Corked: A Memoir [Hardcover]

Corked was a finalist for The Stephen Leacock Award for Humour and was featured as a best book of the year by the National Post, as a staff favourite by Eye Weekly, and in Quill & Quire’s 15 Books that Mattered in 2009.  

"Borel has talent and charm to spare, a literary wunderkind in the making."
—Quill & Quire

"The end result, not unlike drinking good wine, is entertaining and just a bit intoxicating."
—National Post

"Some readers may shy away from Borel's openness, but this book is unique precisely because it is Borel."
—Globe and Mail 

"With biting humour, unparalleled narcissism and tremendous heart, Kathryn Borel visits French wine country with her eccentric father Philippe to learn more about his unbridled passion. Among the revelations of their two-week sojourn are a personal tragedy and her father's deepest, darkest secret. Corked is Canada's funniest debut of the year; Borel is non-fiction's new, boozy superstar."
—Eye Weekly

"In her debut memoir, Borel unpacks a tragicomic father-daughter drink-fest through the finest French vineyards."
—Marie Claire

"Every now and again, a remarkable autobiographical tale manages to reaffirm even the most cynical reader's faith in the power of sharing deeply personal stories. Corked, a memoir by Toronto writer Kathryn Borel Jr., is one of those books."
—CBC.ca

"Borel deftly captures the confusing emotions that surround parent-child relationships. A fast-paced read with nuggets of wine trivia that will appeal to anyone who has struggled to understand their parents."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Refreshingly unsentimental, grounded. . .in flashes of candor and humor."
—Publishers Weekly

"Borel writes with plenty of humor as her father's absurd perfectionism gives birth to many dramatically charged encounters with natives as the pair progresses about the French countryside."
—Booklist

“I have some trouble with empathic embarrassment. Improv, live comedy, gymnastics, figure skating, awards shows—this is just a short list of things that result in a screaming pain through the centre of my hands. It’s always worth it in the end, the jubilation and intense relief of seeing the person emerge safely on the other side, if not entirely unscathed. The point being, I’m surprised I could even hold this book. And yet, I can’t stop talking about it.”
—The Mark (themarknews.com)

"This totally lovely and laugh-out-loud hilarious book marks the arrival of an auspicious new comic voice. Her metaphors are like no one's. I chug-a-lugged, and misted up at the end. I'm going with Kevin Kline as the father, and Ellen Page to star."
—Henry Alford, author of How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth)

"Kathryn Borel has written a funny, quirky, bittersweet memoir full of wry wisdom on the subjects of wine, grief, memory, France and family."
—Jay McInerney, New York Times bestselling author of How It Ended

"Corked is a fevered road trip that takes us deep into the heart of family mystery, emotional thirst and, in luscious counterpoint, the vineyards of France. Kathryn Borel is a caustically witty companion who writes with unsentimental, unsparing insight about the distant, inscrutable father traveling beside her."
—Leanne Shapton, author of Was She Pretty?

"Kathryn Borel's fresh, loud and hilarious voice carries the reader through the hallowed winegrowing regions of France with the same unique energy, irreverence and honesty she uses to explore her volatile father's soul, psyche and love for armpit treasures. A must-read for anyone who has ever shared a bottle of wine (corked or otherwise) with a larger-than-life-parent...anyone with a beautifully sick sense of humour and a serious love-hate relationship with the universe."
—Ibi Kaslik, New York Times bestselling author of Skinny                                                                      

"If you would like to know what you look like, you bedraggled, devoted daughters of men with big personalities, pick up this mirror. It's a fun-house mirror. And it's all reflected here-the frustration, the love, the bewilderment-in prose that is vintage Borel: colorful, manic, sensitive, twisted, brilliant and brave."
—Sheila Heti, author of Ticknor and The Middle Stories

Meet Kathryn Borel, absurd bon vivant and daughter of duty. Now meet her father, Philippe, former chef, eccentric genius and wine aficionado extraordinaire. Kathryn is like her father in every way but one: she doesn't get it when it comes to wine. And although Philippe has devoted untold parenting hours to delivering impassioned, oenological orations, she has managed to remain unenlightened. But after an accident and a death, Kathryn realizes that by shutting herself off to her father's greatest passion, she will never really know him. So, she proposes a drunken father-daughter road trip. As they drive through the French countryside, meeting with vintners, touring vineyards, laughing, screaming, panicking and fighting, they watch the birth, development and maturation of a very special part of their relationship: the ability to connect over wine. 

"This totally lovely and laugh-out-loud hilarious book marks the arrival of an auspicious new comic voice. Her metaphors are like no one's. I chug-a-lugged, and misted up at the end. I'm going with Kevin Kline as the father, and Ellen Page to star."
-Henry Alford, author of How to Live: A Search for Wisdom from Old People (While They Are Still on This Earth)

"Kathryn Borel has written a funny, quirky, bittersweet memoir full of wry wisdom on the subjects of wine, grief, memory, France and family."
-Jay McInerney, New York Times bestselling author of How It Ended

Take the wine-odyssey narrative and occasional psychotic frustration of Alexander Payne's Oscar-winning film Sideways, combine it with the elements of self-discovery and cultural adaptation found in Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence, rewrite both with the humorous insight of David Sedaris's Me Talk Pretty One Day, and express the whole lot in the irreverent tone of Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, and you have Corked.

"Corked is a fevered road trip that takes us deep into the heart of family mystery, emotional thirst and, in luscious counterpoint, the vineyards of France. Kathryn Borel is a caustically witty companion who writes with unsentimental, unsparing insight about the distant, inscrutable father traveling beside her."
-Leanne Shapton, author of Was She Pretty?

"Kathryn Borel's fresh, loud and hilarious voice carries the reader through the hallowed winegrowing regions of France with the same unique energy, irreverence and honesty she uses to explore her volatile father's soul, psyche and love for armpit treasures. A must-read for anyone who has ever shared a bottle of wine (corked or otherwise) with a larger-than-life-parent...anyone with a beautifully sick sense of humour and a serious love-hate relationship with the universe."
-Ibi Kaslik, New York Times bestselling author of Skinny                                                                       

"If you would like to know what you look like, you bedraggled, devoted daughters of men with big personalities, pick up this mirror. It's a fun-house mirror. And it's all reflected here-the frustration, the love, the bewilderment-in prose that is vintage Borel: colorful, manic, sensitive, twisted, brilliant and brave."
-Sheila Heti, author of Ticknor and The Middle Stories

Kathryn Borel Jr. was born in 1979 in Toronto, the daughter of a hotelier. After several years she became the older sister to Nico, who was named after the family cat. She spent her early years living in hotels in Paris, Bermuda, Dallas and New Jersey, finally settling in Quebec City.

In 2002 she moved to Toronto to follow a man. The relationship ended.

She continues to live in Toronto with her extensive robot collection. In her decadelong journalism career, she has written and broadcast for many local and national top-rated programs on CBC Radio One, including Metro Morning, GO! and As It Happens. She was one of the founding producers of Q, where she holds the official title of "Producer" and the less official title of "Mayor of Awesometown." She has a popular wine column on Ontario's weekend morning show, Fresh Air. Corked is her first book.