The Beauty of Independence

I was lucky enough to do a signing in my local bookshop on Saturday as part of Independent Booksellers Week. The Carnforth Bookshop hosted me and went to the sort of trouble that only an independent bookshop would.

The manager had made a beautiful 17th century costume which stood in the shop window, and on the day was worn by my protagonist's namesake, Alice, a local student who I discovered also had an artistic career in mind. I hope she will not get herself into trouble stealing an orchid, like my heroine!

This is exactly the sort of creativity and thinking that enables the independent bookseller to respond to market needs and its own local community.

In the delightful upstairs room, crammed with all manner of hardback non-fiction, some dating back eighty or more years, I gave a talk to a lovely group of people who were happy to discuss books over a coffee whilst waiting for everyone to assemble.

Looking round these second-hand shelves the talk got onto ebooks, and the fact that ebooks are so disposeable that in fifty years time things published in ebook format might well be lost to us, whereas these titles were still with us and available for us to enjoy.

Although the turnout was small, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and appreciate the effort that had gone into the event.
Love your Local Bookshop here!

Further reading: Guardian article about the survival of local bookshops http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jun/14/independent-bookshops-survive

The bookshop from heaven

Welcome SheWriters from the blog hop.

I have recently moved house to a lovely historic village, and our nearest small town is only five minutes drive away. Having spent a few weeks heaving boxes of books and then trying to find shelf-space for them all, I vowed to buy less books.

No sooner had I said this than I went to the supermarket in our local town and almost next door was this  - Aargh! the lovely Carnforth bookshop with its 14 higgledy-piggledy rooms of 100,000 second hand books! As you can see, the door is wide open, and who could resist? When I got inside I found there is coffee on the boil and a downstairs section with new books. You can even buy the gift-wrap and cards if you want to buy a book as a present, or for the musical - indulge in reams of sheet music.

Needless to say, I was in there more than an hour (the appropriate for Lent idea of "shall I try giving up buying books" forgotten) and I came out with three books. As an antidote to internet buying, it is a true bookaholic's browsing experience. Particularly delightful is a room of hardback fiction all at £1.

Though I have to say the writer in me is reluctant to buy second hand as I know how much work goes into a book and how the royalties from it stack up, but I forgive the Carnforth bookshop as it has a very good section of new fiction that you come to first before going upstairs to the used books.

As a reader of course I can't resist cheap second hand books, and the smell of leather and old paper. And the charm of exploring narrow stairways and inter-connecting rooms all stacked floor-to-ceiling with mostly one-offs.

Guess I'll be needing a few more shelves.
And if you are searching for a rare out of print book, why not try them www.carnforthbooks.co.uk