Literary Lounge Room Brings Soul to the City on the Awning Over the Gotham Book Mart on New York’S West 47Th Street Is a Sign That Says “Wise Men Fish Here”
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FREE Issue One Tea in the Library Music at Tea in the Library Himalayan Children’s supports the Smith Family – live jazz or classics Thursday Foundation “Learning for Life” evenings and Sunday afternoons benefits from Tea in the Library. through November and December. Literary lounge room brings soul to the city On the awning over The Gotham Book Mart on New York’s West 47th Street is a sign that says “Wise men fish here”. Plagiarism is not in the It was important to Annette to find a niche best traditions of not currently filled by other booksellers, publishing, so you’ll and to create an ambiance and approach not find the same to the retail experience that is unique. She motto at Tea In The has certainly achieved that with her Library. But Sydney’s “literary lounge room” atmosphere newest Bookstore/Cafe embraces the reminiscent of a New York literary concept of those celebrated New York discussion club, a private club in Boston literary haunts where ideas are wealth and or Washington, or even an English talent is currency. country house library. Tea In The Library is not so much about Despite the fact that contemporary sales targets as it is about making a novelists have been mysteriously silent significant contribution to Sydney’s on the subject of gingered ricotta with intellectual landscape. It is the vision of honey and pinenuts, Tea In The Library Annette Freeman, BA/LLB (ANU), takes its food as seriously as its fiction. LLM (UTS), an intellectual property The discreet cafe kitchen offers creative lawyer whose original arts degree was fresh dishes, juices and excellent teas and taken with a major in English Literature. espresso coffees. Annette – who has retained a life-long But while the ambiance may be relaxing, passion for books – sees Tea In The a key element of the bookstore will be the Library as essentially “a bookstore for informed personalised service of staff booklovers”. who are passionate about books and What Tea In The Library is not, is bookstores. Heading the team is Lorraine “another bookshop”. This one has trained Reed who has an impressive background staff and personalised service instead of as a bookseller and buyer, as well as discounts and remainders. It is about the impeccable credentials as an antiquarian cultural value of books and reading, not bookseller and valuer, in both Britain and the intellectual vacuum of anecdotes Australia. from the previous cricket tour written by Lorraine’s expertise in buying and selling fast bowlers. It is an influential destination practices is reflected in the high “tech- Join us for relaxation and discussion. Inset: Annette Freeman bookstore for the sales of books on awareness” of Tea In The Library – using cultural and social matters of concern, as advanced information technology to well as high-quality fiction. provide accurate and detailed data for As the template of a literary community, customers. A special services desk will Tea In The Library has taken on the key handle orders, deliveries, information and gift-wrapping. Philip Adams to Open Tea role of providing a lively forum for the dissecting, analysis and judgment of In her commitment to promote the literature and the issues literature most cultural value of books and reading, In The Library! importantly addresses. Expect, then, an Annette Freeman has undertaken to environment as stimulating as it is support the wide distribution of books to Elected one of provocative opinions to challenge Book of Australian Jokes, Talkback, contemplative. children both locally and in developing Australia’s 100 National thought and stimulate debate. For Retreat From Tolerance and A Billion countries by donations of books and Annette is confident of Tea In The Living Treasures, Phillip almost 50 years Phillip’s columns Voices. Library sharing a common fascination money to charitable enterprises such as Adams writes weekly have provoked discussion and outrage. Who better then to open the newest with, and enjoyment of, bookstores, by the Smith Family and the Himalayan columns for The His writing has appeared in many of and most interesting bookstore to encouraging lingering, browsing and Children’s Foundation. Australian newspaper Australia’s most influential publi- appear on the Australian bookselling relaxation. Back in the 19th Century, Tea In The Library Bookstore and Café and is in constant demand as a speaker, cations and he has been a contributor scene? We look forward to an evening Augustine Birrell wrote that a man will open seven days a week and most chairman and moderator at public and to The Times and The Financial Times of