A rough guide to the bookstore

by Louis Sharman
(UK)

There are 10 bookstores that across the globe that hold a certain appeal, making them some of the most popular stores in the world.

Here in London the bookartbookshop is one such renowned store. It was born from the artists' book movement, in which the book itself becomes a piece of art. The bookartbookshop space is home to vast amounts of mind-awakening imagination.

Calder bookshop is also in London. It's owned by John Calder, who is known as the original rogue publisher because of his passion and willingness to take risks to see the books he loves get published. Mr Calder has his own publishing company, and the bookstore is the physical embodiment of that.

Across the pond in America, Clovis Press in Brooklyn, New York, is fiercely popular with bookworms. It hosts a collection of small press and subversive literature.

Known for supporting independent presses and emerging writers for a decade, owner Amanda Park Taylor has done everything from letting writers sleep on her sofa, giving them jobs in her store or organising for them to read instore.

In San Francisco, the City Lights bookstore is a publishing house hailed as a bastion of alternative culture. The owner was arrested on obscenity charges when he published Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl' in 1956. The trial established the right to publish controversial work in America.

Located much further north is the bookstore ThisAin't the Rosedale Library. Based in Toronto, Canada, the store is a shining example of how independent bookstores can survive.

It has successfully built a community around the store, which provides insight and inspiration for customers.

A bit closer to home is La Bouquinerie in Marseille, France. With three floors, this is regarded as a book worm's heaven.

Elsewhere in France, Shakespeare and Co in Paris is labelled a socialist utopia by the owner, who claims more than 40,000 people have slept in one of the 13 beds that are scattered between the book shelves in return for helping in the shop, reading and making the bed.

About the author: Louis Sharman is a freelance author writes article on various topics. To learn more about various bookstores and Online Bookshops he recommends you to visit http://www.foyles.co.uk