A Sidecar Named Desire: Great Writers and the Booze That Stirred Them
About this audiobook
A rollicking history of alcohol and its literary imbibers, from Jane Austen’s beer brewing to James Joyce’s passion for Guinness to E.B. White’s cure for writers’ block—a dry martini—by celebrated illustrator Greg Clarke and award-winning editor/art director Monte Beauchamp.
""Civilization begins with distillation.""—William Faulkner
""Bourbon does for me what the piece of cake did for Proust.""—Walker Percy
""God has a brown voice, full and soft as beer.""—Anne Sexton
Throughout history, there has been no greater catalyst for creativity among writers—so they claim—than a good, stiff drink. From Aristophanes’ attraction to wine, to Dostoevsky’s breakfast of grain vodka and brown bread, to Joan Didion’s fondness for gin, stories abound of how booze has fueled and inspired our literary icons.
In this volume, cartoonist Greg Clarke and comics anthologist Monte Beauchamp take us on an unforgettable literary bar crawl. A Sidecar Named Desire is packed with historical factoids, anecdotes, booze trivia, and fascinating detours into the lives of our most storied literary personalities—along with literary-themed cocktail recipes such as Ernest Hemingway’s Death in the Afternoon and Philip Larkin’s Gin and Tonic set to verse.
For the literary-minded drinker—whether wine, gin, vodka, beer, whiskey, or tequila is your elixir of choice—A Sidecar Named Desire will whet your appetite. Bottoms up!
About the author
GREG CLARKE's illustrations have appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, The Atlantic, Blab!, and Mother Jones. Books that have featured Greg's illustrations include: How to Raise Mom and Dad (Dutton), Golf Rules Illustrated (Callaway Editions), My Fine Feathered Friend (FSF), Enchanted Night (Random House), and Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Change the World (Simon & Schuster). Clarke is the recipient of three silver medals from the New York Society of Illustrators. He lives on the outskirts of Los Angeles, and some of his best (and worst) ideas have occurred while sipping an IPA or a dry gin martini.
MONTE BEAUCHAMP is an award-winning editor, art director, and graphic designer who has served as a juror for American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, and Lürzer's Archive. He is the founder and editor of the graphics-illustration-comics annuals BLAB! and BLAB WORLD, and his books include: MASTERFUL MARKS: Cartoonists Who Changed the World (Simon & Schuster), STRIKING IMAGES: Vintage Matchbook Cover Art (Chronicle Books), and KRAMPUS: The Devil of Christmas. In 2012, Beauchamp was awarded the Society of Illustrators prestigious RICHARD GANGEL ART DIRECTORS AWARD (for outstanding contributions in promoting and advancing the art of illustration). He lives and works in Chicago and favors sidecars. MONTE BEAUCHAMP is an award-winning editor, art director, and graphic designer who has served as a juror for American Illustration, The Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts, and Lürzer's Archive. He is the founder and editor of the graphics-illustration-comics annuals BLAB! and BLAB WORLD, and his books include: MASTERFUL MARKS: Cartoonists Who Changed the World (Simon & Schuster), STRIKING IMAGES: Vintage Matchbook Cover Art (Chronicle Books), and KRAMPUS: The Devil of Christmas. In 2012, Beauchamp was awarded the Society of Illustrators prestigious RICHARD GANGEL ART DIRECTORS AWARD (for outstanding contributions in promoting and advancing the art of illustration). He lives and works in Chicago and favors sidecars.
