Book Towns: Forty Five Paradises of the Printed Word

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 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 show more 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

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 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 show more 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

3.5 Stars

Read all my reviews on http://urlphantomhive.booklikes.com

Book Towns collects, as the name would suggest, Book Towns from all over the world. It was an interesting little book for those of us who breathe books, so to speak. I couldn't help but be attracted to them and have added several (in Belgium and The Netherlands) that I would like to visit this summer. Others I would like to visit in the future.

Every town is featured with a story, and several pictures as well as some information. While in general this was really nice, it felt like some of the Book Towns didn't have enough information to really fill the pages. Also, it became repetitive a bit, as most book towns were generated from a Marketing/Tourism point of view and show more the story was often the same. Also also, it was sad to read that quite a few of them were way past their heyday.

Still a nice read for book lovers.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! show less

Book Towns by Alex Johnson details 40+ book loving towns from the world over. Full of gorgeous photos, each town entry provides history, as well as practical advice for those wishing to visit the locales. From the UK and Norway, to Japan and India, thirty countries are covered, each known for their love of literature.

I loved flipping through, looking at the pictures, and reading the history of each town. I'm not a huge travel fan, but now I'd really like to visit some of these lovely cities. This is the perfect coffee table book, especially for the travel loving bookworm!

***Many thanks to Netgalley and Quarto Publishing for providing an egalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

What a lovely book—full of wonderful stories and fabulous pictures. If you are a lover of the written word, Book Towns offers the chance to be an armchair traveler to some of the most intriguing places around the globe. The descriptions make you feel you are actually at the location and the history lessons are wonderful. Alex Johnson has given book lovers a gift and I thank him. I’m eager to visit these towns and am eager to read more from Mr. Johnson. Book Towns is definitely on my list of Christmas gifts for my book-loving friends.

Strength: the diversity of its contents. Weaknesses: the unevenness of its contents, and a penchant for saying over and over again how "unsurprising" the particular specialties of a given bookshop are. I have Google-Mapped all the featured towns (and a few others) in a "Book Towns" list.

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/wdZZyIIRISM

Enjoy!