"37." "In a row?"

For the most recent episode of the Bookrageous podcast, Jenn, Rebecca and I decided to turn things over to our listeners. What did you want to hear us talk about? Lots of stuff, actually. We cove long books, short books, prolific authors, reclusive authors, DRM, self-published books, and a bunch of other stuff. It was a hell of a lot of fun to jump from topic to topic, and it ended up creating a pretty entertaining episode.

Of course, we also cover what we’re reading right now, and manage to earn our “explicit” tag on iTunes pretty quickly.

Enjoy, subscribe, and let us know what you’d like to see in future episodes.

Show notes (including all books discussed) and an embedded player are below.

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Intro Music; Summertime — DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

What We’re Reading

Rebecca

[1:15] Jazz, Toni Morrison

[3:01] Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History, Florence Williams

[5:45] Wait, nutcases??

[6:27] House of Holes, Nicholson Baker

[7:00] Getting Things Done, David Allen

[10:32] Better Book Titles: Write Shit Down

Josh

[11:00] Sorry Please Thank You, Charles Yu, July 24 2012

[13:22] Magic Hours, Tom Bissell

[15:16] The Gun, CJ Chivers

Jenn

[17:25] The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller and Lavinia, Ursula K. Le Guin

[20:39] The Killing Moon, NK Jemisin (The Shadowed Sun, June 1 2012)

[21:20] The Likeness, Tana French

[22:04] Aurorarama, Jean-Christophe Valtat (Luminous Chaos, October 2 2012)

Rebecca

[23:00] The Storytelling Animal, Jonathan Gottschall

Jenn

[26:00] The Blind Giant, Nick Harkaway, May 15 2012

[27:09] Edie Investigates, Nick Harkaway

—

Intermission; Youth Without Youth — Metric

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Listener Questions

[28:15] Jon Page: Book prizes? Too many, not enough, which ones, biases?

[30:31] We particularly heart The Morning News’ Tournament of Books

[33:20] The Orange Prize & gender in prizes

[34:18] Edmund: Revisiting books/rereadability?

[35:10] Rebecca rereads: The Sparrow, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Sula

[35:52] Jenn is rereading: Jacqueline Carey

[36:49] Josh rereads: graphic novels & comics

[37:25] Paul Montgomery: Short & sweet books vs. epic flails?

[37:56] Episode 25: Great Big Not Very Short Huge Epic Big Big Books

[38:05] We the Animals, Justin Torres

[39:06] Small Books with a Big Punch on Brews & Books

[39:27] How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe, Charles Yu

[39:40] Clandestine in Chile, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

[40:50] Paul Montgomery: Favorite one-hit wonder authors? e.g., Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird; authors we wish would write another book?

[41:28] Toby Barlow (Sharp Teeth)

[41:53] Steve Toltz (A Fraction of the Whole)

[44:19] Philipp Meyer (American Rust)

[44:41] Joss Arden: What do we wish we had mentioned on a previous episode but didn’t?

[46:57] Joss Arden: What do you wish someone had told you when you started your blogs?

[47:15] Never look at the stats! (Or at least don’t get caught up in them)

[49:15] Anyone can find it.

[50:23] Schedule, schedule, schedule.

[51:36] Stacy: How did you come together to do the podcast?

[51:50] Episodes 1 (Just What the Hell is Bookrageous?) & 24 (One Year Anniversary!)

[53:37] Twitter! And there was this calendar…

[53:55] And there was Books on the Nightstand…

[55:05] Kevin: What were the first galleys/free stuff you received because of your blog?

[55:20] Months and Seasons, Christopher Meeks

[56:09] Red, White, and Brew, Brian Yaeger; also, free beer!

[59:00] Rebecca: First book that a rep gave you?

[59:30] REPS ARE AWESOME.

[1:01:06] Anonymous: What are your thoughts on self-published books?

[1:01:10] We have many thoughts on this! (Not sum-up-able in show notes)

[1:04:27] Anonymous: DRM, agency pricing, lawsuits, etc.?

[1:04:44] Tor/Forge goes DRM free!

[1:06:40] $0.99 and up — Amazon and agency pricing

[1:11:00] Better than cheap? Free! Libraries and ebooks

—

Outro; Summertime — DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince

—

Find Us!

