Browse: Love Letters to Bookshops Around the World

by Ali Smith, Alaa Al Aswany (Contributor)

A celebration of the greatest kind of shop in the world, by an award-winning cast of writers including Ali Smith, Andrey Kurkov, Elif Shafak and Daniel Kehlmann A cabinet of curiosities, a time machine, a treasure trove - we love bookshops because they possess a unique kind of magic. In Browse Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to consider the bookshops that have shaped them; each conjures a specific time and place. Ali Smith chronicles the secrets and personal stories hidden within the pages of secondhand books; Alaa Al Aswany tells of the Cairo bookshop where revolutionaries gathered during the 2011 uprisings; Elif Shafak evokes the bookstores of Istanbul, their chaos and diversity, their aromas of tobacco and coffee. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor recalls the quandary of choosing just one book at a favourite childhood store in Nairobi, while Iain Sinclair shares his grief on witnessing a beloved old haunt close down. Others explore bookshops they have stumbled upon, adored and become addicted to, from Delhi to Bogota_. These inquisitive, enchanting pieces are a collective celebration of bookshops - for anyone who has ever fallen under their spell. Henry Hitchings is an award- winning writer, reviewer and critic. He has written for the Guardian , TLS , Financial Times and Wall Street Journal , and is currently the Evening Standard 's theatre critic. He is the author of several acclaimed books on language, literature and culture, including Dr Johnson's Dictionary and The Language Wars . In 2008, his book The Secret Life of Words won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award, and in 2009 he was shortlisted for the title of Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year.

Genres: Nonfiction, Books About Books, Essays, Short Stories, Travel, Memoir, Anthologies

257 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Ali Smith is a writer, born in Inverness, Scotland, to working-class parents. She was raised in a council house in Inverness and now lives in Cambridge. She studied at Aberdeen, and then at Cambridge, for a Ph.D. that was never finished. In a 2004 interview with writing magazine Mslexia, she talked briefly about the difficulty of becoming ill with chronic fatigue syndrome for a year and how it forced her to give up her job as a lecturer at University of Strathclyde to focus on what she really wanted to do: writing. She has been with her partner Sarah Wood for 17 years and dedicates all her books to her.

Reviews

[Lulufrances · Rating 5 out of 5]

How fitting and wonderful that I stumbled over this perfect little book while browsing late at night in Shakespeare and Company, Paris.
(Ordering this book online is a no go.)
Seeing that this had something by Ali Smith in it just made me all the more sure of having to own this.
Definitely worth it.
There's just something about reading about books and bookshops.

I feel like I need to spend the next week immersed in all the independent bookshops I can find around me - unfortunately less and less as the years go by, and I really appeal to myself and all of you reading this: please try and buy more in store than online.
How sad would it be would we not have the opportunity and wonder of taking our time walking down actual aisles and aisles of crammed bookshelves and paper smells and brandnew spines.
Speaking of: A well-known bookshop in my hometown will shut in a few weeks after being in business for 214 years and entertaining many famed German authors in their time (Herman Hesse for example), now that is heartbreaking.
So read this, save yourself the heartbreak and go and spend some money in your next door bookshops PLEASE.

[Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Browse' edited by Henry Hitchings

4.5 stars/ 9 out of 10

I have always enjoyed browsing in bookshops, which immediately interested me in reading this book.

'Browse' is a very nice book!

There is an excellent introduction by the Editor, Henry Hitchings, followed by fifteen sections relating to bookstores and books. Several, but not all, of these sections were written by authors already known to me, such as Ali Smith and Juan Gabriel Vásquez.

I found all of the sections of interest. My favourite section was that entitled 'All That Offers a Happy Ending is a Fairy Tale' by Yiyun Li.

If you enjoy browsing in bookshops, then this book is for you.

Thank you to Pushkin Press and to NetGalley for an ARC.

