A Toast to Alcohol

British author Kingsley Amis, who passed away in 1995, loved to drink. He also loved to write about drinking, so much so that he authored three books: On Drink, Everyday Drinking and How’s Your Glass? The books have been out of print for many years, but soon they will be re-released as a bound set.

Although Amis points out the darker sides of drinking, such as hangovers, he does provide the possible cures. Too often, he felt, we ignored the psychological component of a hangover that includes the feelings of depression, anxiety, self-loathing and general failure. In response, Amis suggested we engage in some “hangover” reading. His “day after” reads included works by John Milton, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Eric Ambler and P.V. Wodehouse.

Although Amis was not much of a wine man, he would have surely been tickled to see how alcohol helps make stronger bones and may prevent fatty liver disease.

Some of Amis’ famous quotes include:

“The first, indeed the only, requirement of a diet is that it should lose you weight without reducing your alcoholic intake by the smallest degree.”

“Wives and such are constantly filling up any refrigerator they have a claim on, even its ice-compartment, with irrelevant rubbish like food.”

“Hilarity and drink are connected in a profoundly human, peculiarly intimate way.”

Do you find Amis’ ode to alcohol dry and witty or in poor taste? [The New York Times]