A thought by Ruth Reichl
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Tag Archives: reading list
Book Fix Dublin – Hodges Figgis
Where to find good books in Dublin?
No.2 – Hodges Figgis. The name sounds like a Dickens character, the shopfront looks exactly how you would picture Dublin’s oldest bookstore. Huge windows full of books curve towards the door like a bell jar. Their frames and the door are dark green, like the leather inserts on a library table.
But the shop is not resting on its long and illustrious pedigree (which includes being mentioned in Ulysses, no less). From humanities, business and sciences on the top floor to the sweeping selection of classic and modern literature, Hodges Figgis is eminently knowledgeable without being snobbish. Continue reading
A thought by Jorge Luis Borges
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Book Fix Dublin – The Secret Book and Record Store
Where to find good books in Dublin?
No.1 – The Secret Book and Record Store. A bookworms’ lair unfazed by fashions.
The Secret Book and Record Store is not all that secretly located in the city centre of Dublin. Around the corner from busy Grafton Street, amidst cafés and shops, a large yellow sign adorns the entrance. The corridor burrows away into the old building. At the end of it, boxes and tables and shelves full of books fill a low room almost to the ceiling.
A thought by Ernest Hemingway
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Berlin Book Fix – No.6: Goldhahn & Sampson
Where to find books in English in Berlin?
No.6 – Goldhahn & Sampson in Prenzlauer Berg. The cook book lover’s treasure chest.
Goldhahn & Sampson caters for the mind as well as the palate. They sell food, wine and delicatessen – local specialities from around Berlin and elsewhere. A contradiction? Not at all: speciality food is generally rooted in a certain locality. That’s what makes it special and different from the foods from other localities, and of course from the mass-produced products that have the same taste (or lack thereof) everywhere. Continue reading
A thought by Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Berlin Book Fix – No.5: Hundt Hammer Stein
Where to find books in English in Berlin?
No. 5 – Hundt Hammer Stein in Mitte. Style and substance are no contradiction for this basement bookshop.
The area around U-Bahn station Weinmeisterstraße is a hub for stylish young Berlin. The shops sell contemporary urban fashion for art and architecture aficionados – COS, Skunk Funk, Urban Outfitters, & Other Stories – and during Berlin Fashion Week, the footpaths are a gauntlet of prosecco tables. Around the corner in Alte Schönhauser Straße, between Australian ice cream, Japanese sneakers and Italian espresso machines, the Hundt Hammer Stein bookshop takes up a basement unit. Continue reading
A thought by Sir Francis Bacon
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Berlin Book Fix – No.4: Curious Fox New and Used English Books
Where to find books in English in Berlin?
No. 4 – Curious Fox New and Used English Books in Neukölln. Excellent selection of Irish writers, lovely spot for a cup of tea.
The Curious Fox has its burrow on Flughafenstraße, where the hill dips down again from the Flughafen Tempelhof heights towards the shopping district around Rathaus Neukölln.
It is a cosy shop with a red sofa by the entrance and a couple of easy chairs in the back room – you can also get tea or coffee at the counter. Locals drop in for a chat as much as to browse the collection. Continue reading
Spoons and Books 