[Bookslut · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've not read many books of essays, and this is a meatball pitch to bring me into the genre. I just really love to read the work of book enthusiasts, and am maybe not even that discerning about it. I added books by many of the contributing authors because I liked their writing so well. I did not enjoy the pieces complaining about the closing of bookshops, especially on a large scale (reduction of literacy, Amazon, etc.). I also see these changes as largely negative, but it feels like egregious negativity to write about it. And preaching to the co-lamenting choir had got to be the least useful instrument for change ever, so I don't even see the point. The essays celebrating beloved bookshops, expressing an important personal milestone reached because of a book seller or store, and enthusiasm for hunting for books were really wonderful.

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lettori forti americani – ho appreso nella lettura di Andar per libri, una raccolta che è ingiustamente rimasta sullo scaffale di quelli-da-leggere-prima-o-poi-per troppo tempo – definiscono booking quel piacere compulsivo e itinerante che ti porta a visitare una o più librerie senza cercare un titolo specifico, ma a caccia di qualcosa che solo tu sai.

Andar per libri racconta, attraverso le testimonianze di quindici scrittori, il rapporto fra lettore e libreria. Non si tratta, come è normale che sia, di autori da me conosciuti al 100%, ma in tutti – davvero in tutti – ho trovato almeno una scintilla.

Fra i più noti contributori, Ali Smith (meraviglia osservare come in ogni suo scritto breve ci siano in nuce una mezza dozzina di romanzi), Stefano Benni (unico rappresentante italiano, con pagine che profumano di nostalgia per una libreria e una Bologna che non ci sono più), l’egiziano Alaa Al Aswany con una presentazione in libreria che si intreccia con la Primavera Araba, Daniel Kehlmann con un inevitabile dialogo, lui che sui dualismi ha costruito un intero universo letterario.

Ma il racconto che mi rimarrà più impresso è decisamente quello di Sasa Stanisic: poche, meravigliose pagine con un’idea geniale di partenza (che non svelo, naturalmente) e un ottimo sviluppo. Un racconto capace di attivare la funzione “shopping compulsivo” del mio cervello e quindi sì, Stanisic resterà un nome sconosciuto alle mie pupille ancora per poco.

[Fanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite excited to read this, given the essays are from diverse writers around the world and all talk about bookshops. However, I soon found myself pulled out from the text for the typical non-fiction influenced writing and evident translation. There were run-on sentences and many of them left me utterly confused. Though I really liked a few bits here and there, especially those that recounted the little notes left in a book (and forgotten about) when it's given to a bookstore and marked as a second-hand—cute.

I usually avoid non-fiction as a genre because the narrative, often, sounds too informative and 'telling', for me. The same happened in this collection and I once again, have decided to stay away from occurrences-retelling as much as possible.

Having said that, I would still highlight how the essays might be a good read for those who can relate to them. When the essay by Pankaj Mishra (India) came along, I wondered if the things he'd encountered would make more sense to my parents who were grown up in the setting he'd mentioned. And as expected, they did. So there is a possibility that liking this book or not depends largely on who's reading it...and maybe it just wasn't for me. But I definitely prefer books that take me somewhere rather than making sense only if I was already in that place.

Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book via Edelweiss+ but that in no way affects my rating or opinions about this collection.

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[Kristīne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visādas grāmatu grāmatas bija lasītas, bet šī citu vidū izceļas ar to, ka savas atmiņas un stāstus par sapņainiem grāmatu veikalam sarakstījuši daudzi slaveni vispasaules rakstnieki.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books that capture the magic of both picking up a new book or stumbling upon an amazing new bookshop you never knew existed are probably my favourite kind of book. One aspect of being a reader that unites everyone is what inspired them to learn to read. The places and individuals that encouraged them to fall in love with books and the stories within. Browse captures this feeling and substance perfectly.

Each of the contributors to this collection have singled out a bookshop that was significant in both their life and career. Browse is a thoughtful, pensive and enticing trip through the world's drastically different bookshop experiences and how they shaped the author's and reader's of today. Each story is filled with wonder, nostalgia and influence. Moments like finding old train tickets in used books, working in bookshops, finding secret book sections and the frustration of only picking one book at a time. Each author manages to bring something new to the subject.

