A new beginning

I've been contemplating restarting this blog for a little while, but it was this week's bookshop that finally gave me the push I needed to commit to writing. Partly because it's a lovely bookshop, partly because of how much The Boy nagged me to come out of retirement to write about it.

The bookshop is called The Best of Times, and it was conveniently in its first week of opening at the same time as we were having a weekend away in Broadstairs.

We're regular visitors to the area, having friends nearby and also finding it the perfect place to stay when attending gigs at Dreamland. We love the calm of the beach, the compactness of the town and the good variety of pubs selling real ale (including one based in a secondhand bookshop). The one thing we always found a let down was its lack of a new, independent bookshop. Until now.

Located on a side road just on the edge of the main town area (still only a two-minute walk from Morelli's), The Best of Times is tucked alongside a bar in what felt like a mini community hub. The area was buzzing. Advertising itself as a bookshop and cafe meant a steady stream of people were popping in for coffee and cake, as well as those of us there to browse the books. As locations go, this one seems perfect for being near enough to draw in visitors while far enough from the beach to avoid the crush of sandy-footed tourists who are just trying to escape the sun (I'm sure they're welcome too).

Entering through the front door, a wall of bookcases draws your eye to the back of the small room, where we see a display of cakes next to a large, welcoming serving hatch. It was from here that owner Gavin Boyter was greeting customers. To the right are more books, and hidden behind that first wall is a staircase down to the main fiction area.

I was interested to see the layout of the books, with science fiction and crime novels the very first titles I set eyes on in that initial wall of bookshelves. Small bookshops often don't have the space to give science fiction its own area, so I found this a bold and welcome move. Opposite was an interesting selection of non-fiction, meaning there's no choice but to continue exploring downstairs to the cellar if you're looking for a beach read.

The steps down alternate white and Penguin orange, which perfectly complement the bright and cheery bookshop interior. They lead to what I found to be a very interesting recommendations table, balancing fiction (including the proprietor's own work) and non-fiction, before you turn into a cosy space where you can sit and eat your cake while browsing a truly excellent selection of books. 

Another cleverly placed "wall" of bookcases allow the browser to walk around both sides, with the fiction on full display in the main area of the room, and more non-fiction behind. The behind area includes cookery books placed on part of an historic bread oven that's built into the wall, and a spooky book nook – the photos say it all.

But back to that excellent selection of fiction. Not an inch of bookshelf space felt like "filler". Everything on offer was intelligent, thought-provoking and highly readable. The Boy and I were both fascinated by all of it, with many authors on the shelf for their less obvious works, rather than their personal best sellers (there were obviously a few of those too). It made for very interesting browsing and had us both giving a lot of thought to our purchases.

In the end I picked up a Raymond Carver book of short stories called Cathedral, while The Boy chose The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald, and Perec's Things: A story of the sixties, with A man asleep. 

I should also reiterate that the excellent selection on offer was all in the bookshop's first week of opening: it still had that recently opened feel, with obvious spaces where books were spread across gaps as stock is being acquired, but not once did we find anything lacking. Seeing how good the bookshop is already, I cannot wait to return when it's at full capacity.

For now, I'm going to settle down in the garden at home with my latest purchase, reading my book and remembering recent sandy days.

The Best of Times
1 Chandos Road, Broadstairs, CT10 1QP

Remember me?

Hello! *waves*

It's been a while since I've written anything here, so I thought I'd jot down a few words to let you know I'm back.

Back to blogging that is.

I never stopped visiting bookshops, I have a wealth of photos on my phone and books on my shelves that all testify to this. However work got to the point that even though I'd visited lots of lovely bookshops and had lots of things to say about them, the thought of sitting at a computer in the evening after all day at one was simply too much. I also found myself a boyfriend to join in my bookshopping travels, and I quite liked spending my evenings with him.

So I visited the bookshops, I bought the books, and I enjoyed the experience. I just didn't tell you all about it – unless you were lucky enough to cross my path in person, in which case I've not held back telling people why the most recent bookshop I visited was the greatest experience of all time. Repeatedly. Until I visit the next bookshop and witter on about that instead.

Now the world has changed: bookshops are thriving (hurrah) and I've gone freelance* – which means there are even more bookshops than ever for me to visit and my time is more my own to write about them. Fortunately for me, one thing that hasn't changed is the boyfriend. He's still here and enjoying visiting the bookshops with me. It's The Boy who deserves credit for suggesting I come out of retirement.

