If you ever find yourself in western Massachusetts or southern Vermont, make some time for a detour to the Book Mill in the village of Montague, Massachusetts. It’s well worth the time to track down this beautiful little bookshop with the self-effacing slogan “books you don’t need in a place you can’t find”. Everything about that quote is inaccurate—the shop is packed with a well curated stock of secondhand and new titles and they are situated not that far from U.S Interstate 91. Best of all, the bookstore is in a bucolic setting by a river and housed in an early 19th century grist mill.
Yesterday’s post on the new Museo Lavazza coffee museum in Turin got me thinking about just how important coffee is in my daily life and when I’m traveling. As a home roaster of raw green coffee beans, I take the brown elixir very seriously. When I’m away from home, one of the first things that I will do is search out local coffee houses. And not just any joe joint will do, I have to find the shops that do their own roasting, or at the very least purchase their beans from a local small scale roaster.
What’s your coffee routine when you are away from home? Is discovering local coffeeshops an important part of your travel experience ? How do you discover that special coffee spot? Drop me a note or make a comment below, if coffee makes your world go ’round too. Share some of your favorite brew spots from your travels or even your home town.
I have preferred coffee establishments wherever I travel. For example, in Reykjavik, I always try and stay within a 10-minute walk of Reykjavik Roasters. Iceland has a rich coffee culture, and Reykjavik is dotted with great coffee spots, but I love the small batch roasts and cozy atmosphere at RR. In fact, on my last visit, I rented an Airbnb on the same block so that I could get my fix first thing in the AM.
Lavazza, the world famous coffee producer, has just opened it new headquarters at Piazza Nuvola in Torino, Italy. While that might not be exciting to some readers, those of us who think that coffee makes the world go round are thrilled. The stunning new corporate HQ also includes an all new Museo Lavazza, which takes a deep dive into coffee production, history, and culture, with 52 interactive installations.
Visitors to the museum are guided through the exhibitions by a “smart’ coffee cup, which activates digital displays. Along the five designated coffee routes, one can visit a coffee production facility, see historic advertising and media displays, learn about coffee consumption rituals, discover coffee culture mysteries, and even sample a unique museum blend.
The Museo Lavazza is open Wednesday through Sunday, with a 10€ admission fee for adults.
Torino, 12-04-2018. Inaugurazione nuova sede generale Lavazza chiamata Nuvola. nella foto il Museo Lavazza
Copenhagen-based artist and psychotherapist Johan Deckmann has a knack for creating devilishly clever bogus bookcovers that are at once humorous and insightful. Here are a few examples, but you can follow his thoughtful and funny work over at his personal website.
I recently had a request from TBTP follower Bill C. from Oakland for a bookstore suggestion in walking distance from St Pancras International Station in London. Bill said that he expected to have an hour or two to kill before catching the Eurostar to Amsterdam (lucky guy) and wanted to browse a “quintessential” British bookshop. My first response was unequivocally Black Books. But since Black Books is entirely a fictional bookstore, I said that he would have to settle for Collinge & Clark Books, which stood in for the fictitious shop from the much loved Dylan Moran TV series Black Books.
These days, Collinge & Clark is owned and managed solely by Oliver Clark. The cozy small bookshop is packed with a thoughtfully curated collection. Clark’s specialties the last time that I checked were private press books, design, typography, literary first editions, and miscellaneous secondhand titles. Unfortunately, Clark seems to keep very limited weekday opening hours and is closed on weekends. So, I also suggested that Bill would be better off at Skoob Books, which is just a few minutes further walk from St Pancras. Skoob (which is just books backwards) has an enormous selection of secondhand titles in every conceivable specialty and is open daily.
Many readers consider H.P.Lovecraft to be the father of modern horror fantasy. In fact, the term “Lovecraftian” is frequently used to describe any particularly scary story, book, or film. But I’ve been surprised at the number of horror/fantasy genre fans that I meet who know little about Howard Phillips Lovecraft and have never read his original works. I recently stumble upon an excellent essay by Emma Stefansky over at the Polygon website that offers a well curated guide to Lovecraft’s writings. The article is also accompanied by superbly creepy original illustrations by Michael Bukowski. It’s well worth a read whether you are new to Lovecraft or a life-long reader.
H/t to Bonnie Kuster Butler for this post.
When is a book art ? A current exhibition at LA’s Getty Research Institute explores the many ways in which artists create objects that straddle the worlds of books and art. The show, titled Artists and Their Books/Books and Their Artists presents more than 40 exceptional examples of artists’ books that explode the definition of the “book” . The show aims to engender an open discussion of the roles that books play in contemporary culture. For more information on the exhibition, which runs through October 28th, check out the website.
Travel Between The Pages 