A good friend and neighbor who knows and understands my interests well recently gave me a copy of Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist. It is exactly what its title suggests, a cocktail recipe book with drink themes based on classic literature.

So, look for cleverly named drinks, such as The Count of Monte Cristal, Rye and Prejudice, and Are You There, God? It's Me, Margarita. Others include the Romeo and Julep, Orange Julius Caesar, The Turn of the Screwdriver, The Pitcher of Dorian Grey Goose, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Breeze, A Rum of One's Own, Silas Marnier, The Old Man and the Seagram's, Love in the Time of Kahlua, The Joy of Sex on the Beach, A Cocktail of Two Cities and ... well, you get the idea.

There is a chapter on mocktails, such as Rip Van Drinkel and The Phantom Tolljuice, and bar bites such as Prawn Quixote, Olives 'n' Twist, and The Deviled Egg Wears Prada.

Each recipe, in addition to providing the ingredients and mixing instructions, comes with the title of the story and author that inspired the drink and a brief summary of the tale. Monochromatic illustrations by Lauren Mortimer add additional interest to the pages, often with downright clever interpretations of the drink's name and literary inspiration.

Ultimately, a cocktail book lives and dies on the strength of its cocktail recipes. There are plenty here to try, and although I've only sampled a few so far, the collection offers an appealing mix of drink options.

To be fair, some of these drinks look like standard recipes that have simply been given a punny new name to fit the theme, while others are interesting variations on the norm. A few look like they might need to be reviewed and revised by an experienced mixologist; Bridget Jones's Daiquiri, for instance, asks you to blend champagne with other ingredients and let fly, but since champagne loses its fizz in a blender, why waste it?

A few missteps aside, I'm glad to have this in my mixology library!