The VIRTUAL Mount TBR Reading Challenge discussion

You say "rum", I say "Mojito". It's that simple. Looking at my virtual stack of library books, I could use a drink.
Not to advertise alcoholic beverages, but combining each book with a neat cocktail might actually be fun - let me make this official: For every book I read for this challenge I will provide you with a virtual drink. On the house.

Wanna look at my virtual TBR? You're welcome.

A hand-picked selection of possible reads
Just think of the possible escort beverages!

Bel Canto|Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe|The Seventh Cross|Letters from Father Christmas|A Tree Grows in Brooklyn|A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court|The Power of Vulnerability|With The Night Mail|The End of Days|Lilith|Die Franklin-Expedition|Hell is the Absence of God|The Red Magician|The Dumb House|Fly by Night|Matilda|Tender Morsels|The Cider House Rules|Forbidden Journey|Please Kill Me|The Thirteenth Tale|The Turn of the Screw|The Color Purple|Sabriel|Die Expedition. Eine Liebesgeschichte: Wie ich das Rätsel einer Polartragödie löste|Authority

Good luck with your climb, Sam! Loved the idea of combining your reads with drinks, this seems like fun!

I'm actually excited to get started :)

LOL...love your take on the Rum Doodle. :-)

I couldn't help it :)

mmmm.... Mojitos! :)

Looking forward to your virtual cocktails.

Looking forward to those virtual drinks....lol

01. The Brides of Rollrock Island

My first book is a seaside fairytale that is so rough and crisp that you can almost smell the sea reading it.

Misskaella discovers at a young age she has a deeper connection with the seals than with any of her family members or community, who are afraid of her otherness. She has magical powers that allow her to turn seals into people of surreal beauty. It is the beginning of a whole new kind of society.

I was reminded of my trip to Ireland, land of the Selkies that are the main attraction in this book (without ever being called that). There, I had my first Whiskey Ginger. This is indeed the perfect drink for The Brides of Rollrock Island aka Sea Hearts: The ginger hair of all those with human mums is a constant reminder that something on Rollrock Island is not normal.

Sam wrote: "You say "rum", I say "Mojito". It's that simple. Looking at my virtual stack of library books, I could use a drink.
Not to advertise alcoholic beverages, but combining each book with a neat cockta..."
Now that's my kind of rum! Have you ever tried rum and pineapple juice, or rum and orange juice? Not sure what they're called in the real world, but my mom's family calls them Edna Drinks. For reasons lost to family lore... Happy climbing! *raises glass*

I feel like I'll have lots of new drinks to try out after your climb, Sam! hahaha You're off to a good start!

E wrote: "Sam wrote: "You say "rum", I say "Mojito". It's that simple. Looking at my virtual stack of library books, I could use a drink.
Not to advertise alcoholic beverages, but combining each book with a..."

I think they are just called "rum pineapple" and "rum orange", which is wildly uncreative. Edna drink sounds much more fun :)
Cheers!

Natália wrote: "I feel like I'll have lots of new drinks to try out after your climb, Sam! hahaha You're off to a good start!"

I shall try and mix some drinks sans alcohol, I don't want anyone hung over when I'm done!

2. Shinya Shokudo 2

Shinya Shokudou (Midnight Diner) is a lovely manga series about a small diner in Tokyo, its observant owner, and the guests frequenting it. Every chapter is a a japanese dish and there are many foodie panels that make me yearn for a steaming hot bowl of whatever Ryuu serves.

The perfect drink here is quite obvious: Most guests at the Shinya Shokudou have either warm sake or cold beer with their meal. Since I don't usually have sake around but live in the hometown of Kölsch (and even in the neighbourhood of the first brewery to invent this kind of beer), my choice is just that: A cold Kölsch. Drink up or it'll go stale right in front of you!

3. The Pillars of the Earth

I made it! I want a badge that says "This reader survived The Pillars of the Earth "! This book is like one of those really long jokes that keep going for minutes: The punch line at the end is not worth your precious time.

So for a drink, I'm tempted to advise you to just buy one of those dubiously cheap sangria cartons, for they too are similar to Follett's literary effusions: A large amount of unknowable content in a chunky container with a headache attached to it. But I am in need of a stiff drink to process this tale of rape and fascination for female breasts and rib vaults, so let me propose a gin-based fruity mixture instead (and hell yes, this amount fills two glasses):

simple syrup (20 g sugar and 20 ml water)
juice of 1 lemon
80 ml gin
300 ml grape spritzer

Don't forget them icecubes!

Edit: I tried this without the syrup and it worked just fine. Also, you can use lime instead of lemon.

Sam wrote: "3. The Pillars of the Earth

I made it! I want a badge that says "This reader survived The Pillars of the Earth "! This book is like one of those really long jokes that keep going for m..." Ugh, at least you conquered it, and survived! Gin is seriously in order after such an ordeal! Also I might try your recipe, it seems delicious!

4. Jurassic Park

I finished Jurassic Park maybe a week ago, but couldn't think of a fitting drink, so I did not mention it before.
Jurassic Park was mostly enjoyable and thrilling in spite of my having watched the movie many times. Now I can deeply appreciate what was done in the script for the film, for Mr. Crichton doesn't even give a rats' ass about female characters. (Yes, I know the man himself got a credit for the script too.) To sum it up, I had fun listening to the audiobook but it didn't leave a lasting impression or became my new favourite science thriller (he, like I'm reading those all the time).

This is why I choose a Tequila shot as companion drink for Jurassic Park: It's quick, fun, and the combination of (salt, lemon|cinnamon, orange) and Tequila and the order you take them in is weirdly scientific (or philosophic). In movies, characters sometimes would slam down a shot to stay sharp, a virtue you'd need to survive on the Isola Nublar.