Anyway, back to this blog. The intention is to follow a similar plan to the one I committed to back in August 2013: this blog is to continue to be a celebration of bookshops. I'll try to post weekly, but reality tells me I'll probably be more random, especially when I'm focusing on bigger freelance projects, because we all need to pay the bills. I also don't want to blog at the expense of my lovely local, which briefly brought me out of retirement in 2024 and is somewhere I adore and visit as often as possible.

This time my blogs will be balancing recent visits – I've been to two excellent bookshops in the last week – with those from any time during my hiatus, which means I already have lots to tell you and can't wait to start writing.

I hope you enjoy sharing my bookshopping adventures, past and present.

Thanks for reading,

Erica

* If you're reading this blog considering if I'm any good as a freelance copy editor, please look away now. Everyone knows editing your own words is the hardest thing, so typos will creep in, grammar will occasionally wobble, and I'll use whatever punctuation I feel like. Please consider this site to be a relaxed conversation with anyone who cares to dive in. It is definitely not a perfectly crafted piece of writing.

My local independent bookshop

I have received a wonderful gift. In real terms it’s not actually a gift for me. It doesn’t belong to me and no one gave it to me, but as a thing for me to cherish, it’s high up there on the list of special things.

It’s a new independent bookshop in the town where I live.

 

No one reading this will be surprised by the revelation that I love independent bookshops. I may not have been able to publish here for a while but I’ve not stopped visiting the local bookshop of whatever town or village I find myself in, and I’ve continued my commitment to buying a book in every good bookshop I visit (which means 99.9% of them). But this is different.

 

This is a bookshop I can easily return to again and again.

 

I don’t need to buy one book to write the bookshop and address in the cover as an aide memoire of the wonderful time I had there.

 

In this bookshop I need to buy one book, and then another, and another, and another. Visiting again, and again, and again because finally I can.

 

And so do you.

 

Because this bookshop needs me and my regular purchases as much as I need it.

 

 

Station Books on Tunbridge Wells High Street isn't a treat to be stumbled across for a one-off visit, it's to become a regular part of my shopping, the place where I'll re-stock my reading pile in much the same way I'd re-stock the bread bin (if I was civilised enough to own a bread bin, and also so much more special than that).

And what a good local it is.

 

I couldn’t have imagined a bookshop more suited to both Royal Tunbridge Wells and my very niche requirements.

 

When I walked in and turned left to review the first bookcase, the very first title I read was that of my all-time favourite book*. I then looked up and picked out shelf after shelf of classics that I either already love or have long wanted to read.

 

Next are two bookcases of contemporary fiction and again there were rows of titles I’m curious about or have read and recommended more times than I can remember. If visitors look no further, they’ll find a wealth of words to lose themselves in here.

 

Indeed, when he arrived to meet me, I lost The Boy to these three bookcases as he settled into a comfy chair and attempted to whittle down a long list of future reads.

 

Next we have a rarity in the world of the small independent bookshop: a couple of bookcases dedicated to science fiction and fantasy and horror. I don’t know much about the last category, but the first two are the treats I hunt for whenever I’m in a bookshop. Even larger stores often only manage a shelf or two to these titles, so to find so much choice for this lover of different worlds was more than I could have ever hoped for. I naturally picked up my first purchase from here (Calypso by Oliver K Langmead) and I look forward to working my way along the shelves and enjoying recommendations during future visits.

 

Moving on, the non-fiction bookcases had me wanting to buy up half their contents, and the nearby boardgames are the icing on the cake in terms of things I long for. My niece is also going to benefit from the good selection of children’s books and I love the efforts made to support young dyslexic readers.

 

I’m not going to list off the entire contents of the bookshop – I want you to visit for yourselves to find your own favourite bookcase. But I will tell you it’s a longer room than you’d expect from the front and even in its status of “soft opening, minimal viable product on the shelves” I was sorry I only had the space of a lunch break to linger.

 

And linger I shall. Again, and again, and again as I return to enjoy the luxury of having an independent bookshop open its door in my town.

 

When I was younger, I didn’t understand the rare and precious gift that was my local independent bookshop. Teenage me was lucky enough to have one nearby where I spent all my pocket money on £1 Penguin Classics*, then student me fell in love with another local which kindly ordered in Iris Murdoch’s entire catalogue and allowed me to buy as I could afford them.

