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READ IT (AGAIN): Pair A Venetian Spritz On Boneta’s Wee Patio With “Death In Venice”

by Marcus Kaulback | Slowing down a little and breaking out a good book is never a bad idea. But what to read? You could walk into any bookstore and roll the dice on a recent release, but here’s another option: pick up a book that you last put down 5, 10, or 20 years ago. For the next book in Scout’s Read It (Again) series, we’re checking Thomas Mann’s 1912 novella, “Death In Venice”.

Why You Should Read It Again: An elderly German writer vacations in Venice as a guilty reward for a lifetime of ascetic diligence, and falls into obsession over a young and beautiful boy. Despite it being a very philosophical look at wisdom versus beauty, at restraint versus lust, and is correspondingly dry and long-winded at points, it’s an engrossing and beautifully written work. It remains a powerful look at the potency of desire – an emotion all of us encounter every day – and at what it can push us to do.

Pair It With: Von Aschenbach, the abstinent Spartan that he is, doesn’t drink, and so gives us no hints as to what to sip while following his self-loathing journey. But the Venetian Spritz – an aperitif cocktail of white wine, sparkling mineral water, and either Aperol, Campari, or Cynar – is a refreshing choice, and one that will help you transport yourself to the Lido beach in your mind (content and thankful that yours isn’t the mind of that tortured and lascivious German writer). Hunker down on Boneta’s patio and indulge.

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