Book Lush

Kblog small kickstarter delinquent square

Confessions of a Kickstarter Delinquent

I’m a Kickstarter delinquent.

Yep, that’s me. I Kickstarted my Book Lush project. The campaign was wildly successful. We raised over $9,000 with 141 backers supporting the book. Cue tears of joy and supreme optimism for how literary projects are valued by our society.

Yet, it’s been FOUR YEARS and I still haven’t delivered.

Jamaica_writing-retreat

Let me buy you a drink in Jamaica (Winter Writers Retreat)

Jamaica_writing-retreatSlogging away on your novel while the wind, rain and snow batters against your window makes for a romantic scene. Behold the suffering artist hunkering down while she completes her masterpiece.

You know what else is lovely? White sand beaches. Not freezing. Getting drenched only at moments of your choosing and in warm water that doesn't make your body shudder with cold shakes.

Little Bay Cabins in FREAKING JAMAICA is inviting writers to come on down to their little paradise. The deal is 4 nights for 2 people for $350. If you don't feel like writing, you can swim, snorkel, kayak, or stroll to the Bob Marley cabin site.

Here's the really nerdy, wonderful thing: if you book it using my code KELSYEJAM, I'll buy you your first Jamaica Rum cocktail (via $10 bar credit) in honor of Book Lush.

The infamous and fabulous Dave Olsen (aka Uncle Weed, aka VP at Hootsuite ) sends you this video postcard from Little Bay with an invite to join him for the holidays in Jamaica.

Nitty gritty details...

  • Guests must book on-line (not telephone reservation number) using code KELSYEJAM.
  • Guests pay deposit by CC and remainder upon checkout.
  • Booking includes 4 nights for 2 people $350. Booking price does not include, 10% room tax, 10% energy surcharge, transfer from airport, meals.
  • Must be booked by Jan. 30th. 2015. Visits much be completed by end of June 2015.

Little Bay is legit and luscious. You can check out their reviews on TripAdvisor.

This is crazy, right? A last minute booking to Jamaica?

Yes. Gloriously so. Drop me a line if you book it and go. I might even make it down myself!

Book today. Live the dream.

 

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Book Nerd Party Drinks (Alaska edition #BookLush)

Those long, dark Alaskan winters create a glorious environment for fine reading and drinking. Not so long ago, I was lucky enough to be invited up to Alaska by Book Lush supporter Mainon Schwartz. At a fabulous party Mainon hosted for the Anchorage Library Foundation and the Wine, Women Words book club, I was tasked with matching drinks to selected books. It's hard work, but some book nerd has to do it. They picked the books, I made the drinks.

I really like people that offer up children's books for me to match with cocktails. These are my people. We even matched a drink with a Nancy Drew book - fabulous! Click the image on the right to download the full cocktail menu as a PDF, or feel free to scroll down to see the individual cocktail recipe cards.


A few specialty item's were pulled from Mainon's impressive stash of quality booze. I took some snaps of the ingredients you might not have on hand. Click the pictures to buy them online. To get the books, click on the individual recipe cards.

 

12-Lemon-Cake

15-wrinkle-in-time

14-Ruth_Ozeki

16-Nancy-Drew

dracula

The Indulgent Pleasure of Re-Reading Bram Stoker's Dracula

draculaTurn on all your lights, find a dog to sit at your feet and don't expect to get any sleep the night you decide to read Bram Stoker's Dracula.

You would think that when you read Dracula, that all the mystery and suspense would be sucked dry from the plot line by all those vampire movies you watched. Not so. Even though you know the punchline, why yes, the Count really is a blood-sucking demon out to cause no good, every page, almost every passage, sinks its fangs into your heart and pulls you along at a fearsome clip.

The book opens with young Jonathan Harker’s diary. Jonathan, a new solicitor, travels to Count Dracula’s castle in Transylvania to prepare the Count for his move and new life in London. In only a matter of days, the danger of the place and his company become readily apparent to Jonathan. He must escape home, where in short time, mysterious happenings occur throughout the town. Frivolous yet charming young maidens go sleepwalking, children disappear, giant bats bash against windows. The three suitors of the tormented maiden band together with doctor and occultist Van Helsing, unbelieving, yet driven by terror and grief to fight the evil that has stolen their love.

Bram Stoker wrote Dracula in epistolary format, meaning the narrative comes together in the form of diary entries, newspaper clippings, letters, ship logs and other official documents. It would be fair for you to assume this hodgepodge collection of narrative snippets would slow the plot and remove you from the story, but the actual effect is quite the opposite. While reading, you discover each plot twist through pieces of evidence, as though Bram Stoker was not telling you a story, but building a case. He retains realism in detail, voice and format, yet never allows the pieces to stray from the quickly building plot line.

