Literary pairings: What to drink while you read

“Thank God for a longneck bottle, the angels’ remedy,” wrote Tom Petty (rest in peace, Mr. Wilbury) in 1979’s “Louisiana Rain.” And if you agree with Florida’s lost icon (unless you think he said “love that followed”), you might wish to partake of the seraphs’ cure-all at Booktoberfest today at the downtown Orlando Public Library.

Like the popular Oktoberfests it imitates, this party will feature German food and live music that is fun for exactly one night a year. The library will also feature select beers from Yuengling, Orange County breweries and “a private brewmaster’s collection.” (Starts at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, available at ocls.info/ booktoberfest.)

But this thought of putting brews and books in the same place got me thinking: What sort of beers go with what sort of books?

To answer this, I would hold to a couple of simple rules.

First, try to match the density of the flavors. For example, one beer Booktoberfest will serve is Yuengling Porter, a dark ale from the Pennsylvania brewer. For that, you’ll want something earthy and heavy. Think Melville or Faulkner, but we aren’t done yet.

The porter is also malty, so you’ll want something with some sweetness in the bitter.

And last, consider the “Drink With Your Gnomes” theme of this shindig, basically focused on folklore and fairy tales. Therefore, the best books for this beer would be “The Golden Apples,” Eudora Welty’s collection of transposed myths set in the Deep South, or “Watership Down,” Richard Adams’ novel about anthropomorphic rabbit death.

So what about something to go with a lighter, dry and hoppy beer? Try “White Light,” Rudy Rucker’s symbolist meditation on infinity, or “Good Omens,” with the wit of Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Got a playful and salty wild sour gose? Put it with Karen Russell’s tale of Floridian magical realism “Swamplandia!”

An IPA on a hot day? How about the sweltering world of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez?

A deep, British brown ale? Salman Rushdie’s comic yet brutal “Midnight’s Children.”

Classic American lager goes well with collections of stories by Southern moralist Flannery O’Connor.

And, of course, for Edgar Allan Poe, it doesn’t matter what you drink as long as it’s too much of it.

Are we on the same page? Feel free to email your suggestions. Cheers!