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!!

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.

Every city,town and village I go, book stores and food shops are the must in my visiting list. <BR> <BR>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. <BR> <BR>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. <BR> <BR>Even in Iceland last June, I found 2 travel books long searching for but couldn't find in those E-book stores.

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"! <BR> <BR>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? <BR> <BR>Great idea for a thread, JOdy <BR> <BR>Best... <BR> <BR>Rex <BR>

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. <BR> <BR>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.

Oh yes. My husband hates it. And I hate having someone looking over mey shoulder <BR> <BR>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. <BR> <BR>Waterstone's here is a great chain, but Borders is sneaking in and I'm very impressed with it

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".

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.

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..... <BR>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 &gt;g&lt;) <BR> And I try to buy the local guides(ghosts, Castles, etc) and lore if possible. Judy :-)

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. <BR> <BR>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). <BR> <BR>Flea markets, Gilbert Jaune, bouquinistes...we're doomed if we go anywhere near them. <BR> <BR>And I collect cookbooks - local cuisine, and more especially, bizarre or odd cookbooks (like how to throw a glasnost party - not exactly Martha Stewart). <BR> <BR>

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. <BR>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. <BR>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. <BR>I am also a member of a public library. I find this very convenient for books I do not really want to buy.

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!

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?

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!

I also love browsing in bookstores overeas. I especially love being able to buy the 'large' paperback editions of the top US hardcover bestsellers.

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. <BR> <BR>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.

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. <BR> <BR>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. <BR> <BR>I always come home with lots of UK magazines too. Great fun!!

Well, I think you KNOW my take on this! <BR> <BR>And Sheila, thanks! <BR> <BR>BC

And what about Foyles in London? My idea of heaven would be a week there to spend browsing!! Plus an unlimited budget of course. <BR> <BR>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.

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..." <BR> <BR>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. <BR> <BR>

Count two more in the "yea" column. That's not only me but also my Danish pal. We might as well have taken lodgings in one particular Waterstone's where, along with the travel bookshop in Notting Hill, she bought just enough books to require an additional carryon going home. But then, we are both writers!

I agree with Ilene - Shakesphere & Co. <BR>was disappointing-and we didn't even see a cat. People I'm with dread it when I spot a bookstore [and I try to be considerate by not staying "too long"]. My favorite these days is Rand McNally because they carry so many good travel books and they are always in perfect order, unlike Barnes & Noble and Borders. {I like all the London books to be together, for instance].

OOHHH, a good 20% of my holiday in Ireland is spent in bookstores, particulary the ones in Dublin on Dawson Street. <BR> <BR>On a visit to London a few years ago, I spent three delightful afternoons on Charing Cross Road (remember 84(?) Charing Cross Road with Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins - an all-time favourite!). I had seen the first episode of the "Fat Ladies" cooking series that week and found the book. I brought it back to a good (english) friend who is a wonderful cook - he perfect present. Soon after, the series was broadcast on Canadian TV (I miss them SO much!). I have dined many times on their wonderful, irreverent and gastronomically incorrect dishes. <BR> <BR>I always pack an extra "holdall" for my book purchases (and the odd pair dozen pairs of shoes I pick up on my travels. <BR> <BR>It may be cheaper to pick the books up @ Amazon.co.uk, but nothing equals the experience of browsing in a great book shop. <BR> <BR>Regards ... Ger

Elvira, I love it! The $100 Store. You have no idea how close it is. And I'm a real sucker for the bargain tables! Tomorrow I'm off to my monthly bookstore trek. I'll buy too much, and spend too long a time, but it's my favorite day of the month, unless I'm traveling, that is. <BR> <BR>JOdy, thanks for this thread. It's nice to know I'm not the only one. And read my e-mail to you! We hit it again.

I'm afflicted with the same addiction. Put me within a mile of a bookstore and you might as well arrange to have a vacuum hose placed between it and my checking account. I go in looking for one specific book and two hours later come out broke with a shopping cart full. Doesn't matter what country I'm in. Same thing with maps - I can't have enough of them. I've been known to have to take a day off during a vacation to figure out how to ship books home to the USA. And once I buy it, I can't part with a book, either, unless I really really didn't like it. You can hardly see the furniture in our house for all the books on shelves, books on tables, books on the floor - usually books in the car, too - you never know when you might get a chance to read.

StCirq, <BR>I am laughing SO hard right now because the entire back seat of my car is...you guessed it..books & CDs from my last spree this week! <BR>BC

Love bookstores, esp. the independents. <BR>Although walking into a Boarder, etc , occasionally is an overwhelming experience. <BR>So many books, so little time. <BR> <BR>I did manage to pop into a few bookstores in Rome. <BR>How can one pass them up! <BR> <BR>The first time my husband and I went out after our oldest child was born my mother babysat for us, under the condition we go out and do something <BR>"romantic" <BR>(son was 6 months old) <BR>We went to a nearby town, grabbed a quick bagel for lunch, and then hit the bookstore in town, <BR>spending the next few hours happily wandering around. <BR>Priorities, afterall :-) <BR> <BR>

Book Chick: Just curious...are you usually reading several books at once? My family thinks I'm nuts because I have four or five books strewn around in various places that I am in the process of reading. Been doing this since I was a kid. I guess I'm odd, but it seems perfectly normal to me to pick up a book and get right back into it where I left off - five plots and five sets of characers? No problem.

