PERSONAL: Browsing for books
Sep. 1st, 2013 04:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllLast week, I visited – I was going to type ‘bookshops’, but one of them was a charitably run book recycling project. An old retail unit in an out-of-town shopping centre has been taken over from which people are allowed to take up to three books for nothing, although donations are welcomed. There was a real mix of books, which is my favourite sort of bookish atmosphere. Charity shops that don’t like books published more than five years ago irritate me a little and proper antiquarian bookshops put me off because I know they’ll be pricey. I nosed around the children’s books on the basis that the books there might be harder to find elsewhere. I think the idea is that you should come back with the books once you’re done with them (and you shouldn’t try to sell them on). Some three people arrived with big bags of books while I was there.
I revisited a second hand bookshop that I may have mentioned in the past. It’s tiny and there are too many books for the space – so much so that I kept starting book avalanches by bending down to look at a spine or, worse, removing a book from a pile to take a closer look at it. Eventually, I just gave up on the books that were in the third pile in. Apart from dedicated bookworms/nutters like me, I don’t know how it keeps going, because you’re endangering yourself if you try to look too closely. A few people stuck their heads in, exclaiming ‘Look at that!’ and backed away. Eventually, I came out with filthy hands and in a bit of a mood (despite buying a couple of books that I will probably review here once I’ve read them).
A few days later, I visited a much better ordered second hand bookshop where there was space to move, where I also picked up some books. It was a much more tranquil experience./cut>
If you haven’t read it already this weekend, here is Lucy Mangan on browsing in a second hand bookshop. I won’t quote as it would get extensive.
I revisited a second hand bookshop that I may have mentioned in the past. It’s tiny and there are too many books for the space – so much so that I kept starting book avalanches by bending down to look at a spine or, worse, removing a book from a pile to take a closer look at it. Eventually, I just gave up on the books that were in the third pile in. Apart from dedicated bookworms/nutters like me, I don’t know how it keeps going, because you’re endangering yourself if you try to look too closely. A few people stuck their heads in, exclaiming ‘Look at that!’ and backed away. Eventually, I came out with filthy hands and in a bit of a mood (despite buying a couple of books that I will probably review here once I’ve read them).
A few days later, I visited a much better ordered second hand bookshop where there was space to move, where I also picked up some books. It was a much more tranquil experience./cut>
If you haven’t read it already this weekend, here is Lucy Mangan on browsing in a second hand bookshop. I won’t quote as it would get extensive.
