Reading Matters

Some exciting news

And no, I'm not talking about Australian Literature Month, which kicks off later today. (I'll have more on that later.)

I wanted to share some other news first.

Drum roll, please.

I've finally taken the plunge and done something I've always wanted to do — yes, I've opened my own bookshop!

A visit to the World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto, Canada

When I recently went to Toronto — or should that be Toronno, because that's how the locals pronounce it — I had envisaged that I would visit book stores, such as Chapters and Indigo and Pages, to stock up on Canadian novels. But my trip was far from literary. I didn't do any reading. And I wasn't interested in buying books, especially as my baggage limit was 23kg.

It was only when scooting around town on a rather cold, miserable day on one of those jump-on, jump-off tourist buses that Mr Reading Matters spied this barn off downtown Yonge Street that I suddenly had an itch to visit it. We did so the next day.

The store wears its badge of pride on its red-and-white facade in giant 20-foot letters. But is it really the world's biggest bookstore? According to Wikipedia it isn't — that honour goes to a branch of Barnes and Noble in New York — but when it opened in 1980 (in a converted bowling alley) the claim was true.

That said, it does have 20km of shelving and I think I might have explored at least half of it!

The interior is divided into sections for different genres and categories of books. (Apologies, I didn't take photographs: I'm of the old school which believes you should ask permission before photographing the interior of shops and I was too busy perusing the shelves to do that.) It also includes a rather shoddy "discount" section at the rear filled with decorative household items — candles, cushions and so on — and children's toys. (Bypass it unless you're looking for something especially cheap or tatty to buy.)

Of course, I headed to the fiction section, where I was hoping to find an area devoted solely to Canadian writers. There was one, but it wasn't particularly good and in the event I found that most Canadian-penned novels were already nestled alongside their international counterparts on the literary fiction shelves. I honestly could have spent all day browsing this part of the shop — roughly the equivalent size of the fiction floor in Waterstone's Piccadilly branch here in London — but I was conscious of boring Mr Reading Matters half to death. We spent maybe an hour in the shop, enough to get a flavour of it and for me to find several tomes to purchase.

It was only while standing in line for the cash register that I spied another sizable section filled with heavily discounted hardcover novels — all billed as "something for mom" as part of an upcoming Mother's Day promotion — which I'm glad I hadn't seen earlier. I would have  bought most of this stock except for that pesky baggage allowance!

Here's my haul — all Canadian except for Water Ghosts, which was just $3.99

• Vincent Lam's The Headmaster's Wager (this was a gift from KevinfromCanada)
• Jane Urquhart's Sanctuary Line
• Lauren B. Davis's Our Daily Bread (I actually bought this at Toronto airport)
• Elizabeth Hay's Alone in the Classroom
• Shawna Yang Ryan's Water Ghosts
• Wayne Johnston's Human Amusements

If you fancy visiting the World's Biggest Bookstore (a division of Indigo Books) you will find it at 20 Edward Street, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1C9, Canada. Tel: (416) 977 7009.

A visit to Belgravia Books, London

Frequent visitors to this blog will know my penchant for visiting book stores in far flung places and writing about them here. But occasionally I like to showcase some of the more interesting shops in London, and for that reason I visited Belgravia Books, a longish stroll from Hyde Park Corner, for a bit of a look around today.

I've been meaning to visit the shop — which was founded by the independent publisher Gallic Books — ever since it opened last Autumn. And as anyone who follows my Facebook page will already know, today's visit was the second in the space of a week.

My first visit was last Thursday night, to attend the launch of the latest novel, The Brothers, published by Peirene Press. Despite the fact that the Finnish author, Asko Sahlberg, was unable to attend because of illness, it turned out to be a lovely evening. The translator talked eloquently about her work with the publisher Meike Ziervogel, while the staff of Belgravia Books supplied plenty of wine and nibbles. I was too busy talking to people to look at the stock, hence my return visit.

The first thing to note is how gorgeous the interior looks — the main colour scheme is blue and white reflecting the Gallic Books branding. Everything is so neat and ordered — just check out how well thoses shelves are stocked! But there's a relaxing feel to the place as well and if you wanted to stay all day, there's a few reading chairs scattered about the place to make you feel right at home.

Bu this isn't a shop for those looking for celebrity memoirs or commercial fiction.The emphasis is on quality literary fiction, much of it in translation. I like to think it's a bit like the Reading Matters blog come to life, because, honestly, pretty much every title in stock appeals to my tastes. And that table in the photograph above is filled with books already reviewed here or in my TBR pile!

