Tag: Bibliophile

  • Broadening my Book-Buying Horizons

    Broadening my Book-Buying Horizons

    I like a lot of things about Amazon. It’s fast, generally reliable and it almost always has what I’m looking for. What I don’t like is that it means I never physically buy books in shops, especially independent ones. So for 2018, you might remember, I set a resolution to buy books from anywhere but Amazon and Waterstones – as a sort of cooperate-book-buying detox, you could say, a chance to broaden my book-buying horizons. This blog is something of a resolution update, where I’ll share where I’ve been buying books instead.

    Buying Online

    So despite the whole wanting to go out into, god forbid, real-life stores thing, there’s only one independent bookseller in my town and it’s for kids. While I tend to be in London at least once a week, I don’t always have time to explore the bookish stores around me so I needed to find at least one online alternative. A preliminary Google sent me to Wordery and Hive, both of which I have tried.

    Hive is cool because it makes a donation to an independent bookseller near you when you order something. For me this is great because I don’t have any reason to visit the children’s bookstore in town. With Hive I get to support a local store even though I won’t necessarily being shopping there. My issue with Hive is that more often than not, it doesn’t actually have what I’m looking for, be that new or old releases. It does, however, sell DVDs. So while it hasn’t become my online bookshop of choice, my DVD collection has continued to flourish despite my Amazon ban.

    When it comes to Wordery I am yet to find fault with it. The books are no more expensive than Amazon (often cheaper), their stock is amazing and their delivery is free and fast. What’s more, every order comes with a complimentary bookmark – that’s me sold. Given that it doesn’t sell everything else in the world like Amazon does, it’s impossible to fall down a random crap shopping spree, so it’s just books at good prices delivered fast – what’s not to love? I’ve also started trying to make a dent in the preliminary reading for my masters course and when it comes to academic books that I can’t get in the library or second hand, Wordery has had the best prices so far.

    Update July 2018: I now have an affiliate link for Wordery, so if you’re buying books there please use this link when making your way to the site! 

    Buying In-store

    As mentioned I’m not exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to local bookshops in my town, so boycotting Waterstones has been much harder than avoiding Amazon – not that I’ve given up! When in London I am spoilt for choice with independent, or at least alternative, booksellers. I have a list of shops I want to visit that I’m slowly making my way through but here’s where I’ve been so far.

    Burley Fisher Books is a shop I stumbled into for a book launch and found it rich in all my favourite authors as well as more quirky and unusual books that I might not have otherwise found. I was there for the launch of Tigerish Waters, and you know how I feel about that one! It’s up near Haggerston and Dalston which isn’t super easy for me to get to, but when work takes me in that direction again I’ll be sure to have a browse.

    Persephone Books is a publisher and bookseller near Holborn that reprints and sells otherwise forgotten fiction and non-fiction by (mostly) women writers from the mid-twentieth century in gorgeous grey editions. They’re not exactly cheap but they run a deal for multi-buys and it’s a really special way to collect and explore forgotten treasures of women’s literature.

    I’m still searching for an independent bookstore that crosses my regular path and has a mix of new finds and popular books I’m likely to be looking for. The stores I plan on hitting next include the London Review Bookshop (which apparently has cake!) and the Big Green Bookshop (always excellent on Twitter).

    When it comes to older and classic books I’ve been going to charity shops, of which there are an abundance of here. When I’m near Southbank I like to have a peruse at the book stalls under Waterloo Bridge, which will be in walking distance from my university next year… I smell trouble.

    I also visited Foyles for the first time, which I know is hardly independent but it was different at least. I deliberately headed for the Tottenham Court Road store because it has a Grant and Cutler concession – a foreign language bookstore. Speaking of…

    Buying Foreign Language Books

    My visit to the Grant and Cutler part of Foyles was good. It had what I needed and so much more, but it was pricey as hell. This has been my general experience of buying French books without Amazon.fr so far – expensive.

    llp
    A magical place!

