Cover to Cover
Sheckels Book VII
Book 7 by Bill Sheckels
September 6 was National Read a Book Day, which is celebrated like a National Holiday at Boxes and Booze headquarters. This is because at B&B we love books as much as we love boxes. And booze. Also because it is not an actual National Holiday, it’s just a designated calendar day event likely dreamed up by a clever publishing house publicist. Or maybe a librarian, if you are not feeling so cynical. So, we have to pretend. Which is exactly what we love about a great book! I’m currently reading Bright Sword by Lev Grossman – let me know what you are reading too!
a good read
Of course on Sept 6th (and all the other book related days too) it has become customary to pick up a really good book and read it cover to cover. I found just the thing from my friend Bill Sheckels, whose newest novel, Volume VII in his continuing epic tale of adventure and technique in Scandinavian furniture design, is already a Bestseller on the Etsy Times category of new hardbound fiction. This installment is wrapped in figured Makore wood and has Ash pages, with a thermally modified Ash wood spine. As Bill has been doing more recently, there is a nice inlay coin on the spine to help identify which novel this is in the series.
book smart
Each one of Bill’s many books is different, and each presents its own unique challenges. You’ll need to concentrate and focus to get into these books, as they can be difficult to start, but once you’re hooked, they can be hard to put down. With a little dedicated effort, they really open up to the reader. I found Book VII to be a lovely and elegant read, not as thought provoking as some in the series but rather a very satisfying addition and a perfect compliment to the others on the shelf. There’s definitely a new and surprising twist which the plot hinges on this time, and Bill manages to foil attempts at solving things by accident or in the wrong way, while tying up all the loose ends and threads rather elegantly. He includes two things here he has been thinking about for a while, and was finally able to execute, creating a puzzle book that finally acts like it ought to, so to speak. Which is a fitting way to end a series, don’t you think?
reading between the lines
Seven seems like the perfect number of volumes in many a great epic – I’m looking at you, Harry Potter – and Bill feels the same, at least, for now. He plans to remake numbers 3 and 4 in the series in the future, with the numbered coin on the spine, so collectors can have a complete set of handsome, matching volumes. In the meantime, he is continuing work on a new mantle clock, fully functional and complete with working chimes, with an all new secret mechanism that doesn’t use magnets or pins, just hidden moves. Bill had wanted to make a clock puzzle box in this shape for many years, and finally found the opportunity as a wedding gift for a friend. He has now worked out almost all the kinks for full production. A beautiful new clock puzzle with real chimes sounds very nice, as I’m sure, time will tell.
Catcher in the Rye by Brooke Arthur
For this edition of Books and Booze we are revisiting a classic of many high school reading lists, that tale of innocence lost by J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye. Holden Caulfield dreams of being a savior to little children who are rushing off a cliff – he will catch them. The title and reference are from a Robert Burns poem, so perhaps drinking a proper Bobby Burns cocktail (scotch and sweet vermouth) might be in order. But before I get all nostalgic and go reread that novel let me introduce you to a different cocktail, which fits the bill even better.
a little light reading
The drink, which features rye whiskey prominently, comes from California bartender Brooke Arthur. Her cocktail was featured in Imbibe magazine back in 2011, and Boston area bartender Frederick Yarm mentions it on his blog more recently. Catchy names often spawn multiple versions of drinks, but I’m typically going to select the one with really good ingredients and balance. The drink calls for Torani Amer, which is a bitter orange syrup meant to reproduce the hard to source French aperitif Amer Picon found in a few classic cocktail recipes such as the Brooklyn. I simply used Amer Picon, which I got in France. It also mentions Abbott’s bitters, which were a brand of medicinal bitters available in the 1920s-50s but now defunct. They have been resurrected from original recipes so can now be purchased again, with suggested flavors of bitter bark, cinnamon, spicy oak and vanilla. I used Bitter truth’s Bogart’s bitters, which are simply delicious with notes of cinnamon spice and chocolate, so any excuse to use these is one I take. Now if you’ll excuse me again, I have some reading to catch up on. Cheers!
a pair of plot twists
Catcher in the Rye by Brooke Arthur
1 ½ oz rye
1 oz Amontillado sherry
½ oz Torani Amer
¼ oz Grand Marnier
1 dash Abbott’s bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a favorite glass over a large cube.
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