Sign up for Book Club
Stay up to date on local books news, events, and recommendations from Boston.com.
These Greater Boston bookstores are pairing books with booze
Book-bars are the sexy, bubbly alter ego of your typical bookshop — a place to get buzzed on books and brews.
You’re reading Book Club, Boston.com’s guide to the Greater Boston literary scene. Sign up to get book recommendations, author Q&As, deep dives on trends in the industry, and more in your inbox every week.
Dear readers,
There’s an interesting moment bubbling up in bookstores in Boston and across the country: Books and booze coming together to create a match made in heaven.
That’s why this month’s Book Club newsletter is a collaboration with Katelyn Umholtz, Boston.com’s food and restaurant reporter, and author of The Dish newsletter!
Advertisement:
As Dry/Damp January comes to a close, Katelyn and I rounded up some boozy and bookish pairings for the winter season. Read on for recommendations from Boston’s book-bar booksellers (try saying that three times fast!).
🍷 Cheers to Greater Boston’s boozy bookstores
Bookstores are “third spaces” – places separate from home and work where you can go to relax, create an intentional community, and find your next great read.
And now, they’re also a place to find your next great drink. Enter: the book-bar. They’re the sexy, bubbly alter ego of your typical bookshop, offering bibliophiles a place to get buzzed on books and booze – what could be better than that?
Advertisement:
They don’t have to be uniquely book-bars, per se – and given Boston’s steep liquor license sticker price, most aren’t: they’re also cafes, restaurants, bottle shops, or something in between. And they’re becoming increasingly popular across the country (see: NYC’s book-bar scene). Here’s a running list for Greater Boston:
- Book Ends (Winchester): A bookstore featuring monthly wine tastings, co-owned by bookseller and certified sommelier Lauren Tiedemann.
- Lovestruck Books (Cambridge): A newly opened romance-only bookstore with a cafe and wine bar (set to open in February).
- Over the Tunnel Books (East Boston): A speakeasy-style bookstore hidden underneath a grocery store selling food-related publications.
- Tres Gatos (Jamaica Plain): Boston’s first full-service restaurant, book, and music store.
- Wild Child (Somerville): A shop selling cookbooks, wine books, and culinary accoutrement, run by the team behind natural wine bars Rebel Rebel and Dear Annie.
At Over the Tunnel Books, owned by lifelong Eastie resident Alexis Cervasio, you take a left at the wine fridge inside EBO & Co. Grocery to descend the stairs into the bookstore.
The basement shop, which is located directly above the Sumner Tunnel (where it gets its name), is cavernous and cozy. There are no windows and no clocks – “It’s like you’re in Vegas. You can just let time slip away,” Cervasio told me – and only about eight people can fit in the bookstore at a time. Cervasio owns the grocery store above the bookstore, EBO & Co. Grocery, as well as a secret social club, East Boston Oysters.
“East Boston needed a store, a grocery store, like mine. I was sick of leaving Eastie to get the good shit – the good wine, the good cheese,” she said. She opened the grocery store in 2021 and the bookstore followed in 2023.
Advertisement:
“I wanted it to feel like an extension of my home, like it has living room vibes,” she said.
“It’s a good place to go if you don’t want to go out, but you want to be outside of your house. Like, if you’re not trying to tear up the restaurants and bars, and you want to have a peaceful evening.”
Below, five Boston-area bookstores recommend drink and book pairings to get you through the cold wintery months.
Book Ends
📚 “The Frozen River” by Ariel Lawhon
🍹 Chateau Le Payral’s Bergerac Rouge
“Travel back in time to rural Maine, c. 1790. This brilliant novel explores the nuances of a community, torn apart first when one member accuses another of a heinous crime … and then when a body turns up frozen in the river. Pair ‘The Frozen River’ with a glass of Chateau Le Payral Bergerac Rouge, a warm and rustic Bordeaux-style blend from just across the river in Bergerac, France.” – Lauren Tiedemann, owner and store manager, Book Ends
Lovestruck Books
📚 “Drunk on Love” by Jasmine Guillory
🍹Brown Estate’s 2022 Betelgeuse Rosé
“‘Nothing goes to your head as fast as the taste of love.’ Guillory’s eighth novel takes place on a family-owned winery in Napa, which Margot, the female protagonist, runs with her brother. She has a delightful one-night stand with a new-to-town stranger, Luke, who shows up at her business the next day as her new hire. Will Luke and Margot be able to resist their attraction, or will they give in to their full-bodied connection? To enjoy while reading, try Brown Estate’s 2022 Betelgeuse Rosé. A favorite of author Jasmine Guillory, Brown Estate is a Black-owned winery in Napa Valley.” – Rachel Kanter, owner, Lovestruck Books
Over the Tunnel Books
📚 “Keep it Zesty: A Celebration of Lebanese Flavors & Culture from Edy’s Grocer” by Edy Massih
Advertisement:
🍹 Mersel Wines Jaffa Crush orange wine
