BOOKSHOP TRAVELS (for worldwide bookshop recommendations)
Talk 75 Books Challenge for 2011
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1flissp
Following an article on Norwich that Bente (Apolline) posted on her thread recently, Jenny (lunacat) and I, being fairly local, decided to spend a day trawling the bookshops of Norwich, promising to report back (I'll copy this below).
I love travelling and it occurred to me that one of the great things about LT is that people drop by from all over the world. I've had some fantastic tips from people over the last two years and thought it might be nice to have a general thread, mostly for bookshop recommendations, but also, if you have anything else that you think anyone visiting absolutely shouldn't miss, bung that in as well...
I'm going to suggest that in order to make things clearer, people post the name of the village/town/city and the country in BOLDFACE CAPITALS at the top of each post. (type: <b>CITY, COUNTRY</b>)
I love travelling and it occurred to me that one of the great things about LT is that people drop by from all over the world. I've had some fantastic tips from people over the last two years and thought it might be nice to have a general thread, mostly for bookshop recommendations, but also, if you have anything else that you think anyone visiting absolutely shouldn't miss, bung that in as well...
I'm going to suggest that in order to make things clearer, people post the name of the village/town/city and the country in BOLDFACE CAPITALS at the top of each post. (type: <b>CITY, COUNTRY</b>)
2flissp
I'm also going to start by posting a list of recommended bookshops that I collected last year:
(ETA#2: This image seems to have vanished - I must have removed it at some point...)
ETA: Some links for a few of the bookshops above (only the ones I have to hand I'm afraid - I'll google the rest at some later point):
Bider und Tanne (Basel, Switzerland)
Topping & Company (Ely,UK)
Daunts (London, UK)
Stanfords (London, UK)
City Lights (San Francisco, USA)
Roger's Book Barn (upstate New York, USA)
Imaginary prize for those who can guess accurately where each of those recommendations came from ;o)
(ETA#2: This image seems to have vanished - I must have removed it at some point...)
ETA: Some links for a few of the bookshops above (only the ones I have to hand I'm afraid - I'll google the rest at some later point):
Bider und Tanne (Basel, Switzerland)
Topping & Company (Ely,UK)
Daunts (London, UK)
Stanfords (London, UK)
City Lights (San Francisco, USA)
Roger's Book Barn (upstate New York, USA)
Imaginary prize for those who can guess accurately where each of those recommendations came from ;o)
3flissp
NORWICH, UK
Firstly, The article about Norwich that Bente posted
So. As promised, Jenny and my Norwich bookshop visit. Via a ferry that was not a ferry (we got a little lost en route - ring roads should be banned). And a disused Eastern Electricity building painted with the entirety of Thomas More's Utopia:
...a church filled with lots of random stuff:
...and some excellent street names (sadly, no photo of Rampant Horse Street as it was a bit disappointing to look at):
Following Jenny's independent bookshop map, we started at BOOK MAN (2nd hand books). Looked good from the outside, but to be honest, it was a little disappointing.
Next stop was the Oxfam Bookshop. It's impossible to walk past an Oxfam Bookshop - they've almost always got a great selection - the one in Cambridge is also pretty good and the one in Saffron Walden is even better. The one in Norwich seems to have an unusually large selection of first edition & collectible books for a charity shop.
Next up, was the much touted BOOK HIVE. A lovely shop, with an extremely eclectic selection. Not really a place you'd go to find specific books without preordering them, but a great place to browse some lovely editions. We left fairly quickly - I think it could have been absolutely fatal to the bank balance... I can imagine it being a great place for readings (also, lots of lovely hidden corners. I wouldn't mind living there).
Next on our list, via the Cathedral and a very tall arch, was THE TOMBLAND BOOKSHOP. I think that this was my favourite. It smelt wonderful. Definitely the kind of place that contains books that you mostly can't afford (mostly antiquarian books - beautiful editions, first editions, etc). Just a place that's wonderful to browse and dream of a time when you can afford a £129 pair of books with beautiful engraved pictures of the Cambridge colleges...
Pit stop for a massive doorstep sandwich in a lovely, almost hidden tea shop, with very friendly people (I'm going to have to look this up if people want the name, but it's very near Elm St, which appears in the film of Stardust).
...Then on to the 2nd hand bookshop with possibly the best name:
THE DORMOUSE BOOKSHOP
Also highly recommended - and, fatally for me, it has a rather large selection of the old orange Penguins that I love.
