There is nothing like a good bookshop. I’ve got a nice second hand shop just across the road from me, where my latest read, Nicholson Baker’s naughty Fermata, was purchased. While I love browsing a good shop, I just got a package from Amazon: there was no chance WS Welch, second-hand booksellers, were going to carry Darin Barney’s Network Society. What can you do?
Alistair Harper writes in Guardian Book Blog about the four book shops in his neighbourhood, all of which have closed in the past twelve months:
A month or so ago, my last local bookshop closed down. When I first moved to this part of London five years ago there were four bookshops I could walk to within five minutes. Three of them were on the same stretch of road. One sold remainders, another obscure second-handers, one was a small branch of a huge chain and the final was a highly-regarded independent shop that regularly attracted big authors for readings.
One by one, over the last 12 months, they died. First went the chain store, shoving out its leftovers at 90% discounts before being brushed away to make room for a sandwich shop. The last to go was the respected indie, a sign on the door thanking customers for over 10 years of good times before getting a paint job that transformed it into a bagel shop [more...]
