Bookshop Crawl January 29, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden,Reviews , trackbackYesterday, I set out to visit some of my favourite bookshops, looking for a couple of particular volumes, and just to see what I might find. One of the best things about living here is that some of the best bookshops in the world are within an easy walking distance.
First of all, Foyles. This shop is huge and probably has the highest number of titles of any shop in London. Waterstones in Piccadilly is larger, but devotes a lot of space to bestsellers making Foyles is the best place for finding a specific, but obscure, title. I found Brian Hayes ‘Infrastructure’ there, though it’s not so good on over-hyped business books, and I couldn’t find ‘The Little Book that Beat the Market’
Then across the road to Borders, which has good magazines and CDs, though its often quite a mess and the toilets do need serious attention. I found the Little Book there, but decided not to bother and bought Peter Temple’s ‘First Steps in Shares’ which I’ll review in a few days. I’m contemplating self-invested pensions and ISAs, and am thinking about doing a little trading for myself.
Heading back home, I passed by the London Review of Books Bookshop, small but perfectly formed with the most knowledgeable staff in the business. Give them a few obscure clues, and they always seem to know what you’re talking about. If its a wet Sunday afternoon, this is a great place to spend an hour or two, sitting on a chair with a good book that you’ll probably end up buying.
The Waterstones on Gower St, which used to be Dillons, is well worth a stop, if only for the Costa cofee shop in the basement though sadly customers are no longer allowed take in books they haven’t bought. I read Ian McEwen’s Saturday there when I wasn’t working last February, all for the price of a few coffees.
Finally, back to Somers Town for Amnesty International secondhand bookshop, which is always good for a rummage. The donors are often people who are sent review copies, so its not unusual to see a book or at least its proof here before anywhere else. It’s strong on politics, history, fiction and foreign language books, all for no more than half their new price and often a lot less.
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