulls back the veil on her life as she really lived it and shows us that truth is not only stranger than fiction, but more painful and more beautiful as well.

Winterson’s newest book is a searing and candid revelation of her life to date. More than an autobiography, it is a thoughtful rumination on all the things that make life worth living. From her hardscrabble upbringing to her fraught relationships with religion, sexuality and her rancorous adoptive mother; to the way the knowledge of her adoption has always haunted her, teaching her so little about love yet so much about loss; to the fundamental ways in which literature, poetry and words have saved and forged her, Winterson holds nothing back, no matter how painful.

The book’s title comes from a pivotal conversation in which she revealed to her adoptive mother that she was in a happy relationship with another girl: “Why be happy when you could be normal?” was her mother’s response. Understandably, those words made an indelible impact on Winterson. Reflecting on her reasons behind writing Oranges as a work of fiction, she says she did so because at the time it was the only version of her life that she could actually live with, as she could not survive the truth. The glory of Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is that it serves as proof that Winterson did survive her “other” life and came out stronger, braver and wiser for it.

Reeling from that fateful conversation with her mother, it is clear that every path Winterson has since walked has been in pursuit of this ultimate destination: happiness; yet readers will experience an awful lot of heartbreak and darkness in the pages of this book. Still, if Winterson is anything to go by, perhaps this is not such a bad thing. And while Winterson admits her journey is far from over, she offers us all hope that in life, as in fiction, there is always the possibility of a happy ending, if only we will search for it. Captivating in its content and written with poetic beauty, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? is a book that will surely inspire those who read it to do just that.

Ever since the publication of her first novel, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, countless readers have wondered just how much of that semi-autobiographical tale Jeanette Winterson drew from her own life. Now with Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Winterson pulls back the veil on her life as she really lived it […]
NonfictionCrafts, Hobbies & Home

Books for the studious and the scholarly

Review by bookpagedev

Are you struggling to summon gift ideas for the intellectual in your life? If so, you can un-furrow your brow starting now. This holiday season, let BookPage help you shop for the studious and the scholarly those lovers of learning who emerge from their erudite pursuits hunch-backed and bleary-eyed but triumphant.

In anticipation of your Christmas quandary, our industrious editors closeted themselves with publishers’ catalogues and unearthed the following quartet of titles, each of which should be pleasing to the academician on your list.

Show what you know A word of wisdom to the aspiring litterateur: Never enter into a conversation unarmed. Your best defense is Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations a veritable arsenal of razor-sharp repartees and potent turns of phrase. Now in its 17th edition, the newly revised anthology of famous prose and verse quotes, edited by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Justin Kaplan, has become one of the world’s most treasured references.

The origins of this indispensable volume date back to 1855, when Cambridge, Massachusetts, bookseller John Bartlett released A Collection of Familiar Quotations a compilation of smart sayings and their sources. That humble compendium has since evolved into a comprehensive source of outrageous remarks, classic literary passages and unforgettable pronouncements. International in scope, the new edition includes material from more than 25,000 notables (Princess Di, Bob Dylan and MLK, to name a few) and offers quotes from contemporary cultural arenas such as music, television and movies. The volume is revised every 10 years, so now’s the time to untie your tongue. Let Bartlett’s help you show what you know.

The beloved Bloom is back With his Falstaffian girth and formidable reputation as a cultural critic, Harold Bloom is a scholar who does nothing on a small scale. His new book, Genius: A Mosaic of One Hundred Exemplary Creative Minds (Warner, $35.95, 832 pages, ISBN 0446527173) is a milestone of research and inquiry, a broad-minded examination of the nature of genius and how (and in whom) it has manifested itself during the centuries.

Through evaluations of classic literary works the poetry of Shelley, the drama of Ibsen, the fiction of Tolstoy Bloom examines the forces that have shaped the great writers of every era, as well as the qualities shared by each author. “The study of mediocrity, whatever its origins, breeds mediocrity,” he writes. Thus, this collection a kaleidoscopic look at a group of superior individuals that blends biography with literary criticism. Author of The Western Canon and How to Read and Why, the best-selling Bloom has assembled a fascinating exhibit of remarkable intellects. Genius is inspiring, accessible and provocative a generous survey that will enlarge the reader’s comprehension of art, as well as his understanding of the role of the creative mind throughout history.

Keillor plugs poetry One of America’s most esteemed humorists and radio personages has put together a treasury of verse that’s sure to delight any lover of words. Garrison Keillor, the man behind the popular NPR spot The Writer’s Almanac, has compiled Good Poems (Viking, $25.95, 480 pages, ISBN 0670031267), a collection that’s broad in scope and full of the unforgettable imagery and skilled craftsmanship that make a poem, as the title puts it, good.

Divided into categories like Music, Lovers, Failure, and Sons and Daughters, the volume offers a poem for every occasion. A who’s who of literary lights, the index lists works by top-notch contemporary authors like Galway Kinnell, Billy Collins and Sharon Olds, as well as venerable favorites such as Emily Dickinson, W.H. Auden and William Butler Yeats. “To be interrupted mid-stampede by a beautiful thing is a blessing indeed,” Keillor writes of the force of poetry. The genre may be overlooked and underrated, but there’s no denying its power. Poets, it can be argued, are prophets, and Keillor’s collection reflects their ability to bolster our spirits and lighten our hearts.

The best in books for little readers A terrific gift for those interested in raising little readers, The Essential Guide to Children’s Books and Their Creators (Houghton Mifflin, $28, 542 pages, ISBN 061819083X) is the literary equivalent of a Leonard Maltin movie guide comprehensive, easy to use and instructive. Compiled by Anita Silvey, former editor in chief of Horn Book Magazine, who has written and published children’s literature for three decades, this practical volume, also available in paperback, is packed with info on all the best authors, illustrators and titles.