Fortunately it does not get repetitive, with every author having a unique perspective. The most bizarre being Sasa Stanisic who writes about books in a jarring and strange style. Talking as if books were a substance, a drug that can influence your life and change your mind about how the world works. Browse is brimming with inspiration, optimism, pessimism, fear and happiness. Every bookshop is hiding wonderful secrets, secrets that cannot be found on book websites. It is up to us to go out, find them, cherish them and pass them on to those we love.

I will always seek out book related books as I think the subject empowers readers, excites us and leads us to place we might not have considered before. Browse will suit any reader, I recommend Browse to everyone who finds bookshops fascinating, important and significant. Thank you for reading this review, I advise you to pick up this book as soon as you can. I hope you enjoy it and please tell me what you thought.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of essays by writers musing on their love of bookshops, usually a bookshop in particular. Some are funny, some sweet, some moving, and a few are a bit eye-roll inducing. There's a lot of Dead Tree Books Rah Rah Bewail Changing Culture Popular Literature is The Devil. I'm a little generous with this book because almost every writer celebrated something I love: the joy of an interrupted bookstore browse. I still enjoy that activity greatly, no matter my usual store or a new one.

[Jackie Law · Rating 3 out of 5]

Browse: Love Letters to Bookshops Around the World, is a collection of fifteen essays by various writers about what bookshops have meant to them throughout the course of their lives. Opening with an introduction by the book’s editor, Henry Hitchings, each contributor shares their experiences from a diverse selection of outlets that have, in some way, helped nurture and shape their development. The contributions are eclectic in style, preferences and setting. Not all the bookshops mentioned still exist but are fondly remembered.

Secondhand retailers feature, with Ali Smith writing of the treasures to be discovered between pages, not just the words. In a charity shop where she volunteered she has found letters, photographs and poignant inscriptions. A book’s value is not just what someone else will pay for it.

Michael Dirda also writes of a secondhand bookshop he regularly visits although he seeks titles as investments – rare bindings and first editions – to add to his vast collection. His enjoyment of reading has been affected by his job as a reviewer.

“while reading remains a pleasure it’s become a guarded pleasure, tinged with suspicion.”

Ian Sansom writes of working in the old Foyles on Charing Cross Road where he would try to avoid customers. His colleagues would help themselves to stock – this is not the usual dreamy depiction of avuncular booksellers. Despite the somewhat downbeat experience he laments the shiny edifice the shop has since become.

Daniel Kehlmann, on the other hand, prefers a vast, modern and impersonal bookshop that is well organised – he likes to be left in peace to browse. His essay is written in the form of a conversation between two writers and offers many witty observations. On the importance of bookshops in providing authors with an income his character says:

“I live off giving readings and talks. Also teaching sometimes. I teach people who want to write books how to write books that sell so well that you can live off them. I do that because my books don’t sell so well that I can live off them.”

Stefano Benni opens his essay with a poem that concludes:

“Books speak even when they are closed
Lucky the man who can hear
their persistent murmur”

He writes of a bookseller who, if he distrusted a customer’s motives, would refuse to sell to them. It is in these smaller bookshops that the writers get to know the proprietors and recall conversations that led them to books they would not otherwise have discovered. Benni recalls that the bookseller was also a writer and offered him the following advice:

“There comes a time when your work is over and it starts belonging to other people.”

Iain Sinclair writes of the closing of a beloved bookshop, and also of booksellers becoming writers.

“You would think that booksellers would be the last to write bks, surrounded as they are by bestsellers that are now forgotten”

Not all the tales told are positive. Dorthe Nors’s essay recounts a painful bookshop experience when a scathing proprietor ordered her to leave for daring to move her latest publication face out on the shelf.

My favourite essay was by Saša Stanišić in which he writes of his need to find a dealer for his regular supply, one he can trust to offer a quality fix. The depiction of books as drugs is cleverly done, humorous and apt.

