Not everything I read is for my mother-daughter book clubs, but keeping up with selections for those two makes it challenging to tackle a weighty book in the time I have left. Especially since my personal reading time is just before bed, I sometimes have a hard time keeping my eyes open long enough to read more than a few pages.

That’s why the book I’m reading now is perfect. It’s called The Grail: A Year Ambling and Shambling Through an Oregon Vineyard in Pursuit of the Best Pinot Noir Wine in the Whole Wild World by Brian Doyle,  and it’s about the author’s year-long quest to find the best pinot noir wine. Each chapter is short, no more than two or three pages long, and it tells of what’s happening in a vineyard at certain times of the year. Doyle spends his time in a particular vineyard, that of Lange winery in Dundee, Oregon, but he also sprinkles his chapters with talk about visits to other wine-growing regions in other parts of the world.

Doyle’s style is light and playful, and the only problem I have with reading it at bedtime is it makes me thirsty to taste wine. But I’m taking notes and plan to have a pinot noir tasting of my own when I’m finished with the book. It’s a fun read!