...and, final bookshop stop, "CITY BOOKS" (I can't immediately find a link for that - it just turns up lots of Norwich city football pages...). A rather Ikea-like shop with another surprisingly eclectic collection (I liked the two copies of books on pet monkeys the best). A lot of local interest books.
...oooh, and I nearly forgot the market stall:
It's a disturbingly organised market place. Oddly, the stall separated out the male and female writers, which I thought was a bit short sighted.
Final stop was the new Library, which Jenny fell in love with, and then we headed home - in my case, with rather more books than I'd intended buying. This is why I try to avoid more than one book shop in a day ;o)
Lots more photos here...
Firstly, The article about Norwich that Bente posted
So. As promised, Jenny and my Norwich bookshop visit. Via a ferry that was not a ferry (we got a little lost en route - ring roads should be banned). And a disused Eastern Electricity building painted with the entirety of Thomas More's Utopia:
...a church filled with lots of random stuff:
...and some excellent street names (sadly, no photo of Rampant Horse Street as it was a bit disappointing to look at):
Following Jenny's independent bookshop map, we started at BOOK MAN (2nd hand books). Looked good from the outside, but to be honest, it was a little disappointing.
Next stop was the Oxfam Bookshop. It's impossible to walk past an Oxfam Bookshop - they've almost always got a great selection - the one in Cambridge is also pretty good and the one in Saffron Walden is even better. The one in Norwich seems to have an unusually large selection of first edition & collectible books for a charity shop.
Next up, was the much touted BOOK HIVE. A lovely shop, with an extremely eclectic selection. Not really a place you'd go to find specific books without preordering them, but a great place to browse some lovely editions. We left fairly quickly - I think it could have been absolutely fatal to the bank balance... I can imagine it being a great place for readings (also, lots of lovely hidden corners. I wouldn't mind living there).
Next on our list, via the Cathedral and a very tall arch, was THE TOMBLAND BOOKSHOP. I think that this was my favourite. It smelt wonderful. Definitely the kind of place that contains books that you mostly can't afford (mostly antiquarian books - beautiful editions, first editions, etc). Just a place that's wonderful to browse and dream of a time when you can afford a £129 pair of books with beautiful engraved pictures of the Cambridge colleges...
Pit stop for a massive doorstep sandwich in a lovely, almost hidden tea shop, with very friendly people (I'm going to have to look this up if people want the name, but it's very near Elm St, which appears in the film of Stardust).
...Then on to the 2nd hand bookshop with possibly the best name:
THE DORMOUSE BOOKSHOP
Also highly recommended - and, fatally for me, it has a rather large selection of the old orange Penguins that I love.
...and, final bookshop stop, "CITY BOOKS" (I can't immediately find a link for that - it just turns up lots of Norwich city football pages...). A rather Ikea-like shop with another surprisingly eclectic collection (I liked the two copies of books on pet monkeys the best). A lot of local interest books.
...oooh, and I nearly forgot the market stall:
It's a disturbingly organised market place. Oddly, the stall separated out the male and female writers, which I thought was a bit short sighted.
Final stop was the new Library, which Jenny fell in love with, and then we headed home - in my case, with rather more books than I'd intended buying. This is why I try to avoid more than one book shop in a day ;o)
Lots more photos here...
4countrylife
To add to the wealth of book store choices, here's a group full of member's posts about favorite book stores, with posts entered to sort alphabetically.
http://www.librarything.com/groups/favoritebookstores
http://www.librarything.com/groups/favoritebookstores
6countrylife
Not 'just', but mostly. There are also postings from Australia, Ireland, Canada, Italy, and Singapore.
8mamzel
ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS
The Dockside Bookshop is the only bookstore on the island and is conveniently located in the shops located near the cruise ship dock. There is a section dedicated to books about the islands, books by local authors, childrens' books, and cook books featuring Caribbean cooking. If you are ever in the neighborhood, be sure to stop in.
eta link
The Dockside Bookshop is the only bookstore on the island and is conveniently located in the shops located near the cruise ship dock. There is a section dedicated to books about the islands, books by local authors, childrens' books, and cook books featuring Caribbean cooking. If you are ever in the neighborhood, be sure to stop in.
eta link
9avatiakh
KRAKOW, POLAND
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
PRAGUE, THE CZECH REPUBLIC
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
fliss - I remember girlunderglass posted (with great photos) in 2009 about English language bookshops in Krakow, Budapest, Prague & Amsterdam and went back and found the links -
Krakow's Massolit Books & Cafe
Budapest's Little Red Bus
Prague's Shakespeare & Sons & Amsterdam's Book Exchange.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
PRAGUE, THE CZECH REPUBLIC
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
fliss - I remember girlunderglass posted (with great photos) in 2009 about English language bookshops in Krakow, Budapest, Prague & Amsterdam and went back and found the links -
Krakow's Massolit Books & Cafe
Budapest's Little Red Bus
Prague's Shakespeare & Sons & Amsterdam's Book Exchange.