The essays are from all over the world and reflect the varied tastes of the authors. Whether they prefer: big shops or small, old books or new, cluttered or well organised outlets, antiquarian or stocking their own latest works; there is a nostalgia for the past that is understandable given the memories evoked. In our current times this did leave me a tad wary – the past is not always rose coloured.

What is clear though is how important bookshops are in widening the perspectives of aspiring writers.

“We have the potential to become greater than the role we’ve been expected to play.”

Many of the recollections of second hand bookshops revolve around treasures found amongst the stacks before the internet offered instant valuations for sellers to compare. I did feel rather sorry for the business owners who lost out. On line sellers are, however, blamed for the decline in the number of bookshops and this is understandably lamented.

As someone who derives pleasure from visiting bookshops but who buys books to read rather than with an eye on resale value, not all the essays resonated. Nevertheless they offer a fascinating window into the eclectic nature of bookshops worldwide, and the preferences of both customers and proprietors.

On writers and the evolving business of book selling, this is an affable and entertaining read.

“A book is not just a product; a book is an experience”

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of essays from authors around the world telling the stories of their favorite bookshops. The bookshops that shaped them into the book lovers and authors they are today. It was so incredible reading about all these different kinds of bookshops ranging from the 3 stories tall bookshop in Berlin to the little bookshop in New Dheli, the meaning of bookshops - especially in all of these different cultures - and how it changed over the past 40 years, the magic they still possess and how they can transform lifes. If you love literature and reading and books and have ever left a bookshop with a book you didn't know you needed, this is a must read for you. I loved it a lot. This book takes you on a journey and maybe the next time you want to buy a book, visit your nearest bookshop instead of ordering you know where ;)

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

So incredibly charming! In so many of these essays, bookshops act as a timeless physical backdrop against which cultural, social, or personal change is measured and reflected upon. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of the bookshops written about are located across Europe and Asia, bringing me into a new cultural landscape. Overall it did lack some depth, and produced many eye-rolling moments when many of the authors displayed their pretentiousness by name-dropping their favorite books or wrote disparagingly about changes in technology or lamented about the younger generations’ disinterest in classic books. Still, a small part of me could relate to them, and wanted to, and they reminded me of the bookish child I once was.

[Bibliomama · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the “love letters” were 5*, a few were 3*, so a compromise at 4* (most of them). Currently I love The Ivy Bookshop, very small, but I can always find something I like there, and they order things for me. Old favorites, long gone, are the Intimate in Chapel Hill, and more recently Daedalus in Columbia and Baltimore.

[Steven Minniear · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very fun book to read, but I do love books and bookstores. It brought back to mind some of my favorite bookstore memories: Holmes Books in Oakland; Sidney Kramer Books in Washington, DC; Bookworks in Aptos. All are long gone and it is sad. But, here's a shout out to the lone remaining local book store where I found this book: Rakestraw Books, Danville.

[Debbie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays on the memory and influence a bookshop wields over its customers. As one who gas a magnetic attraction to bookshops, I appreciated the enthusiasm and fondness of the reflections.

[Tami Potter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would rate this as 3.4 . I was a ok read . Short one . Not what I thought it would be.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely essay collection about bookstores around the world and why they're important to individual authors. Read essays before bed and they were truly delightful. Save indie bookstores!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

engaging in its varied voices of love for books and (most) bookstores

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read any books by any of the contributing authors and recognized the name of only one of them. I'm not familiar with any of the bookshops they wrote about. Shame on me. Or maybe pity on me. These essays transported me--if not to a time and place, at least to the heart of another book lover. I did enjoy the universal appeal of a small, quaint bookshop. This little book was a gift to me from someone who knows me very well.

[Danielle Stanton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An attractive collection of essays about bookshops, their significance to authors, and their place in the world. The book contains new writing from a selection of international authors including Yiyun Li, Andrei Kurkov, Ali Smith, and Alaa Al-Aswany. It's a very dippable book about why bookshops are worth celebrating and what makes them such special places.

