Four Bookshops

I recently read Neil Gaiman’s collection of non-fiction, The View From the Cheap Seats, and one of the many brilliant articles in it was sharing memories of four bookshops. This is my version of that.

1

The Ashley Bookshop was the place I demanded my parents take me at the weekend when I was very young. Located in Boscombe (Bournemouth) it was an unusual place. My memories of it are fairly limited. I couldn’t tell you for example if it sold new or second hand books. I do know though that in a former life it was a church but the pews had been removed and replaced with long rows of bookshelves. My main goal in visiting was to buy a Blackberry Farm book. They were stories of anthropomorphised animals on the titular farm. I would read the list of titles in the series on the back of the books over and over again and be hugely satisfied when I filled in a gap.

Sadly at some point the bookshop closed down and I never had the opportunity to look for more grown-up books in that remarkable place.

2

The Furlong Bookshop was in my home town of Ringwood and this meant I could go there pretty much every weekend. The children’s section was small but welcoming with two small tables covered with attractive books. Gradually I began to look further than the children’s section and for a little while I was obsessed with the simple collection of Penguin Classics.

Being an independent bookshop meant there was an owner who was always in there. He had a head of brown curly hair, almost in an afro style, and a silly little moustache. Gradually we got to know other a little and we discovered we both collected Beano and Dandy annuals. I was so proud aged 13 to have my name on a notice asking anyone wishing to swap annuals.

Gradually the rent at the Furlong was increased dramatically, more than a bookshop could afford. The area is now mostly occupied by upmarket clothes shops and it is a considerably worse place for it.

3

Borders was a big, international bookshop chain. The Bournemouth store was enormous, a warehouse of books over two floors. It had the biggest children’s section I had ever seen and I discovered whole series here. Unlike the small independent shops they could stock a huge selection and that made it wonderful. As I began to read more adult books I discovered that the adult selection was even wider. I could head to a genre section and find all sorts of books I’d never heard of. Plus there always seemed to be a sale on so I could usually afford to buy them. Borders was the place where I really discovered science-fiction, and horror and graphic novels. And then there was a magazine range wider than anything I’ve ever seen elsewhere which meant I could always find the magazine of the latest thing I was into.

I can remember hearing that Borders had gone into administration and that the store would close. It was devastating. I felt a homeliness there that I have felt it in few places. It’s a Tesco Metro now which is so dull and cold unlike the fascinating warm store that preceeded it.

4

It didn’t take me too long to discover the local bookshops when I started university in Winchester. The city had too Waterstones stores and that was great but they were like any other Waterstones. Then I discovered the Oxfam Book Shop. It’s on a side street and the building is old so the store feels very cosy. There’s a great collection of general fiction on the ground floor and a decent children’s section. But there’s a tiny staircase, narrow like the ones in castles, and upstairs is the more specialist stuff. It’s here that houses my favourite sci-fi section of any bookshop.

As it relies on donations the selection is utterly random. You can guarantee you won’t find the latest sci-fi bestsellers but you will find all sorts of aging but still brilliant work, from pulps to Arthur C. Clarke. You never know what you will find and that’s part of the charm.

It’s also lovely to know all the money goes to help the wonderful work that Oxfam do. The shop is still there and I pop in every time I visit the city.