My Bookstore, and A Giveaway

My Bookstore

Closing the door to the slope-ceilinged room that is my favourite in this favourite hotel,  I make my way down the three staircases to the lobby.  A Monet morning sun falls over the floral upholstery on the overstuffed chairs and the view to the garden beckons.  But I am not deterred, for I have someplace else to be.  I pull open the tall black front door, pausing briefly on the threshold to breathe in the cool fragrance of Springtime before taking the stone stairs two at a time. 

 This is a familiar start to many of the days I have spent in London.  Where am I heading with such anticipation as I leave my hotel in Chelsea?  To VV Rouleaux, that enchanting emporium of feathers and ribbons?  No.  As tempting as that dear shop is to me, it is never my very first stop.  Nor am I bound for Brora, with its heavenly Scottish cashmere. 
 Jo Malone, Cath Kidston, Peter Jones.  All are a mere skip away, but none claim first stop place in my heart.  

No, that spot belongs wholly to a bewitching shop on a quirky little side street, humble in appearance but containing riches galore just behind its large-paned windows.  John Sandoe Books, Ltd.   Once a grooming parlor catering primarily to poodles, this eighteenth century shop holds the distinction as being my absolute favourite book store and I always devote my first morning in London to its perusal.  There are books everywhere here - stacked on every conceivable surface.  They line the tiny, eccentrically curved staircase leading up to a floor full to bursting with even more books than found below.  The floors creak in appropriately atmospheric fashion.  (To be here on a rainy afternoon is the closest thing to Eden one can find.)  In short, it is utter paradise and easily claims several hours of my time whenever I’m fortunate enough to be in that glorious city.

No one can doubt the internet has had a deleterious effect on the health and well-being of independent shops.  Books and music are sold in different ways these days, one must admit.  But over the past few months I have visited several delightful independent bookshops which, though sadly harder to come across than they once were, are so worth the effort of seeking out.  In October, I was in Seaside, Florida one afternoon just as a setting sun was painting the white exterior of Sundog Books the most beautiful shade of pink.  Inside I found a treasure trove of books in a most tempting setting.  As I am hardly an abstemious book buyer, it was an effort to extricate myself from its shelves empty handed.  I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in the vicinity.  Could there be anything better than picking up the perfect book, grabbing an ice cream as you leave and heading straight for a beach chair beside the sea?  Well, no.

And just this past weekend I was in Nashville, Tennessee for my quarterly classics book club meeting.  There is a one year old independent bookshop there that is a must visit for any book lover.  Parnassus Books is owned by writer, Ann Patchett, and is truly a book lover’s bookshop if ever there was one.  The titles seem curated by those who appreciate beautiful writing and the staff is eager to point you to the most wonderful selections.  I feel lucky to visit every three months or so.  As an utterly ingenious added treat, at the back of the store there is the facade of a grand house with a front door that only stands about four feet tall.  It is the entrance to the children’s department and what a fabulous idea this is.  Kids walk through their own door and enter a tall-ceilinged world of books.  Magic.  

I suppose I’ve had bookshops on my mind as I’ve been reading through one of the books I recommended here for Christmas:  My Bookstore.  Edited by Ronald Rice, My Bookstore is a collection of essays from writers celebrating their favourite places to "browse, read and shop".  Not only a literary treat, it serves as a tantalizing road map for bookworms.  How could we not want to visit Nantucket Bookworks when we read author Elin Hilderbrand describe it as being located on a “quaint leafy street” and looking as though “decades ago it might have been an ice cream shoppe or a private home for someone like Angela Lansbury”.  Or how could we possibly resist a trip to Isabel Allende’s choice, Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, when she speaks of “the sight of shelves packed with books of all kinds, the smell of printed paper and coffee, and the secret rustle of the characters that live in the pages...”   Oooh, don’t we love that secret rustle.

In my own travels I have loved Bunch of Grapes bookshop in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts and E. Shaver Books in Savannah, Georgia.  Malaprop's in Asheville, North Carolina is always a must.  I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I wandered the streets of Wigtown, Scotland, a village known as Scotland’s National Book Town where every single shop is a bookshop - over twenty of them!  But still, I remain firm in my devotion to John Sandoe Books.  It is My Bookstore.

Now of course, as I’ve shared John Sandoe Books with you,

 you all simply must tell me your favourite bookshop. 

 I know you have one!

As a special treat for my dear readers.....

I have a copy of My Bookstore to give away to one of you.

To enter, just leave a comment below, telling me your favourite bookshop.

I'll draw a winner at midnight on my wedding anniversary... Sunday the 27th!!

John Sandoe Books, Ltd.
London
******************************
Congratulations to Judy M!
She's the winner of My Bookstore.
Judy, please drop me a line with your address!
Thanks to all who entered,
your favourite bookstores are all soooo tempting!