Belletrista Blog

Archive for November, 2010

The Lonely Planet has published their list of the best places in the world to shop for books. It’s a bit Euro-centric, but I agree that Daunt Books in London is fabulous and well worth a visit!

I always keep an eye out for bookshops when travelling. I can’t remember of the names of the ones I visited in Mysore, India, but there’s one on the outside of the main market that was great.  And a few years ago I spent a couple of happy hours frittering away the last of my holiday money in Dymocks in Sydney, Australia.

What bookshops have you visited, outside of your own country, that you can recommend?

In Issue 8 of Belletrista Tad Deffler, one of our reviewers, poses the following question:

As readers, we crave a story whose content and execution work together seamlessly to draw us in. Yet we don’t always get all we want, and the question arises: when all is said and done, what tips the balance and makes us glad we have read a book?

I’ve been trying to think of my response to this all day! Is ‘being glad to have read a book’ different from enjoying a book? One of the women in my real-life book group always declares that she’s glad to have read each month’s chosen text, but she doesn’t necessarily enjoy them all.

As a reader I’m searching for new experiences and  knowledge so I’m always glad to have read a book  that takes me somewhere that I haven’t been before – which is one of the reasons why I love Belletrista! But I can’t be as forgiving as my friend. If the execution is bad, I’m usually unable to see the merits of the content.

What makes you glad to have read a book?