Tequila Mockingbird by Tim Federle Read Free Book Online Page A

narrators who zigzag between suicidal impulses, mental handicaps, and an eye-crossing usage of italics , this one may have helped earn its author a Nobel, but it’s no beach read. Set in a fictional Mississippi town dealing with very factual post–Civil War growing pains, The Sound inspires a cocktail that hangs on furiously to a traditional southern recipe—because some things are best left unexamined.
    2 ounces gin
    Â½ ounce crème de cassis
    Â½ ounce lemon juice
    Shake the ingredients with ice and strain into a cocktail glass. Alternatively, serve on the rocks—just like your last family reunion.

PART
3
BEVVIES FOR BOOK CLUBS
    â€œToo much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.”
    â€”Mark Twain
    Uh-oh. Your turn to host that well-intentioned book club again? Worried your idea of literature (Nicholas Sparks) might not live up to the group’s ( Nicholas Nickleby )? Relax. Any of the following time-tested classics should inspire both a hot debate and a cool drink. Hell, die-hard Dewey decimal devotees can always benefit from a little loosening up come critique time. After all, a party can only stay seated for so long.



FAHRENHEIT 151
FAHRENHEIT 451 (1953)
BY RAY BRADBURY
    I t ain’t about censorship, kids! Bradbury’s then-futuristic Fahrenheit 451 (the temperature at which a book burns) is about a truly unthinkable society in which technology reigns supreme and books go bye-bye. Written in the fifties but ringing eerily true today, Fahrenheit ’s world stars firemen who start the flames, setting the written word afire and sniffing out pesky, law-breaking readers. Serve up a burning-hot party drink to toast the peerless printed page—hey, you don’t wanna spill rum on a Kindle. Soon as this one’s ready to serve, disconnect the crock pot (and all your iGadgets) and reconnect with your party.
    MAKES ABOUT 10 DRINKS
    6 cups apple cider
    1 cup cranberry juice
    1 cup orange juice
    1 cup pineapple juice
    6 cloves
    4 cinnamon sticks
    8 ounces rum (like Bacardi 151)
    Pour the ingredients, except the rum, into a crock pot. Warm for approximately 1 hour, or until heated through. After everyone has turned in their cell phones, unplug the pot and add the rum. Give it a stir and ladle away.

GONE WITH THE WINE
GONE WITH THE WIND (1936)
BY MARGARET MITCHELL
    W hen Margaret Mitchell proclaimed that Wind was a story of survival, she was likely referring to her heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, who starts off a southern belle and ends up losing the hoop skirt to scavenge for food. You’ll call yourself a survivor, too, when you get through the thousand-odd pages. A Pulitzer winner for the plucky Mitchell—her second marriage was to the best man at her first wedding— Wind is an enduring moneymaker. Gather a group, skip the movie, scour the book, and cool off a boiling discussion with this sangria: red as the earth of Tara and packed with proper Georgia peaches.
    MAKES ABOUT 6 DRINKS
    1 bottle red wine (about 3 cups)
    2 ounces peach brandy
    2 tablespoons sugar
    1 peach, chopped into cute little squares
    1 orange, cut into bite-size wedges
    2½ cups ginger ale, chilled
    Pour the wine, brandy, sugar, and fruits into a large pitcher and stir. Place the pitcher in the fridge and allow to infuse for at least an hour. When guests need a break—you’ll know, because somebody will refer to Ashley as a girl; this person did not read the book —top the pitcher off with ginger ale and serve over ample ice. It’s cool-down time.

THE RYE IN THE CATCHER
THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951)
BY J. D. SALINGER
    T he most celebrated work by a legendarily reclusive author, The Catcher in the Rye spoke directly to the disenchanted, angsty youth of the fifties—and still echoes vibrantly to first-time novelists who pray their coming-of-age protagonist will be favorably compared to Holden Caulfield. Narrating from a mental ward, Caulfield colorfully recounts