skip to main |
skip to sidebar
The World's Best Bookshops?
An eccentric list of the world's greatest bookshops here at: BBC Travel. It doesn't include Foyles or The Strand or Square Books in Oxford, Miss, but it does have a bookshop in Beijing where you can't get anything that hasn't been approved by the Communist Party. Hmmmm. The best bookshop in the world they say is City Lights in San Francisco, which I did a reading at once so I'm not complaining about that, but still I am curious about what criteria they used to compile this wilfully strange selection. Of course you're wondering what I'd pick (or at least in my solipsistic imagination I think thats what you're wondering)...well, off the top of my head, I'd say:
1. Foyles, London
2. The Strand, New York
3. No Alibis, Belfast
4. City Lights, San Francisco
5. Square Books, Oxford, Miss
6. The Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, Az.
7. The Tattered Cover, Denver
8. Blackwells, Oxford, England
9. Shakespeare and Company, Paris
10. The Educational Bookshop, Jerusalem
57 comments:
A little aside rant about that travel bookshop at 5 on the BBC list.
I've never seen an entire Hugh Grant movie the whole way through but there's one of them, Four Weddings and a Funeral, I think where he owns a travel bookshop in London. I saw a bit of this on a plane once; apparently people were always coming in asking for Stephen King etc and he would politely explain that it was a TRAVEL bookshop. Anyway in the bit I saw someone came in asking for Charles Dickens and Hugh Grant at the end of his tether goes off on the poor chap yelling that its a bloody travel bookshop! I think the scene was supposed to be funny, but it struck me as rather odd because of course Charles Dickens wrote several famous travel books, including American Notes which became a cause celebre on both sides of the Atlantic. Are the screenwriters that ignorant I wondered to myself or do they just hope that the audience is that ignorant. I switched the movie off at that point.
I was going to compile a list of my fav bookshops, but then i saw the Guardian list of Best London Bookshops and a few of my choices were on it so they spoiled it for me. Theres a bookshop i go to that has two cats, i go there just to play with them and then slope off without buying anything. Expensive books but free feline affection could push that to the top of my list.
Frankie
You dont have a link to that Guardian list do you?
I'm curious.
my local bookshop, Readings on Acland Street in St Kilda is very nice and I'd include it in the top 10 but for two factors:
1. the staff are too cool for school (kind of like everyone in St Kilda)
2. although this isnt their fault, the prices of the books are shocking.
Yep sure thing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/jul/01/bestbookshops4
bestbookshops4
Of all the reasons to turn off a Hugh Grant movie- you win the prize for finding the most obscure. I went out with someone who was particulary talented at spotting continuity errors in films and delighted in telling me of these during the bloody movie. Tell me after if you have to, but not during. I was always a couple of Maltesers away from punching him.
Thanks Frankie. An interesting list.
And speaking of Maltesers. Did you know that they are a vital plot point in the Graham Greene novel The Human Factor?
I am a veritable font of useless info.
After seeing 84 Charing Cross Road I'd love to go to England and see the bookshops there, especially if there was anything resembling what was portrayed in the movie.
We do have a nice bookshop in Austin, a few hours from here, that I visit when I'm in the area. The books aren't cheap, but the experience makes it fun and it's quite different than the normal chain stores we have here. I wish there were more around.
It's funny you mention the screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral because it was Richard Curtis. I think there's also a bookstore owner in another movie he wrote, Notting Hill.
He's written a lot of pretty good stuff, Blackadder and some of the funnier Mr. Bean episodes, but my favourite Richard Curtis is The Skinhead Hamlet.
Adrian. Sorry for the interuption. I have been catching up on the discussions as I have not been able to visit the blog for a few days. I've been meaning to ask about Falling Glass and if / when it will be available on Kindle. I think you mentioned something about it in a previous post, but I did not take the time to check.
I read the comments under the Oscar post about DIWMB and praise for M Forsythe. The Dead series remains one of my favorite series ever and I'm looking forward to seeing how Forsythe shows up in Falling Glass. It reminded me to find out about when it will be available on Kindle.
Thanks.
John, Skinhead Hamlet was great, a marvel of concision. Who knew you needed so little vocabulary to write a great play?
The travel bookstore is in Notting Hill, not Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The funeral is the best part of Four Weddings and I'm not just being cynical. Of course, John Hannah has it all over Hugh Grant.
