Drink Books is a shop rooted in the belief that any act of consumption—be it fermented juice or a sensational sentence—is an experience worth talking about. Both books and natural wine ask for our engagement, and we are here to consume. A place for readers, natural wine lovers, and folks who are interested in building community around thoughtful, drinkable art. 

Kim Kent has had her head stuck in a book for most of her life. In 2019, many years into her reading journey and just a few into learning about natural wine, she founded Book Cru: a book-and-wine club that pairs novels with the bottle you'll want to drink it with, through Molly's Bottle Shop in Sunset Hill. 

While running Book Cru Kim met fellow bookworm Emily Schikora, also a writer and small-business owner of Editor Consignment in Ballard, and over many glasses of wine and discussions of favorite writers and books, Drink Books started to take form. Drink Books is excited to bring you a curated selection of prose, natural wines, pairings, and personal reading and drinking recommendations. 

What Kind of Books?

Drink Books specializes in unusual prose, paired with the bottle you’ll want to drink it with. Our focus is on lyrical, literary, and experimental fiction and nonfiction, works in translation, and books from small(er) presses, with a bent toward the strange, unconventional, and linguistically driven. 

Why Books with Natural Wine? 

Great books have the power to elicit an emotional response. They get to the core of who we are; they expand our awareness; they challenge us; they can make us feel seen. Books, and how we feel about them, can change over the course of our reading; they can defy our expectations and ability to say what it is and what it’s doing. Natural wine often works this way too. It changes from sip to sip. It speaks. It doesn’t include chemical alterations, or commercial yeasts that mask its true qualities. Wine making and writing are both processes of transformation—there are grapes and there are words and then, if we’re lucky, skilled, and possess a small amount of magic, there will be wine and there will be a story.