Books to Read About Bookshops
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For bibliophiles, there’s no better feeling than reading about the places we love the most - bookshops.
Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, these bookshop books allow characters to find themselves, build empires, spark magic and learn about their history. They span not just genres, but transcend languages, and are set in countries and cultures around the globe.
Here are some of the best books about bookshops - including some that I’ve read, and others from my TBR. Enjoy!
Fiction
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
Synopsis:
“‘The thing about books,’ she said ‘is that they help you to imagine a life bigger and better than you could ever dream of.’
On a quiet street in Dublin, a lost bookshop is waiting to be found…
For too long, Opaline, Martha and Henry have been the side characters in their own lives.
But when a vanishing bookshop casts its spell, these three unsuspecting strangers will discover that their own stories are every bit as extraordinary as the ones found in the pages of their beloved books.
And by unlocking the secrets of the shelves, they find themselves transported to a world of wonder… where nothing is as it seems.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Synopsis:
“When twenty-five-year-old Takako's boyfriend reveals he's marrying someone else, she reluctantly accepts her eccentric uncle Satoru's offer to live rent-free in the tiny room above his shop.
Hidden in Jimbocho, Tokyo, the Morisaki Bookshop is a booklover's paradise. On a quiet corner in an old wooden building, the shop is filled with hundreds of second-hand books. It is Satoru's pride and joy, and he has devoted his life to the bookshop since his wife left him five years earlier.
Hoping to nurse her broken heart in peace, Takako is surprised to encounter new worlds within the stacks of books lining the shop.
And as summer fades to autumn, Satoru and Takako discover they have more in common than they first thought. The Morisaki bookshop has something to teach them both about life, love, and the healing power of books.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn
Synopsis:
“There's a book written for every one of us...
Carl may be 72 years old, but he's young at heart. Every night he goes door-to-door delivering books by hand to his loyal customers. He knows their every desire and preference, carefully selecting the perfect story for each person.
One evening as he makes his rounds, nine-year-old Schascha appears. Loud and precocious, she insists on accompanying him - and even tries to teach him a thing or two about books.
When Carl's job at the bookstore is threatened, will the old man and the girl in the yellow raincoat be able to restore Carl's way of life, and return the joy of reading to his little European town?”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum
Synopsis:
“There was only one thing on her mind.
'I must start a bookshop.'
Yeongju did everything she was supposed to, go to university, marry a decent man, get a respectable job. Then it all fell apart. Burned out, Yeongju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, and follows her dream. She opens a bookshop.
In a quaint neighbourhood in Seoul, surrounded by books, Yeongju and her customers take refuge.
From the lonely barista to the unhappily married coffee roaster, and the writer who sees something special in Yeongju - they all have disappointments in their past. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop becomes the place where they all learn how to truly live.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Synopsis:
“‘Who the hell are you?’ A.J. asks the baby.
For no apparent reason, she stops crying and smiles at him. ‘Maya,’ she answers.
That was easy, A.J. thinks. ‘How old are you?’ he asks.
Maya holds up two fingers.
‘You're two?’
Maya smiles again and holds up her arms to him.
A.J. Fikry, the grumpy owner of Island Books, is going through a hard time: his bookshop is failing, he has lost his beloved wife, and a prized rare first edition has been stolen.
But one day A.J. finds two-year-old Maya sitting on the bookshop floor, with a note attached to her asking the owner to look after her. His life - and Maya's - is changed forever.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Bookshop Woman by Nanako Hanada
Synopsis:
“Nanako Hanada's life has hit rock bottom. Separated from her husband, she's living between 4-hour capsule hostels and pokey internet cafes in Tokyo.
Work is going no better as sales at her eccentric bookstore dwindle. Reading is the only thing keeping her alive.
That's until Nanako downloads an app called Perfect Strangers which offers 30 minutes with someone you'll never see again. Introducing herself as a sexy bookseller, she recommends strangers 'the book that will change their life'.
In the ensuing year, Nanako meets hundreds of people, some of whom want more than just a book...”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George
Synopsis:
“On a beautifully restored barge on the Seine, Jean Perdu runs a bookshop; or rather a 'literary apothecary', for this bookseller possesses a rare gift for sensing which books will soothe the troubled souls of his customers.
The only person he is unable to cure, it seems, is himself. He has nursed a broken heart ever since the night, twenty-one years ago, when the love of his life fled Paris, leaving behind a handwritten letter that he has never dared read. His memories and his love have been gathering dust - until now.
The arrival of an enigmatic new neighbour in his eccentric apartment building on Rue Montagnard inspires Jean to unlock his heart, unmoor the floating bookshop and set off for Provence, in search of the past and his beloved.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Mr Penumbra's 24-hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
Synopsis:
“Recession has shuffled Clay Jannon out of his life as a Web-design drone and serendipity coupled with sheer curiosity has landed him a new job working the night shift at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore.
And it doesn't take long for Clay to realize that the quiet, dusty book emporium is even more curious than the name suggests.
There are only a few fanatically committed customers, but they never seem to actually buy anything, instead they simply borrow impossibly obscure volumes perched on dangerously high shelves, all according to some elaborate arrangement with the eccentric proprietor.
The store must be a front for something larger, Clay concludes, and soon he has plugged in his laptop, roped in his friends (and a cute girl who works for Google) and embarked on a high-tech analysis of the customers' behaviour.
What they discover is an ancient secret that can only be solved by modern means, and a global-conspiracy guarded by Mr. Penumbra himself... who has mysteriously disappeared.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Non-fiction
Confessions of a Bookseller by Shaun Blythell
Synopsis:
“‘Do you have a list of your books, or do I just have to stare at them?’
Shaun Bythell is the owner of The Bookshop in Wigtown, Scotland. With more than a mile of shelving, real log fires in the shop and the sea lapping nearby, the shop should be an idyll for bookworms.
