FOOLCiRCLE

I forgot to mention that for Christmas I got a bunch of new beer reading material.

I received:

• Beer & Food Pairing & Cooking with Craft Beer by Lucy Sanders
• Narragansett Brewing Company by Hazel B. Turley
• The Homebrewer’s Garden by Joe Fisher & Dennis Fisher
• Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff & John Palmer
• Drink as Much as You Want and Live Longer by Frederick M. Beyerlein

I have not read any of the books yet, only paged through them. The beer and food pairing book looks really well laid out and looks like it has potential, but it’ll be interesting to see if the pairings really compliment each other. Narragansett is a now out of commission brewery from Rhode Island. Jeff and Kim picked this one up for me when they lived up there. The homebrewer’s garden may be useful for when I (try) to re-plant me hops this spring. Hopefully it’ll help me come up with a dope system. Brewing classic styles is a new book that I’ve wanted since it was released. I think it’ll be a bore to read straight through, it’s very formated, but I could see myself referencing it during formula formulation. And the drink as much as you want book was written by a nutritionist, so really it appears to be a total body health book that allows for drinking in your diet. He also talks about combinations of alcohol, food, other toxins and so forth that make things worse than normal, really pack on the pounds, and lead to hang overs. Could be interesting. So, looks like I’ve got some reading to do.

OK, we finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last Saturday, so it is now legal to talk to us about the book. Thanks to all for not ruining anything, I’m sure none of you would have done it on purpose. Our media black-out was a success for the week.

I have decided that not only do I have something to say about this book, but many of you probably do too and may not have a sounding-off point. So, I am going to open the ‘comments’ section of this post to let anyone who wants to give there opinion of the book and see if any discussion starts. *****SPOILER WARNING***** to anyone who has not read HP book 7 (or possibly book 6 also if you are the type that has only watched the movies)! Only click on the comments section if you are fully aware that there will be major plot spoiler information contained within. Remember, you have been warned, don’t blame me when you decide to look anyway.

Boy am I in trouble. This is only book number three of the year (which is half way over) out of the twelve I promised myself I would read. I guess it is time to turn the computer off a little earlier at night and pick up my book more regularly. Below you’ll find the review I posted on Amazon.com. 

“What worse way to describe a book than, ‘It was OK’, it’s like someone telling you your best atribute is that your ‘nice’. But that’s just it, for what it was supposed to be ‘The Brewers Association’s Guide to Starting Your Own Brewery’ (think about it, that’s a lot of weight in that title) it was only OK. There was some nice insight from brewing professionals whose opinions I already respect, there was some rough ideas of what to expect, and some sections with great detail about things I couldn’t care less about at this point - the point of ‘I’m still reading books to plan a brewery’.

I would have really have liked to have seen more real money and real equipment talked about. Basically they broke it down like this: it is hard and expensive, but if you can pull it off it is sooo worth it. That’s not enough for me. Oh, I will mention there was a very detailed business plan which could be a great reference to the right person, but it reads like a business plan, go figure. Real snoozer of a way to end the book.

One last thing, this is an $80 book that as an AHA member I was able to buy for $50 from the Brewers Association so I at least felt like I got a deal, but to now see Amazon with it for sale for $50 kind of burns me up. This isn’t an $80 book (think college text book) nor really a $50 book (think high school text book or instruction manual), it’s more of a decent $25 book (think normal informative/opinionated book). So, all in all I am not saying don’t get this book, but I would only get this book if you are seriously contemplating opening your own brewery and only as one more reference, not the be-all-to-end-all.”

It’s an OK book. Some of it is enjoyable, some of it funny, some of it boring, some of it informative, some of it repetative - dunno, it’s a weak second addition. The first addition came out 12 years ago (which I have never read), I think in the last 12 years they have enough resources to make this book awesome, it was not.

OK, finally book two (I could have swore this was the third book?) of the year is done, “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim” by David Sedaris. It’s a shame the way it kind of comes off sounding like a chore, but with all the other dumb shit I try to squeeze into a day some how reading usually takes a back seat. This book was pretty good as a lunch reader because it is more or less a bunch of short stories that sort of go together because they are all based around David Sedaris’ life.

It’s funny, it’s hard for me to think of what to say, but I have honestly never been good at “book reports”, which is how this kind of feels to me. I used to hate book reports in school. I understand they had to figure out a way to see if you were really doing your reading, but I swear half the time I wasn’t. I would either borrowed someone else’s book report, or have them explain the book to me, or read the Cliff Notes, or just read the back of the book and like two pages and make it up (as if the teacher couldn’t tell). I seriously used to hate reading, since first grade I can remember faking reading assignments. The worst was summer reading. I don’t think I ever read one whole book on my summer vacations. I just didn’t like the idea that what they wanted me to read was better than what I would have chosen to read. Especially Mrs. Ryan and her freakin’ Newbury Award Winners – all of her books for 7^th and 8^th grade had to be Newbury Award Winning books, as if that made them better. Usually they were so overlaid with metaphor that the message and plot were lost to me, and then when she asked about the metaphors after the fact I’d get all pissed off because I didn’t get it but could have gotten it better if someone would have just said something – whatever!

Anyway, I finally was in tune with David Sedaris on this book and thought it was very enjoyable and made me laugh out loud a few times. I especially like the way he writes his brother’s dialog. If you’re into David Sedaris and haven’t read this one pick it up. Not to knock his writing skills, but I think he would make an excellent magazine writer; quick witted, humorous, and not long winded, maybe that’s just me.