Friday, May 11, 2012

June - Book Pick & Meeting Info

The first book to be read for Bookmarks & Barstools is Teju Cole's Open City. This book has been reviewed, with high praise, by Publisher's Weekly, PBS, the New Yorker and NPR (among others). It has won the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New York City Book Award for Fiction, and the Rosenthal Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

The discussion meeting will be held at Alewife (21 N Eutaw St) on June 30th at 2:00pm. Alewife has forty craft beers on tap at all times, 90 bottles & delicious food. They have been kind enough to grant us our own space in their tasting room. Please RSVP on the group's Facebook page, so I can get an accurate count.

You can get the book at Amazon (for around $10), the publisher ($15), or check it out from the Enoch Pratt Free Library system (it looks like they have at least three copies).

At the end of the June discussion meeting, we will vote on the book for July!

Monday, May 7, 2012

Inaugural Post!

Welcome! I'm Ann Marie (some of you may know me as @annmariebrok), and this is an attempt to merge my two favorite things: beer & literature. My goal with this is simply to get a group of awesome Baltimoreans together at a local bar to discuss various books.

Things you may be wondering:

Is this a girls-only club? -or- Will the book choices (or bar choices) be "girly"?
Gross. No. I don't believe in that girls-only thing and the bars that I like are hardly girly. I like good books and I like good beer. Those things aren't limited to a single gender (& neither are we, really).

Do I have to read a book or drink alcohol to be in this club?
I would very much prefer if you read the book before coming to the book club, but don't feel like you have to drink (we will probably be at a bar, though, as long as you're comfortable with that!).

What kind of books will we be reading?
I am thinking more casual reads rather than hefty academic reads. Mostly because we don't all have time to read an intensely long book in one month. Books that I have in mind to read for upcoming meets are (and are not limited to!): Chuck Palahnuik's Invisible Monsters (or any of his books, really), Max Brooks' World War Z, Teju Cole's Open City, Tina Fey's Bossypants, and John Waters' Role Models. I am open to (and would love) book suggestions.

What kind of bars will we go to?
Good question. I figure this is a good opportunity to visit the plethora (and range) of local bars that Baltimore has to offer. My aim would be toward bars that are locally-owned and it would be really awesome if they were active on social media.

What is this blog for?
I am hoping to use this blog as a jumping-off point, really. I will be posting the monthly book here, and when/where we will meet to discuss it. I am also hoping to give a brief overview of our discussion on the monthly book for those that were unable to meet with us in person. Then, comments on this blog would be more than welcome to continue to discussion online. I would also like to expand this into a Facebook group and a Twitter discussion.

I hope I answered all of your hypothetical questions. If not, feel free to comment and/or hit me up on Twitter.

Keep checking back for a post of the first book and the first meet-up date & location. If you have any initial suggestions for either, please comment below. It'd be really great to see all of you there!

-Ann Marie