[John Plowright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although a Luddite in very many respects, I am not someone who curses all aspects of the digital revolution in book production and distribution. On the contrary, I’ve reached a stage in life when my house simply cannot accommodate any further additions to my library unless these come in the form of ebooks.

On the other hand, like most people, I much prefer the reading experience associated with handling a print book. I like the feel and smell of a book, as long as we’re talking paper, print and glue rather than damp, mould and mildew. It follows that for all the convenience of shopping for books online my heart is still heavily invested in the traditional bookshop, whether that deals with new or second-hand titles.

If any of this strikes a chord then ‘Browse’ will almost certainly be a book you’ll enjoy, as it is subtitled ‘The World in Bookshops’ and the editor’s introduction is followed by fifteen essays by diverse writers extolling the virtues of particular bookshops and of the bookshop experience in general.

The essays represent elegant variations around a relatively small number of themes but range very widely geographically, from St-Leonards-on-Sea to Nairobi and from Bologna to Beijing. All are united by their common love for the institution they celebrate, whether it take the form of a centre of counter-cultural dissent or an oasis of reflective calm. For me the best piece, alongside the introduction by Henry Hitchings, is Mark Forsyth’s essay on the magic of serendipitously discovering something on the bookshelves which inspires a new passion.

Most bookbuyers are, paradoxically, unlikely to discover or purchase this book after browsing in a bookshop but the revival of vinyl at least gives hope that there may be a growing number who come to ‘Browse’ through bookshop rumination.

[Noits · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skipped chunks of this collection of anecdotal short stories about bookshops, because, at times, the writers became too self-indulgent.
Bookshops are a subject I enjoy reading about. I love novels that feature readerly protagonists or antiquarian book dealers but this collection was lacking in any real soul.
I was also unfamiliar with most of the authors but it has sparked an interest to read one or two of them.
A "meh" from me.

[Gordon Gravley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This wonderful collection of essays about books and bookshops is the single best argument against Amazon's war on brick-n-mortar bookstores. I can't imagine anyone looking back with fondness and sentiment about time spent with their cold, soulless Kindle.

[Craig Rowland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Browse: The World in Bookshops, edited by Henry Hitchings, is a collection of fifteen short reminiscences about the personal significance bookshops had on a diverse assortment of international authors. Half of the stories Hitchings included were not originally written in English, so he employed the work of at least seven translators. My favourite retail space is a bookstore, and specifically a second-hand bookstore. In the introduction Hitchings revealed the hidden secret of second-hand books and the function of their new resting place:

"Discarded books are 'repositories of the lives they've been so close to', and a second-hand bookshop is a museum of special moments in those lives."

I have read many books about Finland and languages which I no longer intend to keep. If I slipped them into my library's ongoing book sale I wonder what the browsing public might think. There's a nerdy Fennophile linguist in our midst!

Juan Gabriel Vásquez wrote about the charm of bookstores:

"A good bookshop is a place we go into looking for a book and come out of with one we didn't know existed. That's how the literary conversation gets widened and that's how we push the frontiers of our experience, rebelling against its limits. This is something else online commerce deprives us of: on a website we cannot discover anything, we can't bump into the unexpected book, because an algorithm predicts what we're looking for and leads us--yes, mathematically--only to places we already know."

and:

"The best bookshops are places where the principle of serendipity, which in broad strokes consists of finding the book you need when you don't yet know you need it, presents itself in all its splendour. A reader's life is, among other things, this tissue of opportune coincidences."

I would go one degree further and state, to me personally at least, that Vásquez's remarks are more poignant when referring specifically to second-hand bookstores. Retail establishments that sell new imprints are to some extent predictable. If you want a new book, you will find it there. A second-hand store offers no guarantees what you'll find. The sense of discovery is all the more exciting when you find titles you never thought existed. Such were my experiences shopping at Schoenhof's, a foreign languages bookstore in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While the majority of the stock was in fact new, some of the language-learning materials specifically were old enough to be out of print. When their bricks-and-mortar store was still in existence I would spend hours there literally browsing the languages from A to Z. My blog posts are full of discoveries of spontaneous joys. The store operates only on-line now. My favourite retail establishment remains Helsinki's Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, the largest bookstore in Nordic Europe.

