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Books set in book shops?


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Someone mentioned in another thread yesterday about loving books set in bookshops, so I was wondering how many books are? The Shadow of the Wind has a bookshop as have the books in Maggie Stiefvaters Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy, and I know I have read others, the title of which my bad memory has taken away!

 

Can anyone think of any others? :smile:

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Subscribed! :P

 

The Thirteenth Tale comes to mind, but only a small section in the beginning happens in a bookstore. Nonetheless, it is a great read and recommendabe.

 

I'll have to come back if I can think of other books. I'd love to find more myself!

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The Claire Malloy series by Joan Hess . I believe she is on book 17 ????

They are cozy mysteries, I guess you'd call them .

I've read a few ,but didn't realize she had written so many .

 

Hess is also the author of the Maggody books, which I really like .They are about a lady police chief in a small hick town where not much ever happens, except they have an odd group of people in their town which are always into some type of trouble or other .

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I'm pretty sure Patrick Gale's Notes from an Exhibition is set partly in a bookshop

 

Also I seem to remember the bookshop from The Shadow of The Wind also turns up in Zaphon's The Angels Game

 

And if libraries count then there's a couple of parts in a library in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian

 

And Matilda... :D

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It's about a kind of library rather than in a bookshop, but how about The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger? I have bought this but not read it yet, so can't say how good it is, but here is a synopsis from Waterstones:

 

Audrey Niffenegger's two novels, "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "Her Fearful Symmetry", have made her one of the most popular writers in the world. She is also the author of two extraordinary novels-in-pictures, "The Three Incestuous Sisters" and "The Adventuress". Now, with "The Night Bookmobile", she has written her first graphic novel. First serialised in the "Guardian", "The Night Bookmobile" tells the story of a young woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing mobile library that happens to stock every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and her most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. Over time, her search turns into an obsession as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and her memories.

 

I really enjoyed The Small Hand by Susan Hill - again, not set in a bookshop but the main character is an antiquarian bookseller, which added to my enjoyment. Again, a synopsis from Amazon:

 

This is the chilling tale of a man in the grip of a small, invisible hand...an exceptional and bestselling ghost story by the author of "The Woman in Black" and "The Man in the Picture". Late one summers evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn. He stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house, and compelled by curiosity, approaches the door. Standing before the entrance, he feels the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. At first he is merely puzzled by the odd incident but then begins to suffer attacks of fear and panic, and is visited by nightmares. He is determined to learn more 'about the house and its once-magnificent, now overgrown garden but when he does so, he receives further, increasingly sinister, visits from the small hand.

 

And, for anyone who hasn't read The Thirteenth Tale yet, I join the others in recommending it! :)

Edited by Ooshie
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I'm pretty sure Patrick Gale's Notes from an Exhibition is set partly in a bookshop

 

Also I seem to remember the bookshop from The Shadow of The Wind also turns up in Zaphon's The Angels Game

 

And if libraries count then there's a couple of parts in a library in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian

 

And Matilda... :D

 

I have read Notes from an Exhibition but don't remember a bookshop, but then I really didn't enjoy the book so it will not have left a long lasting memory.

 

I think I have The Historian tucked in a drawer somewhere, it's been there awhile!!

 

Not sure about Matilda, though I know my daughter loved it!

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It's about a kind of library rather than in a bookshop, but how about The Night Bookmobile by Audrey Niffenegger? I have bought this but not read it yet, so can't say how good it is, but here is a synopsis from Waterstones:

 

Audrey Niffenegger's two novels, "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "Her Fearful Symmetry", have made her one of the most popular writers in the world. She is also the author of two extraordinary novels-in-pictures, "The Three Incestuous Sisters" and "The Adventuress". Now, with "The Night Bookmobile", she has written her first graphic novel. First serialised in the "Guardian", "The Night Bookmobile" tells the story of a young woman who one night encounters a mysterious disappearing mobile library that happens to stock every book she has ever read. Seeing her history and her most intimate self in this library, she embarks on a search for the bookmobile. Over time, her search turns into an obsession as she longs to be reunited with her own collection and her memories.

 

I really enjoyed The Small Hand by Susan Hill - again, not set in a bookshop but the main character is an antiquarian bookseller, which added to my enjoyment. Again, a synopsis from Amazon:

 

This is the chilling tale of a man in the grip of a small, invisible hand...an exceptional and bestselling ghost story by the author of "The Woman in Black" and "The Man in the Picture". Late one summers evening, antiquarian bookseller Adam Snow is returning from a client visit when he takes a wrong turn. He stumbles across a derelict Edwardian house, and compelled by curiosity, approaches the door. Standing before the entrance, he feels the unmistakable sensation of a small cold hand creeping into his own, 'as if a child had taken hold of it'. At first he is merely puzzled by the odd incident but then begins to suffer attacks of fear and panic, and is visited by nightmares. He is determined to learn more 'about the house and its once-magnificent, now overgrown garden but when he does so, he receives further, increasingly sinister, visits from the small hand.

 

And, for anyone who hasn't read The Thirteenth Tale yet, I join the others in recommending it! :)

 

Another 2 for my wishlist! I loved Niffenenegger's previous books, and while I'm no into graphic novels I did say that I would try different genres this year! The Small Hand will have to wait until my husband isn't working away I think.. :hide:

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  • 2 years later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Another one for the list is The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald

 

One of her typical unassuming books set in a seaside village in Sussex.  It is odd in some respects but I'm a fan of hers so I liked it.

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  • 7 months later...

To add another.. a fair amount of Mrs Sinclair's Suitcase by Louise Walters is set in a bookshop.

 

Goodreads synopsis

 

Roberta likes to collect the letters and postcards she finds in second-hand books. (In the bookshop she works in) When her father gives her some of her grandmother's belongings, she finds a baffling letter from the grandfather she never knew - dated after he supposedly died in the war.

Dorothy is unhappily married to Albert, who is away at war. When an aeroplane crashes in the field behind her house she meets Squadron Leader Jan Pietrykowski, and as their bond deepens she dares to hope she might find happiness. But fate has other plans for them both, and soon she is hiding a secret so momentous that its shockwaves will touch her granddaughter many years later.

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^ That's already on my wishlist, thanks to you, I believe!

 

I've remembered another one, and I can't believe I haven't mentioned it on here before. If you like chick lit, you might really like this one! 

 

The Secret of Happy Ever After by Lucy Dillon:

 

When story-lover Anna takes over Longhampton's bookshop, it's her dream come true. And not just because it gets her away from her three rowdy stepchildren and their hyperactive Dalmatian. Unpacking boxes filled with childhood classics, Anna can't shake the feeling that maybe her own fairytale ending isn't all that she'd hoped for. But, as the stories of love, adventure, secret gardens, lost dogs, wicked witches and giant peaches breathe new life into the neglected shop, Anna and her customers get swept up in the magic too. Even Anna's best friend Michelle - who categorically doesn't believe in true love and handsome princes - isn't immune. But when secrets from Michelle's own childhood come back to haunt her, and disaster threatens Anna's home, will the wisdom and charm of the stories in the bookshop help the two friends - and those they love - find their own happy ever afters?

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6756246.jpg

 

Not only does it take place in a library, it's about a book thief that is better than The Book Thief :giggle2: (in my opinion), and it has beautiful poetic prose.

 

Here is a quote:

 

Do you love to read? I'm talking about nestling in a pool of lamplight and cradling a book like a baby in your lap and nudging the corner upward with your thumb, the whorls snagging the grain of the paper, and hearing the soft sizzle as the page turns. Do you love to read?

 

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