Vampires are sexy. We all know this, and if we didn’t, the modern retellings assert this truth again and again, from sparkly Edward (Twilight) to angst-y Lestat (Interview with the Vampire) to bad boy David (The Lost Boys). The origin for this association with sex and the undead becomes remarkably clear while reading Dracula’s steamy pages. The entire book reads as a sophisticated seduction. Even simple passages about place, or Jonathan's terror as the wolves descend upon his carriage, are written with such care and delicate texture that they feel like love letters. Never explicit, Bram Stoker teases you with glimpses of moonlit skin, voluptuous lips and cunning hands. In the ruins of a church courtyard, well past midnight, he finally takes us. Listen as Jonathan's fiancée Mina tracks down her childhood friend Lucy on a fateful night.jpeg

...there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white. The coming of the cloud was too quick for me to see much, for the shadow shut down on light almost immediately, but it seemed to me that something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell; I could not wait to catch another glance. ... There was undoubtably something, long and black, bending over the half-reclining white figure. ...

Whew. I'm ready for my drink now.

Want to know what cocktail I recommend sucking down while reading Dracula? Well, you'll have to wait for Book Lush! Make sure you get on my email list so you get notice the moment it's out.

7-APE

Five Pairings of Books to Custom Cocktails for #Booklush

Enjoy this second batch of cocktails paired with books chosen by Book Lush backers. If you want a personalized pairing matched to a book of your choosing, let me know ASAP! The Book Lush campaign ends tonight and your chance will slip away! Become a Book Lush backer on Kickstarter now now to get your personalized pairing.

7-APE
8-Yucca
9---fire-next-time 10_midnight_garden 11---Theatrical-Musings 

 

Do you want to pick a book for me to match to a cocktail? Just become a Book Lush backer and all your book and cocktail pairing dreams can come true!

Book Lush is the definitive guide of what to read with what to drink. Book Lush pairs great reads with a drink perfectly matched to the tone, style, period and meaning of the writing. Each section contains an excerpt of a book selection, a brief biography of the author, the relevance of the piece, a description of the writing style and the author's place in modern literature, plus a paired drink recipe. Drink recipes are crafted by bartenders from some of the most interesting drinking venues around the world, with the book selection serving as inspiration.

If Nancy Pearl (Book Lust) and Don Draper (Mad Men) had a baby, and by baby I mean book, that baby would be Book Lush.

Unknown

Knickerbocker Classics Join with #BookLush

UnknownGreat news! Quarto Publishing Group has partnered to provide the classic books for Book Lush pairings. These books come from their Knickerbocker Classics imprint.

Here is a sampling of the books we will be pairing with custom cocktail recipes in Book Lush:

  • Little Women by Louisa Alcott
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  • Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  • Dracula by Bram Stocker
  • Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
  • Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
  • Necronomicon by H.P. Lovecraft
  • The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe
  • Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  • Sherlock Holmes (complete series) by Arthur Conan Doyle
  • Brothers Grimm (complete set of fairy tales) by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

I will be curating a fine selection of these books to be matched with drink recipes crafted by mixology experts - such as the author of Apothecary Cocktails, Warren Bobrow.

With just 55 hours to go on the Kickstarter campaign, I am about to explode with excitement! Thanks for being a backer and going on this journey with me! XO, Kelsye

 

1_Casa_Chepitos

First Batch of Book and Cocktail Pairings for #Booklush

Here's my first batch of book and cocktail pairings from Book Lush backers. Quite a diverse group! Please feel free to share these as you wish. Of course, if you want your own book and cocktail pairing, become a Book Lush backer on Kickstarter! XO, Kelsye

1_Casa_Chepitos

2_remember_the_moon

3_falling_into_you

4_oryx-and-crake

 

5_jesus_son

Do you want to pick a book for me to match to a cocktail? Just become a Book Lush backer and all your book and cocktail pairing dreams can come true!

Book Lush is the definitive guide of what to read with what to drink. Book Lush pairs great reads with a drink perfectly matched to the tone, style, period and meaning of the writing. Each section contains an excerpt of a book selection, a brief biography of the author, the relevance of the piece, a description of the writing style and the author's place in modern literature, plus a paired drink recipe. Drink recipes are crafted by bartenders from some of the most interesting drinking venues around the world, with the book selection serving as inspiration.

If Nancy Pearl (Book Lust) and Don Draper (Mad Men) had a baby, and by baby I mean book, that baby would be Book Lush.