Alice: trying to get back to her roots

The Rose: Just what species or, shall we say, genus are you, my dear?

Alice: Well, I guess you would call me... genus, humanus... Alice.

Queen of Hearts: Now, where do you come from?

Alice: Well, I'm trying to find my way home . . .

Alice: Oh, no, no. I was just hoping

that you could help me find my way.

Cheshire Cat: Well that depends on where you want to get to.

Daisy: What kind of a garden do you come from?

Alice: Oh, I don't come from any garden.

Daisy: Do you suppose she's a wildflower?

Alice: If I had a world of my own,

everything would be nonsense.

Nothing would be what it is

because everything would be what it isn't.

And contrary-wise; what it is it wouldn't be,

and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?

Christ Church, Oxford

Mad Hatter: Would you like a little more tea?

Alice: Well, I haven't had any yet, so I can't very well take more.

March Hare: Ah, you mean you can't very well take less.

Mad Hatter: Yes. You can always take more than nothing.

Alice's Shop

Cheshire Cat: If I were looking for a white rabbit,

I'd ask the Mad Hatter.

Alice: The Mad Hatter? Oh, no no no...

White Rabbit: I'm late / I'm late /

For a very important date.

/ No time to say "Hello." / Goodbye.

/ I'm late, I'm late, I'm late.

After transatlantic travel, and considerable delay,

Alice finally makes it from California to Oxford.

Thanks to ArtSpark Theatre
for the inspiration
and loan of Alice.

Oxford: Bookstore fantasies

On Walton Street

Jericho, Oxford

I have a "thing" (is fetish too strong a word?) for independent bookstores. (Indeed, one of my enduring fantasies is to be the owner of one someday.)

I love the idea of well-edited collections -- no trash, only treasures -- where bibliophiles can browse and find all of the books that they always meant to read. A friend says: You must read this book . . . and there it is! Rarities, classics and deserved best-sellers -- all beautifully bound and arranged.

Albion Beatnik is just such a place.

Albion Beatnik

An intriguing mix of the British and the American

There are lots of places to buy books in Oxford, but I doubt there is a collection as eccentric (and yet tempting to my tastes) as the one in Albion Beatnik. Reflecting the owner's passions, it has an excellent collection of jazz (books and records), Beat poets, and 20th century American and British literature grouped by decades. There is a really substantial section of Virginia Woolf and other Bloomsbury writers, both fiction and nonfiction. I was also really impressed by how many British female authors -- particularly those writing between the 1930s and 1960s -- were represented.

An old-fashioned touch: wrapped in plain brown paper

Did I need four new books? Well, that's not the point.

My new treasures:

The Tortoise and the Hare by Elizabeth Jenkins

The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning

Angel by Elizabeth Taylor

In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor

I am increasingly aware of the mental cross-pollination taking place in my orbit of the blogosphere. All of these books (or authors) have been recommended to me recently by blog-friends.

Train Landscape, Eric Ravilious

Tomorrow I will be taking the long train journey from Berkshire to Devon. And although I've requested a window seat, from which to view the beautiful countryside moving westwards, no doubt I will be distracted by my travelling companions (Amanda Craig and Elizabeth Jenkins).