Zabriskie Book Club

On a night when most restaurants in the blistery Bondi Beach district had barely a handful of people, Ravesi’s exclusive cocktail lounge Drift was a-buzz for the launch of the first Zabriskie Book Club.  Zabriskie is of course Bondi’s favourite independent bookseller. For their inaugural monthly event they had an animated room; they were all talking about ‘that’ lion clip on You-Tube. I’m sure you know the one –two men go visit the lion they purchased from Harrods and returned to the ‘wilds’ of Africa. If you’re really still in the dark, search for ‘Christian the lion’.

The only way to know find out whether it should have stayed a seventy-five second clip, or gone on to become an international bestseller, of course is to read Anthony “Ace” Bourke and John Rendall’s book, A Lion Called Christian. Most book clubbers were excitedly clutching a signed copy before the night was out. All I can tell you personally is that the candle-lit Drift lounge has comfortable couches, a warming fire, a well-designed cocktail list, good gourmet pizza and a number of tasty tapas options on offer.

So if you feel a bit bookish in these autumnal times, slip in, sit back and soak up some culture with Bondi’s literati on the last Tuesday of every month. The next book club on Tuesday, 26th May boasts Phillip Jones, the winner of the non-fiction category in the 2008 Prime Minister’s Literary Awards for his book Ochre and Rust: Artefacts and Encounters on Australian Frontiers. Jones is also a historian and curator of Aboriginal art at the South Australian Museum.

Visit www.ravesis.com.au, or phone (02) 9365 4422 for more information. Ravesi’s is located at the corner of Campbell Parade & Hall Street, Bondi Beach.