Our picks this week
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In the Mail: Mail Men: The Unauthorised Story of the Daily Mail by Adrian Addison. If you're a fan of journalism or gossip, you'll love this book. Part gripping history of the Victorian birth of tabloids; part anthology of weapons-grade anecdotes about Paul Dacre. Great fun. Tom
Deaths foretold: The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight. Portents abound in this fascinating new book by one of Britain’s best non-fiction writers. It follows the work of two eccentric men - a psychiatrist and a journalist - who wanted to know: can we predict the future? We forecast a top seller. Dani
Rise up: Breadsong by Kitty & Al Tait. The best cookbooks feed the soul as well as the body. This beautifully-designed collection of recipes for bread and baked goodies is a prime example. Teenager Kitty Tait’s story of how bread saved her from depression will make your heart swell like a risen loaf. Tara
A very human novel: Afterwards by Charlotte Leonard. I've already given this debut novel to my mum and my best friend. It's a raw and very human account of what happens "afterwards" when the main character’s husband kills himself. Not as dark as it sounds! Highly readable; short chapters pull you through. Tom
Don’t mention the Bullingdon: Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK by Simon Kuper. An excellent FT journalist draws out just how tightly entwined the tiny cohort of frenemies in charge are, and how rivalries formed in their boarding schools, drinking clubs and uni debates still echo on an international stage. Tara
When I quit my job and stuck the inevitable “some personal news” update on Twitter, I thought I’d include a little survey, while I had your attention. I asked what made a good bookshop and what turned you off one. Turns out, quite a lot of you had thoughts. 1,233 of you, to be precise.
I’ve been on holiday this week (sort of: it turned into a bit of a tour of US “bookstores”), so I’ve finally had time to start wading through the responses. Thank you so much: they are incredibly helpful. Together, they are an ode to independent bookshops, warts and all, and confirmation of my hunch that we are hungrier than ever to be in like-minded company.
McNally Jackson, City Point, Brooklyn
Next week, I’ll share some of my initial conclusions, drawn from your comments, about things like ambience and selection of books, and the two big debates: coffee shop or not; music or silence.
For now, though, and since it’s Sunday evening, I thought you might like a chart. Here are the bookshops you love the most (excluding chains; locations provided only if not London). I didn’t prompt any names, and the bits in italics are snippets from your responses. Save it as a bucket list!
1. Daunt Books (133) - “the model - cosy, lots of choice, a good environment, knowledgeable staff and full of recommendations. Always emerge with a book I hadn’t expected”
2. Topping & Company, Bath, Ely, Edinburgh, St Andrew’s (51) - “the fittings are gorgeous”, “immensely homely”
3. London Review Bookshop (39) - “range, staff and cake”
4. Libreria (20) - “aesthetic pleasure and a great selection of diverse, translated fiction and non-fiction”
5. Mr B’s Emporium, Bath (18) - “The best bookshop I have ever been to…Every time I've been there I've either picked something up from the 'staff recommended' section, or had a chat with a bookseller, and I've come away with a book I'd never heard of before but which I've absolutely loved”
5. John Sandoe (18) - “it’s a TARDIS”, “organised chaos”
7. Strand, New York (17) - “enormous”, “you can get lost for hours”
8. Skoob (15) - “fun and quirky”, “a treasure trove for second-hand books”
9. Barter Books, Alnwick (13) - “unique building, huge selection”
10. Shakespeare & Company, Paris (12) - “incredible history”, “a cool cat”
11. BookBar (11) - “wine + books = ideal”, “the best example that comes to mind of a bookshop being good because of the choices the owner has made, rather than simply because it has a beautiful building or lots of space”
11. Politics and Prose, Washington DC (11) - “stimulating debates/events”
Honourable mentions (several each): Bookmongers, Bookseller Crow on the Hill, Books for Cooks, Brick Lane Bookshop, Burley Fisher Books, Charlie Byrne’s Bookshop (Galway), Clapham Books, Cogito Books (Hexham), Dulwich Books (“brilliant service”), Forum Books (Corbridge), Gay’s The Word, Golden Hare Books (Edinburgh), Herne Hill Books, Heywood Hill, Housmans, Judd Books, Lighthouse Bookshop (Edinburgh), Lutyens & Rubenstein, Newham Bookshop, News from Nowhere (Liverpool), Nomad Books, Owl Bookshop, Pages of Hackney, Primrose Hill Books, Review, Sam Read (Grasmere), Stoke Newington Bookshop, Stanford’s, The Aldeburgh Bookshop (erm, Aldeburgh), The Barnes Bookshop (“lovely staff”), The Book Hive (Norwich), The Broadway Bookshop, The Open Book, The Portobello Bookshop (Edinburgh), Village Books, West End Lane Books, Wimbledon Books, Yellow Lighted (Gloucestershire)
You’re a well-travelled lot: Aiora Press (Athens), Ariel (Sydney), Atlantis Books (Santorini), Bear Pond Books (Vermont), Beijing Bookworm, Blossom Book House (Bangalore), Boekhandel der Dominicanen (Maastricht), Book Soup (Los Angeles), Books@Cafe (Amman), Bookstop (Nairobi), Deep Vellum (Dallas), Desperate Literature (Madrid), E Shaver (Savannah), Hedengrens (Stockholm), Heymann (Hamburg), Konst/ig (Stockholm), Kramers (Washington DC), Kristian F Møller (Aarhus), Massolit (Kraków), McNally Jackson (New York), Mollat (Bordeaux), Ocelot (Berlin), Paludan (Copenhagen), Passa Porta (Brussels), Potts Point Bookshop (Sydney), Powell’s (Portland, Oregon), Prospero’s (Tbilisi), The American Book Center (Amsterdam), The Book Lounge (Cape Town), The English Bookshop (Uppsala), The Word Bookstore (Montreal), Tronsmo (Oslo), Van Gennep (Rotterdam (or anywhere?)), Van Rossum (Amsterdam)
To the person who wrote “yours!”, you know who you are, and I love you
Dearly departed: you have fond memories of growing up in Borders. This interesting recent Bloomberg article explored a generation’s nostalgia for ‘90s bookshops
Things that made me laugh
“The cat is occasionally nice but has also bitten me a few times”
“I want to like [name of shop] but there’s just too much Portuguese poetry etc”
The person who answered “all bookshops in Paris”
More next week. Have a lovely bank holiday.
Tom