Drinking with Jay

Reading

There are writers who drink and there are drinkers who write. In Bacchus and Me: Adventures in the Wine Cellar (Vintage), newly available in paperback, Jay McInerney makes a strong case for his place among the latter. The author of Bright Lights, Big City may not be the first authority you'd think of when looking for a bottle to pair with Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, but he makes a surprisingly charming and sensible Virgil for those about to enter our society's booming wine culture.

Culled from McInerney's columns in House & Garden magazine, essays called "Big Red Monster from Down Under" and "Holy Wine or Aphrodisiac?" come chock-full of juicy wisdom geared toward the novice oenophile who just happens to have the kind of money that comes from, say, selling your book rights to Hollywood. "Riesling is a Laurence Olivier of a grape," he tells us, "capable of playing everything from farce to Othello."

Sat., April 27, 3 p.m., free, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine St., 215-567-4341.

—Andrew Ervin

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