A Sober Amis

Strangely enough, Everyday Drinking – Amis’ collected books on booze – calls for a sober reader, and Lucky Jim – his famous first novel – a drinking one.

Try sipping from a very icy caipiroska when reading about Jim’s disastrous weekend at the Welch’s and you’ll know what I mean.

Flavored Indulgences

Since I started reading Amis’ book I’ve been experimenting on my drinking skills. Apart from a Sparkling Lemon Martini (gin, champagne, lemon juice, cassis) and a Watermelon Gin Punch (gin, obviously, watermelon juice, lemon, mint), I’ve tried something that would make even Sir Kingsley Amis frown: champagne and Absolut Pears.

But maybe he would frown only because flavored Absoluts came about long after he wrote the book — the first one, Absolut Peppar, was launched in 1986, and even though Amis only died in 1995, he gave up on the alcoholic books in 1984. Which was a shame.

For the record: vodka and champagne is one of those few wonderful and unexpected surprises you may come across in your life.

Everyman’s Drinking

Although my copy of Lucky Jim is lying quietly on the bedside table, Everyday Drinking arrived today at my bookstore. As I went to pick it up and read the first few pages, I smiled, uninterruptedly. The wonders of drinking lie not only in drinking itself but also in talking and thinking about drinking. All my stories have drinking characters. Actually, I think that my characters drink for 2/3 of each story. (When they’re not in the story, they must be recovering from the alcohol, I imagine).

And Amis’ style makes me laugh out loud.

The Man Who Went Jogging and Killed a Duck

There was a man at the spa. One morning he went jogging and felt so desperately hungry, that he brought back to his room a duck (!), threw it in very hot (shower) water, cut off its feathers and ate it. Later on, someone discovered the feathers and there was a great commotion. Apparently, the man (who weights over 350 lbs) told them that they had to produce the duck in order to prove the whole story. That being impossible, matters rested as they should.

And everything was told to us by this woman at the bar.