Thursday, July 03, 2008

Wine Book Club #4: Tasting Pleasure by Jancis Robinson

We'll be Tasting Pleasure during the dog days of summer thanks to the leader of the 4th edition of the Wine Book Club, Farley of Behind the Vines.

Tasting Pleasure: Confessions of a Wine Lover ($18; used copies available for under $2!) is a classic wine book written by one of the most illustrious wine writers in the world, Jancis Robinson. Known for her direct, witty writing style, Robinson talks about her career in the wine biz as it evolved from contributing writer to international wine expert. I'm hoping that some of the bloggers from the US wine biz join in this month and tell us how the inner workings of the UK wine biz differ from those on this side of the pond. And the book will also offer insights into the experiences of women and wine writing (as well as the wine world more generally).

When our attention wanes and our good intentions start falling by the wayside, we'll be reminded to pick up Tasting Pleasure when Michelle from My Wine Education "spins the bottle" and reviews Natalie MacLean's Red, White, and Drunk All Over. This is one of the more recent wine books written by a woman, and MacLean is open about following in Jancis Robinson's footsteps. The two books offer an interesting compare/contrast exercise in writing style and substance.

A surprising number of wine lovers and bloggers confess to never having read this book, and if you are one of them I hope that you will consider joining us for WBC #4. We only had three participants in June, and I'm hoping that we have at least four this time around. If you are a blogger, please publicize this event on your site and consider joining in. And if you are one of those widely-read folks who has read this book before, your reminiscences will be welcome, too--and you can leave encouraging comments below. Please post your "book report" on the due date of Tuesday, August 26. For more details, please see Farley's post, or visit our club pages on Shelfari or Facebook.

Coming in the September/October "back to school" edition of the WBC: a book that's hot off the presses that's written by a wine blogger. Stay tuned for details.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for announcing, Dr. Debs. I think this one is a much easier read than the last, so I hope we'll have more joiners.

Dr. Debs said...

It's a great book, Farley. I've already started it, and I'm one of those bloggers who must confess: I've never read it before!