Bookrageous on

Tumblr, Podbean, Twitter, Facebook, Spotify, Zazzle

(for the Bookrageous 2011-2012 calendar), and leave us voicemail at 347-855-7323

Find Us Online: Josh, Rebecca, Jenn

Bookrageous Book Club Pick: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, Shehan Karunatilaka (out May 8 2012), 10% off from WORD for listeners! Just write BOOKRAGEOUS in the comments field.

Get Bookrageous schwag at CafePress

Note: Our show book links direct you to WORD, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn. If you click through and buy the book, we will get a small affiliate payment. We won’t be making any money off any book sales — any payments go into hosting fees for the Bookrageous podcast, or Bookrageous projects like our calendar. We promise.

Jake: Are you a cider fan?

Travis: Love me some apple juice, ever since I was a young buck.  Now, all adult like, the fact that it’s also an adult beverage is nothing short of fantastic.  I’ve tried some here in the states, like Woodchuck, but I really sank my teeth into the style on a trip to England. It’s an American misconception that cider has to be sweet and overtly juice-like in character.  This is just in poor taste — or, ahem, the “common tongue.”  Cider, or cidre, has a long traditional history in Europe, and you can find an extremely eclectic selection of flavors, brewers (or are they “pressers?”) and styles within this category.  When I slip back a cider, I want the snap of breaking an apple’s skin, the mouth-watering acidity, the sweet cloaked by tart that feels good.  Feels healthy.  You need that bite at the end.

Jake: What do you think of the name “Angry Orchard?”

Travis: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.  Some classic television right there.  But knowing it’s a brewery, it brings back the bite I mentioned earlier — these apples ain’t playin’ around. They bad.  They mean. If the Angry Orchard were a professional sports team, what sport would it be?

Jake: I’m seeing Angry Orchard as a National Basketball Association team, because I would like to know more about how their game works but at the same time am not really putting in the time. Don’t get me wrong, once I’m watching a game I like what’s going on, and I can thoroughly enjoy myself, but it’s turning the game on that’s the problem. I guess what I’m trying to do here is relate my relationship with cider to my relationship with basketball: I don’t know much about either. Was that clear? Was I laying it on a little thick?

Travis: How would they play?

Jake: Angry Orchard would play ferociously. They’d play in a way that would make their rivals want to say they play dirty, but they wouldn’t actually break any rules. Just toeing that line. Their mascot would be an angry foam tree on rollerskates.

Travis: Are you, or have you ever, been guilty of cider abuse in the state of Maine?

Jake: The last time I bought cider it was from from Trader Joe’s, unpasteurized. This was the regular, non-alcoholic cider in the plastic jug. I put it in my fridge and immediately forgot all about it. When I finally looked at it a few weeks later, the plastic jug was swelled up like a balloon. Science had been happening in there. It now had a distinct kick to it, and I realized that I wouldn’t have to buy any alcohol right away. Did I abuse that cider? If I did, I hope it didn’t mind.

Crisp Apple

Jake: What do you think of the look and smell?

Travis: Looked like apples, smelled like apples, tasted like apples.  The pour was gold, almost invited amber, a reddish to the body.

Jake: What about the first sip?

Travis: The first sip took me back to when I was a toddler and swallowed a penny, my mother had me drink two towering pints of cider upon the doctor’s orders.  I’ll never forget that.  Probably why I like it so much today.

Jake: Compared to the ciders I’ve tried — crafted in both traditional and refrigerator-amnesia styles — Crisp Apple seems very sweet. I’d say it’s creeping up towards the level of apple candy sweetness, almost too sugary. Most ciders I’ve had before are drier and more tart. Tthis tastes less like cider to me and more like juice. The bottle calls it a “fruit-forward” cider and I guess that hits it on the nose — like you said, it smells like apples and tastes like apples. Sweet and very easy to drink. If it weren’t for the carbonation I’d never even guess this is alcoholic.

Travis: The carbonation kept it sparkling on, dancing.  It didn’t knock my socks off,  it didn’t taste alcoholic at all.

Jake: The bottle says there’s a “slightly sweet, ripe apple flavor.” What do you think?