11flissp
#9 Kerry, you read my mind! I'm going to Budapest for a couple of nights on Thursday, so was about to ask for recommendations! Will definitely have to check out the Little Red Bus!
14avatiakh
ALNWICK, NORTHUMBERLAND
Barter Books is a used bookshop that I desperately wanted to visit when I was in Northumberland a couple of years ago, but ran out of time. It's one of the largest secondhand bookshops in the UK situated in a converted railway station. I had to make do with this blogpost by LT's gaskella.
'The British Library of secondhand bookshops' - The New Statesman
edit: fix link
Barter Books is a used bookshop that I desperately wanted to visit when I was in Northumberland a couple of years ago, but ran out of time. It's one of the largest secondhand bookshops in the UK situated in a converted railway station. I had to make do with this blogpost by LT's gaskella.
'The British Library of secondhand bookshops' - The New Statesman
edit: fix link
15flissp
In my search for more info on the Red Bus Bookstore, I came accross the following wonderful Blog:
BOOKSTORE GUIDE
...in their words "an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe."
BOOKSTORE GUIDE
...in their words "an amateur guide to book shopping throughout Europe."
16Booksloth
It's a long shot, I know, but if anyone knows of an English bookshop (that's selling books that are in English, not necessarily run by anyone English) on the Greek island of Samos, you could save me a lot of time hunting around this summer. Thank you.
17flissp
Sorry Booksloth, looks like we're failing you...
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
(Following on from Msg9 & girlunderglass' recommendation of the Red Bus Bookstore)
Treehugger Dan's Bookstore & Cafe
The two Treehugger Dan's have lots of potential, particularly the larger one which also has a cafe, free wifi and (good for future reference) also hires out bikes (bike tours available). The larger one also has a lot of local info - free magazines, cards for tourist attractions, restaurants etc. However, the books in both stores did seem to be predominantly thrillers and beach reading, which isn't (personally) my thing most of the time. The smaller (original) store did, have a very good travel section, with pretty up to date guide books for a 2nd hand bookshop.
I would add a proviso that this really is one of the problems with 2nd hand bookstores - the stock is constantly shifting, so it may just be that I picked a bad time of year for interesting stock...
The Red Bus Bookstore
The Red Bus Bookstore is attached to a hostel and has a much better selection, including multiple copies of a lot of current bestsellers and award winners as well as some interesting, less current books. Someone has been doing a lot of careful selecting of their stock. Of course, they do have the advantage of being affiliated with the hostel (hostel's are great places for finding and exchanging interesting books currently doing the rounds, because if you're backpacking for a reasonable length of time, you don't want to hold on to too many books at once and there's always a very transient population).
They also had a "recommended" section, which I'm always a big fan of in any bookstore - I like book sellers who have an opinion about what they're selling. Also importantly for me, there were quite a few translations of Hungarian authors, if not any of those few I'd specifically selected (well, that was fairly unlikely in a 2nd hand bookshop!).
My one nit-pick is that on week days, the shop doesn't open until 11am, which is bad timing if you're wanting to do touristy things (unless you're actually staying there). Saturday's they open at 10am (a bit better), but close at 2pm.
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
(Following on from Msg9 & girlunderglass' recommendation of the Red Bus Bookstore)
Treehugger Dan's Bookstore & Cafe
The two Treehugger Dan's have lots of potential, particularly the larger one which also has a cafe, free wifi and (good for future reference) also hires out bikes (bike tours available). The larger one also has a lot of local info - free magazines, cards for tourist attractions, restaurants etc. However, the books in both stores did seem to be predominantly thrillers and beach reading, which isn't (personally) my thing most of the time. The smaller (original) store did, have a very good travel section, with pretty up to date guide books for a 2nd hand bookshop.
I would add a proviso that this really is one of the problems with 2nd hand bookstores - the stock is constantly shifting, so it may just be that I picked a bad time of year for interesting stock...
