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I’m reading The Sun Also Rises at the moment. It’s very Hemingwayish, more so somehow than the other novels. When there’s less happening, style and preoccupations come through much more clearly.

One line made me laugh. It comes about halfway through the book, when the main character - Jake Barnes - visits a man he knows in Pamplona to buy tickets for the bullfighting. Jake says:

He was an archivist, and all the archives of the town were in his office. That has nothing to do with the story.

It’s a strange thing to say. The whole book is full of observations like that - why tell us that this one is irrelevant? I guess it serves to remind the reader how every detail is being marshalled towards the final effect. Anyway, it struck me as amusing.

It’s a fine book, as Jake would say. Reading it, I’m reminded of one of the liqueurs the characters are endlessly drinking - a pernod, or an aguardiente. Like them, this is cool, dry and slightly sour - and, of course, unexpectedly strong.

If you’re looking for something to go on holiday with you could do worse than this. It’s easy to read, has short chapters and is only 210 pages long. It also makes you think about drinking - something we can only really do properly on holiday. All his novels have that effect, or at least they do on me.

All Hemingway’s novels could also be summed up by the drinks in them - For Whom The Bell Tolls would be a spicy Spanish wine, Green Hills of Africa a whisky. A Farewell to Arms has vast amounts of all sorts of booze, including a the delightful-sounding eggnog spiked with sherry. Perhaps it would be a beer, or maybe a vermouth. The Old Man and the Sea is all about the absence of drink.

Speaking of which…

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