Sunday again! They seem to be coming round very quickly. I didn’t manage to post any reviews last week, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. I finished The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole yesterday (my first book for the Gothic Novels Challenge) so you can look out for my review tomorrow. As you may know, I’ve also been trying to read at least one short story per week as part of a personal challenge – last week I read The Signal-Man by Charles Dickens and will be posting my review of that one soon too.
Yesterday I went to my favourite bookshop, Barter Books in Alnwick. If you’re ever in the north east of England you should pay it a visit – it’s one of the biggest second-hand bookstores in the country and you’ll be able to find almost any book you can think of. It was converted from an old Victorian train station, so the building is enormous and complete with open fires and model train sets – browsing through all the books can be overwhelming though, especially when you know your family are waiting impatiently outside in the car! (There’s free parking by the way, but it gets very busy – particularly on a rainy day like yesterday.) It’s probably best to go with a specific list of books in mind rather than trying to look at everything.
See their website for more information:
http://www.barterbooks.co.uk
What are your favourite bookshops?
* Picture of Barter Books by wfmillar used under Creative Commons Attribution Share-alike license 2.0
She Reads Novels 
This bookshop sounds amazing! I’ll be in England this summer, but don’t think I’ll get to the north. But maybe I should…
Oh, that’s so cool! I love that it has the fires and train sets 🙂 I think England’s used bookstore culture is lovely.
I hope you both have the opportunity to go one day – I’m sure you’d love it as much as I do. 🙂
OMG, I HAVE to go to that bookshop! Alnwick is about a 2 hour drive for me but hey. It’s victorian with fireplaces and tonnes of books – I will find a way to get there!
You’d love it, boof! It’s probably worth the 2 hour drive.
I’d love to visit that bookshop! I’ll have to write down the name in case I’m ever over there. My favorite is the Haunted Bookshop in Iowa City, IA. It’s close to where I live, the owner has two cats that roam the shop, and I always find amazing books at great prices. It’s rare and used books.
That one sounds amazing as well, Ash. 🙂
I’m such a doofus, for some reason I was thinking of Alnwick as being south of Newcastle and it’s north (I should know, I was there last year!) which would make it more like a 4 hour drive. Would it be worth driving that far for? (remember that I am a bookaholic so there is a good chance it would be!)
Ash, I LOVE the sound of The Haunted Bookshop! Especially with two cats roaming around. How far is Iowa from the UK? ;o)
Well, it’s maybe not worth a 4 hour drive, but if you were going to be in the area for another reason I would definitely recommend going.