Bookshops: A Cultural History

Spanish novelist and travel writer Carrión’s English-language debut explores the place of bookshops (and books) in Western intellectual and consumer history. He weaves together an investigation of the different social functions of bookshops and libraries, a travelogue of bookshops he has visited, and a philosophical inquiry into the role of literature in the world. For Carrión, contemporary readers find in bookshops “the remains of cultural gods that have replaced the religious sort.” He is alive to the contradictions inherent in reading and book collecting, activities that are simultaneously consumerist and spiritual. The idea of books and bookshops as sites of resistance to totalitarianism is discussed but not blindly romanticized; he notes that Hitler was a bestselling writer and Mao an erudite reader. Discussing destination bookshops, including Shakespeare and Company in Paris, the oldest bookshops in the world, and several that claim to be the biggest, Carrión explores the fine lines between pilgrimage destination, touristy gimmick, and decent bookshop. This is the perfect book for those who feel compelled to visit every bookstore they see. [em]Agent: Nicole Witt, Mertin Agency. (Oct.) [/em]