Pete Brown is one of my favourite beer writers - possibly the best in Europe (since the best in Canada is Nicholas Pashley - Pete loses out on the world title.) At first glance though, I didn't think "Hops & Glory" would have enough of the history or scope to interest me as much as "Man Walks Into A Pub" but I was delightfully surprised.
"Hops and Glory" detail Pete's attempt to recreate the journey from England to India that helped create the now iconic India Pale Ale. Alexander Keith's has long been a staple in Canada, and my first introduction to IPA but not many people know the history and legacy behind the beer.
IPA with it's high hop content was originally created the 18th Century in England to be shipped and sold to the customers of the East India Trading Company. During the long sea voyage south, the beer not only survived without spoiling but underwent an amazing transformation - aging, mellowing and blending to create a brew perfect for the climate and cuisine. It enjoyed many years of popularity in India before it was push out of the market by new brands and it's origins forgotten. Today, the IPA style has traveled the rest of the world and Pete saw it as his mission to bring it back to where it all started.
So he set off on a trip of a life time overseas from Burton England, with a keg of newly brewed India Pale Ale in hopes of tasting the final result in Calcutta India.
The history of IPA, like the history of colonial India, is filled with back room deals, imperialistic superiority and military supression. It is also filled with a desire for home, drunken revelry and amazing fortitude. Through the book we meet a whole cast of brewers, ship crews and travelers as well as the beers they encountered - often mirroring those that Pete meets on his own trip. The author describes the characters and beers with simplicity, vividness and enthusiasm. And that is really what makes this book. At 400 pages, it felt like a fast read but memorable, from his first description of the American Bridgeport IPA to the last taste of the Burton keg.
(It also made me want a beer just to test my own descriptive powers, really*...)
Another aspect I enjoyed about the book was the scale of the task. Just as I'm sure many average people had trouble imagining the long trip in the 1840's, I was intrigued by Pete's own travel logistics: Who travels from England to India by sea anymore? how was it possible? how much would it cost? how long? I was so happy when it all came together (albeit in fits & starts.) Maybe one day I'll let one of my crazy ideas take me on a good adventure.
Cheers!
*Sadly, No IPA in the house. But we do have a Fullers and a homebrew pale now chilling in the fridge.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Friday, October 8, 2010
Fall reading habits
Fall means three things to me - Travel (audio books), Q4 book season (best of the best) and holidays (sappy Christmas romance novels)
I am well prepared for the first, already survived a few good trips with Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire) with a new iPhone. On the docket is The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), Salt: A History of the World by Mark Kurlansky, and another Pollan, Second Nature.
The second, hmm, well I'm still trying to get through summer novels with Birthmarked. Not really sure what I should look for next.
And well the third, the holidays are coming early. The sappy Christmas romances are on the bookselves. Last week I picked up Lakeshore Christmas. Usually, these things all have the same story line - boy or girl leaves small town to come back years later to have a magical holiday & fall in love or overworked boy or girls meets someone over the holidays to help them re-evaluate their lives and have a magical holiday. Sometimes the fact that it's Christmas is secondary to the whole novel (I know that some were simply re-written, adding a few holiday references to catch those freaks like me) which I hate. Well, Lakeshore was way better than I expected. Very Christmasy with just a touch of magic. A good way to start the yearly tradition.
I am well prepared for the first, already survived a few good trips with Michael Pollan (The Botany of Desire) with a new iPhone. On the docket is The Forgotten Garden (Kate Morton), Salt: A History of the World by Mark Kurlansky, and another Pollan, Second Nature.
The second, hmm, well I'm still trying to get through summer novels with Birthmarked. Not really sure what I should look for next.
And well the third, the holidays are coming early. The sappy Christmas romances are on the bookselves. Last week I picked up Lakeshore Christmas. Usually, these things all have the same story line - boy or girl leaves small town to come back years later to have a magical holiday & fall in love or overworked boy or girls meets someone over the holidays to help them re-evaluate their lives and have a magical holiday. Sometimes the fact that it's Christmas is secondary to the whole novel (I know that some were simply re-written, adding a few holiday references to catch those freaks like me) which I hate. Well, Lakeshore was way better than I expected. Very Christmasy with just a touch of magic. A good way to start the yearly tradition.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Try to Remember...