I especially liked the section devoted to hardcover classics, primarily those Everyman's Library books I covet so much, and I couldn't leave without purchasing the Patricia Highsmith volume that features three of her Ripley novels. I also bought a crime novel — Petra Hammesfahr's The Lie — which has been translated from the German.

Of course the shop stocks more than just fiction — there's poetry, food and drink, humour, history and politics and so on. And there's a terrific children's section, complete with a fake tiger to clamber upon.

If you fancy visiting Belgravia Books you will find it at 59 Ebury Street, London SW1W 0NZ. Tel: 020 7259 9336. It is a short walk from the tube stations at Victoria and Sloane Square and a longish, but pleasant, walk from Hyde Park Corner. Alternatively, visit the website to buy books online. Note that the shop also hosts literary events.

A visit to Martello Bookshop, Rye

One of the first things I do when I go on holiday is look for a book shop — hence I have a whole series of posts on this blog about book shops I've visited.

My last out-of-London visit was to the Martello Bookshop in Rye, which is a beautiful medieval town near the coast in East Sussex. The High Street is particularly pretty — it is rather narrow (just one-car wide) and is lined with elegant shopfronts. It sits on top of a hill, affording terrific views over the surrounding area, and there are cobble-stoned laneways running off it lined with Elizabethan houses. It's all very quaint and picturesque.

When I popped into the bookshop, at the port end of the street, it was very quiet — it was midweek and I was the only one browsing. But a succession of locals kept dropping by, requesting orders, and there was a nice friendly vibe to the place.

The shop is very small, but the selection is varied and includes the usual suspects: local interest, fiction, cookery, children's, new releases and so on.

I snapped up a two-volume set of E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia series for £4, which I was delighted to find. Benson has a Rye connection: he lived there for many years and served as mayor in 1934. Some of the stories are set in a town called Tilling, which is supposedly based on Rye, so I am looking forward to reading them to see if anything is recognisable.

I also purchased PG Wodehouse's Something Fresh, which was on sale for £3, only to discover that I've already read it. In my defence, it did have a different cover. (Does anyone else do this — buy books they already own by mistake?)

If you fancy visiting the Martello Bookshop you will find it at 26 High Street, Rye, East Sussex. Tel: 01797 222242. They don't seem to have an official website, but you can follow them on Twitter @MartelloBooks

A visit to Books Upstairs, Dublin

How is it possible for someone like me, who has a book-sniffing nose that can hunt out a book store at 50 paces, completely miss Books Upstairs on my previous visits to Dublin? I mean, I have walked past it countless times and not paid it a blind bit of notice.

Then someone says to me, "Have you been to that book shop right next door to the Tourism Office, opposite Trinity College?"

And I'm, like, "Um, where?"

So, of course, I had to go and investigate. I now understand why I've never noticed it before.

It's quite unobtrusive and set back off the street. It even has its own mock street sign, stating "Book shop", to draw attention to itself. And it needs to do that, because it is located on such a busy thoroughfare that most pedestrians are too preoccupied trying to navigate the footpath without tripping over other people that the last thing on their minds is admiring the shops lining the street. Which probably explains why I've never seen it before.

So, anyway, stepping inside was quite a revelation. It's very small and narrow, but the shop makes the most of the space by including a mezzanine floor, thereby giving you two floors of books rather than one. (This photograph on BookstoreGuide.com shows it perfectly.)

Much of the stock is heavily discounted, including its bulging fiction shelves, which gives the store a bit of a competitive edge against its (much bigger) rivals, such as Hodges Figgis and Eason's. But what I liked about it was its esoteric range of Irish literary fiction, literary criticism and Irish interest books, many titles of which I had never seen or, indeed, heard of before.

My only quibble was that some of the stock looked a bit shop worn, to the extent that I wondered if they were second-hand titles.

But on the whole Books Upstairs is a terrific shop, the kind of place you never want to leave. The service is also friendly, helpful and efficient. What more could you want? (Thanks, dovegrey, for the tip-off, although I'm not sure my bank manager would say the same.)

 If you fancy visiting Books Upstairs you will find it at 36 College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland. Tel: +353 1679 6687. (The official website is not worth visiting.)

A visit to The Winding Stair bookshop, Dublin, Ireland

Last month I spent 10 days in Dublin, exploring the city's literary sites (you may recall this post about the National Leprechaun Museum, another about visiting the Palace Bar and a brief reference to the James Joyce Museum in Sandycove), but so far I haven't told you about my trip to The Winding Stair, a hop, skip and a little jump from the Ha'penny Bridge.

The Winding Stair is one of those places that will appeal to both book and food lovers, because the first floor houses a restaurant while the ground floor houses a book shop. You can also enjoy a cuppa in the book shop and sit at one of the little tables in the window, the perfect place to admire the view across the Liffey.