“‘Keep it Zesty’ by extraordinary human Edy Massih pairs undeniably well with Mersel Wines Jaffa Crush orange wine. ‘Keep it Zesty’ is a celebration of Lebanese flavors and culture as seen through the eyes of the Boston-born, Brooklyn-based, Lebanese-rooted Edy Massih. This book is made for the home cook who wishes to be connected to their food. Jaffa Crush is a Lebanese orange wine which is 70% Merwah and 30% Muscat. It’s carbonic and still aged in amphora. Big tangerine notes on this wine, with a vibrant, textured happy vibe that will easily match up with any and all recipes from within Edy’s pages.” – Alexis Cervasio, owner, Over the Tunnel Books and EBO & Co. Grocery
Tres Gatos
📚 “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston
🍹Kitty’s Got Claws cocktail
“Zesty, spicy, and warm are three things you can expect from ‘One Last Stop’ as well as Tres Gatos’ signature cocktail, the Kitty’s Got Claws. Just like the protagonists of Casey McQuinston’s big-hearted cityscape romance, these two are a perfect match. Sip on this uniquely blended mezcal infusion of citrus and spice while you live out the fantasy of falling in love with the girl you just met on the T.” – Trae Wier, assistant general manager, Tres Gatos
Wild Child
📚 “Piglet” by Lottie Hazell
🍹Artizani’s “Forest of Wild Berries”
“There’s nothing like a genre-defying thriller to keep the mind out of the doldrums this time of year, and ‘Piglet,’ by Lottie Hazel, is a delicious distraction. Dipping in and out of surrealism and dark comedy, the debut novel from the UK author explores the limits of women’s appetites and desires, as the protagonist confronts betrayal with a fork and knife. This book is a staff favorite in our food fiction section, and it’s a tantalizing read. I’d pair it with something deep and dark to match the mood of this postmodern fable. A bottle of 2022 Artizani ‘Forest of Wild Berries,’ from the Republic of Georgia, is a brooding red made from the Saperavi grape that would pair nicely—it’s complex and powerful, just like Piglet.” – Lauren Friel, owner, Wild Child and Rebel Rebel
✏️ Pencil these in
Take a break from the news at these joyful literary events happening near you:
- Beer and Book Pairing: Meet the Authors: Head to Trillium’s Canton location for an afternoon of beer, books, and lively conversation with award-winning local authors Elizabeth Gonzalez James (‘The Bullet Swallower’), Paul Tremblay (‘Horror Movie’) and Marjan Kamali (‘The Lion Women of Tehran’). (Feb. 2)
- Silent Write Night at Hummingbird Books: Hummingbird Books is holding its first-ever Silent Write Night. Writers of all levels can practice their writing for 90 minutes on the second Monday of each month. (Feb. 10)
- Judith Rosen with Alex Schaffner: “Bookstore Romance”: Celebrate the release of “Bookstore Romance” with author Judith Rosen, in conversation with Alex Schaffner, at Brookline Booksmith. (Feb. 13)
- Books and Brews Bookfair: Book Ends will have a selection of books available at Medford Brewing Company for browsing. Booksellers will be on hand to recommend your next favorite book. (Feb. 16)
- Author Talk with Robin Bernstein: Cultural historian Robin Bernstein speaks with Dr. Lisa L. Biggs, assistant professor of the arts and Africana studies at Brown University, about Bernstein’s new book, “Freeman’s Challenge,” at the Boston Athenaeum. (Feb. 19)
- Rich Benjamin with Claudine Gay: “Talk to Me”: Celebrate the release of “Talk to Me” with author Rich Benjamin, in conversation with former Harvard president Claudine Gay, at Brookline Booksmith. (Feb. 19)
- Winter Clothing and Book Swap: The Thomas Crane Public Library in Quincy will hold a clothing and book swap. Bring your clean, gently-used clothes and books, and swap them for new items. (Feb. 22)
- Books & Bonds: Bring your own book to Narrative in Somerville for an evening of reading and connection. Spend the first hour peacefully reading, followed by an optional half an hour of conversation. (Feb. 27)
💬 Wise words
Per a suggestion from my colleague, senior content producer Heather Alteriso, I have been reading Ann Napolitano’s “Hello Beautiful.” The 2023 historical fiction novel is about four sisters in an Italian Catholic family in Chicago and was inspired by Louisa May Alcott’s coming-of-age novel “Little Women” (fun fact: Greta Gerwig’s 2019 film adaptation is my favorite movie!). As a “Little Women” superfan, I’m having so much fun analyzing Napolitano’s references to Alcott’s novel. Here’s a Whitmanian quote from patriarch Charlie to his bookish daughter, Sylvie (who feels like Jo March’s stand-in, so far):
“We’re not separated from the world by our own edges…We’re part of the sky, and the rocks in your mother’s garden, and that old man who sleeps by the train station. We’re all interconnected, and when you see that, you see how beautiful life is.” – Ann Napolitano, “Hello Beautiful”
If you find yourself sipping and/or reading at one of the bookstores above, drop me a line at [email protected] and tell me about your experience. Cheers!
Advertisement:
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com