I wasn't a reader as a kid. Music was more my thing. Now I was fairly good in English class but I can pretty much name all the books I remember reading on my own: Encyclopedia Brown, Children of Morrow and Sweet Valley High. Then I found Withering Heights, Piers Anthony & Orson Scott Card. That was it. Grade 11 and I lost any chance of ever experiencing the classic kids' books as a kid. No Munsch, Judy Blume, blah, blah, blah...
Fast forward...most of you know I work for publisher of children's books. Sometimes my lack of childhood reading memories shows but I've been in the business long enough to have discovered some new to me favourites (Kit Pearson!)
Recently, a friend asked me for some kid friendly versions of Shakespeare. That got us talking a bit about introducing our classics to this new generation of readers. Then, I read this article, Kids' Books are alright, in the NYTimes. It referred to a book on this very topic - Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I love the covers!!
So I am thinking. What are your classics?
Fast forward...most of you know I work for publisher of children's books. Sometimes my lack of childhood reading memories shows but I've been in the business long enough to have discovered some new to me favourites (Kit Pearson!)
Recently, a friend asked me for some kid friendly versions of Shakespeare. That got us talking a bit about introducing our classics to this new generation of readers. Then, I read this article, Kids' Books are alright, in the NYTimes. It referred to a book on this very topic - Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading. I love the covers!!
So I am thinking. What are your classics?
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Inspiring History...
Rebel Ireland: From Easter Rising to Civil War (Paperback) - Sean McMahon
We picked this book from the many available at Easons on Connell Street in Dublin. We probably know more than most about the troubles, I mean beyond movies Rebel Heart, the Devils Own and Michael Collins or fiction books like Trinity and 1916 but we were intrigued to learn more after seeing an exhibit of photographs at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Witness to War by Journalist WD Hogan. It's hard if you have a passing interest in Irish history to not be struck by the immediacy of the fight with such heart breaking pictures. So we needed to know more.
So when we found ourselves in a bookstore we spent a lot of time in the Irish History Section. And were fairly lucky in our final choice.
This book is a quick read, originally published in three parts. It doesn't go too deeply into the reasons behind the conflicts but it does work to keep the many changing factions straight. The timelines move fast but the author is good at providing the tipping point (to use a modern term.) However, you do have to work out who's doing what and it does leave a bit left unsaid like the real affect of the orange card and the proposal of the north. So. It's a good start, a good reference and enough to make me want to read more.
We picked this book from the many available at Easons on Connell Street in Dublin. We probably know more than most about the troubles, I mean beyond movies Rebel Heart, the Devils Own and Michael Collins or fiction books like Trinity and 1916 but we were intrigued to learn more after seeing an exhibit of photographs at the National Photographic Archive in Temple Bar, Witness to War by Journalist WD Hogan. It's hard if you have a passing interest in Irish history to not be struck by the immediacy of the fight with such heart breaking pictures. So we needed to know more.
So when we found ourselves in a bookstore we spent a lot of time in the Irish History Section. And were fairly lucky in our final choice.
This book is a quick read, originally published in three parts. It doesn't go too deeply into the reasons behind the conflicts but it does work to keep the many changing factions straight. The timelines move fast but the author is good at providing the tipping point (to use a modern term.) However, you do have to work out who's doing what and it does leave a bit left unsaid like the real affect of the orange card and the proposal of the north. So. It's a good start, a good reference and enough to make me want to read more.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
New books to watch for...
in a about a year or so (from Publisher's Lunch Deal Weekly)
Illustrated/Art
Seymour Chwast's CANTERBURY TALES, a graphic novel of Chaucer's classic, to Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sandy Choron at March Tenth (world).
