A little something different today, which you may or may not find interesting - a (virtual) tour of my local bookshops. I've been meaning to write it for a while and was inspired this morning by my annual Christmas book-buying expedition (i.e. books for others, not for me). I buy nearly every 'giftee' a book for Christmas... except my dad, my brother and my future sister-in-law, who wouldn't read one if I pinned them to their chairs and denied all access to television, food and water. The jury is still out on my seven year old cousin, who loves me to read *to* him, but never has the patience to sit down with a book on his own. This year I'm tempting him with How To Be A Pirate by Cressida Cowell, a book with characters called 'Burp' and, undoubtedly, references to the 'poop' deck - I can only hope this will go down well. (His favourite book is dominated by a character who breaks 'wind' at inopportune moments...)
Anyway, should you ever visit York, historio-cultural capitol of the North of England (the council's tagline invites you to 'live the history'), this is your book-shopping map:
Of course, we have the two big 'chains' - Waterstones and Borders - and, though I hate to admit it, I frequent the latter...erm...frequently. Why? Because their Fiction selection is usually excellent, their History section is large and they have a good selection of literary/political magazines (the only place in York that I can source either Literary Review or The Liberal!) If I need/want something specific, in a hurry, I can almost guarentee that they have it and so, although the staff know next nothing about the books they're selling and while the building is more akin to a warehouse than a grotto, I'm an enthusiastic patron. (Discounts don't hurt either, particularly when you have a low income and a massive book habit...) On the other hand I very rarely visit the big 'W', because a) Borders meets my book-barn needs, and b) in comparison their general fiction selection is dire. In fact, the only reason I have to visit Waterstones, York, at all is their unprecendented Science Fiction/Fantasy department, the best within at least a 50 mile radius. Whoever stocks it knows their stuff - door-stop-epic fantasy and franchise SF cosies up with small press imports and speculative oddities. It puts Borders section to shame and sometimes even trumps Amazon for availability.
The jewels in York's bibliophilic crown however are its independents, of which there are many (at last count eight at least), each with its own special qualities. I have two favourites. My local is The Chapterhouse Bookshop (you can browse their current inventory on Abe Books), a small but perfectly formed one-roomer on the Shambles, only three minutes walk from my house. Its paperback fiction selection is small (I'd say no more than 200 titles - I have double their stock in my living room) but well chosen, along with a select dozen or so hardbacks, usually signed; their children's section is a little bigger and also excellent. The crowning glory though is the 'history' wall, four floor-to-ceiling cases packed with the very best of popular and academic historical non-fiction, from the ancients to current political affairs. Created by the owner, a history postgraduate like myself, because he never felt satisfied with the selections elsewhere, it really is wonderful. My only qualm is that I scare the staff... I'm sure they I see fear in their eyes when I open the door; 
I'm sure they want to retreat under their book-logged desk. Perhaps I'm took enthusiastic (they stare at me round-eyed every time I try to order something in), or perhaps I try to engage in book discussion too often (all my excited overtures receive monosyllabic answers...although the owner's wife once offered me a sushi roll...), and the owner himself rarely makes eye contact with me. Maybe I loom. Anyway, I bought a very lovely copy of Charle Dickens' A Christmas Carol & Other Christmas Books from there today (and I'm glad I paid double the Amazon price; it's too pretty to cost £6).
I also feel an affection for the Little Apple Bookshop on High Petergate (about 100 paces from the Medieval Studies department). About the same size as The Chapterhouse, it leans heavily towards the 'classics' in Fiction, with lots of Penguins, Oxford World's and Everymans, as well as the big names of contemporary fiction - Atwood, Marquez, Ishiguro, Eco and so on. It also has a surprisingly large quotient of shelves for poetry (three) and is where I fed my Ted Hughes mania earlier this year. Unfortunately, quite a lot of space is taken up with novelties - books, bags and cards - and, while I'm not against this on principle, I don't think it makes an adequate use of their space. I imagine it goes down well with the tourists though - it's opposite the Minster - and even booksellers have to make money I suppose. ;-)
If your taste turns to the second hand and antiquarian trade then I very much recommend the Minster Gate Bookshop (yes, that is the Minster's famous and extremely gorgeous West Transept...yum). Minster Gate is where I go if a) I'm in the market for buying but I'm not sure when I want, and b) I have a restricted budget. You can pick up an armful of paperbacks, including lots of those old green Viragos that Random Jottings and I like so much, for £10. Or, if you have money to spare, you can buy lovely antiquarian and first editions from the red-haired, long-nailed book-selling lady who guards them with an indulgent smile. Sometimes she strokes books the way I do, with a look in her eyes that I recognise. No wonder. The shop has three floors and a basement full of books, most second hand but with some publisher's remainders. You should go there if geography and time permits.
On a usual book-browsing Sunday I would hit all the above, as well as my local Oxfam Bookshop (very near Minster Gate and bizarrely possessed of a good women's studies shelf). If you're ever in the neighbourhood, you're welcome to come with me.
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In other news, you can read my review of Susanna Clarke's short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu now at Strange Horizons.
~~Victoria~~