Globe Corner Blogs

Ólöf Arnalds and Mugison played a few songs for a crowd who braved the elements on Saturday the 13th. For anyone who missed it, here’s a clip of Ólöf singing for us:

Royal Street -photo by Meghan

On a recent trip to New Orleans for spring break, I found the city of my birth to be as interesting and unique as I had always imagined it. (I left when I was six-months-old).  Part “old-world” European, and part something all its own, traveling to New Orleans is like leaving the country without having to change currency or take your passport.  I spent the first day – inappropriately dressed for the humid spring weather in a sweatshirt and scarf – taking in the massive freighters steaming down the Mississippi and capping off the evening with some crawfish étouffée in the French Quarter: the perfect introduction to the Crescent City.

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There are quite a few excellent memoirs about growing up in Zimbabwe packing our shelves, but The Last Resort is the first one I have ever described as “really funny.” The Last Resort quickly became a staff favorite (not just because the frog on the cover is really cute) because it is a fascinating read – I found it impossible to put down. Douglas Rogers, now a Brooklyn-based journalist and travel writer, grew up in Zimbabwe and his parents continue to run their backpacker’s lodge, Drifters, today. The problem was that after reading the book, I desperately wanted to know what happened next to his parents and Drifters. So I asked, and he responded with an update.

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Photo by Kate

A number of times on our vacation last month in Turks and Caicos, we looked around the beach, and saw no one. Really, no one. Just some crabs, and some birds, but that’s it.

We embarked on this vacation with Thoreauesque goals: not so much transcendentalism or  civil disobedience, but just to get the heck away from people. We hardly had to try; even on the main island of Providenciales, all we had to do was avoid Grace Bay, and we found deserted stretches of white sand and strangely blue waters.

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We opted not to stay in Grace Bay, the main resort area with some of the most beautiful beaches on the island, but instead followed our solitary path out to Northwest Point, part of Provo known for the diving and the Marine National Park. There are only two resorts at this end of the island: the super-swank Amanyara and the very mellow, laid-back Northwest Point Resort (where we stayed). At either place, the beaches are empty and great for walking or some low-key snorkeling.

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Living and traveling green doesn’t take great personal sacrifice, but not all of us know how to get started without giving up our habits and routines. “Green” may be a popular trend, but you don’t have to buy expensive “earth friendly” products, eat strictly vegan, or stop going places and retreat to a secluded cabin in the woods to practice eco-living. Allow me to present some Hidden Treasures that will prove it to you.

Wake Up And Smell The Planet, The Non-Pompous, Non-Preachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day edited by Brangien Davis with Katharine Wroth

“We bet we can guess what your morning routine looks like: You gently click off your solar-powered alarm clock, crawl out of your hemp sheets, don organic cotton slippers a recycled fleece robe, and shuffle across your bamboo floors to the bathroom where you bathe in rain water and botanicals harvested from your own garden.
Not quite? Good.” This is when you snicker and read on.

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Iceland --photo by Lisa

I am absurdly excited  about the upcoming Viking Invasion of Boston. From March 11-17,  Boston will be hosting A Taste of Iceland. This festival of Icelandic culture and entertainment is bringing Icelandic musicians, DJs, acclaimed chefs, and a film festival to various venues in and around Boston in celebration of all things Icelandic…and Icelandair’s non-stop service to Reykjavik. You can even enter a drawing to win a trip to Reykjavik! The full schedule of events can be found at the “Iceland Naturally” website.

Certain staff members of the Globe Corner have already expressed their love for all things Icelandic: from the delicious and addictive Skyr, Arnaldur Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur Series, and The Blue Lagoon (a geothermal spa) to the always interesting Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We’re so excited about the festival that we’re taking 15% off all books about and maps of Iceland through March 17th. And as an extra bonus,  Icelandic singer Ólöf Arnalds will be dropping by the store on Saturday, March 13th at 4:30 p.m. to play a few songs for us!

Abaco Libros y Cafe -- photo by Pat

Where do bookstore workers always go when they’re on vacation? Other bookstores. So when the owners of The Globe Corner Bookstore attended The Hay Literary Festival in Cartageña de Indias, Colombia, Pat Carrier visited Ábaco Libros y Café. He was lucky enough to chat with an owner there and write an article about it for Publishers Weekly. Here is a snippet:

Abaco Libros bookmark

“A highlight of my attendance last year was observing the bustling energy of Ábaco Libros y Café, a small literary bookstore and cafe in the heart of the walled city of Cartageña. The store is near the Theater Heredia, the main venue of the festival—and not so coincidentally near the home of Gabriel García Márquez, the spiritual godfather of the Latin American literary world affectionately known here as Gabo. Throughout the festival weekend, the bookstore was packed with attendees rushing in to buy the next speaker’s books; and its cafe tables were filled with international press interviewing festival writers and drinking café con leche.

This year, I was determined to find out more about bookselling in Colombia. Interviewing one of the two business partners in Ábaco Libros seemed a good start. Néstor Rimoli kindly agreed to such an interview during one of their busiest weekends of the year. “