It’s about an hour away from 5 o’clock over here, so that gives you plenty of time to read Chris Newgent’s “No-Bull Bourbon Review” on Hobart’s website. “A true bourbon,” Newgent writes, “is a bourbon with a story worth remembering.” Agreed. And so would Walker Percy.
No-Bull Bourbon Reviews
Pimpin’ with Remnick
Correction of the day, courtesy of The New York Times: “He did not say that it would not be a ‘pimped out’ version of the article.”
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Do I Know You?
No one is unique; we all share names, but what if you met everyone who had the same name as you? At The Morning News, Jennifer Berman reached out to her doppelgängers. “I’ve thought about writing her. But what would I say? I’m Jennifer Berman, too?”
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Norm Macdonald’s Book Club
“One night, in the spring of 2011, [Norm] Macdonald mentioned his love of literature, and someone suggested he start a Twitter book club. A new account was created (@NormsBookClub) and the club was born. … And then things get a little weird.”
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Free Access to the Oxford African American Studies Center
In observance of Black History Month, the Oxford African American Studies Center is granting free online access to its archives. Simply enter the login name “blackhistorymonth” and use the password, “onlineaccess.”
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The Fifth Borough
Enlightenment comes in many guises, and though we usually think of it as arriving in a koi pond or a distant mountaintop, we can also find it, as the protagonist of Year in Reading alum Tom McCarthy’s new novel attempts to do, on Staten Island. In The New Republic, David Marcus reads the book.
Calvin!
“Calvin and Hobbes is certainly not a text about queerness, yet when I returned to it at this altered point in my life, the strip suddenly seemed to describe things that resonated with me now: what it was like to live in a world where expressing your realest self is so often penalized, and the value of finding a second family, a close friend or friends, if your blood family fails to understand or accept the truest version of you.” Gabrielle Bellot at The Literary Hub explains why Calvin and Hobbes is great literature.
Thin Mints, a Challenger Appears
This has nothing to do with books, but if you’re like me, it’s important, life-altering, and worthy of constant news coverage: The Girl Scouts are releasing a new cookie for their 100th Anniversary. The lemony “Savannah Smiles” will commemorate the Scouts’ southern roots. Need help tracking down a box? I suggest the Girl Scout Cookie Locator app for your smartphone.
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Goodness, much thanks for the nod, Nick. And for linking that Percy bit. I’d never read it, and good goddamn if that’s not something to aspire to with these columns.
Hey, my pleasure.
That Percy piece is among my all-time faves. I’ll always love this phrase: “the hot bosky bite of Tennessee summertime.”