Esquire

I was a bartender during college and still love the history of cocktails. I've seen many cocktail books over the years, some of which are better coffee table books than recipe books and some of which provide recipes but nothing else. This book provides both impeccable recipes and an interesting discussion and history lesson as to each drink, all in a relatively slim package. Wondrich's book is probably the best cocktail book I've ever seen and includes some worthy cocktails I'd never even show more head of, when I thought I'd heard of them all by now. This book is both informative and usable and I can't recommend it highly enough, whether you're already a well-informed cocktailian or an introductory reader. show less

I guess if I'd seen the tiny size of this book, or the words 'Esquire presents...' emblazoned across the top, I might have thought twice about buying it. But I didn't, so I did. It sounded like such a brilliant concept: rounding up a group of people who have experienced things most people never will, and asking them to explain what it was like. What does it feel like to be struck by lightning, or gored by a bull? To be bitten by a shark or held hostage? To have leprosy or live with multiple show more personalities?

But it just falls flat. Some pieces are better than others - Buzz Aldrin's experience of walking on the moon is very lyrical, for example. The piece describing what it feels like to be an executioner at a Mississippi gas chamber was heartbreaking, the one about giving birth eloquent and uplifting. But there are others, ones that should have been fascinating, that were dull as anything. The tale of a man being bitten by a venomous snake pretty just went 'I was bitten. Someone took me to hospital. They gave me the antidote.' Each essay could have been so much better structured, fleshed out to give the reader a more complete picture of the incident, the feelings, the experience as a whole, to make us feel the nerves, the adrenaline, the sadness or elation. The book just didn't deliver any of that.

If you're going to read it, do yourself a favour and get it out of the library! show less

This 775-page short story collection is uncommonly good. It has a well-rounded and well-crafted spread of exuberant and surprising stories. I really hate collections that reprint the same twenty stories we've all read before. How many reprints of "Hills Like White Elephants" do we need? It does have its flaws, in my opinion - 3 stories by David Foster Wallace seems like a bit indulgent - but I can think of no other American collection I liked as much as this one. These are nearly all show more American short stories of course, since they come from a famous American publication. But there is the strange inclusion of Jorge Luis Borges. I took this as a sign that Esquire was just showing off the huge range of classic authors they managed to work into their publication. I would think that this and Esquire's other mammoth compendiums are really marketing tools to continue selling their journal, but that's just speculation.

There's a really stellar story by Antonya Nelson - whom I'd never heard of before - which reminded me of Deliverance. It also brings together masterpieces from Robert Stone, Norman Mailer, Stanley Elkin, Barry Hannah, Joy Williams, Richard Ford, Don Delillo, Philip Roth, Truman Capote, and others in a fairly portable package. It is certainly addictive to encounter so many heart-stopping tales in a row. I would have liked to spend more time with this collection but I couldn't put it down. I pick it up from time to time to sample my favorites. Just about every one of them is a winner. I would recommend this as a gift and for your personal library. Forget those unwieldy Norton Anthologies, this is all you need to get started for some of America's best stories. show less

This is a short and wonderful book of essays about fathers and sons. As a father and son, the collection brought me through moments of laughter and sorrow; excited identification and dread. Not ever essay resonated with me, but I think this is a testimony to the good work David Katz did in representing a breadth of views and experiences. The final essay is a daughter's view of her dad; I'm glad it was included. I recommend this book if you are, or if you have a father or son--in other words, show more it's worth the time to read. It's certainly a good read for anyone who has interest in parenting, fatherhood, and first-person perspectives of the father-son relationship. show less