With more than 475 listings, The Essential Guide covers the top books of the past century and includes profiles of beloved writers, from Lemony Snicket to Margaret Wise Brown. Silvey also provides a basic reading list, contributes thoughtful and perceptive essays on genres such as science fiction, young adult novels and Holocaust literature, and examines timely themes like multiculturalism. Entries titled “Voices of the Creators,” written by Lane Smith, Gary Soto, Virginia Hamilton and others, offer insights into the artistic process. An invaluable aid in selecting the best books for youngsters, The Essential Guide is a must for parents who hope to instill a love of literature in their kids.

Are you struggling to summon gift ideas for the intellectual in your life? If so, you can un-furrow your brow starting now. This holiday season, let BookPage help you shop for the studious and the scholarly those lovers of learning who emerge from their erudite pursuits hunch-backed and bleary-eyed but triumphant. In anticipation of your […]
NonfictionHistoryAmerican History

Cleaning up a seedy NYC

Review by Alden Mudge

As evident from his book’s subtitle, “Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York,” Richard Zacks has a pleasingly colorful writing style. Luckily it is a style that mirrors, especially at the outset of this little-known and somewhat dappled adventure, the brashness of its central historical figure, Theodore Roosevelt.

In the early 1890s, a few short years before the city of Brooklyn joined with New York to become what we now know as the five boroughs of metropolitan New York City, a political and moral reform movement arose in the city, especially among well-heeled (and largely Republican) civic leaders. The city then had a population of roughly two million people, among them 30,000 prostitutes. To summarize in a blander manner than the lively Mr. Zacks: A series of investigations revealed that prostitution had links to police corruption, which in turn had links to Tammany Hall, the largely immigrant, working-class political machine that controlled New York City. The result was that in 1894, voters threw the bums out and installed a reform mayor, who appointed 36-year-old Teddy Roosevelt president of a four-man, bipartisan-at-least-in-name police commission to clean things up.

The ambitious Roosevelt, who had been wasting away in a Washington, D.C., civil service post, leapt at the chance. At first his vigorous efforts and his widely reported nighttime rambles in the city’s rollicking, vice-ridden neighborhoods were very popular. But then Roosevelt decided the police should enforce the laws against selling alcohol on Sundays. Roosevelt’s ethical (and valid) point was that allowing police to selectively enforce or ignore the alcohol ban led to favoritism and corruption.

The problem was, Sunday was the only day off for working people, and enforcement deprived them of a customary form of entertainment—socializing in the city’s saloons. Meanwhile the law did not prohibit sales of alcohol in hotels and the clubs of wealthy gentlemen. Class warfare? Tammany Democrats thought so, and they used Roosevelt’s efforts to thoroughly whip the city’s Republicans in the next election. For the remaining years of his term, Roosevelt was mired in grinding conflict with fellow commissioners and undermined by upstate Republican politicians who distanced themselves from him in order to maintain their own political power. He finally sought escape in a political patronage job in Washington.

Theodore Roosevelt’s term as police commissioner was, as Zacks entertainingly points out in his layered and well-researched Island of Vice, a significant learning experience for the future president. And probably also for residents of New York City, who never gave their native son a majority of their votes.

As evident from his book’s subtitle, “Theodore Roosevelt’s Doomed Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York,” Richard Zacks has a pleasingly colorful writing style. Luckily it is a style that mirrors, especially at the outset of this little-known and somewhat dappled adventure, the brashness of its central historical figure, Theodore Roosevelt. In the early 1890s, […]
Social Science

The reservation he calls home

Review by Henry L. Carrigan Jr.

Indian land makes up about 2.3 percent of the land in the United States, and the Indian population in the US is slightly over two million. And yet, as novelist David Treuer wryly observes in his sobering yet quietly redemptive book, Rez Life, in spite of how involved Indians have been in America's business, most people will go a lifetime without ever knowing an Indian or spending time on an Indian reservation.

There are roughly 310 Indian reservations in the United States, but not all of the 564 federally recognized tribes have reservations. All Indian reservations have signs that welcome travelers, offering acknowledgment that the lands the drivers are about to enter is different from the lands through which they have been traveling. Such signs exist in more than 30 states, and you can see them in areas as diverse as the rocks of the Badlands, the suburbs of Green Bay and the sprays of Niagara Falls. Twelve reservations are larger than the state of Rhode Island, and nine are large than Delaware.

As Treuer points out, most people think of life on the reservation as harsh, violent, drug-infested, alcohol-fueled, poor and short. This story of reservation life is often accompanied by a version of history that lays the blame on Anglo-Americans and their despicable treatment of Native Americans.

Treuer's elegant chronicle of the lives and stories of individuals on his own reservation, Leech Lake Reservation in Minnesota, chips away at the stony structures that embed these views of the reservation in the American consciousness. We meet, for example, Red Lake Nation conservation officer Charley Grolla, who is deeply devoted to protecting the waters and the land on the reservation from outsiders who would encroach upon and destroy it. And we meet Sean Fahrlander, an excellent ricer who can fillet a walleye faster than anyone Treuer knows. Fahrlander continues to fish on the land he has called home all his life, in spite of the state government's attempts now and then to challenge the treaty that the Ojibwe have with the state of Minnesota.

Treuer convincingly and affectionately captures reservation life in order to demonstrate that the reservations are more than scars, tears and blood. Through his stories, he affirms that there is beauty, pride and love in Indian life and on Indian reservations.

Indian land makes up about 2.3 percent of the land in the United States, and the Indian population in the US is slightly over two million. And yet, as novelist David Treuer wryly observes in his sobering yet quietly redemptive book, Rez Life, in spite of how involved Indians have been in America's business, most […]

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