Our favorite Bay Area bookstore takes a look at old cocktail books.

Lit.

• Want a smooth divorce?  Read Moby-Dick.

• At The Millions, Emily St. John Mandel talks about writing on trains.

• Designworklife takes a look at German book publisher, Zeixs.

• If Sarah Palin is coming to your local supermarket to sign books, please get rid of the tomatoes.

• N+1 discussion between conservative writers Ross Douthat and Reihan Salaam.

• Shakespeare characters write letters to Santa.

• Q: Why did Lewis Carroll add the Cheshire Cat to Alice?

A: To make fun of math ideas floating around at the time. Duh.

• The best books the guys at Deckfight read in the year that is ending.

• Stephen Elliott is giving a lecture at WORD this Friday.

Jams.

• The Ramones, The Cramps, and The Mountain Goats: Peter Bognanni, we like your taste in jams.

• The Beets, Beach Fossils, and Christmas Island =’s favorite tour of earl 2010.

• Who doesn’t own Let It Be by The Replacements?  Slate discusses the albums 25th birthday.

• David Byrne has advice on funding the arts.

The big screen and little screen.

• Spiderman might not play Bilbo Baggins.

• Salon on why The Simpsons don’t matter anymore.

We love food.

• Nine raw chocolatiers at Cool Hunting.

• Cheese is awesome.  The Faster Times tells us why.

• If you just took away the pancetta, I’d consider eating this pizza for every meal.

Brooklyn.

• A dark piece of Brooklyn history took place 49 years ago yesterday when a TWA place crashed into the heart of Park Slope.