Do you folks realize how many of the dyed-in-the-woold regulars have posted on this thread? I wonder if there is some kind of connection, something that ties together book-o-philes with a love of traveling and reading about travel? Interesting hypothesis! Any PhD candidates looking for a good thesis topic? (Only 20 more hours till my monthly visit.) <BR> <BR>And, StCirq, I almost fell off the chair laughing at your vacuum hose analogy. Wonderful!

St. Cirq: What a relief--another map fetishist! Do you collect historical atlases, as well? I've got one current atlas, a historical atlas of Russia, and two hugely oversized books, Cities Of The World, with artists' renderings of cities/street layouts as they were hundreds of years ago. I've also got a geographical dictionary, but dictionaries are sort of a sub-pathology of mine--I have nearly 20. <BR> <BR>And I, too, am a multiple book reader. One for the subway and one for before bed at the very least!

And don't forget the books one keeps in the 'bagno' :-0

No, no, Nancy--that's the place for the Reader's Digests! You gotta get it RIGHT here. Not just any book will do! :)

Just stopped in a bookshop on the way home tonight...I just sort of seemed to veer into the door... <BR>I love Waterstone's and have spent quite a few pounds there. The kids' books are one of my special addictions. <BR>I agree that Shakespeare and Co. is a bit "too-too", but I did get a great autobiography of Charlie Chaplin's from 1923 there; really fascinating perspectives. <BR>And yes, I do read anywhere from 3 to 5 books at once--and I often read one while walking to my second job at the flower shop! <BR>(I've never fallen over a curb while reading yet, unlike what happens when I don't.)

At home I do that quite a bit. Not so much in Europe, although I'd like to do more of it. I love bookstores with ald and out of print books. Several years ago I found a complete set of 10 volumns of the writings of Tomas Pain and also a 13 volumn set of the lectures and thoughts of Robert G Ingersal. My oldest book that I have in my library is a 184 edition a book that includes "The Conduct of The Understanding" by John Lock and "ESSAYS" by Francis Bacon. I also found a 1896 edition of the 2 volumn set of "A History of the warfare of science with theology in christendom" by Andrew Dickson White, the Founder of Cornel University (with financial backing of Ezra Cornel.) Some used bookstores are a real find. Some also do nation wide searches for you for specific books or sets. <BR>Regards, <BR>Art <BR>

Escritora: My dining room is covered with framed prints of antique maps from an antique map calendar. My birthday present last year from my parents was a map of France crafted in London in 1875 by Henry Teesdale. I have a bookshelf devoted to maps, with this nifty thing that fits into the shelf to divide the maps into about, oh, 20 different countries and regions. <BR>Atlases? I even have my original from 5th Grade, plus about a dozen others. I've got the New Yorl Times, the Michelin Motoring Atlas of Europe, the Atlas Routier, the Plan de Paris by Leconte, the Michelin Paris Atlas par Arrondissment, you name it. I've got every geographical dictionary known to mankind, plus at least 50 other dictionaries (hey, I need them for my work, it's not just a fetish) - medical dictionaries, reverse dictionaries, dictionaries of myth and fable, dictionaries of phrase and fable....dictionaries of dictionaries. And I've got the original Larousse bound in leather (and seriously needing to get to a bookbinder). In short, I'm not short of resources.And I use them all.

sounds to me like this group needs a GTG at Hay-on-Wye. Had to be dragged away the only time we made it there..

StCirq, <BR>Definitely! And I consider myself a "lightweight". My best friend used to be a bit agoraphobic (she actually did seek professional help & is over it now), so she'd read like, 8 books a week concurrently. But I usually have one at work that I'll read during a break, one in the bathroom at home, one in the living room, one in the family room, and sometimes as many as 3 at the bedside. I don't mix up characters, either. Think we just have a different kind of attention span? <BR>BC

I, too, typically have at least 3 books going at one time, usually more. Right now there is one in the den, two at my bedside, one in the living room, and that Reader's Digest in the il bagno! Not to mention the two I just received today from Amazon (one on Rome and one on London) that I'm going to glance at tonight before I decide whether to send them back--they weren't at all what I thought they'd be. <BR> <BR>Another question: Can browsing thru the Amazon.com website be considered the same as going to a bookstore? I know, not as exciting or as fulfilling, but it does keep my withdrawal pains in check until my next visit to a real store!

I do think that reading goes along with a love of travel, particularly European travel. If you do much reading, especially straight history or historical novels, which I love, a lot of them are set in Europe (although I also love Kenneth Roberts, who does great American historical novels). I think knowing some history and reading about places makes you more interested in going there. Also, I agree with Elvira, although we don't have any Borders nearby, the same applies to Barnes & Nobles (and even that is 40 miles away!), it's difficult to go in there without spending lots of money! I think between books and fabric, I may need to take an extra suitcase to Paris! (I am really considering putting a 22" inside my 26" on the way over, I already tested it and it fits!) <BR>

Every time I get to London, I spend quite a bit of time on Charing Cross Road ;)