 

Then I relocated and discovered I was in an independent bookshopless town. A few years later the same again, and again. Until then, I hadn’t considered it possible that there could be places without bookshops. I grew up visiting them and I simply assumed they were everywhere. I took them for granted. I didn’t realise there could be an absence until I experienced it. I don’t want to experience that absence again.

 

I don't have the words to say how happy I am to finally have an independent bookshop here in the town I now call home. It’s not really mine, or yours, but it is the town’s. It’s our local bookshop and I'm sure you'll all join me in supporting our local independent bookshop.

Welcome to Tunbridge Wells, Station Books.

 

Station Books

10 High Street, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1UX 

(Of course I still wrote the name and address in the cover, you can't break the habit of a lifetime/eleven years.)

 

* My favourite book is The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton, which I first encountered as a £1 Penguin Classic in my first independent bookshop.

Bookshop Day 2020

Today is Bookshop Day, one of my favourite Saturdays of the year. It's a day for getting up early, starting a long journey and visiting as many bookshops as I can between the hours of 9am and 6pm.

It's a day of adventure, of new friends, of new worlds, of new experiences, and – inevitably – of a very nice amount of tea and cake along the way.

My bank balance would end the day battered and bruised, my face would hurt from smiling so much, my feet from walking, and my mood would be one of overwhelming joy at all the experiences I'd had and the books I'd bought. It's a wonderful day and has previously included anything from five to 15 bookshops, with a minimum of one book purchased in each.

For all of us 2020 has been a little different (understatement of the century), but it's not until today that I've properly felt the loss of the world as it was compared to the world as it is now. I'd dearly love to be embarking on another bookshop crawl, but for me that's simply not an option at this time.

I'm lucky in that I'm making the most of the many measures independent bookshops have put into place: I've been buying books by Twitter, email, website and phone, and I'm grateful to every independent bookseller who has listened to my requests, advised me on the possibilities and – always successfully – introduced me to a new read.

These last months have been the only time in my life when I've bought books in a way other than face-to-face and it's been hard. It's not the same as walking into a bookshop and being grabbed by a random book sighting from across the room – not forgetting the feel of the books, the noise of the pages and the wonderful smell of a good bookshop – and I admit I'm struggling to adjust to this different way of book buying, but my goodness I'm grateful for the booksellers who have supported me during this time.

Yes, it really is the booksellers who are supporting me.

They're real people with thoughts and opinions and they know when to offer a similar book to your previous read and when to go off at a tangent. They discuss the possibilities and are honest when they're not sure if what they've suggested is quite right but at least it's a good starting point. They are not an algorithm.

Now, more than ever, booksellers are worth their weight in gold.

We need independent bookshops, but for them to be there for us we need to be there for them too. This Bookshop Day, and every day, please support your local indie.

Let's go on a bookshop crawl

An Independent Bookshop Week adventure: two people, three days, four counties, 17 bookshops, 28 books, 471 miles.

Bookshops are magical places. I’m generally a bit of a sceptic, but I really do believe that stepping inside a bookshop – especially one of the independent variety – can have a transformative effect.

There’s the calming influence of being surrounded by so many books; the excitement of so much potential inside those books; the distraction of all those titles and spines and covers; the little individual details that make each bookshop unique; the other browsers interacting with your personal most loved or most hated books; and there are the booksellers themselves, the bookshop heroes who curated the little piece of heaven you find yourself standing in.

Independent Bookshop Week is the perfect opportunity to explore, engage with and celebrate everything about those individual havens, and having been running for 13 years the celebrations are clearly going well. In the past year the number of indie bookshops who are members of the Booksellers Association has also increased, up to 883, so I like to think that’s a sign lots of us browsers and readers are also doing our bit to celebrate and support our local – and not so local – indies. You can search for indie bookshops near you here.

Following the success of my IBW bookshop crawl last year (and countless before then, bookshop crawls are great – try one!), Books Are My Bag, the campaign to support buying books from bookshops, invited me to go on another adventure to mark the start of Independent Bookshops Week 2019. I chose East Anglia as my destination, and while it was physically impossible for me to visit every bookshop in the area, my boyfriend and I did our best, taking in 17 bookshops spread across four counties – in three days. Almost 500 miles is a long way to travel to visit two people’s handfuls of bookshops, but as I’m hoping this blog will reveal, the rewards to be found in our many destinations were definitely worth the effort.