Science
Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's FIBONACCI'S BRIDGE OF NUMBERS: THE MEDIEVAL GENIUS AND THE BOOK THAT LAUNCHED THE MODERN WORLD, the previously untold story of how a 12th-century Italian mathematician brought Arabic numbers to the West, triggering revolutions in everything from banking to the age of exploration to architecture, to George Gibson at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Ted Weinstein at Ted Weinstein Literary Management (World English).
Children's: Young Adult
Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the final book in the bestselling SHIVER trilogy, plus three new stand-alone fantasy titles, to David Levithan at Scholastic, for publication summer 2011, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).
Illustrated/Art
Seymour Chwast's CANTERBURY TALES, a graphic novel of Chaucer's classic, to Margaret Maloney at Bloomsbury, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Sandy Choron at March Tenth (world).
Science
Stanford mathematician and NPR's "Math Guy" Keith Devlin's FIBONACCI'S BRIDGE OF NUMBERS: THE MEDIEVAL GENIUS AND THE BOOK THAT LAUNCHED THE MODERN WORLD, the previously untold story of how a 12th-century Italian mathematician brought Arabic numbers to the West, triggering revolutions in everything from banking to the age of exploration to architecture, to George Gibson at Bloomsbury, at auction, by Ted Weinstein at Ted Weinstein Literary Management (World English).
Children's: Young Adult
Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the final book in the bestselling SHIVER trilogy, plus three new stand-alone fantasy titles, to David Levithan at Scholastic, for publication summer 2011, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).
Thursday, March 4, 2010
YRCA Nominees
Some of my favourite books from this past year have been nominated for the 2011 YRCA selection.
9 Scholastic titles out of 23.
9 Scholastic titles out of 23.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Catz!
Book: Dewey by
Finished on Feb 9th, 2009
****
I've had cats all my life. Even when I didn't think I was ready to have another cat, somehow they would make their way into my life. So I know that look; that one that drags you in, not letting go, where every moment near them effects your life, as they watch.
Dewey had that look from a young age apparently. And the library/town that adopted him was not immune.
Spencer was a typical small town in the mid west, suffering from an economic downturn and the loss of families, until Dewey, the rescue cat became a focal point for the town to rally around. The story of Dewey is the story of a town's survival. It has humor, sadness (especially for anyone who has had to put a cat down) and most of all insight to what brings people together.
And I loved it. It was beautiful. A great balance between the generalizations of what one thing can do to help a community and the influence of that special thing on individuals.
I have to admit, my first thoughts were "really, how much can you write about one cat? They sleep 20 hours a day." Now that I'm finished the book, I see, once again, the power of writing; to expand the mundane, seemingly simple events to significant universal experiences.
Once I, on a whim, I went to a movie. It was a sunny afternoon and I was wandering downtown with nothing to do. The movie was Remains of the Day. I remember walking out of the theatre thinking "I'm a better person for seeing that movie."
It's not often I say that about a book.
Finished on Feb 9th, 2009
****
I've had cats all my life. Even when I didn't think I was ready to have another cat, somehow they would make their way into my life. So I know that look; that one that drags you in, not letting go, where every moment near them effects your life, as they watch.
Dewey had that look from a young age apparently. And the library/town that adopted him was not immune.
Spencer was a typical small town in the mid west, suffering from an economic downturn and the loss of families, until Dewey, the rescue cat became a focal point for the town to rally around. The story of Dewey is the story of a town's survival. It has humor, sadness (especially for anyone who has had to put a cat down) and most of all insight to what brings people together.
And I loved it. It was beautiful. A great balance between the generalizations of what one thing can do to help a community and the influence of that special thing on individuals.
I have to admit, my first thoughts were "really, how much can you write about one cat? They sleep 20 hours a day." Now that I'm finished the book, I see, once again, the power of writing; to expand the mundane, seemingly simple events to significant universal experiences.
Once I, on a whim, I went to a movie. It was a sunny afternoon and I was wandering downtown with nothing to do. The movie was Remains of the Day. I remember walking out of the theatre thinking "I'm a better person for seeing that movie."
It's not often I say that about a book.
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