Kingsley Amis was one of the great masters of comic prose, and no subject was dearer to him than the art and practice of imbibing. This new volume brings together the best of his three out-of-print works on the subject: Kingsley Amis on Drink, Everyday Drinking, and How's Your Glass? In one handsome package, the book covers a full shelf of the master's riotous and erudite thoughts on the drinking arts: Along with a series of well-tested recipes (including a cocktail called the Lucky Jim) are Amis's musings on The Hangover, The Boozing Man's Diet, The Mean Sod's Guide, and (presumably as a matter of speculation) How Not to Get Drunk-all leavened with fun quizzes on the making and drinking of alcohol all over the world. Mixing practical know-how and hilarious opinionation, this is a delightful cocktail of wry humor and distilled knowledge, served by one of our great gimlet wits.

Bruce Weinstein is a guy who knows how to party. And his key to partying is choosing the right drink. Spiked or zero proof, Bruce has shaken, stirred, blended, or ladled concoction for every occasion and everyone on your guest list.

The cocktail traditionalist will savor Bruce's world-class Bloody Mary, while those on the cutting edge will sip one of his twelve exotic and tasty variations of this favorite libation. His classic martini comes with no fewer than fifteen spin-offs. Got a crowd coming over? No problem. Just pull out the punch bowl and fill it with Groovy Banana Wine Punch or teetotaling Pink Plum Lemonade. On a hot summer day, serve a blended tropical Papaya Smoothie or Orange Jewelious. Or blast away winter's chill with a warming coffee, tea, or fruit juice toddy.

From an intimate dinner for two to a block-party bash, raise your glass and celebrate with Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Party Drink Book.

Rum is hot. Rum is cool. Rum can be sipped, savored, and cooked in ways limited only by your imagination. Rum has an island flavor on its own over ice with a wedge of lime, or it can be something more, as it is in these sophisticated recipes by W. Park Kerr, author of The El Paso Chile Company Margarita Cookbook.

Rumba over to the bar and break out your cocktail shaker and hula-girl glasses. Whether you are looking for a classic rum drink like a pina colada or a mai tai or a new concoction such as a Banana Monkey or a Blue Lagoon, The El Paso Chile Company Rum & Tiki Cookbook offers the ultimate rum recipes in these tropically colorful pages. Want to add some punch to the rest of your party? Recipes include Luau Baby Back Ribs, Grilled Coconut-Rum Shrimp with Curried Peanut Dipping Sauce, and other spiked suggestions for marinades, sauces, and main dishes. And be sure to save room for dessert. There's Island Spice Flan and a Pineapple and Bananas Foster. Not sure which type of rum--light, gold, dark, or beyond--to use? It's all explained in one user-friendly section.

So if you don't want your next party to end up ho-hum, try a little rum.

• The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose
• The Last of the Mojitos
• Love in the Time of Kahlua
• Romeo and Julep
• A Rum of One's Own
• Are You There, God? It's Me, Margarita
• Vermouth the Bell Tolls
• and more

No other drink can claim to have influenced the course of human affairs more than vodka. "The green serpent" transformed the Russian state into a great power but it helped to destroy both tsarism and communism -- as well as the lives of millions of Russian peasants. From Boris Yeltsin being dropped in a font and Shostakovich being cured of writer's block to "the great vodka debauch" of the Russo-Japanese War and the Churchill-Stalin drinking duel at Yalta, the spirit determined the lives of individual Russians and the fate of a nation. Both sophisticated and brutal, vodka is the best-selling spirit in the world. Distilled from rye or the humble potato, it has been known since the fourteenth century, when it was first used as a medicine, but it took James Bond and the Cold War to make it glamorous in the West, particularly with younger drinkers. 'The first mention of vodka in English was made by a Scotsman, Captain Cochrane, who drank the liquid serpent while in Russia in 1820. He called it 'vodka(whisky)', a sketchy comparison, at best. Any respectable Caledonian will insist whisky-drinking is far too important an activity to involve the complementary consumption of food. Vodka-drinking, on the other hand, is too important to be undertaken without food. English drinkers have never got the hang of this crucial detail. The new Dedalus Book of Vodka by Geoffrey Elborn contains an extract from Angel Pavement(1930) by J.B.Priestley, ' the first appearance of vodka in English fiction', in which Mr Golspie, a shady businessman, induces miss Matfield, a proper typist, to down a glass or two. Miss Matfield thrills to the 'incendiary bomb' which 'had burst in her throat and sent white fire racing down every channel of her body'. It is delightful, but it lacks an essential ingredient: the pickle.' Absent Friend in The Times Literary Supplement 'Chekhov was more ambivalent. As Geoffrey Elborn shows in his new cultural history, The Dedalus Book of Vodka, he was torn between his knowledge as a doctor and his understanding of human nature. Two of his brothers were alcoholic, and he denounced vodka companies as "Satan's blood peddlers". But he sympathised with the Russian peasantry, for whom vodka was nectar. And in his stories and plays, those who drink excessively are portrayed with humour and compassion. Blake Morrison in The Guardian

Once little more than party fuel, tequila has graduated to the status of fine sipping spirit. How the Gringos Stole Tequila traces the spirit's evolution in America from frat-house firewater to luxury good. But there's more to the story than tequila as upmarket drinking trend. Chantal Martineau spent several years immersing herself in the world of tequila--traveling to visit distillers and agave farmers in Mexico, meeting and tasting with leading experts and mixologists around the United States, and interviewing academics on either side of the border who have studied the spirit.