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Here's a public service announcement that is bound to make you happy physical bookstores are alive, more than ever. An article I read recently brought to my attention the fact that Instagram has actually increased indie bookstore sales, and reading challenges have made books cool again (although we contest that like all things timeless, they can never go out of fashion).
Here is a non-biased but definitely personal list of indie bookstores over the world we love. Visit, read and don't forget to share your book recommendation on Instagram.
Books Are Magic, Brooklyn
In 2017, Brooklyn&rsquos homey neighbourhood, Cobble Hill was going to be bookstore-less were it not for Novelist Emma Straub. She, along with her husband, Michael Fusco-Straub, decided to open her own independent bookstore, Books Are Magic. Like any good bookshop, they have beautiful books, and fantastic shelves, staff recommendations and, reading corners and literal hole-in-the-wall seats to read inside. Our favourite part The utterly Instagrammable mural outside their shop that screams, &lsquoBooks Are Magic&rsquo&mdasha sentiment with which we 100 per cent agree.
Follow them on Instagram here.
The Last Bookstore, LA
At The Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, you can walk inside a tunnel built of paperbacks, as long as you don&rsquot try to pull out your favourite copy. This independent bookstore buys, sells and trade in secondhand books and vinyl and have a large selection of book, rare, new, used and loved. Apart from the tunnel of books, they have photo ops to appeal to every book-lover a pile of books with a circular cut out, a wall with angel wings made of books and hipster tungsten lights. Save it for your next time in California.
Follow them here.
Littered with Books
Perhaps the most well-curated store in Singapore, Littered with Books is a literary gem located on Duxton Road. This two-storey bookshop has gorgeous books, faux trees with book suggestions hanging from them, and a crime books section with a &lsquoDo Not Touch&rsquo tape slapped across it&mdashwhat&rsquos not to love When I visited, I walked back with a delicious copy of Heartburn by Nora Ephron, a to-savour Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Saffran Foer and then a slightly forgettable book by Milan Kundera all personal favourites of the staff. My only feedback would be to add more diversity in authors.
Follow them here.
The Bookshop, New Delhi
Often called the cosiest bookstore in India, The Bookshop in Delhi has many reasons not to visit it, if you so wish&mdashit&rsquos too far, you could say. Or it&rsquos tinier than a matchbox, you could complain, or perhaps even exalt the qualities of online delivery over a physical visit to a bookshop. You could do all of these things, but you&rsquod be doing yourself the greatest disservice, for The Bookshop is a wonderland. Discover the most beautiful titles, often out of print but mysteriously on their shelves, talk to the book-lovers who run it and don&rsquot forget to meet the cat on the way out.
Follow them on Instagram here.
Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice
Have you heard of the Libreria Acqua Alta in Venice Even if it is not the most well-organised bookshop in the world, it certainly is the most interesting. The name of the shop when translated to English means &lsquohigh water&rsquo, and pays ode to the flooding waters of Venice. Dusty books spill out from all corners in this shop, emerge from bathtubs (which have purely a practical reason), and creep into indoor gondolas, ores included.
Follow them here to follow the escapades on Instagram.
Chapter 101, New Delhi
Would you expect a sanitized, sterile mall with *insert name* coffee shop and *insert name* clothing brand to be a treasure trove of books We wouldn&rsquot, but it is in such an establishment that we found Chapter 101. This wooden-panelled bookstore has all but paperbacks on its shelves. Instead, they have hardbound editions of rare books copies that you&rsquoll want to look at and admire, and then perhaps, read.
Follow them here.
Lutyens and Rubenstein, London
People who call books &lsquonecessities&rsquo are our favourite kind of people. And therefore it should be no wonder that we have the Lutyens and Rubenstein bookshop in London on our wishlist. Run by a literary agency, the eponymous store invites you in with its piano-key coloured awning and then lets its gorgeous collection of books for all ages do the talking. And anyhow, you can&rsquot miss the paper lanterns made of printed pages from books. They are, on all accounts, illuminating.
Take a further look here.