Travis: I think this description is on point.  The flavor was exactly what comes to mind when you say apple cider.  The sweetness was prevalent, but did not dominate.  I could have had a glass of this with breakfast, next to my coffee and eggs.  Actually, that sounds like some solid brunch time.

Jake: This would be a perfect cider for Sunday brunch.

Travis: Forget mimosas. I’m always called out for drinking those anyways.

Jake: Let’s go to one of those places where it’s kind of fancy but nobody’s clothes are ironed and everyone is wearing sunglasses. Coffee and cider, with scrambled eggs, home fries and toast. Strawberry jam on the side. Two ciders with the meal, maybe one after? What do you have to do today? It’s so nice out, and this cider puts me in the mind of lying in a field and not thinking about taxes.

Traditional Dry

Travis: This is what I’m talking about.  Real simple, tall pint — this cider has that bitter, that bite I was talking about.  It’s not too sweet, less carbonated, and slides back easy for maximum drinkability.  This ain’t juice, son.  I can picture this lined up in the taps at a South London pub, half ales, half ciders, football (proper) on the TV, and we’re slammin’m home chanting for Arsenal!  Okay.  Little overboard.  But my favorite of the line.

Jake: On this one the bottle says the dryness makes you “pucker and look forward to another sip.” True? Is the sourness a good thing?

Travis: Absolutely.  I did not physically pucker, because I’m a man, but the feeling was recognized.

Jake: This definitely made me feel more like a man. I’m not saying it’s going to put hair on my chest, but this is what I think of when I think of cider.

Travis: Apples need that tartness, the sour, and balanced so well with the hops create a hardy drink.  That kick in the finish is essential, otherwise it’s alcoholic fruit juice.  The cider must shed its sweet easy veneer and rise, in America, as a manly drink.  Thank you, Angry Orchard.  Thank you.

Jake: I think this one is a lot less sweet than Crisp Apple — and that’s not to say that it’s overly sour, either. Really nice and balanced, with a little bit of tartness and spice. This is what I’m expecting when I order a hard cider. Less juice, more spice. (Is that taken? Can that be our cider blog? “Less Juice, More Spice,” picture of you and me leaning back-to-back with ciders in our hands?)

Apple Ginger

Jake: Ginger. Thoughts?

Travis: You don’t see apple and ginger hanging out that often, only certain times of the year, but this really worked.  The ginger added that subtle spice, invoking the holidays.  It added more to the bite I keep going on about.  It’s good to splash some flavor down, as long as it’s balanced. How you dig that ginger, baby?

Jake: I’m a fan of ginger — in fact, the few times I’ve gone out for fancy wear-a-blazer drinks, I’ve always found myself staring at an inscrutable cocktail menu with one safe choice starting back at me: Dark and Stormy. Ginger and rum is one thing, however, and ginger and cider is quite another. I’m happy to say I liked it. I think this is my favorite of all three.

Travis: Do you find it more novelty purchase or sessionable choice?

Jake: The bottle makes it sound like kind of a novelty — “distinct,” “fresh Nigerian ginger,” “unlike any cider you’ve had before” — but I think it’s blended perfectly for session drinking. The ginger is just the right strength for you to know it’s there, but you’re not going to mistake this cider for a highball cocktail anytime soon. It’s apple cider with ginger, and it’s really good. Is this like any cider you’ve had before?

Travis: No, not really.  I’ve had some fine mulled cider, heated, with rum, but the Apple Ginger didn’t take me there.  It’s really a finely balanced spice choice, great flavor profiles.  The finish is crisp, warmed my heart, and did incite further drinking, which is the goal, I imagine.  Fine cider.  Happy thoughts.  Warm hearts.

Travis H. Curran is a freelance writer and actor living in Portland, a founder of Tasty Dude Films, his work’s been published in Portland Magazine, and he’s enjoyed and reviewed many a craft beer for Brews and Books.  You can find him walking the streets, at Mama’s Crowbar, or at Travis On The Half Shell.

Ever wanted to host a beer tasting, but have no idea where to start? Jeff Alworth’s Beer Tasting Tool Kit, recently released by Chronicle Books, gives you everything you need for a tasting except the beer. Brews and Books will have a look at my experience using the box o’ beer gear posted very soon.

