I went to the children's bookstore in Muswell hill today, as it was the school's annual library book buy day. I hadn't gone to this place before and it was a very well stocked bookstore which was also fanatically neat and tidy. Although being much smaller than I expected, the books themselves were very well chosen, with none of the cheap and cheerful tie in rubbish that haunts major book shops.
It was a great shop for us to choose books for the school, as the selection available was so top notch, but the neatness bothered me. When I was young my parents would take me to Foyle's on the Charing Cross road. I loved Foyle's, which at the time claimed to be the biggest bookshop in the world (a claim that seems laughable in this days of Borders and Waterstones). Largest or not it was certainly the messiest. In it's labyrinthian interior there were piles of books everywhere and I always had the impression that nobody had a clue what books were there. They also had a Victorian way of selling you books which involved receipts and a cashier on a different floor from most the books. This shop had character even if it may or may not have contained the tome you were searching for, and the staff may or may not have helped you in your quest depending on their mood . I miss the way Foyle's was, it's now modernised and isn't the same. A little bit of me knows I'll never find a book shop where I will feel so at home.
A Little Englander missing a rose coloured past, or a slob with a pathological hatred of order, you decide.
It was a great shop for us to choose books for the school, as the selection available was so top notch, but the neatness bothered me. When I was young my parents would take me to Foyle's on the Charing Cross road. I loved Foyle's, which at the time claimed to be the biggest bookshop in the world (a claim that seems laughable in this days of Borders and Waterstones). Largest or not it was certainly the messiest. In it's labyrinthian interior there were piles of books everywhere and I always had the impression that nobody had a clue what books were there. They also had a Victorian way of selling you books which involved receipts and a cashier on a different floor from most the books. This shop had character even if it may or may not have contained the tome you were searching for, and the staff may or may not have helped you in your quest depending on their mood . I miss the way Foyle's was, it's now modernised and isn't the same. A little bit of me knows I'll never find a book shop where I will feel so at home.
A Little Englander missing a rose coloured past, or a slob with a pathological hatred of order, you decide.
