There are a number of writers who are known nearly as much for their drinking as their words: Dorothy Parker and her whiskey sours, Faulkner and his juleps. Sherwood Anderson died from swallowing a toothpick in his martini. But none are quite the stuff of legend like Ernest “Papa” Hemingway.
Hemingway’s rich cocktail life is captured in To Have and Have Another by Philip Greene, out in a new edition (Perigee, $24). It’s at once a literary romp, timepiece, biography and cocktail guide. And it is supremely enjoyable to read.
Traversing Hemingway’s life from when he was an ambulance driver in World War I, through the Paris of the Lost Generation, until his lone days at sea off the coast of Cuba, Greene weaves anecdotes from life and scenes from the novels to provide a backdrop for the writer’s heavy-drinking itinerary. Arranged by drink, the book gives both instruction and context, making for a great handbook to work through leisurely or read at one go.
Thoroughly researched, with photographs and related ephemera, To Have and Have Another is a cocktail book that Hemingway buffs or budding cocktailians would be delighted to find in their gin-soaked stocking.