Our adventure began at The Book Warren & Café in Wilmingham, Cambridgeshire. Found just outside the village, this café-cum-secondhand-bookshop was the perfect cheery start to set us on our way. A handful of tables and chairs fill the room, with books around the edges and chatter and community spirit wafting around the room. We ordered breakfast (coffee and a sausage sandwich for me, tea, an egg sandwich and a cheese scone for him) and sat down at a table near the general fiction shelves.

Bookshop owner Lyndsay came over to say hello in between running the café, and made us feel very welcome as she talked about her endeavour and the part the venue plays in hosting events and gatherings for the community. The book offering is limited – I picked up Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier – but it’s interesting and varied and coupled with the café, Lyndsay’s enthusiasm and the warmth of the welcome on offer, it’s easy to see why this bookshop has been so well received.

Heading north we came to the two-bookshop city of Ely. First stop was Burrows Bookshop, a sweet little place dedicated to children. Set on a busy pedestrian street, several visitors popped in to say hello during our visit, creating a nice atmosphere. I took this stop as an opportunity to add to my Michael Morpurgo collection with Escape from Shangri-La.

Topping & Company is one of the more famous names in the indie bookshop world, and the people of Ely clearly appreciate it because it was packed with Saturday morning shoppers.

Three floors of bookcases (accessed by ladder if necessary) mean this was probably the most voluminous bookshop of our destination. Recommendations tables fill every open space and spines call for attention from smart wooden shelves that make me think of an historic home library. Readers sit with cups of tea, and browse books or sit and chat. There’s a good atmosphere.

While we're exploring, the boy picks up an interesting book, The Stolen Bicycle by Wu Ming-Yi, which I promptly nab from him and claim as my purchase. So he returns to the shelves and comes back with a British Museum book about Manga, and Vivian Maier Street Photography.

Ceres Bookshop in Swaffham, Norfolk, came next. A new and secondhand bookshop with a tea room and garden, we’d just missed the lunchtime rush on what looked to have been a very impressive selection of cakes.

Bad timing in relation to cake aside, this destination is a good size and the tables next to some of the secondhand books get a big thumbs up from this bibliophile. The whole setting conjured up visions of a community space to read, eat and congregate.

Time was tight so we had to move on without cake, but not before I got my hands on Adam Rutherford’s A brief history of everyone who has ever lived.

Hidden away in an interesting-looking arcade in the market town of Holt, The Holt Bookshop turned out to be surprisingly large stopping point. I said hello and the nice gentleman behind the counter apologetically commented he’d not decorated for IBW. As much as I like a good bit of bunting I’m not going to hold a lack of it against anyone, especially if that anyone is a beautifully stocked bookshop.

We both gravitated towards the classics section here, which contained a number of previously unknown to us titles. I was drawn to Arnold Bennett’s Anna of the Five Towns, while it was the boy’s turn to pick up a book I’d been interested in first: The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories. We also ended up with an audio book of Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, and a classical CD of The Tippet Quartet, respectively.

The last Saturday stop was Jarrold & Sons in Cromer. We arrived just 15 minutes before closing, so our exploration was limited to establishing it was half stationery shop, half bookshop, and the buyers had the good sense to stock the latest publication by my favourite cookery guru: The Quick Roasting Tim by Rukmini Iyer.

End of day one: 6 bookshops, 2 counties, 9 books + 2 CDs

Sunday trading meant day two was a more leisurely one, starting at 10.45am, the opening time of City Bookshop in Norwich. We were welcomed by an obviously very knowledgeable bookseller, who we enjoyed chatting to as we explored the varied selection of remainder, secondhand and antiquarian books.

The two floors were well laid out with much to appeal to all tastes but I jumped at the opportunity to buy Patrick Rothfuss’ The slow regard of silent things, because it’s a book I’ve long kept a look out for. The boy chose Modernism, An Anthology, and the size of it meant we were both pleased to be traveling by car!

The Book Hive opened next. Upon entering there’s a smallish lobby with a menu advertising the week’s specials, but the really special thing is walking up the stairs into the bookshop proper, which somehow feels like you’ve been invited into a person’s home – in a good way.

Individual books are placed flat on tables, allowing the browser to sweep their eyes over a mass of covers, spotting new titles and generally being inspired to read X, Y or Z.