Michael Dirda wrote:

"As a boy, I could lose myself utterly in a book; now I seem to lose myself only in used bookstores. Alas, neither sweet surrender nor wide-eyed wonder, except fleetingly, is advisable for a professional reviewer. Moreover, I'm one who, even on holiday, can't start an Agatha Christie paperback without a pencil in his hand. My mind tends to interrogate any text, on the alert for clues, telling details, key passages, the secret engines of the story. As a result, while reading remains a pleasure, it's become a guarded pleasure, tinged with suspicion. Quite reliably, however, my heart still leaps with childlike joy at the sight of row after row of old books on shelves."

Dirda gets two of my passions down in one paragraph: browsing in used bookstores and always reading in a reviewer's mindset. I will post a review of every book I read, even for books long out of print.

Browse was a fast weekend read which will take you back to your fondest bookstore memories.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bookshops are magical places. If this isn’t the first article you’ve read on this blog, you’ll see my affinity for books. The love of bookstores is just as great as my love for books. In fact, browsing the shelves of a bookstore is one of my de-stressing strategies. Seeing all the spines lined up is both relaxing and stirs up my curiosity. There is much potential in an unopened book. Whether it’s a local or chain store, I love walking among the shelves. But there is a special magic in the small, unique store. When I get the chance, I will visit Left Bank Books, St. Louis’s best independent bookstore. When I saw an Advanced Reading Copy of Browse: The World in Bookshops, it piqued my curiosity. This collection of essays released by Pushkin Press features fifteen authors writing about their favorite book store memories. It appeals to the nerd in me.

TL;DR: If you like personal essays and love bookstores, this book is for you. These excellent essays show the diversity of bookstore experiences connected by a common love of books.

This excellent collection, edited by Henry Hitchings, brings together a diverse set of authors from all over the globe. The essays range from a shopping trip before inclement weather to a place of inspiration for children to a meeting place to change the world. Alaa Al Aswany’s “If You Wound a Snake…” details a bookstore in Egypt during the uprising against Mubarak. He uses his book signing to show the atmosphere prior to the demonstrations. Yiyun Li’s “All the Offers a Happy Ending Is a Fairy Tale” shows us China’s problematic treatment of intellectual property. But her pursuit of literature winds its way through Western culture. Pankaj Mishra’s “A Bookshop in the Age of Progress” takes us to post-Soviet India, and Dorthe Nors “Intimacy” shows the importance of bookstores across the generations.

Many of the essays are translations for which I was grateful. Before this, I was only familiar with three of the authors. The introduction to new non-US authors is enough to recommend Browse. Reading diversely exposes one to the variety that humans are capable of, and yet these essays bridged the cultural gap through the experience of shopping for books. While I’ll never get to any of the stores described in here, I feel like I’ve already been to them.

[Louise Fligman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A lovely collection of touching accounts of books and bookshops”

What’s better than a book? A bookshop! Bookshops have a special kind of magic: the ability to answer our questions; to transport us to anywhere in any period of time; a treasure trove. In Browse, Henry Hitchings asks fifteen writers from around the world to consider bookshops that have had an impact upon them. Each chapter produces a different time and location. Ali Smith tells of the secrets and personal stories hidden within the pages of second-hand books; Alaa Al Aswany recounts the Cairo bookshop where revolutionaries gathered during the 2011 uprisings; Elif Shafak evokes the bookstores of Istanbul, their chaos and variety with the scents of tobacco and coffee. Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor recalls the dilemma of having to choose just one book at a favourite childhood store in Nairobi, while Iain Sinclair shares his sadness on witnessing a beloved old shop close down. Others explore bookshops they have stumbled upon and fallen in love with, from London to Bogotá. These enchanting pieces are a collective celebration of books and bookshops for anyone who has ever fallen under their spell.

