Unlike most books on wine nowadays, Tales from the Wine Floor is geared toward true beginners—those who enjoy wine but lack the most basic understanding of it. This book offers an easy-to-digest crash course on wine and ready-reference written by a Sommelier. The author explains the intricacies of wine to the average Joe (or Joanne) in a way that is easy to understand and highly entertaining. Here is an easy reference Q&A based on real questions (often absurd or hysterically funny) asked by regular, wine-drinking people and the answers the author gives them in his job as “The Wine Guy.” Among the questions and answers that comprise this book are: What Are Sulfites? Why Does the Same Wine Sometimes Taste Different? How Do I order Wine at a Restaurant? How Do I Host a Wine Tasting at Home? And, Why is Champagne Served on a Funny-Shaped Glass? Illustrated with amusing drawings by New Yorker cartoonist John O’Brien, novice wine enthusiasts will find Tales from the Wine Floor informative, easily accessible, and a delight to read.
A rollicking wine country travelogue paired with the only comprehensive guide to Napa’s public tasting rooms Hank Beal is a wine pro–the executive wine buyer at an upscale supermarket chain. Rick Kushman is an ordinary joe–a guy who enjoys wine but doesn’t know a lot about it. Together, Hank and Rick set out to visit all 141 public tasting rooms in Napa during the course of a year. The result is A Moveable Thirst–an engaging, often hilarious book that’s one part Sideways, one part Frommer’s. The first part recounts their uproarious adventures on the road as Rick learns to sniff and spit like a true oenophile (but never stops asking stupid questions). The second part offers the most complete and detailed guide ever published to Napa’s wine rooms. For wine lovers and the more than 5 million people who visit Napa every year, A Moveable Thirst is a great read and an indispensable guide.
Across the Nightingale Floor is Book 1 in the five-part Tales of the Otori series. More than four million copies have been sold in over 36 countries.'The best story of magic, love, sex, revenge and suspense to have come this way since Philip Pullman' Independent On Sunday (UK) In his fortress at Inuyama, the murderous warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard. Brought up in a remote village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people, Takeo has learned only the ways of peace. Why, then, does he possess the deadly skills that make him so valuable to the sinister Tribe? These supernatural powers will lead him to his violent destiny within the walls of Inuyama - and to an impossible longing for a girl who can never be his. His journey is one of revenge and treachery, beauty and magic, and the passion of first love. 'masterful storytelling ... a fantastic read' The Age Coming soon - the spellbinding new TALE OF SHIKANOKO, set 300 years before Otori: THE EMPEROR OF THE EIGHT ISLANDS (Books 1 & 2 in THE TALE OF SHIKANOKO) and THE LORD OF THE DARKWOOD (Books 3 & 4).PRAISE FOR THE TALES OF THE OTORI 'An engrossing fantasy saga of literary quality.' The Age'Lian Hearn's marvellous storytelling talent ... makes reading these books a moment of pure bliss.' Le Monde'an enthralling and original work of fantasy' The Times
The harrowing story of five men who were sent into a dark, airless, miles-long tunnel, hundreds of feet below the ocean, to do a nearly impossible job—with deadly results A quarter-century ago, Boston had the dirtiest harbor in America. The city had been dumping sewage into it for generations, coating the seafloor with a layer of “black mayonnaise.” Fisheries collapsed, wildlife fled, and locals referred to floating tampon applicators as “beach whistles.” In the 1990s, work began on a state-of-the-art treatment plant and a 10-mile-long tunnel—its endpoint stretching farther from civilization than the earth’s deepest ocean trench—to carry waste out of the harbor. With this impressive feat of engineering, Boston was poised to show the country how to rebound from environmental ruin. But when bad decisions and clashing corporations endangered the project, a team of commercial divers was sent on a perilous mission to rescue the stymied cleanup effort. Five divers went in; not all of them came out alive. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents collected over five years of reporting, award-winning writer Neil Swidey takes us deep into the lives of the divers, engineers, politicians, lawyers, and investigators involved in the tragedy and its aftermath, creating a taut, action-packed narrative. The climax comes just after the hard-partying DJ Gillis and his friend Billy Juse trade assignments as they head into the tunnel, sentencing one of them to death. An intimate portrait of the wreckage left in the wake of lives lost, the book—which Dennis Lehane calls "extraordinary" and compares with The Perfect Storm—is also a morality tale. What is the true cost of these large-scale construction projects, as designers and builders, emboldened by new technology and pressured to address a growing population’s rapacious needs, push the limits of the possible? This is a story about human risk—how it is calculated, discounted, and transferred—and the institutional failures that can lead to catastrophe. Suspenseful yet humane, Trapped Under the Sea reminds us that behind every bridge, tower, and tunnel—behind the infrastructure that makes modern life possible—lies unsung bravery and extraordinary sacrifice.
"Hilarious, insightful and smart. A must-read for anyone who wears clothes.” —Chelsea Handler *US Weekly, “Riveting Reads for Labor Day”* *Bustle, “2015 Books Every Funny Woman Should Read” and “September 2015’s Best Books”* *Refinery29 “Fall’s Most Highly Anticipated Nonfiction Reads”* *theSkimm, “Skimm Reads”* *Popsugar, “Motivational Books You Should Read this Fall”* *AM NY, “New Books for New Yorkers to Read This Fall”* The Lowdown on High Fashion Cosmopolitan.com editor Amy Odell knows what it’s really like to be a young woman working in the fashion industry. In Tales from the Back Row, Amy—funny and fearless—takes readers behind the stage of New York’s hottest fashion shows to meet the world’s most influential models, designers, celebrities, editors, and photographers. But first, she has to push her way through the crowds outside, where we see the lengths people go to be noticed by the lurking paparazzi, and weave her way through the packed venue, from the very back row to the front. And as Amy climbs the ladder (with tips about how you can, too), she introduces an industry powered by larger-than-life characters: she meets the intimidating Anna Wintour and the surprisingly gracious Rachel Zoe, not to mention the hilarious Chelsea Handler, and more. As she describes the allure of Alexander Wang’s ripped tights and Marchesa’s Oscar-worthy dresses, Amy artfully layers in something else: ultimately this book is about how the fashion industry is an exaggerated mirror of human fallibility—reflecting our desperate desire to belong, to make a mark, to be included. For Amy is the first to admit that as much as she is embarrassed by the thrill she gets when she receives an invitation to an exclusive after-party, she can’t help but RSVP “yes.”
