Bath

I'm Just Crazy About Bookshops

tiffanys
tiffanys

In one of my favourite films, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Holly Golightly (played by the wonderful Audrey Hepburn) says ‘I’m just crazy about Tiffany’s . . . Nothing bad could ever happen to you there.’ Holly goes to Tiffany’s when she gets ‘the mean reds’ – when she’s afraid but doesn’t know what she’s afraid of. She says ‘The only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it.’

I feel the same way about bookshops. When I’m feeling a bit edgy and out of sorts, I head to my local bookshop, Dubray Books in Dun Laoghaire. It’s in a not-so-exciting shopping centre but it still manages to be calm, peaceful and lovely. The staff are great too – you can always rely on them for a bit of book-related chat and a friendly smile.

Talking to Children in Dubray Books
Talking to Children in Dubray Books

I’ve loved bookshops all my life. After college I had no idea what I wanted to do (apart from write, but that was a dream I never thought would come to anything) so I reached for the nearest life raft – a bookshop.

I’ve worked in bookshops for many years and I’ve loved them all – Hodges Figgis on Dawson Street, Hughes and Hughes in St Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, Waterstone’s on Dawson Street (where I ran the children’s department, which I adored), Eason’s Head Office in Santry and now, Dubray Books, where they kindly let me get involved in promoting children’s books and training the children’s booksellers.

When I was in Bath a few weeks ago for the Children’s Literature Festival I visited three amazing bookshops – Waterstone’s, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights and Toppings. What a treat!

Waterstone’s has one of the best chain children’s departments I’ve ever seen outside the United States – it’s full of fantastic books for all ages. I particularly loved the table full of wonderfully chosen crossover books from the Chaos Walking trilogy to I Capture the Castle.

I visited Mr B’s with my lovely Walker editor, Annalie Grainger and what a terrific, quirky shop. It’s full of nooks and crannies, armchairs to sit and read in, hand-recommended titles and extremely friendly, helpful booksellers. If I needed a hug in the form of a warm, welcoming bookshop, that’s exactly where I’d head. It’s the kind of place that makes you feel less alone.

Mr B's Emporium
Mr B's Emporium

For a spiritual pick me up, I’d head to Toppings, in a word it’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. (I’ve come over all Mary Poppins recently in anticipation of the new movie, Saving Mr Banks, with Emma Thompson as P L Travers and Tom Hanks as Walt Disney.) If Bath is like walking around a living, breathing movie set, then Toppings is like stepping into Narnia. It’s truly beautiful – it even smells amazing, musty and woody, like the books’ pages are seeping into the air.

It’s plain wooden shelves are crammed with a huge range of hardbacks and the children’s department is small but magical. I nearly wept with joy when I spotted a copy of Ask Amy Green: Love and Other Drama-ramas nestling on the shelves.

Toppings
Toppings

Dublin has its fair share of brilliant bookshops – including the Dubray shops and Gutter Books in Temple Bar, but I must admit I was truly smitten with the bookshops of Bath.

Yours in books (and bookshops),

Sarah XXX