{"id":28962,"date":"2012-04-06T16:00:19","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T20:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=28962"},"modified":"2012-04-10T12:06:36","modified_gmt":"2012-04-10T16:06:36","slug":"drinking-with-carp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2012\/04\/06\/drinking-with-carp\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinking with Carp"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>My dear Editors,
\nThis weekend is slated for sun. I would like to celebrate out on my fire escape, with a cocktail and a mean read. For the optimistic lush, what combination is best?<\/p>\n

Sincerely,
\nSauced<\/em><\/p>\n

I mean, if you want drinking without considering consequences\u2014which is to say, not The Lost Weekend <\/em>or Under the Volcano<\/em>\u2014I guess you can’t top the beats: Big Sur<\/em>,<\/a> On the Road<\/em><\/a>, any Bukowski. If you want your whiskey straight up, try The Long Goodbye<\/em><\/a>. How can you go wrong with a novel that begins, \u201cThe first time I laid eyes on Terry Lennox, he was drunk.\u201d That said, the only story I can think of that deals specifically with a warm-weather drink is Roald Dahl’s Pimm’s-featuring \u201cGeorgy Porgy,\u201d which no one could call soothing.<\/p>\n

How is one to live in a post-Revel world?<\/em><\/p>\n

Why, with the stacks of past Paris Review<\/em> and New York Review of Books<\/em> issues the event celebrated, of course! (A few vitamin C tablets and gallons of water never hurt, either.)<\/p>\n

\nWhat should I give my seven-year-old daughter to read for Passover? <\/em><\/p>\n

\nThe Carp in the Bathtub<\/em><\/a>. But NB: she will never eat gefilte fish again.<\/p>\n

Have a question for the editors of <\/em>The Paris Review? E-mail<\/a> us.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dear Editors, This weekend is slated for sun. I would like to celebrate out on my fire escape, with a cocktail and a mean read. For the optimistic lush, what combination is best? 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