Any Bookstore Browsrs here??

Old Aug 30th, 2001, 05:13 PM
  #1  
JOdy
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Any Bookstore Browsrs here??

One of my favorite things to do in London and Paris is to hit the bookstores. I can browse for hours. it's is great fun checking out books not yet available in US , especially english mysteries and french or english cookbooks that are not yet or never will be available at home. I can read French pretty well and usually come home with 1 or 2 cookbooks that i can manage to translate on my own, or with Babelfish or larousse Gastronomique. I know some will say all those english mysteries and new novels are available at Amazon UK but am I the only one who likes to see, feel and maybe sit down and read a chapter or 2 in the store before buying?? Tell me I am not weird, please!!
 
Old Aug 30th, 2001, 05:47 PM
  #2  
Meg
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We browse bookstores. My husband is a book junkie and does some collecting. He loves black and white photography books and has found some in Europe that he'd never seen anywhere in the U.S. We also check out bookstores in Asia - many are English language. I've gotten some great Thai cookbooks. You are not alone.
 
Old Aug 30th, 2001, 06:37 PM
  #3  
Judy
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Every city,town and village I go, book stores and food shops are the must in my visiting list.

Being able to read 4 languages quite well and fast, there has never been any problem to find some cheap disposible paperbacks to read while waiting for trains or buses.

I have been collecting books about walking trips and trail guides for several years. B&N, Amazon and Chapters have very few .But, there are huge selections in Europe.

Even in Iceland last June, I found 2 travel books long searching for but couldn't find in those E-book stores.
 
Old Aug 30th, 2001, 08:24 PM
  #4  
Rex
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Goodness yes - - but I stay there too long, and sometimes others I am with grow impatient with me - - and want to move on to "see the sights"!

So, it's great to find any that are good late night havens - - I wish I knew the name of this one, but in Rome about midway between Hotel Cesari and the Pantheon (maybe a little bit north of a connecting line) - - there's a great one open til 1 a.m. - - anybody know its name?

Great idea for a thread, JOdy

Best...

Rex
 
Old Aug 30th, 2001, 08:48 PM
  #5  
Carla
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Oh, yes! The one thing I HAVE to do the minute I get to England, before I hit the bed with jet lag, is check out the bookstores. I've even been known to stop in the airport (after a nine-hour flight) to see what my favorite British authors are up to.

Amazon.com.uk has helped with my obsession, but not eliminated it. Hatchards in Picadilly is one of my favorite places on the face of the earth.
 
Old Aug 30th, 2001, 11:45 PM
  #6  
Sheila
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Oh yes. My husband hates it. And I hate having someone looking over mey shoulder

Everywhere we've ever been I can tell you where you can buy books in English. My idea of heaven would be a bookshop and an unrestricted budget.

Waterstone's here is a great chain, but Borders is sneaking in and I'm very impressed with it
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 03:24 AM
  #7  
sylvia
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I saw a middle aged American couple in our local Waterstones buying Harry Potter books and tapes. When told that the books are available in the US, they sighed and said that over there they have been translated into American and that their grandson insisted wanted them to bring back the English versions because he and his mates consider them to more "cool".
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 05:07 AM
  #8  
Florence
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Couldn't think of going somewhere without checking the local bookstores and browsing for hours. Nothing is too small, big, or foreign for me. The day I discovered Kanda and Jimbocho in Tokyo (1 square mile of bookstores and printing companies), I thought I'd just died and resurrected in paradise.
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 05:37 AM
  #9  
Judy
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Hi Jody, God I LOVE the UK and Irish bookstores! I bought heaps(three a piece) of British, Irish writers when there, much to my husband's dismay! Carla and Jody, thanks for heads up on Amazon uk. I am desparate for some more "Neurotica" writing..... I even e-mailed the publishers to start marketing their books here.....
and yes, Jody, I try to read a page or two, to see if I like the author's style. and it makes my husband nuts(Sheila, "lurkers" drive me batty too >g<)
And I try to buy the local guides(ghosts, Castles, etc) and lore if possible. Judy
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 06:48 AM
  #10  
elvira
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Oldhand and I refer to Borders as the hundred-dollar-store; no matter you go in just to buy a magazine, you walk out with $100 worth of books.

We've been to second-hand book sales, once at London University/College? near the British Museum. Spent more time pouring over dusty old paperbacks than in the British Museum (we have returned several times since, so we are forgiven).

