A bookshop called Curious Fox.
Under the big yellow sign which reads ‘Curious Fox’, there’s a blackboard on it something that perturbs me has been chalked: ‘English books’. It should be ‘books in English’. Below which is written ‘Tea and coffee’, wouldn´t be an English bookstore does not serve Tea.
As I entered the bookstore I soon realized Christmas had come early not only for the bookstore but for me as well. The one that book which stands out the most would be one of Desperate Housewives with guns, knives and torches in their hands. The shelves were brimming with books from every era and genre imaginable and every inch of the walls was covered in stickers, fridge magnets, postcards and posters. There’s a tray full of Mr. Men books, a Winnie the Pooh audiobook, and even a whole section devoted to cheap used books for poor students, like the author of this article. There were also the latest titles by the hippest authors too, ranging from ‘Living a Feminist Life’ by Sara Ahmed to ‘There are Little Kingdoms’ by Kevin Barry.
In preparation for the quiz the store has been littered with folding chairs and stools. Not spotting any of my classmates/ slash teammates for the quiz tonight I start to panic message the group chat
who all tell me they are 10 minutes away, (30 minutes in real time) and order me to find us
everyone good seats. Not wanting to be the one to break it to them, I took the only corner with
cushion chairs left, and waited for them to arrive before telling them they would have to fight
over the only other cushion chair in the spot I had taken., Tthe losers would have to sit on stools
the size of a folding napkin, folded. Early bookworm gets the cushioned seat.
The selection of quizzes was excellent, covering everything from mainstream adult book award winners to books that took me back to my childhood days. My happiness knew no bounds when I spotted Eoin Colfer in the kid´s section.
As I sit down I hear a clear-as-spring-water Irish voice(EDIT:Irish springs and the crystal clear water are renowned, hence the badly phrased metaphor(Hi, Amy)) say “Oh so it’s your first time? Maybe you could team up with them? They are on their own too.”
I look over to see who the speaker is. I spot David talking to a tall, fair haired Frenchmen and his friend.
If I had thought the books were diverse, the participants made me rethink my definition of diverse.
There was a group dressed in all black, piercings galore and black make up huddled around a miniature coffin which had black skulls on its sides and black candles atop it. For lack of a better name let’s call these people The Goths. Seated right next to them, was another group which if anyone saw them would have put their money on them to win the quiz night, seated in the corner they were all middle aged men with the sole exception of one girl, who had a drink in her hand throughout the quiz and left the bookstore every round to smoke a cigarette.
Then there was the hip group who went on to answer all the song and movie questions thrown at them correctly.
The group sitting in front of us consisted of a married couple and two friends who had thrown in their
lot together for this quiz and a few before. This group knew the answer to most of Historical art
question.
The last group seated next to us had just joined forces with some help from David. Even though they
came last I felt like they were the real winners as I saw each of them receive a book.
Then there was us, 59 year old Ian who, when he answered with “Beastie Boys” when presented with
the names of the band members got looks of respect from a couple of the other participants – either
they were looks of respect for knowing that or finally getting an answer right after ten wrong answers.Boisterous Peggy who wouldn’t let someone say Boris Johnson without muttering “wanker”. Aisha who stole the thunder of the Goth group by answering what was the instrument in the hand of the person in the left side of American Gothic and her boyfriend Nate, who being the son of a pastor couldn’t name the last testament - but could name 15-20 movies based offone screenshot. Rachel seemed like she had got lost on her way to a music dance festival and was asking for directions.
Before the quiz had even started, Rachel spotted the Sci-Fi and graphic novel section and her eyes lit up. It was as if a child had been let loose in a toy store. She struggled to keep her eyes off the section throughout the night, dashing off between the rounds… choosing to check out the section rather than help her team win what they came for. Then me trying my best not to throw shade on the group who knew way too much about literature than me, who for some inconceivable reason they took my word for where an author was from.
Before the quiz started we all had to submit one euro in a pot which would be then taken by the winners of the quiz.