The Red Bus Bookstore
The Red Bus Bookstore is attached to a hostel and has a much better selection, including multiple copies of a lot of current bestsellers and award winners as well as some interesting, less current books. Someone has been doing a lot of careful selecting of their stock. Of course, they do have the advantage of being affiliated with the hostel (hostel's are great places for finding and exchanging interesting books currently doing the rounds, because if you're backpacking for a reasonable length of time, you don't want to hold on to too many books at once and there's always a very transient population).
They also had a "recommended" section, which I'm always a big fan of in any bookstore - I like book sellers who have an opinion about what they're selling. Also importantly for me, there were quite a few translations of Hungarian authors, if not any of those few I'd specifically selected (well, that was fairly unlikely in a 2nd hand bookshop!).
My one nit-pick is that on week days, the shop doesn't open until 11am, which is bad timing if you're wanting to do touristy things (unless you're actually staying there). Saturday's they open at 10am (a bit better), but close at 2pm.
18gennyt
#14 When I spotted this thread, my first thought was to enter Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland, but Kerry has beaten me to it. It's a wonderful place - see their website for a flavour. I haven't been for a couple of years, must go for another visit soon.
19katiekrug
>2 flissp: I am dying to know who recommended Roger's Book Barn in Hillsdale, NY. I used to live just down the road from there, and my dad still lives in Hillsdale. It's tiny (one stoplight!) and I am just flabbergasted someone else on LT has heard of it!
20flissp
#19 According to the my list, it was Foxen, but she doesn't seem to have popped up on the 75 list this year...
21katiekrug
>20 flissp: - Hmm, I'm not familiar with Foxen - but I only discovered LT last November. I should add that Roger's is absolutely fabulous - very out of the way but worth the trek. There are a lot of good used bookstores in that area. I'll have to ask my dad to help refresh my memory as to the names and locations.
22BooksforCooks
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Books for Cooks a specialist culinary bookstore with a large selection of mixed new, old, vintage & antiquarian. In Fitzroy, near the centre of town http://www.booksforcooks.com.au
Grub Street a general secondhand bookstore in Fitzroy with a large stock
Alice's Bookshop a gentle secondhand bookshop in North Carlton, about 10 minutes from the centre of town. Strong literary & travel sections
Books for Cooks a specialist culinary bookstore with a large selection of mixed new, old, vintage & antiquarian. In Fitzroy, near the centre of town http://www.booksforcooks.com.au
Grub Street a general secondhand bookstore in Fitzroy with a large stock
Alice's Bookshop a gentle secondhand bookshop in North Carlton, about 10 minutes from the centre of town. Strong literary & travel sections
23Chatterbox
Can't help with Samos, but I'll toss one out for anyone visiting Thailand.
Chiang Mai has one of the best English-language bookshops I've ever seen in SE Asia -- Gecko Books. Its main branch is located not far from the Night Bazaar and the books on offer are very extensive.
A city I know a bit more about is Toronto.
There's the massive "World's Biggest Bookstore" (where I used to work in the mid/late 80s, running the fiction section) on Edward Street between Bay and Yonge, just north of the Eaton Centre.
A lot of independents have either failed or been swallowed up by Chapters or Indigo. But Sleuth of Baker Street is still alive and kicking in the Bayview area -- a great place for mystery fiends/fans. David Mason Books on Queen St. W. is wonderful for antiquarian books.
Here in NYC, too many to count. Strand is a favorite; I like the Barnes & Noble in Union Square best for its selection. There is Book Culture on the Upper East. Among indies, Three Lives is great, though a bit too "culty" for me.
Chiang Mai has one of the best English-language bookshops I've ever seen in SE Asia -- Gecko Books. Its main branch is located not far from the Night Bazaar and the books on offer are very extensive.
A city I know a bit more about is Toronto.
There's the massive "World's Biggest Bookstore" (where I used to work in the mid/late 80s, running the fiction section) on Edward Street between Bay and Yonge, just north of the Eaton Centre.
A lot of independents have either failed or been swallowed up by Chapters or Indigo. But Sleuth of Baker Street is still alive and kicking in the Bayview area -- a great place for mystery fiends/fans. David Mason Books on Queen St. W. is wonderful for antiquarian books.
Here in NYC, too many to count. Strand is a favorite; I like the Barnes & Noble in Union Square best for its selection. There is Book Culture on the Upper East. Among indies, Three Lives is great, though a bit too "culty" for me.