Flea markets, Gilbert Jaune, bouquinistes...we're doomed if we go anywhere near them.

And I collect cookbooks - local cuisine, and more especially, bizarre or odd cookbooks (like how to throw a glasnost party - not exactly Martha Stewart).

 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 06:58 AM
  #11  
Ursula
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JOdy hello! In Zurich, we have a *very* large bookstore called Orell Füssli. It's almost a department store with some 5 floors, sofas and coffee bar you can hang around. I could spend hours in there. They also have books other than in German.
In Paris, I usually buy books at FNAC, Rue de Rennes, or at small bookstores in Montparnasse, when I need advice. Books are quite expensive in Switzerland, especially hardbacks.
In the US, I bought a very large (and heavy!) Rock n Roll almanac for some USD 25.- and saw it here for about the double.
I am also a member of a public library. I find this very convenient for books I do not really want to buy.
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 07:17 AM
  #12  
Susan
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Hi Jody, My son always says that if I walk by a bookstore, it's as though something just sucks me right into the store! Going to Paris in 2-1/2 weeks (hooray!) and can't wait to have a look at the bookstalls along the Seine. I don't think it would be possible for me to walk by without looking!
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 08:17 AM
  #13  
ilene
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I love going to bookstores. In fact I spend so much time there because my boyfriend would spend his entire life in them if I didn't drag him out. I was really disappointed by Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. Sure it is musty and has the requisite cats but, in my opinion anyway, the selection of books wasn't very good. Seems now like it is more of a tourist spot then a place where one can find books. Anyone agree? disagree?
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 08:28 AM
  #14  
Mel
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It takes us forever to walk from Covent Garden to Piccadilly because I can't get through Charing Cross without going in every shop! I'm an avid reader and I'll buy a bio on anyone, but particularly historical figures (I also have this sick side that reads true crime stories--Ann Rule, especially). I also love to pick up travel books in each country, as well as children's stories. When my first grandson was born I had the best time picking up a book from each country I visited--in the native tongue--to take back for him. I always picked local favorites, as well. Books make great gifts because their so easy to pack. A favorite movie: 84(?) Charing Cross Road, but I HATE that Anthony Hopkins dies before Anne Bancroft can get to London!
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 08:36 AM
  #15  
mauld
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I also love browsing in bookstores overeas. I especially love being able to buy the 'large' paperback editions of the top US hardcover bestsellers.
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 08:45 AM
  #16  
Susan
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Cute story -- my friend's daughter just went on a school trip to Italy (she's 13) and bought the Italian language version of the first Harry Potter. She won't let anyone break the spine, won't even look in it herself because she's treasuring it.

Love the book stalls along the Seine and cannot avoid buying something. Last time it was a Dungeons and Dragons manual in francais -- my husband's high school obsession.
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 09:36 AM
  #17  
JOdy
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Elvira, I'm also a cookbook junkie, do you ever go to Books for cooks, or Food for Thought? Great browsing and good buys especially on used ,OOP's.

fortunately my husband loves to browse too,so I don't have to feel guilty and don't have a "lurker". He can find all the Mil. History books he can never get here. We even spend more time in the book section of the museum shops the in the museum itself.

I always come home with lots of UK magazines too. Great fun!!
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 09:54 AM
  #18  
Book Chick
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Well, I think you KNOW my take on this!

And Sheila, thanks!

BC
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 10:06 AM
  #19  
Ann
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And what about Foyles in London? My idea of heaven would be a week there to spend browsing!! Plus an unlimited budget of course.

I used to work in the centre of Winchester and had to get out of the office at mid-day. The problem was to get past Waterstones without being tempted inside, because once there I became so absorbed I would have absolutely no idea whether I had been there 5 minutes or 5 hours.
 
Old Aug 31st, 2001, 10:16 AM
  #20  
elvira
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Oh, "Ann", we belong in the same therapy group. Florida with (girl) friends "let's go to Marshall's for a few minutes before we go to lunch". I said "I'm just going to run into Barnes and Noble, just for a minute, meet you at the restaurant..."

One hour later, they came looking for me when I didn't show up at the restaurant "she's been kidnapped and sold into slavery!" "no, just go over to the bookstore and yell her name". I had to buy another suitcase to bring my book purchases home.

 

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