Every bookshop has a story We're not talking about rooms that are just full of books. We're talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, this-is-the-best-place-I've-ever-been-to-bookshops. Meet Sarah and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the bookshop in Canada that's invented the world's first antiquarian book vending machine. And that's just the beginning. From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we've yet to build a bookshop down in the South Pole). The Bookshop Book is a love letter to bookshops all around the world. 'A good bookshop is not just about selling books from shelves, but reaching out into the world and making a difference' David Almond (The Bookshop Book includes interviews and quotes from David Almond, Ian Rankin, Tracy Chevalier, Audrey Niffenegger, Jacqueline Wilson, Jeanette Winterson and many, many others.)

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 Bookshops are full of stories. The stories of bookshop owners, and all the books they read that made them fall in love with reading. The stories of authors, and why they wrote their first book. The stories of customers who walk through the door. #2 The book industry has changed a lot over the past few centuries. Bookshops are closing due to increased rents, business rates, and retail giants undercutting prices. But bookshops are still relevant because so much of our lives is spent on computers, and the idea of a shopping experience is more important than ever before. #3 Bookshops are still relevant today. They are magical places that instill a sense of wonder and adventure in children, and they offer a haven in a busy world for us to stop and think.

Concerned with the cultural and economic roles of independent bookstores, this collection considers how eight shops created during the modernist era exceeded their commercial functions to open the spaces of literary production. Understanding these unique social spaces on the threshold of commerce and culture provides a basis for comprehending how the changes to the physical contexts of the twenty-first century reading experience have affected our relationship to books and reading.

"Anyone who’s ever wanted to turn the page on their old life or felt the whispered promise of a new dream, and a fresh start will fall in love with Pamela Kelley’s charming new novel." —New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews TWO LIFELONG FRIENDS. Jess loves her work as a high-profile lawyer in Charleston. But when her marriage implodes, she retreats to her childhood home on Cape Cod with her thirty-year-old daughter, Caitlin, hoping to regroup with her longtime best friend, Alison. ONE BOOKSHOP BY THE BAY. Alison’s career has taken a hit after twenty years as an editor for the magazine Cape Cod Living. But when she learns her beloved bookstore on the Cape is looking for new ownership, a new dream starts to form. AND THE SUMMER THAT COULD CHANGE EVERYTHING. As the two friends reopen the bookstore, they also open themselves up to the magic of second chances. "A wonderful multi-generational story about mothers, daughters, and friendship set in a quaint seaside town on Cape Cod. If you love talk of bookstores, delicious food and coffee shops, this one is for you!" —Rachel Hanna, author of the South Carolina Sunsets series

The untold story of how the Dutch conquered the European book market and became the world’s greatest bibliophiles. The Dutch Golden Age has long been seen as the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose paintings captured the public imagination and came to represent the marvel that was the Dutch Republic. Yet there is another, largely overlooked marvel in the Dutch world of the seventeenth century: books. In this fascinating account, Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen show how the Dutch produced many more books than pictures and bought and owned more books per capita than any other part of Europe. Key innovations in marketing, book auctions, and newspaper advertising brought stability to a market where elsewhere publishers faced bankruptcy, and created a population uniquely well-informed and politically engaged. This book tells for the first time the remarkable story of the Dutch conquest of the European book world and shows the true extent to which these pious, prosperous, quarrelsome, and generous people were shaped by what they read. “Book history at its best.” —Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books “Compelling and impressive.” —THES (Book of the Week) “An instant classic on Dutch book history.” —BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review

"Meet the Budd-Doyles: a suburban family in shambles, and about to unravel further as Helen Budd-Doyle in one fell swoop destroys her bed, abandons the family home, and buys a second-hand bookshop form a man in a pub leaving her bewildered junk-collecting husband Arnold to sort out his life. But he can't. Enter Gabriel, one of their sons, wreaking havoc as he pushes his father to sell off the accrued junk of a lifetime. Add a little sibling rivalry with his brother Vivian fresh home and licking his wounds from a life in far north ... and watch the fireworks on Jacaranda Street."--Back cover

When Clara inherits her grandmother’s quaint bookshop in a small town, she discovers more than dusty shelves and forgotten novels. Hidden among the books is an old diary that reveals a decades-old romantic mystery. As Clara delves into the secrets of her grandmother’s past, she unravels a story of love, loss, and hidden treasures that ties the town’s history to her own future. With the help of friends and a growing connection to the town, Clara must decide whether to save the bookshop and solve the mystery or return to her life in the city.