Book Review / The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell

Every bookshop has a story.

We’re not talking about rooms that are just full of books. We’re talking about bookshops in barns, disused factories, converted churches and underground car parks. Bookshops on boats, on buses, and in old run-down train stations. Fold-out bookshops, undercover bookshops, this-is-the-best-place-I’ve-ever-been-to-bookshops.

Meet Sarah and her Book Barge sailing across the sea to France; meet Sebastien, in Mongolia, who sells books to herders of the Altai mountains; meet the bookshop in Canada that’s invented the world’s first antiquarian book vending machine.

And that’s just the beginning.

From the oldest bookshop in the world, to the smallest you could imagine, The Bookshop Book examines the history of books, talks to authors about their favourite places, and looks at over three hundred weirdly wonderful bookshops across six continents (sadly, we’ve yet to build a bookshop down in the South Pole).

The Bookshop Book is a love letter to bookshops all around the world.

Published:     2nd October 2014
Publisher:  Constable and Robinson
Author Website:  Click here
Goodreads :  Click here 
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand Alone
Source:  Review Copy from Publisher
Review:   5 out of 5

My Review

What I loved about this book...
Ask any book lover and they will tell you that there's nothing better than reading a book about books.  That's the ultimate reading experience.  This book took me on the ultimate book shopping experience from my own living room (and without buying any books which was the sad part lol!).   This book has introduced me to so many interesting book shops that I have definitely added to my list of 'places I want to visit'.  

What I also liked about this book is that you had interviews with authors such as Tracy Chevalier etc talking about their book experiences.  Its probably the equivalent of someone who is an organiser reading a lifestyle magazine just to see the pictures of people's living rooms to see how they decorate etc...

This book was so good I read it in one sitting, could not put it down...  There were so many places that I had to Google to find out more after I had read the book, it's definitely addicting.

About the Author
(from Goodreads)

Jen grew up in a small village by the sea in the north-east of England. After studying English Literature at Edinburgh University, she moved to north London to sell books and write stories. She works part-time at an antiquarian bookshop.

Jen's first book, Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, was published in 2012 and was a Sunday Times Bestseller. The sequel, More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, was released in 2013. 'Weird Things...' is available in seven different languages, and was a finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards.

Her new non-fiction book The Bookshop Book was published October 2014 by Constable/Little, Brown, and is the official book of the 2014 Books Are My Bag campaign. www.jen-campbell.co.uk/the-bookshop-book

Jen is also an award-winning poet and short story writer. Her poetry pamphlet The Hungry Ghost Festival is published by The Rialto., and she is currently writing her first novel.

She is represented by Charlie Campbell at Kingsford Campbell.