Being an absolute bibliophile, I was immediately intrigued by this book. Each chapter is a personal account of what bookshops mean to the writer and it’s wonderful to read about why they love bookstores. I saw parallels between myself and these writers and whilst all these authors have one thing in common (their love for books and bookshops), their experiences of this one thing are so different. That is one the aspects I love about reading itself: people can read the same books, but their feelings towards that book are completely different and unique.

It was interesting to read how bookshops are different across the world, from their external architecture, to how they are organised within. The descriptions are so vivid I felt like I had been transported to these shops, with their basements, chairs and dusty shelves. Each writer also has their own style which makes each chapter very refreshing to read. It is almost as if each chapter is a mini book in itself. I additionally noticed that there were little things that I could identify with, as could any person who loves books: the feel and smell of a book’s pages, whether a book is paperback or hardback, and how touching the spine of a book is a way of communicating with it. If you have any little habits regarding books and bookshops, trust me, you are not alone, and this book will come as a great comfort to you from that respect.

My favourite chapter was ‘Leitner and I’ by Saša Stanišić because the way it is written is so clever, yet so accurate. Saša describes his visit to a bookshop like it is a visit to a drug dealer and the books are substances. Each “substance” gives you a different trip or experience, and very soon, you are addicted. Whilst this may seem like quite a dark way to describe your enjoyment of reading, I think it is incredibly apt; I have often found myself saying that I am addicted to a particular book, or just hooked to reading in general. As Saša says, what better habit could a bibliophile have? It is far from harmless. Instead, reading is enriching, informative and nourishing.

Overall, Browse is a lovely collection of touching and personal accounts of books and bookshops. Each author’s writing style is unique and transports you across the globe. If you love books, reading and bookshops, delve into this novel’s pages. You won’t be alone with your bibliophile tendencies.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of a series of essays by international writers (none of whom I'd heard, of, I'm ashamed to say,) discoursing on their favorite or most influential places where they either first encountered books or where they first worked around books and were forever caught in the thralldom of bookstores! The authors and stores range from England, to Germany, to Iran, and China, etc. Its pages are peopled with bookshop owners who are often grumpy, but knowledgeable, attached to their bookish merchandise in passionate, obsessive ways. They are caught up in a seemingly doomed fate of demise with the preponderance of online resources widely (and cheaply) available. This book was published in 2016, at what may prove to be the nadir of the physical book shop. There are a few encouraging signs now, eight years later, that the book store, may be set to make a come-back, at least of sorts. That may just be wishful thinking on my part, but at least I'm not grumpy!

A couple of my favorite pieces I encountered were by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, writing about her beloved book shop Westland Sundries, in Nairobi. It had to move its premises a few times and even change its stock, but it was a landmark for many years and the author has such warm and personal memories of it.
My other favorite was from Stefano Benni, discoursing on his jewel, La Palmaverde,nestled in Bologna, Italy. As a young man he wrote a poem to it, and the first line of the final stanza reads: "Books speak even when they are closed." How truly this speaks to me!

This book was a gift to me, and although the various authors and their works are unknown to me, (probably far too high-brow for my lesser literary tastes,) I am flattered that the giver thought I could appreciate it. And to my poor credit, at least I recognize in it a kindred love of books, paper, cover art, stacks amid endless shelves of books, tantalizing us to enter ever deeper.

[Trina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was thoroughly excited to read this book about one of my favorite places, Bookshops. The feeling a book lover gets when entering a place that houses books whether big or small is euphoric and I was hoping for a universal feeling transcribed from authors all over the world.

What I experienced was far short of euphoria but utter confusion. Most of the stories were transcribed from various languages so maybe there was some disconnect in the translations. I found myself struggling from the Introduction and from Essay to Essay. After skimming recklessly through the chapters, I finally found a gem in "Dussman: A Conversation" by Daniel Kehlmann. A true joy to read, Kehlmann, had me enthralled by comparing the Dussman bookstore to Berlin. I have never traveled to Berlin but after reading, I felt like I had not only been to Dussman with its lack of charm and huge quantity of books but conversed with the staff and bought a coffee. So while it was difficult for me to relate to the other Essays, I am so glad I stuck it out through Kehlmann's conversation. My point being, each Essay has its own promises to the reader. Likewise, each reader has their own takeaway and mine was Kehlmann. Yours may be the Essays of Vasquez or Dirda. You won't know until you venture in.