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR • Entertainment Weekly • Kirkus Reviews • The Christian Science Monitor In the picturesque village of Guzmán, Spain, in a cave dug into a hillside on the edge of town, an ancient door leads to a cramped limestone chamber known as “the telling room.” Containing nothing but a wooden table and two benches, this is where villagers have gathered for centuries to share their stories and secrets—usually accompanied by copious amounts of wine. It was here, in the summer of 2000, that Michael Paterniti found himself listening to a larger-than-life Spanish cheesemaker named Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras as he spun an odd and compelling tale about a piece of cheese. An unusual piece of cheese. Made from an old family recipe, Ambrosio’s cheese was reputed to be among the finest in the world, and was said to hold mystical qualities. Eating it, some claimed, conjured long-lost memories. But then, Ambrosio said, things had gone horribly wrong. . . . By the time the two men exited the telling room that evening, Paterniti was hooked. Soon he was fully embroiled in village life, relocating his young family to Guzmán in order to chase the truth about this cheese and explore the fairy tale–like place where the villagers conversed with farm animals, lived by an ancient Castilian code of honor, and made their wine and food by hand, from the grapes growing on a nearby hill and the flocks of sheep floating over the Meseta. What Paterniti ultimately discovers there in the highlands of Castile is nothing like the idyllic slow-food fable he first imagined. Instead, he’s sucked into the heart of an unfolding mystery, a blood feud that includes accusations of betrayal and theft, death threats, and a murder plot. As the village begins to spill its long-held secrets, Paterniti finds himself implicated in the very story he is writing. Equal parts mystery and memoir, travelogue and history, The Telling Room is an astonishing work of literary nonfiction by one of our most accomplished storytellers. A moving exploration of happiness, friendship, and betrayal, The Telling Room introduces us to Ambrosio Molinos de las Heras, an unforgettable real-life literary hero, while also holding a mirror up to the world, fully alive to the power of stories that define and sustain us. Praise for The Telling Room “Captivating . . . Paterniti’s writing sings, whether he’s talking about how food activates memory, or the joys of watching his children grow.”—NPR
Marco Pasanella's behind-the-scenes memoir through the world of wine will captivate wine lovers with its story of one man who decided, at age 43, to change his life by opening a wine shop. As Kitchen Confidential and Waiter Rant explored the front and back of the house at restaurants, Uncorked offers a peek behind the curtain of the wine world. Pasanella takes the reader into the underbelly of his store and the industry, which is steeped in history yet fanatical about technology and brimming with larger-than-life personalities. Infused with rich details of his historic waterfront building in New York City and his sojourns to Tuscany, Pasanella's memoir is one of transformation through a project many fantasize about but few commit to. A colorful cast of characters rounds out this fascinating journey through the world of wine.
Ray Bradbury, America's most beloved storyteller, has spent a lifetime carrying readers to exhilarating and dangerous places, from dark street comers in unfamiliar cities and towns to the edge of the universe. Now, in an extraordinary flight of the imagination a half-century in the making, he takes us to a most wondrous destination: into the heart of an Eternal Family. They have lived for centuries in a house of legend and mystery in upper Illinois -- and they are not like other midwesterners. Rarely encountered in daylight hours, their children are curious and wild; their old ones have survived since before the Sphinx first sank its paws deep in Egyptian sands. And some sleep in beds with lids. Now the house is being readied in anticipation of the gala homecoming that will gather together the farflung branches of this odd and remarkable family. In the past-midnight stillness can be detected the soft fluttering of Uncle Einars wings. From her realm of sleep, Cecy, the fairest and most special daughter, can feel the approach of many a welcome being -- shapeshifter, telepath, somnambulist, vampire -- as she flies high in the consciousness of bird and bat. But in the midst of eager anticipation, a sense of doom pervades. For the world is changing. And death, no stranger, will always shadow this most singular family: Father, arisen from the Earth; Mother, who never sleeps but dreams; A Thousand Times Great Grandmére; Grandfather, who keeps the wildness of youth between his ears. And the boy who, more than anyone, carries the burden of time on his shoulders: Timothy, the sad and different foundling son who must share it all, remember, and tell...and who, alone out of all of them, must one day age and wither and die. By turns lyrical, wistful, poignant, and chilling, From the Dust Returned is the long-awaited new novel by the peerless Ray Bradbury -- a book that will surely be numbered among his most enduring masterworks.
When you find yourself widowed at the age of 31 with two small children, what do you do? A. Put on a black veil and live a life of semi-solitude with twelve cats B. Take up yoga and meditation to namaste the shit out of your anxiety attacks C. Join a church and devote your life to volunteer work and prayer while using the phrase, "This is all a part of God's plan" incessantly D. Put on a pair of black leather leggings and meet a boy at a bar who you will later discover has a wife and/or girlfriend Michelle chose D and then she documented her adventures in this gritty, tender and surprisingly humorous memoir about the places loss can take us. Follow her on forty-six of her most memorable and cringe-worth dates as she copes with the harsh reality of the modern social-media-infused dating scene and the inevitability of her insurmountable grief.