5. Circe

Guys, it is time for one of my favourite cocktails, for Circe is my top read of 2019 so far (out of the library books, mind you).
In Circe, Madeline Miller picks up the threads Homer, Hesiod and Plato left off for "manlier" tales to tell a first person account of Circes life. And I loved every page of it. Circe is a minor goddess, a daughter of Hesiod considered completely unremarkable by her family. But she has a talent for witchcraft, and thus begins a tale of building trust in your own strength, becoming your own person and finding true purpose in life, against all odds. Also, Odysseus has PTSD. So, yeah, I really loved it :)

Circe is a complex character living on a copius island in the Mediterranean, so the Killer Cool Aid is a match made on Mt. Olympus, for it is fruity indeed and there are various juices and spirits involved in its making:

For one glass you'll need:
16 cl blackcurrant juice
2 cl lemon juice
3 cl Amaretto
3 cl peach liqueur
5 cl Wodka
Ice cubes

Killer Cool Aid (and Circe) sounds magical!

6. Girls of Riyadh

Girls of Ryadh tells the story of a clique of young women in Saudi Arabia, told through colloquial mails by one of the girls. It is like a kaffeeklatsch that breaks many of the desert state's social taboos along the way.

Since Saudi Arabia is a muslim country, I chose a non-alcoholic drink for this book. I'm not much of a fan of rose water and the likes, so rose lemonade was out of the question. But I think I found something that fits the chatty honesty of this novel, and funny enough a drink that I consume on a daily basis in apparently an almost Arabian manner.

I'm talking of course about coffee, or gahwa in Arabian. Unaware of this parallel, I've had the one or other cuppa while reading Girls of Ryadh.
I grind the coffee beans (a mild blend of Arabica) and always add some cardamum. You can also add some nutmeg, saffron, or clove. The art of Arabian coffeemaking requires heating the water with added ground coffee on a stove in a special pot called dallah. This is where my coffee becomes less arabic, because I make drip brew using our trusty ceramic coffee filter (a very German utensil). Certainly, my coffee is not as strong as gahwa, and I always add milk (sacrilegious, I know), but you get the gist.

7. Das Erlkönig-Manöver

This book follows the (fictitious) adventures of old pals Goethe and Schiller on their secret mission to restore the throne of France and thus get rid of Napoleon. Yeah, it is hilarious.
So for this most German tale (as someone with a German Lit degree, I found many inside jokes, and they were by far the best thing about this novel!) I pick a most German drink that is also consumed en masse in this story: Wine.

I'm not much of a wine connoiseur myself, but the Riesling is a beloved wine widely grown and pressed in the area I grew up, the romantic Rhine valley. Most of the main characters in this novel have visited my hometown Koblenz, therefore Riesling seems a fitting choice. Cheers!

8. The Lives of Tao

It's ancient alien spies nesting in human hosts! Well, there's a lot more to The Lives of Tao, not all of which I enjoyed, but I immediately came up with the drink for it.
Main character Roen fantasizes about becoming some kind of James Bond, so choosing some kind of Martini with a twist was a no-brainer. And since Roen himself is more of a Scotch fan, I settled with the Smoky Martini, a martini that involves Scotch instead of Wermouth. Also, the yellow cover inspired me to go with a lemon-y drink, so here goes:

Smoky Martini
7 cl Gin
1 cl Scotch whisky

Mix Gin and Scotch and fill with ice. Stir, and strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

9. The Screaming Staircase

Kids chase ghosts in this alternate history. It is scary in places but mostly a cozy series set in one of my favourite places, London. There is one obvious choice: Drink a cup of cocoa with this. And I mean real cocoa, not the sugar rush inducing instant stuff that barely resembles the real thing. This recipe works for the other books in the series too ;)

10. The Cider House Rules

Another obvious drink here: Hot cider with amaretto. There is actually a scene in the book where somebodydrinks cider with rum, but I'm too much of a sweettooth to not exchange the rum with amaretto. The book was far too long by the way, but don't let that distract you from this autumnal/wintery drink.

11. The Shining

The companion drink for this horror slow burner is Gin Fizz. Guests of the Overlook hotel used to sit in the lounge holding onto a Gin Fizz - it is mentioned several times, albeit among other drinks. I chose this one because pure gin is not for the fainthearted, it might be something to drink if your only goal is to get drunk as quickly as possible. Which is exactly what our alcoholic protagonist dreams about. The fizz element adds just that little bit extra which makes this a classy concoction.

Gin Fizz
5cl Gin
3 cl lemon juice
2 cl syrup
10 cl soda
ice cubes and a slice of lemon

Combine gin, lemon juice and syrup and shake. Fill up with soda, add ice cubes and lemon slice.

Sam, These are so much fun! Thank you! Looks like you are approaching the top of your peak

Thank you Susan, I'm enjoying this very much :)
And speaking of my peak ...

12. We

A dystopian classic brings me to the top. Do I hear the lovely sound of champagne bottles pop? Oh right, because this is the Gipfelfest (is there an english word for this?)! Of course there would be champagne for my final book :)

This was so much fun. The challenge, I mean, not We, which was an enjoyable read but not really a fun experience. More on the depressive end of the spectrum.
There's still two months before I re-open the reading bar, for I'm joining the Virtual Mt. TBR challenge again in 2020! Time to rest your cocktail shakers and stop the drinking for a while ;)

Yay, congrats on reaching the top of your mountain and I love your drink recipes! I'm looking foward to more recipes next year!

Thanks, Natália! It was a spontaneous idea that turned out to be really entertaining :)