Thanks to Pushkin Press and Edelweiss for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Laury Glory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angelockt von der für bibliophile Menschen aus meiner Sicht perfekt gewählten Aufmachung, griff ich zu diesem nicht nur äußerlich wunderschönen Bücherschatz und befreite ihn damit zum Glück nun auch endlich vom schlummernden Bücherstapel.

Nicht alle Essays haben mir gleichermaßen gefallen, nicht in allen konnte ich mich wiederfinden und nicht jeder Stil hat mir zugesagt, was ich aber auch keinesfalls erwartet hatte, schließlich berichtet hier eine Vielzahl an Personen auf ihre jeweils ganz eigene und originelle Art und Weise rund um das Thema Buchhandlungen und die damit verbundenen persönlichen Erfahrungen oder Anekdoten.
Ich habe die Lektüre aber insgesamt so sehr genossen und mich in der Mehrheit (alle, bis auf lediglich 2) der Texte sehr gut wieder finden können, viele wunderschöne, fast poetische Zitate für mich markiert und so einiges Neues erfahren können, was es in der Welt der Seiten zu entdecken gibt.

Sofern man also kein Problem damit hat, sich immer wieder auf eine völlig neue Erzählstimme und neue Perspektiven einzulassen, diese sogar, wie in meinem Fall, als große Bereicherung ansieht, sei dieses Buch jedem wärmstens und von Herzen empfohlen.

Für mich ein großes Highlight, insbesondere der Abschluss und auch das Kapitel von Daniel Kehlmann waren für mich eine große Lesefreude.
♥

[Best_books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Carrying on this year’s bookshop theme, this collection of short stories is written by authors from around the world. Describing their experiences and memories of bookshops which have resonated with them the most the reader is drawn into all of them - from a perfunctory industrial bookshop in Berlin that allows readers the chance of anonymity and disengagement to the Egyptian store that served as a meeting place for revolutionaries, dazzled by the prospect of ridding their country of Mubarak, a dictator, and ushering in an age of democracy and opportunity.

My favourite part of this book was the authors and titles thrown in to the stories . The lists made me feel poorly read but also opened up new genres and authors to me . Ironically despite many of the stories keen to tell of the bookshop destroying monster that is now the internet , I went quickly to Amazon to see if I could order some newly discovered Czech works, or understand better the philosophers that shaped the writings of this book’s contributors .

A few of the stories did not grasp me in the same way as others - always the way with short stories - but also a reason for the four not five stars . But I loved this unexpectedly joyful read and would definitely recommend it … particularly, of course, if you come across it in its alma mater, the local community bookshop.

[Ranjana Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love bookshops - the smell, the dreaminess, the adventure, never wuite knowing what I would end up buying. In fact, growing up I often dreamed of owning a bookstore not to sell but so that I never ran out of books to read.

This book was an unexpected gift, both literally and metaphorically. I might not have picked it up on my own since I read fuction far, far more than non-fiction but I am glad that this one found its way to me. It is an anthology of various authors' - from all parts of the world: Turkey, China, India, UK, US, Denmark, Egypt, Ukraine etc. - experiences, memories of bookstores. They are not always strictly personal recollections; some of them are political commentaries. My personal favourites are the one about Egyptian revolution, Kenyan heritage bookstore, the Turkish ramblings and the Danish grandma. The last one in particular demonstates how the souls of bookstores reside in the owner, rather like the cricket who was Pinocchio's conscience, how (s)he can guide our spirits, transform our leisure and expand our imagination, even if our lives remain the same. And who is to say that 'real' life exists outside the pages we read?

And maybe, just maybe someday I would own a quaint bookshop tucked away in the hills.