Reviews and other ramblings
In less than two weeks I will once again be taking part in a blog hop giveaway, this time organised by Donna and Jessica of Book Passion for Life and Jodie of Books for Company.
As the name suggests, this one is open to UK and EU residents only. I’ll be giving away two books and will reveal all when the hop starts on 1 August. Be sure to come back and enter!
Bloom & Curll is so close to being the perfect bookshop for me that I feel I should apologise for not being a regular customer. It has a quirky, arty feel and look but is still most definitely all about the books.
They are piled everywhere, almost higgledy piggledy yet meticulously organised. Old and new sit side by side, with some classic Penguin editions serving as both booklover lures and eyecatching art. Section labels epitomise the style of the shop – they are either handmade paper cutouts in classily chosen colour and pattern combinations, or bright childlike magnetic letters. The book selection leans towards the literary end of fiction, with some specialised areas for philosophical, theological and sociological works. The shop is small enough not to overwhelm me with choice, while still stocking more books that I want than I can afford.
I love the location of Bloom & Curll, nestled among the indie stylings of Colston Street, Christmas Steps and nearby Upper Maudlin Street, but I worry that that also works against it – on my every visit I have been the only customer. However, the shop window promises chess classes and apparently this Thursday they’re hosting a book launch, which looks worth checking out. Hopefully such events will keep attracting new customers through their doors.
Bloom & Curll, 74 Colston Street, Bristol
And the winners are…drumroll please!
Thanks to random.org, Col of Col Reads won Our Spoons Came From Woolworths and Tanya won Naked Lunch. Congratulations! I have e-mailed you both, please badger me if you don’t receive the e-mail!
Thank you to everyone who entered, I was surprised by how much of a response this got. I’m sorry I can’t give you all a little prize. However, I do plan to do another giveaway soon, so keep an eye out for it!
If anyone is completely confused and doesn’t know what all this is about, this was a blog hop giveaway with a literary flavour run by Judith of Leeswammes. Thank you so much Judith. Entries are now closed.
“Out of this world” is a free exhibition running at the British Library from 20 May to 25 September 2011. It’s an exploration and celebration of science fiction, centred around the library’s collection of first editions and other valuable copies of great books.
It’s a much bigger and frankly better exhibition than I expected. Like a typical museum show, there are themed cases containing numbered exhibits and a knowledgeable description of each exhibit. There’s also video, audio, interactive stuff and some random memorabilia, plus a series of related workshops. And it has its own mini-website, of course: www.bl.uk/sciencefiction.
It has clearly been designed by a team of people who love and respect science fiction and tease out not only the usual obvious questions that SF can deal with, but also some more obscure or difficult ones, such as “What is reality?” and “What does it mean to be human?”
Mostly I just geeked out on the beautiful old books and manuscripts (which tended to be on loan from authors or other museums) but I also added many many books to my wishlist. Highly recommended to anyone who can get to London.
** This competition is now closed. Winners announced here. **
WIN a copy of Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs or Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below saying which book you’d prefer, if you have a preference, before midnight on Wednesday 29 June. I will then pick a name out of a hat and announce the lucky winners.
Naked Lunch, first published in 1959, is sometimes called a modern classic. A series of loosely related vignettes travel from the US to Mexico to the dream state “Interzone” and cover topics including drug addiction, politics and murder. It’s dark and there’s a lot of bad language. You have been warned!
Our Spoons Came From Woolworths is a partially fictionalised autobiography. “Sophia” lives in London, eking a meagre living as an artist in a commercial studio. She and her artist lover Charles marry young and struggle against poverty, a fight that gets harder when Sophia falls pregnant and loses her job. (You can read my recent review of this book here.)
Both books are “spare” copies that have not been read, but have been sat on my shelves for a while. I hope someone can give them a loving home! This competition is open to anyone living anywhere.
This blog hop with a literary flavour is being run by Judith of Leeswammes. To find out more check out the blog hop starting post. And do take some time to visit some of the other participants, listed below.
List of participants
On a damp, grey Saturday morning, not yet fully awake, what could be better than a robust, hot drink at a friendly local cafe? So I was glad that I had arranged to drop by A Cappella today to taste its new Red range of rooibos tea espressos. On the other hand, I believe in giving completely honest reviews and I’d hate to have to say anything bad about a favourite local eatery. Was this a good plan?
Joe the barista takes his job seriously. I remember him telling me once about the chemistry of hot milk and sugar while serving me a cappuccino. When he heard through the coffee-makers grapevine about rooibos espressos he quickly persuaded A Cappella owners Paul and Jennifer to give it a try.
Treating tea leaves like coffee is a challenge that takes some practice, and Joe has found that it’s so new an idea that other experimenters are reluctant to share their knowledge. So it’s a bit of a steep learning curve, but one he’s relishing. The idea comes from South Africa, the home of rooibos tea. Farmer Carl Pretorius wanted to wean himself off caffeine but still enjoy an espresso-like drink. Rooibos tea is naturally caffeine-free and Carl figured out a way to make espresso shots of it. He (cannily) patented his idea in 2005 and sold it to local coffee shops, who began to use the shots to make the “traditional” range of coffee drinks from the rooibos – cappuccinos, americanos, lattes and so on.
So it’s actually been around for a few years, but there are still very few places in the UK that sell the Red range. A few in London, one in Birmingham and now A Cappella in Bristol. But enough of all this background; how does it taste?
Not like coffee, so don’t order it expecting that. If you’re familiar with rooibos (or redbush) tea, that’s obviously the basis of the taste, but this isn’t like what you get from a Co-op teabag. We (Tim and I) tasted the cappuccino, americano and macchiato. The americano – without milk – was my favourite, without question. It has a robust, earthy taste, is easy to drink and very warming. The cappuccino has added honey and cinnamon, and I thought the rooibos taste got a little lost, though the milk was so beautifully creamy that it was still a tasty drink. It reminded me of a milky chai tea, though not that spicy. A definite bedtime drink. The macchiato again tasted a little weak on tea and strong on milk and that’s a shame because a macchiato really should have some kick to it. But that could probably be resolved with a bit more practice on Joe’s part.
The drinks look amazing, actually red, even the milky ones. I can definitely see myself ordering one of these again on a not-coffee day (i.e. any of the 6 days a week I don’t have coffee) although I can’t see this replacing coffee for me and I worry that the marketing is so coffee-centric, it may not be aimed at the right people. It’s a very different drink. Tasty in its own right, but I’m not convinced by the “coffee replacement” angle.
A Cappella, 184c Wells Road, Bristol, solicited this review via Twitter. Check them out for the best pizzas in Bristol!
All photos by talkie_tim.
