The Albion Beatnik Bookstore website (or how to change a light bulb in a tight space on a ladder)

The web page of the Albion Beatnik Bookstore, based once in Oxford, then Sibiu, always neo-bankrupt, now closed for business: atavistic and very analogue, its musings and misspells on books and stuff.

Monthly Archives: June, 2017

Siciliano, Spirituality & Saccharin

The mid-twentieth century vogue for transcribing Bach chorales or instrumentals for the piano was a meeting point of nostalgia and aspiration, perhaps sounding boards to reflect hope against the political … Continue reading

30th June 2017 · Leave a comment

Sunrise at Wittenham Clumps

I spent the night on the Round Hill at Wittenham Clumps to catch sunrise, fortified by a fire, tea, and the best company. Paul Nash described the view from The … Continue reading

26th June 2017 · 3 Comments

The Modern Baker

This book ‘feels’ right. Is produced by a shop in Summertown I’ve never been to (Summertown to me is a ghastly concoction of the town planners’ fevered mind, mock Corinthian … Continue reading

22nd June 2017 · Leave a comment

It’s the Church Pew that Moves, Not the Earth

You gotta be bonkers not to love Barbara Pym’s novels. Her acme was a 1950s suburban or neo-rural setting where The Archers doesn’t quite meet James Bond, coz you don’t get … Continue reading

20th June 2017 · Leave a comment

Machiavellian Eisteddfod, Acetate Gold & Death by Corn Flakes

The Oxford Silent Film Society has had regular and mesmerising screenings in the Beatnik. All of the films have been of interest historically, although some nearly as dull as lukewarm ditchwater … Continue reading

9th June 2017 · Leave a comment

The Fabrications by Baret Magarian

[https://youtu.be/1XrbTqiQGcg, The Mighty Boosh innit] So Howard Moon says it’s more about quality than quantity in the modern novel. For sure, but I can’t think of too many exciting novels … Continue reading

7th June 2017 · Leave a comment

Everything Wrong With You Is Beautiful

I’ve always liked Tina Sederholm’s poetry. There is a plumb line weighted with honesty that cuts through it, and she probes either side of its divide. Her whole craft is … Continue reading

3rd June 2017 · Leave a comment

Bernard O’Donoghue’s Connolly’s Bookshop

Barbara Pym’s Excellent Women