Manhasset on Long Island in New York is Great Gatsby country, and two of the regulars in the pub central to J.R. Moehringer's acclaimed memoir The Tender Bar are horrified to discover that he has never read it. This book is about drinking in a communal setting best summarised as 'misery loves company, but what it craves is a crowd'. Moehringer, whose first name is 'J.R.', is fatherless and living in his grandfather's dysfunctional household. His refuge from the age of nine is the local bar, where his Uncle Charlie serves drinks. From the people drinking in the Dickens (later renamed the Publicans), Moehringer learns about the world and how to live in it. A journalist at the Los Angeles Times, he won a Pulitzer for feature writing in 2000. He's a talented storyteller and this memoir has the ring of truth about it, even if the reader might suspect at least some of the funnier conversations are contrived. No matter the nationality, those with a 'local' will be on familiar ground and those who, like Moehringer, no longer drink will love this, too
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