Occasionally, just occasionally, we stop talking about wine. It seems rude not to share some of the other random stuff we come across, as we know that Wine Conversationalist listeners and readers are a pretty discerning bunch.

Slightly Foxed

The next best thing to curling up with a good book might just be curling up with a good magazine about books, or tuning in to its sibling, a podcast about them.

“Slightly foxed” is a bookseller’s term for a book that shows some signs of wear, in other words, well-read, which makes it the appropriate title for a cheerfully chatty, informally literate quarterly magazine devoted to books. The format is simplicity itself: A collection of essays, each about a book from the past that still resonates with the writer; some are well known, some obscure and worth rediscovering, second-hand but first-rate, an illuminating rear-view window. The podcast provides equally charming behind-the-scenes insights, and the website is an online bookshop; some books they republish themselves, some they find for you. If you subscribe, it’s even better: members’ discounts and a complete online archive of back issues (more than 60 so far). It’s a book lover’s playground, at www.foxedquarterly.com.