stimulating, provocative and surrounded by at least 2000 books would public holidays. Initially, business hours private sector conferences. In his in London and to the New York Times. amusing discussion at Tea In The have at least one place in the world in will be 7.30am–6pm Mon to Wed and speaking engagements, broadcasts and Library. We also anticipate that this will which to be happy. At Tea In The Library, Fri; 7.30am–9pm Thurs; 10am–5pm Sat; writing, Phillip tackles the urgent He is the author of over 20 books be the prelude to many regular literary ✹ he would have been in Heaven. and noon–4pm Sun. questions facing society in the 21st including The Unspeakable Adams, events to be held at our new city century using wit, humour and his Adams Versus God, The Penguin bookstore. ✹ WHAT’S INSIDE: STAFF PROFILES • BOOK REVIEWS • COMING EVENTS • BOOK CLUB NEWS November 2003 READING LOLITA IN TEHRAN: The Books of Alexander A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi r Nadisi’s novel is set against the background of the Islamic revolution in Iran and describes the attempt McCall Smith E ' S R E by ordinary Iranian people to retain some vestige of R V D I I intellectual endeavour in the face of that revolution with its A E Alexander McCall Smith has catapulted to fame with his five novels set in L W rigid doctrines. C • Botswana: The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Tears of the Giraffe, Morality • Azar Nadisi is a lecturer at the University. She is at times C L W for Beautiful Girls, The Kalahari Typing School for Men, and The Full Cupboard not able to teach but she gathers a group of her best A E I I students and some interested bystanders to meet each R V E ' R E of Life. The sixth in the series is due out next year, and McCall Smith is under week at her home to discuss some of the icons of Western S contract to write two more. literature such as Vladimir Nabokov, F Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James and Jane Austen. She also becomes, in the eyes of her students, a beacon in the darkness. We get to know her students and their lives as A truly original book is a well as her own. N ' S R L Y E V rare occurrence, but E I C E original, delightful, Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this book is the way in which W O Western literature, even the cosiness of Jane Austen, enhances and J quirky and funny • • is quite remarkable. reflects the lives and concerns of the Iranian students. This novel will have J you reaching for your Henry James and Jane Austen, seeing those novels O W To write convincingly E C I in the voice of a in a fresh light. E V L E Y N ' S R woman when you are a Nadisi’s tale comes across as totally authentic. Humour, love and the man is an achievement, human spirit strive to assert themselves under this difficult and myopic but to write convincingly as a regime. It is a novel which does not make a strong political statement but Botswanan woman when you are a quietly reflects the writer herself and the small victories she is able to win. Professor of Medical Law living in The regime’s greatest crime is to take away the imagination of the Scotland is even more of an achievement. The creator of these beautiful and Points of Sausage Dogs’and ‘At the Villa of populace and replace it with indoctrination. Never has the issue of art in Alexander McCall Smith’s five novels gentle books is a multi-talented man Reduced Circumstances’ all featuring the society been better explored than in the gentle persuasion of this novel. about Precious Ramotswe, the owner and who grew up in Zimbabwe and taught unnaturally tall and wonderfully eccentric The dark clouds of revolution gather and we are reminded of the chief detective of Botswana’s No 1 at Botswana University. He has written Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. unexplained disappearances of individuals, women accused of moving Ladies’ Detective Agency, is the most prolifically in the fields of medical and Next year we can look forward to too seductively or being reprimanded for running, the crime of showing a pleasurable read I have had in some time. criminal law, writes novels, short more books by Alexander McCall stories and children’s books and, few strands of hair. These things are a backdrop to the artistic exploration As the owner and chief detective of amongst numerous other interests, is Smith in another series. within the novel. Like Dr Nadisi’s students, we experience a sense of loss Botswana’s No 1 Ladies’ Detective the founder and resident bassoonist of Jocelyn Munday – Book Reviewer when she finally leaves Iran. Agency, Mma Ramotswe’s cases the curiously named ensemble, The Profile. include an eclectic mix of errant I recommend this book to anyone who is a lover of literature and who Really Terrible Orchestra.