My year in books, 2022

Just before I was born in 1960, my parents purchased a complete set of hardbound Compton's Encyclopedia and subscribed to the annual yearbook supplements....

Does New Albany even have an intellectual history?

Originally written and published at NA Confidential on October 30, 2014. ON THE AVENUES: Does New Albany even have an intellectual history? The last time I...

Menu Items: “Tastes of Paradise: A Social History of Spices, Stimulants and Intoxicants”

Originally published at the Food & Dining Magazine web site on 13 September 2020. --- Nothing could be more common than the salt and pepper on...

Roger’s year in books and reading, 2021

When it comes to books, I’ve never seriously attempted to rank a year’s reading in terms of "best of" or the like. To be...

Books: “Bowling for Communism” in Leipzig

 Leipzig was among the East German cities to be visited in 1989 during my August working holiday in the GDR, but the group excursion...

Books and politics, with Roberto Bolaño and “The Savage Detectives”

In the year 2015 I ran for mayor of New Albany. During a candidate Q & A, I became the first mayoral candidate in...

Louisville beer, now and then (or, my 2014 review of Kevin Gibson’s “Louisville Beer”...

Because, I really nailed this one. --- Louisville Beer, Now and Then “Anyone who has groped among the dark beer dungeons which lie for a number...

Books: “The Cold War from the Margins” in Bulgaria

In May I read a good book about a little-known aspect of the Cold War. The Cold War from the Margins: A Small Socialist State...

The books I read in 2020

From December 22, 2020 at NA Confidential. Some articles from late in the year were not archived here, and this is one of them.  The...

“Trieste,” a novel by Daša Drndić

It can be daunting, perhaps even crippling, to consider the immensity of what remains unknown about the wider world. What we as individuals know...

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Beers with a Stoic: Shouldn’t the local beer vanguard be respecting beer?

At the end of the day, facts are facts. 2 + 2 = 4. Dublin IS the capital of Ireland, not Tipperary. Green beer,...

40 Years in Beer (Book II, Part 43): Facing the music at Rich O’s...

 Previously: 40 Years in Beer (Book II, Part 42): Barr built the bar, and the Guinness began pouring. Music? That's right, music. After all, this series is...

A podcast called The Pubcast: “Four friends, diverse chats, one pub”

I’m participating in an evolving venture called The Pubcast, described more specifically as a podcast that takes place in a pub (Donum Dei Brewstillery...