Glenna
The bookshop in Charing Cross Road was Foyles. Whats the name of the place in Austin?
John
Yeah that was good and Blackadder seasons 2-4 was fantastic.
John
Yeah that was good and Blackadder seasons 2-4 was fantastic.
Seana
Oh ok so the travel bookshop Hugh Grant must have been in Notting Hill. Still pretty obnoxious though. And Richard Curtis must have known about Dickens's travel books so Hugh Grant's rant was silly.
DJD
As far as I know Falling Glass will be available on Kindle. How that works exactly I have no idea.
Adrian, good to know about Foyles. The Austin one is called Book People, (assuming I have my terminology right).
You're right, it doesn't make sense that Curtis wouldn't know. Unless he just plain hates Dickens, which I've heard some people do.
An essay in The New Republic once sneered at The Strand for having a snobbish staff.
I'd put No Alibis on that list along with Sleuth of Baker Street (Toronto) and Murder by the Book (Houston) for crime-fiction fans. I do think it's a bit sad that good bookshops are such exotic items that someone should have to think about coming up with a list of the world's best of them.
Good to see Foyle's make a list. It doesn't have the ambience of an independent shop, but I was able to find Bill James' most recent novel but one there.
======================
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
I think bookstores often run into the criticism of being snobbish. Sometimes it's because they are, and sometimes it's because people are just defensive about reading. And god forbid you should express any form of even implied criticism about a book someone loves. I try not to do that, but you can run into problems when someone wants to get you to agree that, say, The Kiterunner was the best book ever written. Usually you resort to, well, certainly a lot of people seem to like it a lot, or something along those lines. It doesn't always work.
I *heart* Foyles and I love May Court in London with all the little specialist transport bookshops. The fact of their existence is comforting.
We have a great science bookshop here on the Sunshine Coast which apparently is home to the local Atheist group but that's about it. Brisbane doesn't have much to offer apart from Pulp Fiction which is A to the Mazing
I'll never understand the love of The Strand. It's always crowded with way too narrow aisles. Not to mention that almost all of the staff fall into two categories: NYU hipster douches and arrogant pricks who radiate a sense of superiority.
The one thing I like about it is that they usually have ARCs of books for cheap.
Glenna
I'll look for it when I'm next down that way.
Seana
Well as I've mentioned before I worked at the 82nd and Broadway Barnes and Noble for two years and I'll admit to a bit of a sniffy attitude myself.
Creepy customer: "Where are the books on serial killers?"
Adrian: "Is that a 'How To' book sir?"
Peter
Murder by the book is a great store and also Otto Penzler's store in NYC whose name I have temporarily forgotten.
Rob
I think I have a bone to pick with that Pulp Fiction guy. Over on Good Reads there are a few one star reviews of Dead I Well May Be which is fair enough, but the one from the guy in Brisbane really lets me have it, accusing me of being a sicko, a pervert etc. Its not very nice at all. If its the wrong guy I stand corrected but I think its him. And whats worse is that if its the mystery bookshop in the mall downtown I went in there and bought a Henning Menkell from him.
Mysterious Bookshop?
Craig
The trick to The Strand is to go there very early on a Sunday morning because all the bloody hipsters have been up partying the night before and they dont come in for the early shift. A wet Tuesday afternoon works well too to avoid the crowds.
The ARCs are incredible though. I got ARCs of All The Pretty Horses, LA Confidential, London Fields etc. in The Strand for less than the cover price of the hardback.
Peter
Yes, thats the one. Done a couple of readings there. Charming people.
See, the guy in Brisbane probably walked into the Barnes and Noble and got the wrong idea.
Or maybe it was the Belfast Sixpack. Unfortunately, people too often mix up protagonists with their authors.
Still, a guy who runs a store called Pulp Fiction really ought to be made out of sterner stuff.
I'm also curious how the ARCs thing works, because I don't think it's legal for us to sell them here. God knows we have enough of them.
I don't think you're a sicko or a pervert. But then, I don't know you; I've just read your books.
Adrian, if you ever do a signing and/or reading there, or at the Houston bookshop, I'd like to know about it.
Why would anyone read a book like Dead I May Well Be if they were such a sensitive soul? Maybe they didn't read the blurb first. Maybe they're one of those meddlesome ratbags who love to get offended so they can complain.