There were 8 rounds, with the topics ranging from guess the current news and songs and pieces of art
from the last millenium. Every group was given a sheet of paper to write their answers in and submit it at the end of the round. However for some of the rounds we were given no paper. The question either went around till someone could answer it or in the case no one could (which never happened) the quiz masters would answer. Then there was the round where we were given ‘buzzers’ (an assortment of instruments including a triangle, bottle full of coins).
“This selection is so good; please get me out of here Avik before the urge to buy more comes.” Darius mutters to me. Not wanting to cause him any more distress (for the next hour at least) I pay the bill for ‘Heart of Darkness’ ,“A Short History of Europe”, which he’s making me buy for him. He’s also in a hurry to get back home to his feature-less feature or profile-less profile that he’s working on for the reader of this article.
This happened my third visit to the store, one which I solely make to write about the physical environment of the bookshop. Which I should´ve done when I came to ask David and Orla if I could interview them for my assignment, which has now ended up as my blogpost. I end up sending them an email with a list of questions, which was David´s idea after Orla shuns me citing X´mas being a busy time for the store(as it is in every store across the globe).
David moved to Berlin in 2008 and met Orla at ‘Another Country’, which is a bookstore in
Kreuzberg, in 2008. Even going on to start a quiz night there together, and as it such happens
with people sharing their lives with each other, they fell in love. As drastic times call for drastic
measures, they opened a book store and named in The Curious Fox.
David and Orla remained good natured and unbiased throughout the quiz, even making us sing out the lyrics to the songs we had guessed, when they could. Awarding points to the new group when one of them, instead of taking a guess at the song and its lyrics, started to do a jig. Or double points for us when one of us (me) asked him if we could cash in on our dance points for a question we had no idea about. David liked that so much he remembers me as the dance points guy now.
“There weren’t quite as many hubs for the English speaking community when we started off” he says as I ask him about the history and inspiration for the book store.
“The plan was always to have poetry nights and readings as we felt it would be a great way to get the
word out about the place and we wanted the shop to feel like a welcoming space and a part of the
community.” David says as I ask him about the story behind quiz nights and The Curious Fox.
A week later I spotted a familiar figure walking through the crowd walking in the opposite direction
tome. As it gets closer I can make out the facial features and recognize the MVP of the Goth group. As we lock eyes and recognize each other he nods his head and gives me a slight smile, and I return the gesture, and as we head our separate ways I realize how much more I’ve walked out from that quiz with.
Not just brainy and boring facts but a completely different outlook about this cold, grey and somewhat morose city called Berlin.
In preparation for the quiz the store has been littered with folding chairs and stools. Not spotting any of my classmates/ slash teammates for the quiz tonight I start to panic message the group chat
who all tell me they are 10 minutes away, (30 minutes in real time) and order me to find us
everyone good seats. Not wanting to be the one to break it to them, I took the only corner with
cushion chairs left, and waited for them to arrive before telling them they would have to fight
over the only other cushion chair in the spot I had taken., Tthe losers would have to sit on stools
the size of a folding napkin, folded. Early bookworm gets the cushioned seat.
The selection of quizzes was excellent, covering everything from mainstream adult book award winners to books that took me back to my childhood days. My happiness knew no bounds when I spotted Eoin Colfer in the kid´s section.
As I sit down I hear a clear-as-spring-water Irish voice(EDIT:Irish springs and the crystal clear water are renowned, hence the badly phrased metaphor(Hi, Amy)) say “Oh so it’s your first time? Maybe you could team up with them? They are on their own too.”
I look over to see who the speaker is. I spot David talking to a tall, fair haired Frenchmen and his friend.
If I had thought the books were diverse, the participants made me rethink my definition of diverse.
There was a group dressed in all black, piercings galore and black make up huddled around a miniature coffin which had black skulls on its sides and black candles atop it. For lack of a better name let’s call these people The Goths. Seated right next to them, was another group which if anyone saw them would have put their money on them to win the quiz night, seated in the corner they were all middle aged men with the sole exception of one girl, who had a drink in her hand throughout the quiz and left the bookstore every round to smoke a cigarette.
