Our summer reading and drinking list

Helen Garner and Two Birds Pale Ale

Smoking dope and eating spaghetti, the abrupt ending of a happy marriage, the psychological effect of wearing stripes. In Stories: The Collected Short Fiction, Helen Garner takes slivers of daily life, sometimes the most mundane, and gently folds them into poetry on the page. Case in point: a long-haul flight seated next to a neon-lighting salesman who “wants to talk”. I’ll match this title with her companion volume, True Stories: The Collected Short Non-Fiction, and a cold glass of feminist-forward Pale Ale from Australia’s first female-owned brewing company, Two Birds. 

Stories: The Collected Short Fiction, Helen Garner (Text Publishing, hbk, $29.99)

SARAH OAKES, EDITOR

Jennifer Egan and a Manhattan

Jennifer Egan switches genres at whim and her robust, visceral writing never falters. With Manhattan Beach she’s in historical-novel mode, following Anna Kerrigan, who becomes the first female diver at the Brooklyn Navy Yard during World War II. Gangsters, torpedoed ships, nightclubs and some quite terrifying night dives need to be accompanied by a drink that’ll steady the nerves. A Manhattan is thematically correct and packs a punch with understated, balanced style.

Manhattan Beach, Jennifer Egan (Corsair, pbk, $32.99) 

MICHAEL HARDEN, VICTORIA EDITOR

Daniel Mendelsohn and ouzo

The oldest and arguably finest travel story ever told is holding up well. The blind poet Homer composed The Odyssey 27 centuries ago, and it continues to inspire translators, travellers and publishers. Not everyone, though, has the stamina to follow the hero’s 20-year journey through a fantastical Med, and his long-awaited return to the Greek island of Ithaca in hexameter verse. On my summer reading list is essayist Daniel Mendelsohn’s account of a journey – literary and actual – with his father through Homer’s epic. I’ll toast their familial adventure with ouzo, of course, and grilled calamari, and tzatziki, and slow-cooked lamb. And more ouzo. It’s an epic, after all.

An Odyssey: A Father, A Son and an Epic, Daniel Mendelsohn (William Collins, hbk, $39.99)

HELEN ANDERSON, TRAVEL EDITOR

AA Gill and San Pellegrino Clementina

Books with bite-sized stories that can easily be picked up and put down are perfect for flights, layovers and beaches. And in the same way AA Gill would travel with Herodotus or The Icelandic Sagas, I take an anthology of the late author’s writing everywhere I go. My first reading of Table Talk, a collection of Gill’s restaurant reviews, was constantly punctuated with laughter and “Read this! Read this!” and I’m expecting similar things from this new compilation. And for a match? A tinnie of San Pellegrino Clementina soda over ice.

The Best of AA Gill, AA Gill (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, pbk, $32.98)

MAX VEENHUYZEN, WESTERN AUSTRALIA EDITOR

Margaret Atwood and Latta Vino

Blessed be the fruit – in this instance, the naturally fermented sauvignon blanc grapes that went into the 2016 Essential Crisis from Victorian producer Latta Vino. The cloudy, cider-like pet-nat is at the top of my summer drinking list. Matched with that, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. I devoured the first season of the TV adaptation in less than a week, and with season two around the corner, it’s high time I read the book. In Gilead, women are forbidden to drink, or to read for that matter (cue existential crisis), so here in Sydney, whether on the beach or in the park, I’ll savour every moment of both. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (Vintage, hbk, $29.98)

MAGGIE SCARDIFIELD, NEWS EDITOR

Zachary Mason and Pisco Punch

The world is a very different place in Void Star, Zachary Mason’s vision of the not-too-distant future. You can be virtually ageless and have an artificial memory with perfect recall, all the while dodging weaponised drones that patrol the skies. Some things remain the same, though: no solution has been found to the world’s refugee crisis, and it’s still a great time to be rich and working in tech in San Francisco. To take the edge off this meditation on world politics and the destiny of humanity, opt for a tall glass of classic San Franciscan Pisco Punch.

Void Star, Zachary Mason (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, hbk, $44.99)

LIZ ELTON, CREATIVE DIRECTOR

George Saunders and a Negroni

George Saunders goes even lefter of field in his first foray outside the short story with a novel imagining what happened the night the 16th president spent in a cemetery. Too far? The Booker prize committee didn’t think so. As for the drink? Spirits, of course. Maybe something bittersweet, with a twist. Sounds like a Negroni to me.

Lincoln in the Bardo, George Saunders (Bloomsbury, pbk, $16.49)

PAT NOURSE, MANAGING EDITOR

Jane Harper and a Martini

This summer I plan to read Jane Harper’s The Dry before it’s made into a blockbuster film and ruined forever. I like the sound of a murder-mystery set in small-town Australia because I grew up in a tiny town and a murder would have livened things up considerably. To accompany, I’ve created a Martini that I’ve also christened The Dry. Follow me: 1. Empty a bottle of Noilly Prat dry vermouth into a decanter or down the sink. 2. Fill the empty bottle with a classic juniper gin – Bombay Sapphire, Tanqueray or Sipsmith. Nothing fancy. 3. Store the instant Martini bottle in the freezer. 4. Pour when thirsty into a chilled glass. Garnish with a gum leaf.

The Dry, Jane Harper (Pan Macmillan Australia, pbk, $16.99)

KENDALL HILL, SENIOR WRITER

Zadie Smith and watermelon juice

Zadie Smith doesn’t shy from good debate. Her latest work, a collection of essays covering everything from Mikhail Baryshnikov to social networking, is an insightful journey. To that end, a tall drink of the same spirit is in order, so I’m reaching for a fruity concoction of fresh watermelon juice, rum and sparkling wine. Just like Smith’s writing, it’s punchy and dynamic, and is bound to inspire some interesting conversation.

Feel Free, Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton, pbk, $35)

LISA FEATHERBY, SENIOR FOOD EDITOR