Jen Campbell

I loved this book! It was delightful, full of interesting places, facts, and people, including background history for many of them. Very easy to read in short bursts - pick it up and read about a bookshop or two, or read a whole country's 'section', or a letter from an author about bookshops. . . - or just sit down and sink into bookshop after bookshop.

In fact, the only downside to the book is that I now have a terrible need to take a tour of the globe and visit many of the places mentioned herein!… (lisätietoja)

This is essentially a book of anecdotes as the author travels around visiting different unique bookshops, interrupted every so often by a short 1-2 page interview with an author about a bookshop experience, or a page of random trivia.
It runs out of steam once the author leaves the UK - it's pretty clear that she's much more familiar with the UK shops than the continental europe or north american ones, since the anecdotes become less and less substantial. Might have been better off limiting scope to the UK.

That said, it's a fun read, especially if you're the sort of person who is into reading. If you're reading a book about books presumably you are also in this category. I enjoyed my time with it. Spent a good deal of time on tripadvisor looking at photos of some of the places described, too. Every one I checked was still open, ten years after the book was published. Makes me glad.… (lisätietoja)