This week, I’m giving you a chance to win a free kit!

Here’s a description of Alworth’s Beer Tasting Tool Kit, straight from the publisher;

Ambers, porters, lambics, lagers… what are these and what do they taste like?  Does Belgian Witbier have a stronger flavor than pale ail?  What is the purpose of adding hops?  What is a session beer?  Invite a few friends over, start tasting, and find out!

If you’re a beer lover who enjoys lively and enlightening get-togethers, our Beer Tasting Tool Kit is the perfect pastime for you and your friends!  If you’re interested in trying new beers or discovering the qualities of your favorites, our kit will guide you through the various flavors, aromas and unique notes!  Soon you’ll be tasting and evaluating everything from abbey ales to wheat beers like a brewer.  Learn how to organize a tasting party, pair beer with food, and match up beers for themed tastings.

So, go and grab a few beers, cover them with a paper cover and taste away!

Includes:

• 48-page booklet
• 4 100-page notepads
• quick reference card
• 18 paper covers
• Twine for concealing bottles for blind tastings
• A 3-fold beer cheat sheet.

All enclosed in a great looking gift box!  You will have so much fun exploring and distinguishing the different tastes!

The slick box set retails for $24.95, but here’s your chance to win it FOR FREE! Everyone loves free stuff, right?

One lucky winner will win:

• A shrink-wrapped copy of Jeff Alworth’s Beer Tasting Tool Kit

How to enter:

• Leave a comment on this post with your favorite beer.
• Tweet “ I entered to win a free copy of THE BEER TASTING TOOL KIT from @jchristie’s Brews and Books! http://bit.ly/IB84R9”

You’ll get one entry if you do one, and two entries if you do both. Tweet and comment more than that if you’d like, but you’ll still only get two entries. The giveaway closes at 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, May 6th.

So, what’s your favorite beer?

Boring contest boilerplate; This contest is open to US residents only. The brand-spankin’-new, unopened copy of Mr. Alworth’s book was provided by Chronicle Books. Please use a legitimate email address in your comment - it won’t be publicly visible - so I have a way to contact you if you win. Winner is selected randomly.

Kate is a retail nerd with a longtime book addiction. When not reading or listening to NPR, she can be found on Twitter.

Joe Spork (yes, Spork – what a great name) is a watch-maker trying his damnedest to live under the radar. The last thing he wants, or could imagine wanting, is the kind of attention that eventually rains down on him from every single quadrant imaginable. The good guys are out for his blood. The bad guys are out for his blood. He doesn’t know who the good or the bad guys are, nor why exactly they want his blood. This is when our journey begins. Travelling back generations and decades, we gradually learn who, what, why and where.  We meet people we love, people we hate, people we love to hate and people we hate to love.  But throughout it all is Joe. Lovable, affable, everyman Joe.

The story is intense. There are mobsters, corrupt government employees, reformed government employees, brilliant scientists and twisted villains.  There’s torture, love, redemption, friendship, hatred. I ran the full emotional gamut while I was reading.  One of the highest compliments I can give a book is that I forgot where I was while I was reading it. I would sit at the bar in my coffee shop, casually reading and find myself perking up, slouching down, and muttering quiet expletives as I fervently turned one page after another.

We’ll start with the not-so-good. There were a few moments when I could guess what would come down the pike. That was, frankly, a little disappointing. Especially when it turned out I was partially right. However, foreshadowing by Nick Harkaway is never just foreshadowing. Just when you think you have it all figured out, and know how it’s going to end, things change again.

A bigger obstacle for me was that, for maybe the first 25% of the book, I was in desperate need of a character map. Harkaway would drop names with no preface and no explanation, but with a familiarity that indicated I should know who he was talking about. Equally frustrating is that like The Gone-Away World, there was a lot of chronological skipping around which I often found confusing. There’s not a lot of warning when he switches geological and temporal location. These were all things that, once I got re-acclimated to Harkaway’s writing style and finally grew more familiar with the characters, I found easy to get over.

