The wine lover's daughter: a memoir, by Anne Fadiman

 

I loved this charming memoir by Anne Fadiman that uses her father's love of wine and books to tell both of their stories. Clifton Fadiman was many things; after graduating from Columbia University in 1925, he embraced a career that included serving as an editor at Simon & Schuster, the emcee of the radio quiz show Information Please!, the editor of The New Yorker's book review section, and a judge for the Book of the Month Club, an activity he continued into his 90s. Fadiman was also a serious oenophile, which he tried unsuccessfully to pass on to his children. Much of this memoir centers on Anne's attempts to like wines that her father shares with her. She is highly educated about wine and all of its attributes at a very young age, but even as an adult she finds it difficult to like wine. It is only after her father has died that she learns that she may be genetically unable to appreciate wine (and some other food and drink) due to the high number of taste receptors on her tongue. With her father an important part of the literary scene and her mother working as a screenwriter and journalist, Anne grew up steeped in literature and culture which comes out in her elegant prose and wonderful storytelling.