Friday 17 April 2015

I write this sitting at a desk

17th April 2015

 “Second hand books are wild books, homeless books.” – Virginia Woolf: The Decline of the Second Hand Bookstore.

Second hand book shops are quickly becoming rarer than the books they sell, with less than a thousand independently owned bookstores in the UK in 2014 and more than 500 have closed since 2005. The dominance of national chains such as Waterstones which has 300 stores and WHSmith which has 1,300 stores are putting independent bookstores out of business on a daily basis. Furthermore, the convenience of Amazon providing thousands of titles at cheap prices which can be instantaneously sent to your kindle, makes the competition is tragically unfair. In addition, Google Books gives access to books and academia at the click of a mouse with the ability to search for a word in the entire works through a search bar.

The process of discovery and enjoyment has been evaporated through the computer screen, and the next generation is not learning any different. Even if people want to buy popular mainstream paperbacks, not only are they available in Waterstones, they are also available just an aisle away from your groceries in your supermarket. It is also noteworthy that stores such as Waterstones do not only stock books, they lure customers in with adjoined coffee branches and luxury gadgets and accessories. Bookstores are no longer bookstores, but rather gift shops with some books are the back.

However, the charm of an old dusty bookshop never dies, those who buy from an independent dealer not only come out with a book, or many books in my case, the customer themselves undergo a process of discovery. As an avid reader I have discovered more titles by just merely browsing second hand bookshops than I have ever done browsing on amazon or in a multinational chain. It gives you the possibility to find authors who aren’t in the literary charts and editions of novels without the film adaptation plastered on the front. Moreover, unless it is an antique, second hand book shops tend to always be cheaper than Waterstones or WHSmith.

The owner of a second hand bookshop tend to always know what they are talking about, whereas at a multinational chain you run the risk of talking to an employee who doesn’t really want to be there and has minimal interest in literature. Independent bookshop owners tend to have set up their shop because they love books, simple as that. There is minimal economic profit in second hand book stores so when you buy one of their books you know you are investing in their passion; as well as developing your own. Their wealth of knowledge, in my experience, is outstanding as they buy, collect and read the books they sell on a daily basis. Instead of putting your money into big business, it is worth spending time in these declining stores and help keep their sector alive.

The act of exploring independent bookstores is a hobby in itself, an interesting and fulfilling activity on a Saturday afternoon in your local town. Despite towns being littered with chain book stores, there is hope at the end of the tunnel. Success stories such as Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights in Bath is highly successful, offering such services as Mr B’s reading year where they send you a book a month as part of a package. They also provide quirky delights such as a Reading Spa where you have a session with a biblio-therapist to work out your likes and dislikes and a recommended reading list over a cup of coffee and a slice of cake. These wonderful ideas and stories give hope to independent bookstores, but in the end it is you the customer that keeps these shops alive.


Liverpool has a few remaining second hand and independent book stores which are in need of your business. Please visit News from Nowhere on Bold Street, Oxfam on Bold Street, Henry Bohn Books on London Road and Reid of Liverpool on Mount Pleasant. Let’s not become readers of the electronic screen, but rather readers of the literary page. 

Wednesday 15 April 2015

I write this sitting on my boyfriend's couch, again

15th April 2015

I write this sitting on my boyfriend's couch, again. I have just finished Mary Shelley's apocalyptic novel The Last Man, you heard right I read a Shelley novel that WASN'T Frankenstein. I found it a very interesting novel, but a lot longer than it needed to be. It is set in 2092 from the point of view of Lionel, a rejected aristocrat who becomes the last man. Obvious enough it may seem. However the fact it was written by a Romantic writer but set 77 years from now, makes the content seem a little strange but understandable; I mean how was Mrs Shelley expect to know we will probably all die of a nuclear attack before he get struck by the plague again. In addition, I found the date interesting, if anything your would think 2000 would be the optimum year for a 19th century writer to write about an apocalypse. Furthermore, its focus is very much on Europe and how the characters seek easier landscape away from Britain in places such as Rome and Greece.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

I write this sitting on my boyfriend's couch

14th April 2015

I write this sitting on my boyfriend's couch, instead of revising for my exams. I study English and currently have 6 days to finish Women in Love by D.H. Lawrence. A good novel, I might add, but littered with sexual innuendos and homo-eroticism; such as two men wrestling naked. Sexual suppression at its' foremost, its seems. Nevertheless a very interesting book about the meaning of love and sex and the individualism of being human in a modernist context.