(Drivebycuriosity) - There are huge differences between the West and the Islamic world, separating common habits and cultural behavior. Alcohol - and bars & pubs - play an important social role in the West, but Muslims are obliged to stay abstinent. In many Islamic places alcohol is forbidden - or at least hard to find. "The Wet and the Dry. A Drinker´s Journey" by Lawrence Osborne deals with the cultural huge divide ( amazon).
The book is written in first person and looks like an autobiography. I don`t know if Mr. Osborne really is a drinker or if he describes just a fictional person - a Jekyll & Hyde thing. Anyway, the book is highly entertaining and very informative, an amazing blend of travel reports, history lectures & alcohol journalism.
The author describes his (alleged?) affection for alcohol; he seems to be an aficionado for whisky, gin, vodka and other alcoholic drinks and he likes to visit pubs & bars. This is not really unusual, but he explores a lot Islamic places to find bars, wineries & beer breweries; including places where Western live style is hated and gets punished by bombs. Maybe he likes the contradiction, the risks and the adventure or he wants just to surprise and to entertain: "A Muslim alcoholic give me hope that human race can be saved"
I learned about places I might never visit like the religious city of Surakarta (Indonesia), where the Bali Bombers came from, about beer brewers in Egypt (where the drink was invented), vintners & whisky distillers in Lebanon and bars in Abu Dhabi & Islamabad.
I learned about the cult around Dionyso, the Greek god of wine, different kinds of vodka, new year`s celebration in Muscat, Muslim terrorism in Southern Thailand and much more.
Lawrence Osborne belongs to my favorite authors. I love his novels "Hunters in the Dark", "The Glass Kingdom" & "The Ballad of a Small Player" and I also enjoyed his book "Bangkok Days" (my reviews: Hunters Kingdom Ballad Bangkok ). "The Wet" is a nice addition to my Kindle library.
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