Hi everyone! I hope you’ve had a good couple of weeks since I last did one of these: I again didn’t really intend to skip last week, I just got really busy and it got so late in the week that I figured it would be better just to wait for the next one. I had a particularly packed week last week: on Monday, I was at Crazy Coqs seeing yet another Mince cabaret (this is the last one for a while I promise!), seeing Alex Young and Peter McGovern do the last of their little run of cabarets they’ve been doing this year and that was naturally really fun. As ever, I had a couple of Operation Mincemeat trips, including seeing the wonderful Amy Parker as Jean Leslie (and Others) again, I’ve seen her quite a lot as Monty recently so it’s been nice to get a couple of Jeans in! On Saturday I was back at Hadestown to see the wonderful Michelle Andrews as Persephone again, it’s been a while since I last did so that was really nice-she’s for sure one of my favourite Persephones I’ve seen. Finally on Sunday, I went with a few of my friends to see Twelfth Night at Kew Gardens-kind of an unusual one for us, but one of the 25/26 Play That Goes Wrong cast members Louise Hoare was in it and we wanted to go and support her. It was a really fun night and lovely to be able to see her again as we hadn’t since her final Play show back in May.
Anyway it is actually Tuesday whilst I’m writing this, though it probably won’t be once I’m done, but oh well! This week’s topic is Bookish Places I’ve Visited and was suggested by Susan @ Bloggin’ About Books-thanks Susan! There seemed to be a few different ways you could take this, places featured in books that you’ve then visited, real life bookish locations (bookstores, libraries etc). I decided to go for the latter as it seemed easier to come up with 10 real bookish places I’ve visited than to remember locations mentioned in books that I’ve visited-if nothing else I’ve been to a lot of bookshops! So here we go:
- Libreria Acqua Alta-Venice
Has this bookshop become kind of a tourist trap? Sure. But it’s still pretty darn cool, a bookshop on a canal where the books are in gondolas? Certainly a unique selling point! And it is really gorgeous inside, it was a lovely place to wander round.
2. The British Library-London
The British Library is one of my favourite places in London, it’s such a lovely space. I’ve been a few times for exhibitions there and they’re always so well put together and really interesting-I highly recommend looking up what’s on there if you are ever in London and like books!
3. State Library Victoria-Melbourne
Naturally this is one place that I’ve kept going back to on my trips to Melbourne because I do love a library! It’s a gorgeous space to wander round and get lost in for a few hours amongst all the wonderful books.
4. The Strand Bookstore-New York City
This one had been on my bucket list for a while cause it’s one of those bookstores that is just really well known and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Naturally I was in bookish heaven and spent several hours wandering around because just SO MANY BOOKS.
5. New York Public Library-New York City
Can you tell I had quite a few book heavy days when I was in New York?! To be fair, this was the day when it was tipping it down with rain so I was grateful to be inside for a few hours and if you’re going to be inside why not be inside with books? In addition to the library itself just being gorgeous, they had an exhibition celebrating 100 years of the New Yorker whilst I was there, so books and journalism? Basically my dream!
6. Words On The Water-London
This is another of the more unique bookshops I’ve visited, it’s a bookshop on a barge! Their selection of books wasn’t massively geared towards my personal interests, so I don’t know if it’s somewhere I’d go back frequently but it’s still a very cool experience and a place I recommend book lovers go in London for sure!
7. Melbourne Book Market-Melbourne
I go back here every time I go to Melbourne now cause I love it so much, they have a Book Market on Saturdays and Sundays at the Queen Victoria Market and it’s basically just tables and tables of second hand books. I have lost a lot of time wandering around those market stalls looking at the books over the years and I’m pretty certain to be back there again this year-it’s a great place to find Christmas presents.
8. The Book Nook-Stirling
If this bookshop had been around when I’d been at uni in Stirling, honestly I probably would have never left! It’s such a cool space, it’s a lovely second hand bookshop with a really wide array of second hand books and a really nice cafe-the hot chocolate is excellent as are the baked goods.
9. Edinburgh
Allow me to be a little vague on this one okay cause Edinburgh in general is just filled with bookish places, it was the UNESCO City of Literature one year. There’s loads of lovely bookshops, the Writer’s Museum, various statues to literary figures, I could go on but it’s a great place to go and get lost and explore if you are a book lover-and just a lovely city in general-one of my absolute favourites.
10. London Review Bookshop-London
One of my favourite independent bookshops in London, it has such a wide selection of books and is just a really lovely space to have a browse, I often go there if I’m in Central London and I just have time to kill-I could have gone with one of the more obvious ones like Foyles or Waterstones, but I always like sharing the Indies that I love!
So there we have it, some of the Bookish Places I Have Visited. Have you been to any of these? Where is your favourite bookish place? Let me know in the comments.
Okay I’m actually intentionally taking a break from Top Ten Tuesday this time as I’m on holiday for a couple of weeks as of next Tuesday, but I’ll be back on the 15th with that topic, Authors I’ve Met.