I arrived late in the afternoon having walked up and down Ormond Quay looking for the shop (I'd mistakenly headed in the wrong direction), so by the time I walked through the door I wasn't in the best frame of mind. But the interior was so cosy -- every surface and the very tall shelf-lined walls were crammed with books of every size and shape -- that my mood brightened immediately. This is the type of place you could potter around in for an hour or so, particularly the rear section which features a wide range of used books.

But I concentrated on the front area, namely the display tables and the Irish fiction shelves, and treated myself to a book I'd never heard of before -- Trevor White's The Dubliner Diaries (to be reviewed on this blog very soon) -- and a Winding Stair tote bag.

If you fancy visiting The Winding Stair you will find it at 40 Ormond Quay, Dublin 1, Ireland. Tel: (+ 353) 1 8727320. Or visit the official website, but note there is no facility to buy books online.

A visit to Book World by Kinokuniya, Dubai, UAE

 

I have been very fortunate over the past six months and have gone on many travels. A highlight of any trip, for me, is checking out the local book stores -- and bringing back a swag of books instead of the tacky souvenirs I abhor.

Shortly before Easter I flew out to the UAE to spend some time with my sister and her young family. It was my fourth trip to Abu Dhabi (and the second in six months -- I went there last November), so I knew what to expect: great food (my sister is an awesome cook), plenty of beers (my brother-in-law is a connoisseur), heat (try 40°C and occasionally higher) and an abundance of air-conditioned shopping malls.

I will confess that I am not much of a shopping mall fan. I'm not much of a shopper, to be truthful. I'm not into fashion or shoes or cosmetics, or any of that stuff that shopping malls specialise in. But I do have one blind spot. And that, of course, is books!

During the first week of my trip my sister took me to a couple of malls in Dubai (she lives about an hour's drive away), both of which featured Borders outlets. (Is Dubai the only place in the world where that chain hasn't gone bust, I wonder?) I found the stock in both pretty mediocre -- and expensive -- so didn't purchase anything.

Then, earlier this week, we visited Dubai Mall, which is supposedly the world's largest shopping mall, and lies at the foot of the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. My sister told me it had a good book store. Judging by the book stores I'd seen so far, I didn't have high expectations. How wrong could I be!

Book World by Kinokuniya is a chain based in Singapore. It has branches throughout Asia and I believe there is one in Sydney, Australia, too. The branch in Dubai is absolutely massive. In fact, it's 68,000 square feet (which is 1.5 acres!) and supposedly stocks more than half a million books and a thousand magazines in English, Arabic, Japanese, French, German and Chinese at any given time.

It was so big, and contained so much stock, I felt overwhelmed. The map (pictured left, and snapped surreptitiously on my sister's iPhone -- no photography allowed) shows how the store is arranged. Honestly, you could spend all day inside and never see half of it!

I only managed a very quick scuttle through the literary fiction section (which was gigantic) and found myself drawn to several nice shelf displays of "prize winning fiction" which included all the Commonwealth Writer Prize winners from recent years, along with Giller Prize- (Canada), Booker Prize- (UK) and IMPAC- (Ireland) winning novels. Alas, I didn't see any Miles Franklin (Australia) contenders, but perhaps they were in another section!

I ended up restricting myself to the "local interest" section, which featured mainly non-fiction books and novels from Middle Eastern writers. The books here were reasonably priced in comparison to the UK, averaging around £8.50. I bought five.

• Robert Lacey's Inside the Kingdom (a non-fiction book about Saudi Arabia)

• Joe Bennett's Hello Dubai: Skiing, Sand and Shopping in the World's Weirdest City (a non-fiction book about Dubai's amazing transformation from a quiet Arabian port into a 21st century global city and ex-pat paradise)

• Jo Tatchell's A Diamond in the Desert (a non-fiction book about Abu Dhabi, the world's richest city)

• Maha Gargash's The Sand Fish (a novel set in 1950s Dubai)

• Shahriar Mandanipour's Censoring an Iranian Love Story (a novel, translated from Farsi, which is supposedly darkly comic)

Overall, I was really impressed with the shop. Next time, I'll ask my sister to drop me at the door and collect me when she's run all her errands. I wasn't joking when I said you could spend all day here.

If you ever find yourself in Dubai and want to visit this shop, you will find it on Level 2, Dubai Mall, Tel: +971 4 434 0111. Or visit the Dubai Mall website for more info.

