B is for Beer
by Tom Robbins (Ecco)
Robbins’ newest is billed as “a children’s book for grown-ups” and “a grown-up book for children.” In the 125-page story, 5-year-old Gracie Perkel wonders what the stuff daddy drinks is “that’s yellow and looks like pee.” And in the whimsical, absurdist way typical of the author, she finds out (with help from the Beer Fairy). But should youngsters be exposed to the alcoholic drink in such a nonserious manner? “Children see beer commercials every time they watch a sporting event on TV,” Robbins tells Required Reading. “In the supermarket, they pass shelves and coolers overflowing with beer. Neon beer signs wink at them as they’re driven to school, church, or the mall. Kids are constantly exposed to beer, it’s everywhere. Isn’t it time that somebody explained to them — in a thoughtful, funny and entertaining manner — not just its genuine dangers but its secrets, its origins, and the reasons for its wide appeal?” Revealing his own history with the brew, Robbins says he had his first at 16. “Had I known what I’d been missing, I may have imbibed far sooner. David Copperfield, remember, was a regular in the ale houses at age 8. These days, however, I’m afraid I’ve settled into a state of fairly constant sobriety.”
Catcher
How the Man Behind the Plate Became an American Folk Hero
by Peter Morris (Ivan R. Dee)
Baseball fans are steeped in the game’s past. But most don’t go so far back as the 1870s, as Morris does in his fascinating study of baseball backstops who became heroes to a generation of young boys who watched them take a pounding behind the plate with no masks, padding or even gloves.
Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
by Geoff Dyer (Pantheon)
British novelist Dyer looks to the West and the East in an imaginative examination of self and romance. In Part I, cynical journo Jeff Altman falls for Laura at the Venice Biennale; Part II shifts to the holy Indian city Varanasi, where the narrator may or may not be Altman. The similarities in the two cities, Dyer tells us, “are very striking: both are watery, crumbling, old, with narrow lanes leading off from the main thoroughfares and both have been pilgrimage/tourist sites for a long time. I’m not the first person to be struck by these similarities,” he says. “There are a couple of occasions in Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Indian Journals’ where he is so off his head, walking along the Ganges that he thinks he’s in Venice, strolling along the Grand Canal.”
Thanks for Coming
by Mara Altman (Harper Perennial)
The 26-year-old Brooklynite lets it all hang out in a matter-of-fact memoir she subtitles “One Young Woman’s Quest for an Orgasm.” Her journey takes her to foot fetishists, Bangkok sex clubs, the “Fairy Godmother of Masturbation” and many situations unmentionable in a family paper. TMI? “Everyone has a different threshold for . . . intimate matters,” Altman tells Required Reading, “and I’m sure my book crosses the line for a few. But my hope is that the people who like juicy details — and especially those who are upset by them — can explore the discomfort that arises and use that to ignite discussions and to ask themselves questions: Am I getting what I want?” Altman also says the book “has already helped my love life.”