false 3230888 8 It was a cup of coffee that changed Robert Wallis’s life --- and a cup of very bad coffee at that. The impoverished poet is sitting in a London coffeehouse contemplating an uncertain future when he meets Samuel Pinker. The owner of Castle Coffee offers Wallace the very last thing a struggling young artiste in fin de siècle England could possibly want: a job. But the job Wallis accepts --- employing his palate and talent for words to compose a “vocabulary of coffee” based on its many subtle and elusive flavors --- is only the beginning of an extraordinary adventure in which Wallis will experience the dizzying heights of desire and the excruciating pain of loss. As Wallis finds himself falling hopelessly in love with his coworker, Pinker’s spirited suffragette daughter Emily, both will discover that you cannot awaken one set of senses without affecting all the others. Their love is tested when Wallis is dispatched on a journey to North Africa in search of the legendary Arab mocca. As he travels to coffee’s fabled birthplace --- and learns the fiercely guarded secrets of the trade --- Wallis meets Fikre, the defiant, seductive slave of a powerful coffee merchant, who serves him in the traditional Abyssinian coffee ceremony. And when Fikre dares to slip Wallis a single coffee bean, the mysteries of coffee and forbidden passion intermingle…and combine to change history and fate. 3265288 19 6 2008 The Various Flavours of Coffee total:140|5:16|4:49|3:43|2:25|1:7| 140 462 306 53 5 2 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 16:40:09 -0700 2008 Thu Sep 04 16:40:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 1 1 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Sep 12 06:18:42 -0700 2008 Sat Mar 14 10:12:29 -0700 2009
At this tale's beginning, our hero, surveying himself from a distance of some years, warns us of his past self, "I doubt that you will like him very much: that is of no consequence, I do not like him very much myself. He is--well, you will see what he is."

Wh...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Dec 04 09:28:23 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 13 06:35:16 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Apr 01 09:07:49 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 01 09:33:43 -0700 2009
The story itself isn't so fabulous for the first 3/4 of the book. The protagonist is ...more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 31 14:12:58 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 04:47:14 -0800 2009 1
Over the first few pages I hated the main character and thought I would hate the book. As I read more I like...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Aug 03 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 01 11:35:50 -0700 2009 Fri Aug 07 03:13:26 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Nov 30 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Nov 27 09:40:32 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 30 08:17:14 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 08:51:55 -0700 2009 Mon May 04 08:58:44 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Sat Oct 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Dec 20 09:28:16 -0800 2008 Sat Oct 24 11:14:10 -0700 2009
London, 1895

Robert Wallis leaves Oxford under less than honorable circumstances. He fancies himself a poet or writer, but isn't actually talented or motivated. To support himself, he finds employment with a coffee merchant -- tasting various coffees and fi...more...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Dec 20 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Oct 31 14:24:56 -0700 2008 Sat Dec 20 14:50:20 -0800 2008 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Mon Sep 08 08:23:50 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 29 08:16:15 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 12:41:19 -0700 2009 Tue Aug 25 12:46:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 26 10:11:56 -0800 2008 Mon Nov 09 02:21:13 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Dec 24 12:13:51 -0800 2008 Tue Jun 23 07:53:47 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 10:10:33 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 19 10:19:03 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 10:25:18 -0700 2009 Sun Jun 21 10:29:28 -0700 2009
I liked the portraits of women as people who strive to be self determining.

It was also a great "journey" novel - the author's evolution in his attitudes towards women and what is impor...]]> 2 0 false false Sat Jan 17 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 16 21:21:07 -0800 2009 Sat Jan 17 23:15:34 -0800 2009
It did get slightly better halfway through. The symbolism/message was okay, but I was not all that interested in the story lines.]]> 4 0 false false Sat Feb 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 14:39:28 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 14:44:29 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Fri Mar 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Mar 04 12:02:19 -0800 2009 Fri Mar 13 06:38:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Apr 28 09:21:54 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 09:26:27 -0700 2009