One Book, One Wine, Every Month
For April, let's read Jaime's pick, Padma Lakshmi's memoir, Love Loss and What We Ate, which focuses a lot on her career, South Indian childhood, and relationship with Salman Rushdie.
And it's finally spring, so obviously we need to get our rose game on as much as possible.
This month, we're going to read a new/old book. Back in 2007, The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson was published: a memoir about her aunt's 35-year-old murder that was reopened when new DNA evidence was uncovered. This month, the much-talked-about book was reprinted. If you like Making of a Murderer, you'll probably like this one, too.
As for wine, let's go with Muscadet, a light-bodied, mineral-y wine from the Loire Valley in France. If there's one thing that Muscadet pairs really well with, it's oysters!
Since February is a short month, I want to give everyone a chance to catch up on their reading, so I selected a collection of short stories called Fortune Smiles, by Adam Johnson. It's won TONS of awards, including one of the best books of the year from the Washington Post. The collection focuses on giving voices to characters with major life obstacles or tragedies.
As for wine: To mimic the dry, crisp winter weather, let's taste any variety of dry-tasting wine of your choosing. Dry meaning, there's little residual sugar in the wine, but understandably what is dry to one person, may not taste as dry to another. When in doubt, ask someone at your wine store for a recommendation!
Our reading and tasting for January. We're going to read Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal. It's a novel that paints the picture of the food revolution from the last 25 years, in the point of view of a Midwest chef-- centering on themes of class, family, and culture.
As for wine, I'm going to get a little abstract but bear with me. Rather than choosing a region or a varietal, I'm going to go on tasting notes. In honor of our country-midwest theme, bring something earthy, grassy, funky, or reminiscent of the countryside.
I was a big fan of Sloane Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake, so I decided to go with her latest book, The Clasp. It seems a lot different than her first, but with her same funny and conversational style.
As for wine, let's all travel through our glasses to the islands! I mean any island: Corsica, Sardinia, Santorini, the Canaries, Sicily, etc.
This November, we're going to read a book called Gold Fame Citrus by Claire Vaye Watkins. This is an interesting one because it's set in the future-- the future of what California could be like with a major drought. My Southern California girls will probably have some interesting thoughts on this.
As for wine, let's continue with that theme and drink wines from California. Any wine of your choosing!
Dream scenario: Can we do our next meeting out West at a vineyard? Book Club Takes Sonoma, perhaps.
Any Mindy Kaling fans? I decided to go with her new book Why Not Me? that came out just a couple weeks ago. I expect it to be like her last book, Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me?, a collection of personal (and incredibly funny) essays. I also suggest following her on Instagram (and having regular marathons of The Office).
As for wine, I've been hitting up a lot of wines from Oregon lately. I think it's because some of my favorite Pinot Noirs are from the Willamette Valley, and now that it's Fall, I'm getting back into reds. Whatever the reason, let's sip on some wines from Oregon this month!
We've read many books, drank LOTS of glasses (ahem, bottles) of wine, and have individually gone through so many changes over the last 24 months (new jobs, new boyfriends, weddings, breakups, moving, new sunglasses...) and having you all at my home each month has been a bright spot no matter what crazy stuff is going on.
To celebrate, we're going to drink our very first book club wine pick Gruner Veltliner, and read an Emily Feinberg pick, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.
I think we should make this one a book club birthday blowout, so please bring your favorite bottle of Gruner (treats optional) and come ready to chat and drink.
The summer is winding down, and I've selected a book that comes out this Tuesday-- Woman With a Secret by Sophie Hannah. From what I've heard so far, it's supposed to be one of those can't-put-it-down suspenseful thrillers. I feel like we need one of those right now.
Let's pair that with a wine region we haven't gotten to yet, South African wines. I find that most of the region's wines taste of very ripe fruit, because of the warm temps down there, and sometimes a little earthy. Some of the varieties you'll probably see: Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Syrah, and Pinot Noir.
And July's book is... Euphoria by Lily King. The book is about three anthropologists in a love triangle, and as you can see by its Amazon page, it has won a ton of awards.
Last night, we were talking about Lambrusco,and I think we should go for it. It's a sparkling red Italian wine that's light, low in alcohol, and usually sweet. Perfect for summer drinking!
This June, I selected a book that comes out on June 2, Sunlit Night by Rebecca Dinerstein. It takes place on the very top of the world, where the sun never sets (the author actually went there to experience it and write this), and follows Frances and Yasha, two people there for very different reasons.
As for wine, I'd love to sip on Vihno Verde, a Portuguese wine that's light, fresh, and semi-sparkling. I'm hoping that this month we can hold our meeting on my building's terrace-- so fingers crossed for warm weather.