Then there was the hip group who went on to answer all the song and movie questions thrown at them correctly.
The group sitting in front of us consisted of a married couple and two friends who had thrown in their
lot together for this quiz and a few before. This group knew the answer to most of Historical art
question.
came last I felt like they were the real winners as I saw each of them receive a book.
Then there was us, 59 year old Ian who, when he answered with “Beastie Boys” when presented with
the names of the band members got looks of respect from a couple of the other participants – either
they were looks of respect for knowing that or finally getting an answer right after ten wrong answers.Boisterous Peggy who wouldn’t let someone say Boris Johnson without muttering “wanker”. Aisha who stole the thunder of the Goth group by answering what was the instrument in the hand of the person in the left side of American Gothic and her boyfriend Nate, who being the son of a pastor couldn’t name the last testament - but could name 15-20 movies based offone screenshot. Rachel seemed like she had got lost on her way to a music dance festival and was asking for directions.
Before the quiz had even started, Rachel spotted the Sci-Fi and graphic novel section and her eyes lit up. It was as if a child had been let loose in a toy store. She struggled to keep her eyes off the section throughout the night, dashing off between the rounds… choosing to check out the section rather than help her team win what they came for. Then me trying my best not to throw shade on the group who knew way too much about literature than me, who for some inconceivable reason they took my word for where an author was from.
Before the quiz started we all had to submit one euro in a pot which would be then taken by the winners of the quiz.
from the last millenium. Every group was given a sheet of paper to write their answers in and submit it at the end of the round. However for some of the rounds we were given no paper. The question either went around till someone could answer it or in the case no one could (which never happened) the quiz masters would answer. Then there was the round where we were given ‘buzzers’ (an assortment of instruments including a triangle, bottle full of coins).
“This selection is so good; please get me out of here Avik before the urge to buy more comes.” Darius mutters to me. Not wanting to cause him any more distress (for the next hour at least) I pay the bill for ‘Heart of Darkness’ ,“A Short History of Europe”, which he’s making me buy for him. He’s also in a hurry to get back home to his feature-less feature or profile-less profile that he’s working on for the reader of this article.
This happened my third visit to the store, one which I solely make to write about the physical environment of the bookshop. Which I should´ve done when I came to ask David and Orla if I could interview them for my assignment, which has now ended up as my blogpost. I end up sending them an email with a list of questions, which was David´s idea after Orla shuns me citing X´mas being a busy time for the store(as it is in every store across the globe).
David moved to Berlin in 2008 and met Orla at ‘Another Country’, which is a bookstore in
Kreuzberg, in 2008. Even going on to start a quiz night there together, and as it such happens
with people sharing their lives with each other, they fell in love. As drastic times call for drastic
measures, they opened a book store and named in The Curious Fox.
David and Orla remained good natured and unbiased throughout the quiz, even making us sing out the lyrics to the songs we had guessed, when they could. Awarding points to the new group when one of them, instead of taking a guess at the song and its lyrics, started to do a jig. Or double points for us when one of us (me) asked him if we could cash in on our dance points for a question we had no idea about. David liked that so much he remembers me as the dance points guy now.
“There weren’t quite as many hubs for the English speaking community when we started off” he says as I ask him about the history and inspiration for the book store.
“The plan was always to have poetry nights and readings as we felt it would be a great way to get the
word out about the place and we wanted the shop to feel like a welcoming space and a part of the
community.” David says as I ask him about the story behind quiz nights and The Curious Fox.
A week later I spotted a familiar figure walking through the crowd walking in the opposite direction
tome. As it gets closer I can make out the facial features and recognize the MVP of the Goth group. As we lock eyes and recognize each other he nods his head and gives me a slight smile, and I return the gesture, and as we head our separate ways I realize how much more I’ve walked out from that quiz with.
Not just brainy and boring facts but a completely different outlook about this cold, grey and somewhat morose city called Berlin.
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