That said, bookseller Megan also did a superb job with her recommendations (for us and others, conversation in the bookshop embraced many browsers). Based on her suggestion, I bought Olivia Lang’s To the river. I have a lot of respect for anyone who is willing to discuss taste in books and then say “read this, I think you’ll like it” and based on the fact some of her recommendations were titles one or both of us had already read and loved I was even more impressed. The boy also did some buying: Radical Technologies: The Design of Everyday Life by Adam Greenfield, and A World of Three Zeroes by Muhammad Yunus.

My next bookshop conversation was when I was paying for my purchase in the bookshop in Jarrolds, also in Norwich. I have to admit I’d been a little uncertain about visiting a bookshop in a department store, even if it was an indie. My imagination had been of books lost among clothes or crockery. Instead this was a big, well-stocked space with an excellent range.

The book talk came from Annie at the till, who proudly shared the bookshop’s history, dedication to books and – because everyone loves a freebie – made sure I didn’t leave until I had the bookmark and badges created to accompany my chosen book: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata.

Leaving the city, we headed for the coast and another indie offering Sunday opening hours: Aldeburgh Bookshop in Suffolk.

Another surprisingly big bookshop, we entered through a door to the side and were met with a great mix of non-fiction, which is pretty much where I lost the boy. He quickly selected Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream by Sue Prideaux, and The Brain: A User’s Manual by Marco Magrini. Moving into the bigger room I found a good selection of fiction to tempt me, dawdling by the recommendations and enjoying a selection of books displayed at my head height. As well as Anything is Possible by Elizabeth Strout, I also bought a book of postcards, The Snooty Bookshop by Tom Gauld. No prizes for guessing the type of post my friends are going to start receiving...

End of day two: 4 bookshops, 2 counties, 9 books + 1 postcard book

A little last-minute route re-arranging meant the third day of our bookshop crawl began very early, to see us loitering on the doorstep of Woodbridge Emporium in Suffolk ready for opening time. A small bookshop with a definite leaning towards both historical fiction and science fiction and fantasy, the shop was as characterful as Jules the bookseller. We enjoyed a good chat and I came away with The Magicians by Lev Grossman.

Walking a short distance down the street we came to Browsers Books, which had a particularly appealing display of non-fiction almost as soon as we entered through the door. I liked the variety here and was pleased to pick up Curtis Sittenfeld’s The Man of My Dreams, which prompted a brief bookshop chat about the author’s excellent writing.

Heading north again, we arrived at the beautiful Halesworth Bookshop, which is clearly investing a lot of energy into making itself a place for the community. I lost track of the number of book-related events taking place thanks to the energy of Abbie the bookseller. Her bubbly enthusiasm was infectious and it was great to see the steady stream of customers visiting her shop early on a Monday morning.

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim caught my attention here, as did a beautiful mural in the children’s department (the whole bookshop was really rather lovely) but I could only take one of those two things home.

Hurrying to make up time we could only manage a brief pitstop in Beccles Bookshop, which was spacious and simply organised with a buzz of shoppers and friendly booksellers. The children's area at the back caught my attention but in the end I picked up A closed and common orbit by Becky Chambers. Then there was a quick chat with the bookseller before returning to the road.

The first thing I noticed inside Diss Publishing Bookshop was the woman walking towards me wearing the same Book Shop Heroes t-shirt as me. As icebreakers go it was a good one and we were soon joined by a second bookseller for a group photo. There was a lovely, smiley welcome to this huge bookshop by the lake which also offers art supplies, gifts and a cafe, making it the perfect stop for lunch too.

I interspersed ordering and eating with browsing and chatting, while the boy relaxed at our table on the decking by the lake. It’s an idyllic setting. Tea and toasties revived us nicely but I missed out on trying the homemade jam Swiss roll because one of us ate that all to himself (I’m told he was too busy enjoying it to remember to leave some for me – he's still in the dog house).

Local books were top of the bestsellers here and were certainly very tempting, but I was eventually drawn to Wonders beyond numbers: A brief history of all things mathematical by Johnny Ball.

Winding roads brought us to Clare, near Sudbury, where Harris & Harris Books is to be found. I’ve long wanted to visit this bookshop and the welcome as we arrived at the door confirmed I’d not been wrong in my wish.

Kate the bookseller had the biggest of smiles and the happiest of chatter as she greeted us and showed us around her beautiful boutique bookshop. I’ll be honest, we were beginning to flag a little at this point so the welcome and wonder of this bookshop was exactly what we needed to revive us.

