I meant to come back from holiday with a smaller ‘to read’ pile than when I left. I really did. But then I remembered the excellent Oxfam book shop in St Ives, and it was so full of goodness…
Could you, in all good conscience, have left a charity shop without picking up their copy of one of Gideon Defoe’s brilliantly bonkers Pirates books? Or missed out on some interesting commentary on a fantasy classic? Or three whole specialists books on writing crime fiction?
Yes, I know I don’t write crime fiction, but my stories do sometimes feature crimes. It’s legit.
Then there was the Edge of the World bookshop in Penzance. An independent bookshop is a rare and precious thing, a truly excellent one doubly so. This place had a wonderful sign and window display, a fascinating selection of books on pirates of various eras, a small but well selected comics section, and a man behind the counter with a truly magnificent beard.
I felt it was my public duty to support them by buying something. Better yet they had one of Emilly Ladybird‘s steampunk craft books, which I’d been eyeing up for a while. I like steampunk, I like crafting, I like Ms Ladybird and I like the Edge of the World bookshop, so that’s a purchase made entirely of win.
I expect I’ll blog properly next week about some of these books, and maybe some other awesome stuff I saw in Cornwall. But for now this is mostly a reminder to myself – e-books may well be the future, but the present is littered with papery goodness.
And remember kids, there’s no such thing as ‘just a quick browse’ when it comes to good book shops.