I've only ever dealt with a woman in there. It's good because its the only bookshop in Brisbane that stocks Malcolm Pryce books.
Seana
Its probably illegal for The Strand too but I think its their big money earner.
Peter
We shall rectify that in person next year I hope.
Glenna
I did read in the Houston store but that would have been seven years ago now. Maybe next year though.
Rob
I might be slightly misremembering the name of the store but I'm pretty certain it was Brisbane and the reviewer was a guy not a girl. Women usually have stronger stomachs than men I've noticed. Might be something to do with childbirth.
Well, if I'm still around, post up about or something. I'd hate to miss both you and Stuart Neville, who read at the same store late last year. Too bad I didn't find out until the Monday after the reading.
I think one of our local used bookstores used to sell them, but I don't think that's the case anymore.
Somewhat on at last the sniffy topic, I remember ending up at a barbeque with someone from there who said something like, please don't judge me by the way we have to act there. Apparently they got pretty jaded because they had to be constantly on guard against being unwitting fences.
Retail is weird. It would be one thing if you were getting a commission to be phony, I suppose, but it's hardly the case with books.
I've been watching the final series of Black Books, and really, I think too long in a bookstore makes you a lot more like the Dylan Moran character than anybody would like to admit.
Tru dat on the women thing. My mum (who read your books and told me to read them) reads some horrific stuff but then won't eat lamb because they're too cute
Uh, let's not get too far out there on the generalizations about 'the woman thing'.
GREAT list Adrian, I hope to visit them all one day.
City Lights???? Walk on....!!!
Glenna
Ah you should have been at No Alibis in Belfast last summer when Stu and myself read together.
Seana
Yeah lets no go overboard with the tough chick thing although Mrs Thatcher still scares me to this day.
I credit your bookshop with its fancy clientelle. Jonathan Franzen I think among them. And of course at B&N we had many famous celebs coming in: Pacino, Philip Roth, Carly Simon, Robin Williams et al. but my very favourite moment in any bookshop was at Blackwells in Oxford completely be accident encountering Muhammad Ali who was doing a book signing and was just browsing the aisles before hand.
I really wanted to say "hey champ" or something like that but I was so amazed I said nothing at all.
Rob
I wont eat lamb either. Or sucking pig. Just cant do it.
Gen
I remember when I visited City Lights for the first time they had a huge display of Abie Hoffman's Steal This Book and I wondered to myself what would happen if I really did steal the book. Would they prosecute or would that like totally violate their principles.
Well, Mr. Franzen signed a lot of books for us, and did a talk he didn't really have to do by that point in his book tour, but frankly, he didn't come in all that much while he was here. We do have our fancy clientele, and our homeless clientele, but mostly we have our aging demographic clientele.
I think some women enjoy the violent aspect of crime novels, just like some women enjoy boxing matches, but I'm not that keen on it, though, yes, I do eat lamb occasionally. If I started not eating animals, I wouldn't know where to stop.
For me there is sort of an eliding over the rough bits in a crime novel, sort of like what you do in the scary bits in movies. And I have pretty much zero interest in serial killer novels or stories of abduction or rape. I don't know that that is a categorical no, but let's just say that I'm not drawn by blurbs that try to pull you in with that kind of titilation.
Seana
Yeah I cant read rapist or child murderer novels. I have absolutely no interest.
For the paper I was forced to read a novel by Peter James about a rapist trolling around Brighton raping women. Lots of nudity and titilation. The portrayal of women as empty headed bimbos was straight out of Sex and the City. It was really bottom of the barrel stuff. The paper did not publish my brutal review.
L'shana ha-ba'a! Which reminds of a good bookstore story I'll tell some time
And **** your gutless paper for not publishing your brutal review.
Peter
I'll publish it here. I might need to tone it down a little now my anger has someone calmed.
Peter
And I'd very much like to hear about your brewery tour
That would have been nice.
Speaking of Dogfish from the Oscar blog. A local beer store does tastings once a week and Dogfish Red and White is on the list for tomorrow. Should be interesting.
HEH. Worth a try for a larf.
The original Tattered Cover bookstore in Cherry Creek was the greatest. Sadly it closed and was moved to the old Lowensteen theater across from East high school. The new store is a joke, a pale shadow of what it used to be.
Post a Comment