Alex Johnson (1) (1969–)

A collection of images of unusual and artistically designed bookshelves, many featuring curvy shapes, odd angles, and other interesting effects. I must say, the book-lover in me can't help looking askance at a lot of these, as many or most of them seem more than a little impractical, and clearly designed by people who care way more about the visual impact of the shelves than they do about books and the storing thereof. Still, the pictures are a lot of fun to look through, and even if there show more aren't many of them I'd probably be happy to have in my house, there are certainly designs here that are clever, creative, and charming. show less

A travel itinerary for all bibliophiles, bound in hardcover for easy reference.

All kidding aside (if I am kidding), this is a gorgeous book filled with 3-4 page spreads on towns that have dedicated their existence, or tried to, to the joy and importance of the written word in all its forms. Except digital. Because digital is evil (now I'm definitely kidding.)

The bittersweet part of this is the success rate of some of the towns. At least half, by my very loose and statistically inaccurate show more count, have struggled, or find themselves with far fewer bookshops than they started with. Some of this is the natural atrophy of any business category; there are always those that failed to prepare themselves adequately for the roller coaster that is small business ownership, but the ever shifting market of bookselling and the control of the market by big business, of course, bears the brunt of responsibility.

There are success stories too, and those success stories are significant. Hay-on-Wye (my personal nirvana/paradise/heaven), Wigtown, and embarrassingly enough, Clunes here n Victoria. The one that's only 90 minutes from my doorstep and I haven't been to yet! Boy, is my face red. Anyway - these towns as well as others all over the world are proof that the concept is important and chock full of possibilities.

Johnson does a good job generally, giving a solid overview of each town, featuring the shop names you hope are solvent enough to be around by the time the reader figures out how to get there. He even occasionally mentions (especially for the French towns) the concentration of languages shops focus on. My only complaint is that I'd have liked this thoughtful touch to be more consistent. At least one reader of this book does see it as a bucket list (me), and, while most of the towns in this book would stand on their aesthetic merits, it would be helpful to know whether I'd be unlikely to find much in the way of reading material if I'm to visit.

Definitely a book to put off reading if you're trying to avoid the travel itch. show less

This was a lot of fun. Johnson has compiled book lists, but not the usual "you must read" sort. These are lists like Darwin's TBR, Oscar Wilde's bookshelf at Reading Gaol, the books on Scott's Discovery bookshelves (he had them in every room of the ship), books seen to be on Sheldon and Leonard's living room bookshelves in Big Bang Theory. Fun stuff like that.

Some of the titles listed are no longer to be found (Henry III's books, for example; probably hard to find if not impossible, and show more expensive to boot), some of them don't exist (books never written list - how did The Giant Rat of Sumatra not make this list?), some have yet to be written (the future library), and some of them are all to readily available and might be the death of any reader's TBR. Personally, I was doing pretty well until the very end, where he includes a list of books about books. My kryptonite! Aaahhhh... show less

The subtitle is "Forty-Five Paradises of the Printed Word" and that's exactly what you get. I had no idea there were so many towns who have intentionally turned themselves into destinations for book lovers. Hay-on-Wye, Wales is the most famous, but there's also Bowral, Australia, Gold Cities in California, Redu in Belgium, Selfoss in Iceland and so many more, especially across Europe. Each town has it's own chapter with pictures and a history which often includes a previous industry that show more fell on hard times. That books and readers are the saviors of places in decline is a repeated theme, and often the exact person who developed the book town is named. The author also weaves in brief instances when a town's intentions to become a book town don't pan out.
A great choice for readers and book hoarders, it's light enough to go in a suitcase to be used as a travel guide. show less