Unfortunately, Shaun also has to contend with bizarre requests from people who don't understand what a shop is, home invasions during the Wigtown Book Festival and Granny, his neurotic Italian assistant who likes digging for river mud to make poultices.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
Synopsis:
“This charming classic, first published in 1970, brings together twenty years of correspondence between Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York City, and a used-book dealer in London.
Through the years, though never meeting and separated both geographically and culturally, they share a winsome, sentimental friendship based on their common love for books.
Their relationship, captured so acutely in these letters, is one that will grab your heart and not let go.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Diary of a Tuscan Bookshop
Synopsis:
“Alba used to live a hectic life, working as a book publicist in Florence - a life that made her happy and led her to meet prominent international authors. And yet, she always felt like she was a woman on the run.
And so one day she decides to stop running and go back to Lucignana, the small village on the Tuscan hills where she was born, to open a tiny bookshop.
With a total of only 180 residents, Alba's enterprise in Lucignana seems doomed from day one but it surprisingly sparks the enthusiasm of many across Tuscany - and beyond.
After surviving a fire and the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the 'Bookshop on the Hill' soon becomes a refuge and beacon for an ever-growing community of people: readers who come to visit from afar, safe in the knowledge that Alba will be able to find the perfect book for them.
A tale of resilience and entrepreneurship and a celebration of booksellers everywhere: the real (and often unsung) heroes of the publishing world.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi
Synopsis:
“In 1936, a young dreamer named Edmond Charlot opened a modest bookshop in Algiers.
Once the heart of Algerian cultural life, where Camus launched his first book and the Free French printed propaganda during the war, Charlot's beloved bookshop has been closed for decades, living on as a government lending library.
Now it is to be shuttered forever. But as a young man named Ryad empties it of its books, he begins to understand that a bookshop can be much more than just a shop that sells books.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs by Jeremy Mercer
Synopsis:
“Shakespeare and Company in Paris is one of the world's most famous bookshops.
The original store opened in 1921 and became known as the haunt of literary greats, such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Bernard Shaw, Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and James Joyce.
Sadly the shop was forced to close in 1941, but that was not the end of Shakespeare and Company... In 1951 another bookshop, with a similar free-thinking ethos, opened on the Left Bank.
Called 'Le Mistral', it had beds for those of a literary mindset who found themselves down on their luck and, in 1964, it resurrected the name Shakespeare and Company and became the principal meeting place for Beatnik poets, such as Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, through to Henry Miller and Lawrence Durrell.
Today the tradition continues and writers still find their way to this bizarre establishment, one of them being Jeremy Mercer. With no friends, no job, no money and no prospects, the thrill of escape from his life in Canada soon palls but, by chance, he happens upon the fairytale world of 'Shakespeare and Co' and is taken in.
What follows is his tale of his time there, the curious people who came and went, the realities of being down and out in the 'city of light' and, in particular, his relationship with the beguiling octogenarian owner, George.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Bookseller Of Kabul by Åsne Seierstad
Synopsis:
“Two weeks after September 11th, award-winning journalist Åsne Seierstad went to Afghanistan to report on the conflict there. In the following spring she returned to live with an Afghan family for several months.
For more than twenty years Sultan Khan defied the authorities - be they communist or Taliban - to supply books to the people of Kabul.
He was arrested, interrogated and imprisoned by the communists and watched illiterate Taliban soldiers burn piles of his books in the street. He even resorted to hiding most of his stock in attics all over Kabul.
But while Khan is passionate in his love of books and hatred of censorship, he is also a committed Muslim with strict views on family life. As an outsider, Seierstad is able to move between the private world of the women - including Khan's two wives - and the more public lives of the men.
And so we learn of proposals and marriages, suppression and abuse of power, crime and punishment. The result is a gripping and moving portrait of a family, and a clear-eyed assessment of a country struggling to free itself from history.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
The Bookseller of Florence by Ross King
Synopsis:
“The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings - the dazzling handiwork of the city's artists and architects. But equally important were geniuses of another kind: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars and booksellers.
At a time where all books were made by hand, these people helped imagine a new and enlightened world.
At the heart of this activity was a remarkable bookseller: Vespasiano da Bisticci. His books were works of art in their own right, copied by talented scribes and illuminated by the finest miniaturists.
With a client list that included popes and royalty, Vespasiano became the 'king of the world's booksellers'. But by 1480 a new invention had appeared: the printed book, and Europe's most prolific merchant of knowledge faced a formidable new challenge.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
A Bookshop of One’s Own by Jane Cholmeley
Synopsis:
“What was it like to start a feminist bookshop, in an industry dominated by men? How could a lesbian thrive in Thatcher’s time, with the government legislating to restrict her rights? How do you run a business when your real aim is to change the world?
Silver Moon was the dream of three women – a bookshop with the mission to promote the work of female writers and create a much-needed safe space for any woman.
Founded in 1980s London against a backdrop of homophobia and misogyny, it was a testament to the power of community, growing into Europe’s biggest women’s bookshop and hosting a constellation of literary stars from Margaret Atwood and Maya Angelou to Angela Carter.
While contending with day-to-day struggles common to other booksellers, plus the additional burdens of misogyny and the occasional hate crime, Jane Cholmeley and her booksellers created a thriving business. But they also played a crucial and relatively unsung part in one the biggest social movements of our time.
A Bookshop of One’s Own is a fascinating slice of social history from the heart of the women’s liberation movement, from a true feminist and lesbian icon. Written with heart and humour, it reveals the struggle and joy that comes with starting an underdog business, while being a celebration of the power women have to change the narrative when they are the ones holding the pen.”
You can buy a copy on Amazon here.
Have you read any of these books? Let me know which one is your favourite!