Bookshops on Charing Cross Road
- April 3, 2007
- Rated 5 of 5 by
morph! from Belfast, United Kingdom
A street filled with second hand bookshops is paradise for bookworms! So when I got to London I jumped at the chance to visit Charing Cross Road.
I had read the book '84 Charing Cross Road' a few years ago but hadn't really imagined that a street could be so dedicated to selling on copies of old books. Seriously, almost every shop here has books in the window and when you enter the buildings, you see them piled to the ceiling, overflowing, dusty, perfect for readaholics!
Some of the shops are specialist and others are full of a bit of everything. We went into bookshops full of non-fiction fashion reads (glossy pictures - very glamorous!), then on into one where antique and army books filled the shelves. The crime shop a few doors down had all the Agatha Christie's of course, and the children's section in the general interest bookships down the road had copies of everything I loved as a child.
The bookshop staff were great! Very posh and very academic, they knew their subjects inside out. My friend had a few great conversations about specific chapters in her favourite books.
Don't feel absolutely obliged to buy - rather than the books and pamphlets in stock, the real reason I'll go back to Charing Cross Road is the old world atmosphere here. You feel you've stepped inside another, much older and romantic London.
From journal Lively London - a Midweek Break