A visit to The Exchange Bookshop, Dalkey, Dublin

At the risk of sounding like I am name dropping, I have Joseph O'Connor to thank for my visit to The Exchange Bookshop in Dalkey during last week's trip to Dublin. It wasn't that Joseph personally recommended the shop to me, but it was thanks to an interview I'd teed up with him that I got to visit Dalkey at all.

Dalkey (pronounced Dorky) is a suburb in South Dublin, and like most cities divided geographically by a river, in this case the famous Liffey, one side is regarded as more desirable to live than the other. In Dublin it is the south side for which everyone hankers. And it's easy to see why, especially in a place like Dalkey, which has a narrow, slightly kinked high street lined with heritage shop fronts, an assortment of pubs, a castle and a pretty church.

But it was The Exchange Bookshop that really stood out for me, with its distinctive green paintwork and double-frontage. I had 30 minutes to kill before meeting Joseph at Dalkey DART station, so I popped in for a browse. It was like stepping into an Aladdin's Cave. The shop is not only wide, it is very deep, and the whole back section is devoted to high-quality second-hand fiction, mostly of the literary persuasion.

The front rooms focus primarily on new fiction and non-fiction titles, and there's a section devoted solely to Irish literature, perfect for an addict like me.

The shop also sells wonderful stationery, much of it with an Irish or bookish theme, so I was delighted to buy a pack of six gift cards featuring book-lined shelves on them.

I also purchased two books: a second-hand copy of Christine Dwyer-Hickey's The Dancer, the first volume in her Dublin trilogy; and a new copy of Anthony Cronin's 1964 comic novel The Life of Riley, which has just been republished by New Island.

Having spent most of my 9 days in Dublin trawling all kinds of bookshops for treasure, I have to say that this shop was by far the best of a very good bunch. It's worth the short trip out of Dublin City to visit -- and the Idle Wilde cafe around the corner does a terrific lunch if you're in need of refreshment.

If you fancy visiting The Exchange Bookshop you will find it at 34 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Tel: (+ 353) 1 285 3805. It has an official website, but note that there is no facility for buying books online.

A visit to Eastgate Bookshop, Warwick

Why I chose possibly the coldest day in February to go on a train journey to the Midlands I will never know. Despite being wrapped up in warm ankle boots, ski jacket, gloves and a woolly scarf, I froze half-to-death wandering around (the Disney-fied) Warwick Castle and Warwick town centre yesterday.

Fortunately there were two saving graces: the most wonderful old-fashioned tea shop tucked away in a back alley, and a fabulous secondhand book store on the main drag. I spent a long time in both; the first, to linger over coffee and a delicious lunch, the second, to peruse all the shelves looking for bookish treasure!

The shop was small and crowded with hundreds of books, but everything was very well organised and all the shelves were clearly labelled. Everything from cook books to literary fiction was on offer. I checked out all the fiction -- genre, literary, classic -- and even scrabbled around on hands and knees to see what was on the bottom shelf.

As with most secondhand stock, the condition of the books was varied: some had seen better days (perhaps a tumble in the bath, or left to rot in someone's garage), others were shop-quality pristine. But that's half the fun: trying to find a gem among the piles.

I ended up buying Evelyn Waugh's novella The Loved One and Kim Scott's Miles Franklin Literary Award winning Benang for the sum total of £4.50.

I was sad to leave the cosy interior and head out into the cold (and drizzle) again, but at least I had a 1hr 45 minute train journey back to London to look forward to. I love train travel when you've got a silent carriage and a good book to settle in with.

If you fancy visiting Eastgate Bookshop you will find it at 11 Smith St, Warwick, CV34 4JA. Tel: 01926 490 607. There is no official website, but you can order books online via the Eastgate Bookshop page on AbeBooks.

A visit to Beijing Foreign Languages Bookstore

If I lived in Beijing, this store would be my little piece of heaven.

I only discovered it by accident. I had a couple of hours to fill in before my flight to Australia, so I braved the cold and went window shopping along Wangfujing. Just as I was about to turn around and head back to my hotel, I spied this across the street and I just had to go in and take a peek.

I didn't take any snaps inside (far too many sales assistants patrolling the floor) but imagine a wide room filled with chest-high dark wood shelves filled to the brim with mainly English-language novels and non-fiction titles. (The shop also stocks Japanese books, CDs, travel books and Chinese learning material.)

I headed straight to the "Chinese culture" section, which stocked fiction set in China and plumped for Shan Sa's Empress, a fictionalised account of China's first and only female emperor, Empress Wu of the Tang Dynasty.

I bought some souvenir bookmarks too, so was delighted when the cashier wrapped them up and tied the parcel with brown string!

I couldn't think of a better way to finish up my stay in Beijing and my 23-day sojourn around China than visiting this shop and splurging on a book!