    I mentioned months ago that I was having issues locating a specific edition of the French Potter books, even on French Amazon. I eventually found a solution by ordering online from a South Kensington based store called Librairie La Page. The whole delivery process ended up getting a bit muddled and the online store was a little pricey so I wasn’t feeling too hot on this one, until… Last week I happened to be in the area and made my way to the store in search of an Emile Zola book. I don’t know why I wasn’t expecting to be greeted in French, but when I was I immediately knew Librairie La Page was a gooden. For five minutes I got to nose around French books, ask for help in French and overhear conversations in French – in West London! I can’t say I’m in West London very often but I will happily go out of my way to immerse myself in a little French culture from time to time. The store hosts readings and talks by Francophone authors, which I hope to attend soon. Definitely worth some time on the circle line and a couple of extra quid.

    Please let me know about any other indie bookstores you think I should check out, it’s been a lot of fun discovering new places so far but I feel like I’m only just dipping my toes in the water. 

  • Is there more to #Bookstagram than judging books by their covers?

    Is there more to #Bookstagram than judging books by their covers?

    If you have the misfortune of following me on Instagram, you might have noticed that since the New Year I’ve been making a pathetic, desperate and not entirely successful attempt at being accepted into the enigmatic world of #Bookstagram. Social networks have always fascinated me, I wrote 5000 words on Twitter for a project at school when I was 17, but with my latest adventure I didn’t expect a social media niche to feel so much like a hobby.

    What is Bookstagram, you ask? It is essentially a hashtag, or a group of hashtags, on Instagram where people share pictures of books. The Bookstagram tag itself boasts more than 18 million pictures of books, bookshelves and book lovers with their books. Other hashtags like #Bookish, #Bibliophile and #Shelfie also have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of regular bookish users. Now most people when trying to enter the wicked world of an Instagram community will make a separate Instagram account. I however couldn’t be bothered with flicking between accounts, and expecting my venture with the fad to only run for a limited time I have, much to the annoyance of my family, just used my ‘personal’ account for this latest venture.

    My interest in ‘joining’ Bookstagram came from the question that kept hitting me as an observer: “is there more to Bookstagram than judging books by their covers?” In my experience so far, yes, but also no. It’s true that there are definitely accounts that seem to only share pictures of books they have never read (but that are indeed very pretty). Sometimes this can be with the really successful accounts that are inundated with advanced copies from publishers, so it is an understandable and perhaps unavoidable TBR situation.  There are, however, many more who are using the social media site to promote books they love, discuss books they hate, have sometimes very serious literary debate and explore how book publishing is going to survive in a digital age.

    That’s what I think is really interesting about the Bookstagram ‘craze’ – it’s giving new life to an ancient art form. When Kindles and other e-readers began to gain popularity a few years ago, I was one of many people throwing hissy fits about how you can’t beat a real book. After a while, I began to accept that e-readers must be the future of reading, but then I discovered Bookstagram. Maybe it’s just a big cooperate conspiracy by big publishing houses to sell books, but Bookstagram has put a twenty-first century twist on an potentially outdated art form. I may even be as bold as to say that it is saving the art of reading (not writing, reading) by making art of reading – and I don’t think there is anything wrong with that.

    The other thing I’ve learnt is that it’s bloody fun. Trying (and often failing) to think up and execute creative ways to photograph books that have already been shared thousands of times is an exciting challenge. While I’m not sure I can compete with the big-leagues or that the move will be permanent for my Instagram page itself, I have really enjoyed my foray into the Bookstagram universe so far. I think it also puts pressure on publishing houses to get really creative with their covers and it seems to be working. With every reprint of a book I already own I am getting serious book envy. The only major downside I have noticed, and perhaps experienced myself, is that members of the community seem to put a lot of pressure on themselves to read huge amounts annually and monthly. That ain’t good – quality over quantity, always.

    If you want to see what I’m talking about check out the #Bookstagram feed on Instagram, follow me or even better follow some of these brilliant account that post engaging and stunning bookish photos and entertaining captions on the regs – they are all super interesting and have book collections that will make you drool:

    Lotte: @lottelikesbooks

    Rima: @pardonmywritings

    Jack: @that.english.guy.who.reads

    Teisha: @girlwritesreviews 

    Jen: @bluestockingbookshelf

    Chrissy: @blackgirlsreadtoo

    Zoë: @readabilitea