Month: March 2023

I genuinely had a wonderful week last week – with three bookshops visited and lots to say about all of them. I have puzzled over which order to do them in – but I’m going for Bookends because it’s not in London and it’s a bit different too. And yes, I realise that I have to get better at taking pictures of the exteriors of the bookshops I visit, but really, I’m more interested in the contents than the packaging and I always forget.

So, Bookends and Bookcase is a giant bookshop in the centre of Carlisle. Book ends is the new book section, which I didn’t take that many pictures of, and Bookcase is the most amazing second had section that spreads over the majority of the five storey building. Honestly, I spent actual hours in there. The picture above is the entry level second hand selection – with popular paperback fiction and some crime in the section that you can see here, but really it’s just a tiny fraction of what they’ve got.

And what they’ve got includes a lot of Children’s books – and I had such a happy time searching for stuff in my Girl’s Own collections. As you can see there were some Elsie Oxenhams – which I own a few of but really need proper guidance from an expert on what to buy as the series is so very, very, very weird – and plenty of Arthur Ransomes, which I managed to resist this time at least.

Then there’s a huge downstairs section of children’s books with more classic stuff (not pictured) but also a ton of newer authors too.

Also downstairs is a massive music section – featuring sheet music and basically any classical music record ever produced. Genuinely this photo doesn’t do it justice because this is just part of the record section – there are nooks and crannies filled with records that you can’t seen here and if you look very carefully at the back you can see the doorway through to the start of the rooms with the sheet music in them. It’s wild.

Also wild is the safe door at the far end of the record section which I had to include just because it was such a surprise to spot it down there.

I’m not a poetry person, but I’ve included this to show just how wide – and sometimes random – the selection is. I think if it is a poetry or a playscript you could probably find pretty much anything in there. While I was browsing a man came in asking about antique Ordnance Survey maps – and twenty minutes later I saw him at the till paying for an old OS map of Liverpool for his collection. It was amazing.

You’ll see my book haul in Books Incoming next week, so I won’t ruin the surprise – but I’ll end by saying, if you’re anywhere near Carlisle, it’s definitely worth a detour!

Honestly, sometimes it amazes me how different stores in the same chain can be. And here is a case in point. Waterstones Gower Street is the bookshop that serves the University of London and although it’s only about a seven minute walk from the Tottenham Court Road branch, it’s sometimes hard to believe they’re the same company. Gower Street has used books on racks outside, a record store in the basement and sections for remaindered books all over the place. You can often spot something in there you haven’t seen anywhere else – at least not in a physical copy.

Anyway, there’s a bit display for Monica Heisy’s book, which I already own a copy of but is now getting so much hype that I think I’m going to have to read it sooner rather than later or it’s going to hit over-hype and I’ll never get to it because I’m worried it won’t live up to it (see: Eleanor Olliphant which I still haven’t read).

And then the big display as you go in, at the bottom of the stairs is a new non-fiction book that I hadn’t see before – Red Memory by Tania Branigan, which the blurb says looks at China’s Cultural Revolution through the stories of people who were there and how the echo’s of Mao’s decade still resonate today. It looks really good and if the tbr wasn’t already so huge (and space in my suitcase quite limited) I probably would have bought it there and then. One to add to the list of potential Christmas books (yes I start that this early in the year!)

I couldn’t resist a picture of this book arch on one side of the children’s department upstairs – there’s another on the other side too – and although I know some people get really upset at books being used like this, I can totally live with it in a bookshop like this.

And then here is my favourite thing in the whole shop. A books case full of cozy crime novels – American mass market paperback ones. The sort I usually have to order in from that conglomerate. There are Cupcake Bakery, Library Lovers, Maine Clambake, Royal Spyness (technically not a cozy, but you can see it there if you look in the top left), Hannah Swenson and more. Yes I bought one. Sue me

And finally, just to demonstrate what a fabulous shop it is – there’s a whole stack of British Library Crime Classics, including a load that I’ve revived here like Murder in the Basement, Death at High Eldersham and more and if you look to the top left, you’ll also see actual paperback Amelia Peabodys. What more could you want. I nearly bought them – the only think stopping me was the fact that I already own them all on Kindle and audiobook – and I think Him Indoors would think I was crazy!

Have a great weekend everyone