It may be small, but what Harris & Harris lacks in space it makes up for in quality and content. There are eye-catching details everywhere and the books have clearly been lovingly and carefully selected and despite being almost at the end of a bookshop crawl the majority of titles were ones I didn’t recognise. Which is a remarkable achievement for a small bookshop.

I was only sorry I didn’t have more time to appreciate all the details interspersed between the two floors of new and secondhand books. That sorrow was balanced by the joy of finding a new-to-me-title by Edith Wharton, The Touchstone. As the author of my favourite book I’m always thrilled to find more of her writing (all bookshops please take note!). The boy chose A history of the American people by Paul Johnson from the secondhand section.

We arrived at Between The Lines in Great Bardfield, Essex, just 15 minutes before closing but the reaction of the booksellers was so great that I was again reminded why indie bookshops are the best. There were four or five people gathered on their way to celebrate a birthday but rather than tapping their watches and rushing us out, they opened a bottle, settled in for a chat and entertained us with bookshop stories for almost an hour!

Another example of the care and consideration that goes into stocking a bookshop, we were again impressed by the unexpected and largely new to us selection on offer. I greedily grabbed another Wharton, Twilight Sleep, then ended up buying a second book when one of the booksellers saw me looking at Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, which she praised so highly I had to find out more. Annie Ernaux’s Les annees, from the French language corner, was the the boy’s choice.

The bookshelf discoveries and the cheery, celebratory atmosphere generated by the gathered ladies (see them behind us in the photo above) were the perfect ending to our Independent Bookshop Week Bookshop Crawl.

End of day three: 7 bookshops, 3 counties, 10 books

Total: 17 bookshops, 4 counties, 28 books

To find out more about all of these bookshops, come back soon as I focus on them individually.

The Book Warren and Cafe,
Over Road, Willingham, Over, Cambridgeshire, CB24 5EU
Tel: 01954 260762 @TheBookWarren19

Burrows Bookshop,
9 High Street Passage, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7  4NB
Tel: 01353 669 759

Toppings & Company Booksellers,
9 High Street, Ely, Cambridgeshire, CB7 4LJ
Tel: 01353 645005 @ToppingsEly

Ceres Bookshop,
20 London Street, Swaffham, Norfolk, PE37 7DG
Tel: 01760 722504

The Holt Bookshop,
10 Appleyard, Holt, Norfolk, NR25 6AR
Tel: 01263 715858 @TheHoltBookshop

Jarrold Books,
33 Church Street, Cromer, Norfolk, NR27 9ES
Tel: 01263 512190 @JarroldBooks

City Bookshop,
12-14 Davey Place, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1PQ
Tel: 01603 626113 @CityBookshop

The Book Hive,
53 London Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1HL
Tel: 01603 219268 @bookhive

Jarrold Books,
1-11 London Street, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1JF
Tel: 01603 660661 @JarroldBooks

The Aldeburgh Bookshop,
42 High Street, Aldeburgh, Suffolk, IP15 5AB
Tel: 01728 452389 @AldeBooks

Woodbridge Emporium,
66 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 1AL
Tel: 01394 382382 @WoodbridgeEmpor

Browsers Books,
60 Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AL
Tel: 01394 388890 @BrowsersBks

The Halesworth Bookshop,
42 Thoroughfare, Halesworth, Suffolk, IP19 8AR
Tel: 01986 873840 @abbieyvette

Beccles Bookshop,
Exchange Square, Beccles NR34 9HH
Tel: 01502 716806

Diss Publishing Bookshop,
40 Mere Street, Diss, Suffolk, IP22 4AH
Tel: 01379 644612 @DissPublishShop

Harris & Harris Books,
7B High Street, Clare, Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10 8NY
Tel: 01787 277267 @HandHbookshop

Between the Lines,
Vine Street, Great Bardfield, Braintree, Essex, CM7 4SR
Tel: 01371 810087 @BTLBardfield

A good heart

First impressions are a big thing these days, with so many demands on our time and attention that we're often distracted from one shiny thing to the next, whizzing through life and hardly having time to stop and consider what's in front of us.

When I arrived at Borzoi Bookshop in the heart of Stow-on-the-Wold I'd been racing through an Independent Bookshops Week bookshop crawl, so I'd already visited a lot of other bookshops and could easily have been in too much of a hurry to appreciate how special this unassuming destination is. Set in a lovely historic building, the shop front is made up of welcoming red door and two simple windows which offer only a glimpse of the treats inside. It's a far cry from the large picture windows and colourful displays many bookshops rely on to lure in readers and I loved this contrast and the feeling of cosy history that came with it.

