The Importance of the Book Shop

Aside from music another passion of mine is books and reading, and when shopping on Monday I realised how important the book shop is.

Now, I must admit, I shop for the majority of my books on amazon because it is easy and cheap and those unfortunately are the trappings of life. However, whilst on Brick Lane this week I popped into one of my favourite shops, the Brick Lane Bookshop, a cute little shop nestled in between vintage clothes stores and slightly overpowered by the very famous Rough Trade. Whilst picking out a book I realised how important the atmosphere of the shop is, I love that the books are crammed onto shelves, and to take one out you then have the awkward task of slotting it back in, resisting the temptation to just shove it in another space and taking away the clean tidiness of it all. I also feel that the book being on those shelves is a recommendation in itself. I appreciate that everybody has different likes and dislikes when it comes to books, but as a general rule you know that each book that has been brought into this shop is classed as a good, well written read. It's almost like a readers version of a record store. You aren't going to like every record in there, but you know that by the record being in the store it is a well made and respectable record that you should give a chance!

I feel like in todays society of quick buys and convenience we sometimes overlook the joy of finding something and shopping for something, and the personal feel attached to it. I guess a bookshop takes you back to appreciating feeling a product in your hands before you buy it, getting a feel of the book and flicking through it, something you don't tend to get with amazon.

I bought one of my favourite ever books from there ages ago, the book Stardust by Neil Gaiman. The fantasy book follows the journey of princes, witches and lowly Tristan in order to find a fallen star and use it for what each of them needs it for. Based in the fictional world of Stormhold it is a fantastic fantasy story, written by the same author who wrote the amazing story Coraline. The book I picked up from there this week was Dark Places by Gillian Flynn. I was quite sure I would like this book as I read Flynn's Gone Girl a few months ago and found it extremely unique and enjoyable.

So next time you want a book but you have no idea what you want to read, avoid amazon and head to whatever local book store you can find, have a read of some blurbs and pick up a book that will surely not disappoint. I fully intend to write a blog post based on some of my favourite books and recommendations, but that will most likely be a fairly long post so I'll leave it here for now!