It was because a friend asked that I drew up this list of favourite bookshops in London. When I go this weekend I hope to catch a few of them. Of course I only grade them in terms of (military) history books. If you want art, philosophy or science I'm sure there's better options elsewhere.
Suppose you start near Trafalgar Square, you can move up Charing Cross Rd, where you will first find 2nd hand shops Quinto, Henry Pordes and Any Amount of Books next to each other. I love to rummage the shelves here. A bit off track, on Cecil Court, there´s Motor Books for 1st hand militaria.
A bit further on is Lovejoys, for a quick browse of discounted militaria and history (also lots on movies). Then there's Foyles, an institution in bookstores. This is a place where there's too much choice so you end up taking away only the really interesting bits.
Move on across Oxford St to Bloomsbury St and Bookmarks, the leftist bookshop that has an small but often rewarding 2nd hand section. Further on you will find Waterstones at the crossing of Gower St and Torrington Place. This one has a good 2nd hand section.
My latest favourite is Judd Books on Marchmont St. This has excellent 2nd hand and remainders. I never leave empty handed. My friends tell me that Skoob Books around the corner (66 The Brunswick) is excellent as well, so that'sa definite stop for me this weekend.
Hmmmm... Michiel and I tried to define rules for playing the book hunting game - just after coming out of SKOOB or Judd Books.
ReplyDeleteThe best criteria for winning we got to was if the opposition bought a book you were insanely jealous of and wanted!
Another criteria was texting, or emailing, or tweeting your finds and getting similar expressions of jealousy.
this could be a simple facebook poll. ENvious or not? Highest envy score = win!
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