Here on Book Break, we love independent bookshops.
So in today's episode, I am celebrating Independent Bookshop Week, which is a week dedicated to
celebrating wonderful independent bookshops all across the UK and Ireland, by visiting
five very special indies all across London.
And I can't wait to show them off to you, because who knows?
You might find your new favourite bookshop right here.
But first, I have something else gorgeous to show off to you, and that's this:
Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse.
This is a poetry collection edited by the Poet Laureate herself, Carol Ann Duffy, in
which she commissioned some of the UK's most beloved poets to write their own poems about
books and bookshops.
The first edition came out in 2016, but right here I have the expanded new edition, complete
with brand new poems from poets such as Billy Collins and Katharine Towers.
And here's my favourite part.
Right now, and up until September, you can only buy this book at independent bookshops.
So, watch the rest of this video, and then pick your new favourite bookshop to go and
buy this book!
So I am here in East London, in the rain.
I'd say a rainy day is the best time to do some book shopping.
And I'm off to visit Newham Books.
VIVIAN: This is Newham Bookshop.
We've been here for 40 years.
We are, obviously, in Newham.
We have a very broad selection of books.
There are things we do specialise in: local history, history, poetry, and obviously have
a whole children's section as well.
We've gone out of our way always to encourage children to read.
That's why we celebrate things like World Book Day.
We've had people here who've come in from when they were children, and are now professors.
We really really really fight for the culture of reading, and that reading is fun, and that's
why we invite authors in to talk to people.
Next up, near Leicester Square, and on a street more than a little reminiscent of Diagon Alley,
and full to the brim with gorgeous bookshops, I'm off to visit Goldsboro Books.
HARRY: This is Goldsboro Books, and we are in Central London on Cecil Court.
We sell signed first editions, modern first editions, so we have new books and old.
When Robert Galbraith published The Cuckoo's Calling, we ordered 250 signed first editions,
not knowing who the author was.
And then, news broke that it was actually JK Rowling, and it turned out we were the
only bookshop in the world to have signed first editions of it.
We have a Book of the Month Club.
We pick a book every month, and it's one that we sort of thing a) we love, and b) we think
our club members will like.
We'll send it out to them, and they sort of trust our opinion.
And we've found that it's gone really well.
People come to us and say, oh we would never have read this had you not picked it.
So it's a nice way of getting authors out there that people might not necessarily have
found otherwise.
Today, I am off to West Hampstead, to take you to West End Lane Books.
DANNY: Hi, we're at West End Lane Books in the heart of West Hampstead, North London.
KIM: So, we sell a range of children's books, fiction, crime, cookery, art, all new books
as well.
DANNY: Strong non-fiction list as well.
Bookshop Bingo is a game that we came up with one time because everybody that works in the
shop is quite different.
We're just unified by our great love of books.
And we have a Staff Favourites section, and we thought customers that know us really well,
would be able to look at Staff Favourites and think, 'That one's Kim's, that one's Danny's,
etc.'
You get ten right and you win a pile of books.
And next to Hackney, home of vegan food, vintage clothes, and the Pages of Hackney bookshop!
ELEANOR: This is Pages of Hackney, and we are in Clapton in Hackney.
JO: We sell a range of fiction and nonfiction, and feminism, literary fiction, politics,
art, photography...
ELEANOR: current affairs, graphic fiction, memoir, and essays.
We do lots of events here, that's one of our favourite things to do.
JO: We were really lucky to win the best independent bookshop for London this year, which was amazing,
wasn't it?
We weren't expecting it.
I know everyone says that but we really weren't.
And finally, I have come to the gorgeous South Kensington, to visit South Kensington Books.
DAVE: This is South Kensington Books.
We're in South Kensington.
We sell a wide variety of books.
We specialise in art books and history books, but we also do a wide variety of things.
We have fashion, photography, cookery, gardening, everything really.
Everything we can cram in.
We work with authors, and go to schools and do things with them.
VIVIAN: Independent bookshops actually are in touch with their local communities, hopefully
understand those communities, tailor our stock to those communities.
ELEANOR: Independent bookshops are keeping conversations about books alive with the people
that live in local areas, and talking about things that matter to them.
KIM: It's really important to have somewhere where you can sell from the heart, especially.
Where you can choose what's on the shelf.
It's also really important for the community as well, I think.
People can come in and they know what Danny likes to read, they know what I like to read,
and they also just want to know what's going on around West Hampstead.
DAVE: They're the life blood of the book industry, really.
ELEANOR: Customers definitely ask for our recommendations more than they would in a
big chain bookshop.
DAVE: A lot of us have been here quite a while, so we get to know customers maybe a bit more.
HARRY: We like giving recommendations.
We all read so much here that we sort of think, right, well if you're a bit stuck then we'll
help you.
KIM: So I've just finished reading This Is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay.
It really made me laugh, and it made me squirm.
I really loved that.
DANNY: I just read A Man Without Breath by Philip Kerr, which was just a joy to read.
ELEANOR: The last book I really loved was Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward.
DAVE: The last book I loved was a book called Edgar and Lucy.
A fantastic story.
VIVIAN: Home Fire by Kamala Shamsie is probably my most favourite book at the moment.
HARRY: The last book I read that I really loved was Social Creature by Tara Isabella
Burton.
It's got a bit of a Secret History vibe.
It's also a bit Gossip Girl.
JO: The book that I just finished was Normal People by Sally Rooney.
It was just incredible and I read it in one sitting.
DANNY: People that have built a real relationship with us, and who we're recommending to a lot,
sometimes come in the shop and just say, What am I reading now?
Which is lovely.
All of the bookshops that I visited were so different from each other, and it's so clear
that they each understand their own local community so well.
So do visit any of these, I know you'll love them all.
And also go and find your own local indie.
I guarantee they will welcome you with open arms.
Next week on Book Break, we have guest BookTuber Ben Alderson doing a video all about new fantasy
release Ash Princess.
So hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out on that one.
And for now, give this video a thumbs up, and leave a comment below with your own favourite
indie, so we can visit them all.
See you next time!