| Author | |
JennGM
Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 17702
|
| Posted: Jan 04 2006 at 4:13pm | IP Logged
|
 |
|
Over Christmas a friend of mine told me about this town in Wales that has about 30 bookshops with a population of 1,900. The town is dedicated to second-hand books!
He spoke of two books,
Sixpence House - Lost in a Town of Books by Paul Collins. He said it's a nice read, covering some of the background on how the town of books was started, but it's more about the author and his wife looking for a house (think about buying a place that is 400 years old!), and meeting people in town including the "founder" of the book town idea. The author's liberal leanings bleed through here and there.
A book by the man behind the book town idea:
My Kingdom of Books, by Richard Booth.
And I see another Nobody Had Heard of Hay.
Links about the town:
Hay-On-Wye
Richard Booth's Bookshop
Hay Cinema Bookshop
I'm looking forward to reading a bit more about this town...I'm sure everyone else has it before me! I now know where I would like to spend my next vacation. I wonder if there is a dealer that specialized in Catholic books? I saw one for children's books....
__________________
Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kathryn UK
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: England
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 924
|
| Posted: Jan 05 2006 at 3:39pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Hey, Jenn - come and stay with me and we can go together  . Hay-on-Wye is one of my favourite places! I last went two years ago with a dear friend and fellow booklover just before she returned to the US. A year or so before that six of us took a homeschooling mothers' field trip there. After a day of shopping in Hay we counted up our trawl ... over 300 books between us  . No Catholic specialists there, but there are at least three children's bookshops. One specialises in paperbacks (may be an offshoot of one of the others?), the other two sell a lot of harder to find books, including first editions. The Hay Cinema bookshop and Richard Booth's are both Aladdin's caves. Huge book warehouses, with books piled everywhere. Lots of junk, with gems hidden amongst it, which adds to the thrill of the chase. Definitely somewhere you need to go with a likeminded friend or friends, so that you can add to the fun by drooling over each other's discoveries. 
__________________
Kathryn
Dh Michael,  Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06)  (11/07)
The Bookworm
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Mary G
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5790
|
| Posted: Jan 05 2006 at 5:52pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
Can y'all wait 6 mos or so -- if dh gets accepted to PhD in Austria, I'll be over on that side of the pond and it won't be so expensive to come to UK....I'd love to see this town (even on a student spouse's income -- i.e. minimal) it'd be fun!
__________________
MaryG
3 boys (22, 12, 8)2 girls (20, 11)
my website that combines my schooling, hand-knits work, writing and everything else in one spot!
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Kathryn UK
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: England
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 924
|
| Posted: Jan 06 2006 at 11:39am | IP Logged
|
|
|
Any time, Mary . Well, almost ... 6 months time might not work . We are about 3 and a half hours drive from Hay, which makes it an over-nighter. Internal flights within Europe are often very cheap, so even on a student income it may be manageable and still leave a bit for book shopping.
__________________
Kathryn
Dh Michael, Rachel(3/95) Hannah(8/98) Naomi(6/06) (11/07)
The Bookworm
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
MEBarrett
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 15 2005
Location: New York
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 596
|
| Posted: Jan 06 2006 at 6:17pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
30 Bookshops? 30! It sounds like heaven. I would love to see that. I could envision having a hard time getting it all home.
How bad is it to cash in your IRA for books?
__________________
Blessings,
Mary Ellen
Mom to seven beautiful kids
Tales from the Bonny Blue House
O Night Divine
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Jen L.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 18 2005
Location: Virginia
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 2148
|
| Posted: Jan 06 2006 at 6:27pm | IP Logged
|
|
|
My husband and I are ready to go, but we fear that we'd just have to move there given the prohibitive cost of sending all our finds home!
__________________
Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
Karen E.
Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 27 2005
Location: N/A
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 1161
|
| Posted: Jan 07 2006 at 10:19am | IP Logged
|
|
|
jenngm67 wrote:
| Over Christmas a friend of mine told me about this town in Wales that has about 30 bookshops with a population of 1,900. The town is dedicated to second-hand books! |
|
|
Aaaahh, I've always said God gives us little glimpses of Heaven on earth ....
__________________
God bless,
Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
|
| Back to Top |
|
| |
4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Hay-On-Wye