Borzoi Bookshop is more than 30 years old and was named for the breed of dog that was the original furry bookseller, which I thought was a nice touch. I don't know how the bookshop has changed in that time, but the space I explored had the feeling of somewhere that has been cherished for years – and continues to be loved today. The low ceilings added to the sense of history, while the good variety of new titles brings everything into the modern day. The combination was comforting and reassuring and exactly what I've come to hope for in a long-serving bookshop.

The first room is snug but still larger than expected, with Molie the (thankfully quite small) furry bookseller relaxing near the door and two human booksellers available to answer questions and keep everything in order. They welcomed me in and did an excellent job of greeting browsers or leaving them in peace as preferred, with me obviously choosing to dive into conversation. This was mainly with the booksellers, but also with the other customers who'd popped in to collect an order, ask about the publication date of various new books or simply see what they might read next. It was a perfect example of a well-loved bookshop set in the heart of its community.

Equally importantly, for all of the questions I heard asked the booksellers' knowledge was impeccable and satisfied children and adults alike. Further evidence of their bookish genius was found in the content of the bookshelves and in their recommendation of my next new book.

I'd commented on titles and publishers as I'd wandered around the maze of shelves – there's a lot to be discovered if you venture beyond the front room – and almost picked a book by myself but wasn't quite sure if it was right for me. A chat about what I've read previously and what I was looking for next saw the bookseller politely agree that maybe my choice wasn't the one for this time, instead gently steering me to some alternative titles. From the selection put forward, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee stood out and having since devoured the book I can confirm the booksellers' instinct was spot on.

It takes a lot of courage, confidence and tact to be able to help a browser change their mind – especially when their choice of book is not bad but more not for this time – and I was very impressed by how well the bookseller achieved this, and am very grateful they did!

Which really sums up my feelings about this delightful bookshop. Borzoi Bookshop is not the flashiest or the most glamorous of indies I've visited, but it has a good heart, great books and exceptional booksellers.


The Borzoi Bookshop
Church Street, Stow-on-the-Wold,
Gloucestershire GL54 1BB
Tel: 01451 830268
@BorzoiBookshop

Taking stock of another person's joy

Sometimes, the best way to enjoy something is by seeing the joy another person is experiencing. I loved the last stop on day three of my Independent Bookshops Week bookshop crawl, but whatever I felt for Woodstock Bookshop is nothing compared to the reaction of my boyfriend.

We'd spent two days touring bookshops and although my enthusiasm was still high, my boyfriend was obviously still keen but flagging a little. He dawdled on the walk to the bookshop, pausing to take photos of our surroundings so that I decided to leave him to it once we'd spotted the bookshop on the road ahead. I therefore arrived without him, taking in the two snug rooms and remarkable number of people they could hold as I began to look over the shelves. It appeared to be a lovely space that was very well filled.

As I made this assessment the dawdler arrived and began to look around. He looked happy enough, then I lost him and the next thing I knew he was kneeling on the floor to get a closer look. In the two plus years since he joined me on this adventure I've never seen him go to so much effort to look at the books, and this behaviour continued for the entire time we were in the bookshop.

To be fair, Woodstock Bookshop really is a place worth going to the effort to explore, but to see my boyfriend so engrossed really emphasised to me how good the variety of stock is here. We'd visited a lot of bookshops and yet here he was, re-enthused about bookshopping and excited by the variety of previously unseen titles in front of him.

It would be impossible for me to list off all that was special about the stock here, but for a bookshop with incredibly limited space there really was an unusual and unexpected offering of everything. Non-fiction included an array of more unexpected titles in every genre, while I found a particularly high volume of translated and/or independent publishers on the fiction shelves. Children also had a generous and well-stocked area to enjoy. I honestly don't know how Woodstock Bookshop manage to fit it all in, but I'm very impressed that they do.

My boyfriend had no trouble choosing two books to buy here, Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich and Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth. I took slightly longer because I'd been so distracted enjoying his delight, eventually selecting The Infatuations by Javier Marias.

Woodstock Bookshop is a truly tiny place but has such big personality – both in books and with the friendly bookseller – that I can happily recommend it as the reason I will be returning to visit Woodstock. Which is quite a coup considering Blenheim Palace is down the road.


The Woodstock Bookshop
23 Oxford Street, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire OX20 1TH
Tel: 01993 812760
@WoodstockBooks