This month, we're going for a book that seems a little out there, but I'm into it. It's called The Blondes by Emily Schultz, and get ready for this, it's about an epidemic of a rabies-like disease that's carried by blonde women, all of whom go to great lengths to conceal their blondness. Yep.
We'll pair that with Verdejo, a Spanish white that's full bodied, crisp, and a little nutty. Makes sense, right? It goes really well with tapas, I might add. Maybe we should make that happen.
I decided to go with Ruby, by Cynthia Bond. I think Oprah's book club actually read it, but obvi Oprah's club has nothing on ours (and ours probably has much more wine). It's about a girl named Ruby Bell from a small Texas town where she is horribly treated, who ends up moving to NYC in search of her mother who abandoned her. This is Cynthia Bond's first novel,
As for wine, we'll be drinking our first wine repeat, Rose, simply because it's spring and it's all I want to drink right now. When buying Rose, you can't go wrong with anything from Provence (actually,anything from Provence ever is probably a good choice). I prefer Roses that are lighter in color. They tend to be crisper and less sugary than those dark Roses. It also holds a special place in my heart because it's pretty much all I drank for two straight weeks on my honeymoon in Southern France.
We're reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. It's a chiller-thriller, and it's rumored to be very Gone Girl-esque.
As for wine, it's bound to be freezing for all of eternity, so let's drink from a warmer climate-- Argentinian wine. Because warmer climates allow for the grapes to ripen, it's more likely that the wines will be richer and fruitier with less acidity. And surprisingly, Argentina is the fifth largest producer of wine in the world.
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is getting great reviews, about two young lovers who leave military-ruled Nigeria for the West, one in America and one in London, and how they eventually reunite in their newly democratic nation.
To drink, I'm going with Zinfandel (not to be confused with the nasty pink stuff White Zinfandel). It's super drinkable, medium-bodied, usually with notes of raspberry, cherry, chocolate or coffee. I like that it's fruity, but not to sweet, with some tannic properties to balance it out. Zinfandel is also known as Primitivo, in case you see that in the wine shop.
To start off 2015, I've selected an interesting story I just started reading called Us by David Nicholls. It's a funny novel about how relationships change and also fall apart (uplifting, I know), it's set in Europe and spotlights a British couple.
To drink, instead of choosing a wine variety, I'm going with another region-- Cotes du Rhone in France. My rule of thumb for buying wine in a wine store that doesn't have the best selection is, when in doubt, go for Cotes du Rhone. Even the cheaper bottles are usually pretty good; I assume it's because they've been making wine for-ev-er and have it down pat.
Because Lena Dunham's book was such a great discussion, I decided to go for a memoir-esque book that I think would be a great compare/contrast (although they are very different people with very different stories). Amy Poehler's Yes Please is her super funny account of her life thus far from growing up in Massachusetts, to her start in comedy, and days on Saturday Night Live.
Wine time. Last December, we focused on Cava, a Spanish sparkling wine that's fabulous for celebrating. I'd like to keep the celebration going for this holiday season, but this time, let's do Prosecco. It's an Italian sparkling white wine, and is usually very dry. I think it's interesting that unlike Champagne, Prosecco doesn't ferment in the bottle, and it can get stale over time. That means it should be drunk as young as possible-- within 3 years of its vintage. So don't worry about finding something "aged" when buying Prosecco.
The Cuckoo's Calling by the infamous J.K Rowling (pseudonym Robert Galbraith) is told through the eyes of a Private Investigator trying to discover the cause of a supermodel's death. Here's the link.
As for wine, we're doing something a little different this month. Instead of choosing a wine variety, I'm choosing a wine location-- and we're going local with New York State wines. Some of my favorite wineries are here in NY, like Channing Daughters, Wolffer Estate, and Brooklyn's Red Hook Winery. So at our next meeting, feel free to bring any variety from the state.
This month, I selected a controversial read: Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl, Lena's personal voyage of self-discovery and navigating the trial and tribulations of growing up.
As for wine, let's go for a classic wine we haven't covered yet, Pinot Noir. Good Pinot Noir gets respect in the wine world because its grapes are very difficult to cultivate and produce into wine. It's usually a fairly complex wine, with low tannins and lighter in color than other red wines. Beware: good pinot is really fantastic, but bad pinot is REALLY horrible. If you're looking for a more affordable Pinot Noir (they tend to be one the expensive side), I recommend The Pinot Project. For the price, it's a solid wine.
I selected a summery read for our last summer month, Cutting Teeth by Julia Firerro, a Brooklyn based author. It's about NYC families gathering for a Labor Day retreat, which of course means drama-- and parenting woes. Very Brooklyn, right?
Sauvignon Blanc. It's super crisp and balanced-- refreshing on a hot day. The best regions for this wine are the Loire Valley in France, California, and South Africa, but there are plenty of other great ones out there. It goes well with fish, shellfish, and light salads.