Established in 2025 to celebrate friendship, books, food & wine
Cork & Chronicle
Society
A book club that always sets the table
Currently Simmering
Villa Coco
A directionless young American takes a job cataloguing a Tuscan villa for its formidable elderly baronessa, and ends up swept into her chaotic household and her quest to reunite with a lost love.
Past Reads
Nine books in, one bisque at a time.
01
French Lessons
May 2026
02
A Marriage at Sea
March 2026
03
The Rosie Effect
March 2026
04
The Art Thief
January 2026
05
The Rosie Project
December 2025
06
White Noise
November 2025
07
My Friends
September 2025
08
I See You've Called in Dead
July 2025
09
The Correspondent
July 2026
Dinners & Menus
Coming soon — a menu card for every book we've eaten our way through.
Photos
Coming soon.
About Us
Est. 2025, Healdsburg, California
In the autumn of 2025, four friends — bound by an insatiable appetite for narrative, fermented grapes, and the perfect crab cake — convened around a single dining table and, without quite meaning to, founded something.
They call it the Cork & Chronicle Society.
Their identities remain undisclosed. What is known is this: each is sworn to a sacred, if loosely defined, code — to read the book, to shake or stir the opening cocktail, to cook the meal, to pour the wine, and never, under any circumstances, to serve store-bought salad dressing.
In the autumn of 2025, four friends — bound by an insatiable appetite for narrative, fermented grapes, and the perfect crab cake — convened around a single dining table and, without quite meaning to, founded something.
They call it the Cork & Chronicle Society.
Their identities remain undisclosed. What is known is this: each is sworn to a sacred, if loosely defined, code — to read the book, to shake or stir the opening cocktail, to cook the meal, to pour the wine, and never, under any circumstances, to serve store-bought salad dressing.
The Founding Four
History remembers them only by their ceremonial titles:
- The Sommelier — keeper of the cellar, guardian of the pour order
- The Archivist — maintains the sacred record of past gatherings (see: this website)
- The Chef — sources the impossible ingredients, negotiates with mongers, prepares the inspired meal
- The Host — opens their home, bears the dishes, accepts the mess
(Roles rotate. Loyalties do not. Their identities are known only to one another, and the consideration of any new member requires the unanimous consent of all four.)
Membership — Status: Closed
The Society does not currently accept petitions, applications, nominations, or bribes for membership. This is not expected to change.
The Tenets
Passed down orally, disputed regularly, upheld selectively:
- The book shall be finished — or at minimum, convincingly discussed.
- The theme shall serve the meal; the meal need not serve the theme.
- The evening shall not begin until the signature cocktail has been poured.
- No wine shall be poured before its moment in the menu.
- What is said at the table about the ending stays at the table.
- A member who suggests a book under 300 pages shall be regarded with suspicion.
The Charter
(abridged, the rest is classified)
The Society convenes on no fixed schedule, in no fixed location, bound only by the completion of the prior book and the availability of a working oven. Its purpose is threefold: to read, to gather, to eat well. Its true purpose — like the Society itself — is not for public record.
Ask no member to confirm their identity. They will only smile and refill your glass.