Now on to the good – nay, great! In 25 years of reading, Shem Shem Tsien is quite possibly the most delicious villain I have ever come across. I have never been so excited to hate someone so much as I hate Shem Shem. Harkaway has Tsien travel the path from run of the mill, cracked despot straight to unadulterated insanity leaving in his wake of destruction twists and turns that are so “ohmygoshwut?!” I was left breathless. You may be wondering how any level of predictability isn’t a deal breaker for me. The reason is simple. In writing Angelmaker, Harkaway seems to have a sixth sense for when the reader may be resting on their laurels and he doesn’t hesitate to knock the reader clear off said laurels. Even though you think you have it figured out – and you may be partially right  - Harkaway is brilliant at taking it just that extra bit further in a direction you never anticipate. The last hundred pages or so is a roller coaster of fist-pumping, cheer out loud glee.

The Gone-Away World is the only other 500 page book I’ve been able to read with so much success. Something about twists and turns, unexpectedly lovable and equally detestable characters. The world Harkaway is able to build for us, whether in The Gone-Away World’s future or Angelmaker’s more contemporary London, is crystal. You are along for a ride, one that won’t let you off without an emotional scar or two, but one that when you close the book for the last time you find yourself saying, “I can’t wait to ride it again.”

Raise a pint for both of today’s beery holidays - April 7th is National Beer Day and Session Beer Day here in the US.

National Beer Day, celebrated on April 7th every year, marks a major landmark in the march to the repeal of prohibition. With the ratification of the 18th Amendment in 1919, the manufacture, sale, or transportation of “intoxicating liquors” of all kinds was prohibited in the United States. By December of 1933, the 21st Amendment repealed the prohibition. So why April 7th? Legislation enacted by Franklin Roosevelt that went into effect on the 7th redefined that touchy “intoxicating liquors” term. From April 1933 on you could buy beer, assuming it was less than 3.2% ABW.

Beer was legalized nearly 8 months before other alcohol in the US, a landmark that’s certainly worth celebrating.

In his masterful Prohibition history Last Call, Daniel Okrent describes the celebratory reaction to the legislation.

On March 16, at Franklin Roosevelt’s request, the new Congress revisited the linguistic debates of 1919 and came up with a reformulated definition of “intoxicating.” The legislation was formally captioned “a bill to provide revenue by the taxation of certain nonintoxicating liquors,” but you couldn’t have the revenue without the redefinition. Effective April 7, except in those states that expressly forbade it, beer that was no more than 3.2 percent alcohol by weight would be legal. Breweries and bottlemakers, coopers and hop farmers, trucking firms and ice plants and dozens of other businesses immediately began to recruit thousands from the ranks of the unemployed. Coca-Cola, fearing competition, actually considered producing “Coca-Cola Beer,” in both light and dark varieties. When April 7 arrived, the Budweiser Clydesdales made their debut, delivering a case to Al Smith in New York. Another Budweiser team pulled up to the White House only to discover that other breweries had gotten there first. The CBS radio network broadcast beer celebrations across the country. In Milwaukee a blanket license was issued to 4,207 taverns precisely at midnight. In Baltimore, H. L. Mencken lifted a stein to his lips, drained its legal contents, and pronounced it “pretty good—not bad at all.”

Session Beer Day is a newer holiday than that “New Beer’s Day” in ‘33. The brainchild of Lew Bryson (creator of The Session Beer Project), Session Beer Day is a celebration of “session” beer. For the purposes of the holiday, session beers are defined as brews that clock in at 4.5% ABV or less. They’re beers that you can have a few pints of in a single evening without without getting too loopy. And, serendipitously for the holiday, they’re beers that are similar in ABV to those first brews put out as Prohibition was being phased out.

(I won’t get into the debate about what exactly defines the style - it’s a discussion that can get heated, to put things lightly. If you’re curious, DING, Lew, Chris and others have eloquently and passionately put forth their hows and whys for the style’s definition.)

This evening, celebrate both holidays with a mug or two of high-flavor, low-alcohol beer. I’ve got some of Cisco’s Sankaty Light Lager chilling in the fridge, myself. If you’re curious about what you can pick up to celebrate, Michael James and Ken Weaver used RateBeer.com’s beer database to compile these lists of the most accessible and top rated beer that clocks in below 4.5% ABV.