Category: Bookshops

London, April 2022: Tuesday the 12th

Mittens and Sunglasses

Tuesday greeted me with sunshine! From experience, sunny April spring days with +19⁰C isn’t exactly common in London. And I must say, it was really pleasant.


Brick buildings bathed in sun.
Sunny hotel room view
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

A woman with purple hair sitting in the window. In the background you can see brick buildings.
Me at the hotel
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

My first stop was one of my favourite coffee shops in London, Origins. They serve high quality coffee, of a light roast. I had a pour over, i.e. made with a V60. Sitting inside, looking out the window and reading was really nice.


A book on a bench that is a table, the book to the left. To the right a carafle of coffee and a cup of coffee.
Coffee at Origins
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

After having had some coffee, I picked up a light breakfast at a grocery shop, that I had outside on a bench at Bloomsbury. It was nice and relaxing, and a nice way to get ready for some book shopping. The bookshops I was planning on visiting were all close by.


A street with flowering trees
Spring in London
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

The first bookshop to visit was Skoob Books, where I spent quite a bit of time. I love second hand books, and if you’re lucky you might find some really nice books. Not only did I end up buying two books that look pretty much brand new, but I also found some cheap postcards I’m planning on using for postcrossing. Score!


A sign with "Skoob" standing out from the wall.
Skoob Books
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

Next bookshop on my list was Gays the Word, an LGBTQ+ bookshop. It was quite small, and the selection was quite good, but they didn’t have the books I was looking for. I did end up buying some other books, though, as well as a couple of postcards.


A bookshop front, you can see books in the window. The sign above it has pink triangles pointing down, one at each side of the text.
Gays the World
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

I had just one more bookshop to browse before I wanted to head back to the hotel: Judd Books. This bookshop unfortunately came across as a bit chaotic to me. Also it was hard to navigate around, as there wasn’t much room for movement. I didn’t end up buying anything there, nor did I spend much time. When I left the shop, I headed back to the hotel for a rest.


A book shop front, with boxes of books outside. A couple of people can be seen browsing the boxes.
Judd Books
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

In the afternoon/evening I met up with @lovedreadingthis and @always_need_more_books, bookstagrammers I’ve been following for a long time on Instagram. It was really nice to meet them, and having a wonderful conversation of books and more. We had a meal at Art Yard Bar & Kitchen, which turned out to be more of a hotel restaurant than any of us expected, I think, but that’s OK. The vegan burger I had, though, wasn’t great. A bit bland and dense. The chips were lovely, though, so I kind of wish I just had chips.


A plate with a burger on a bun half, the other bun half beside it. Also a bowl of chips on it. Behind it are glasses of water.
Vegan burger at Art Yard Bar & Kitchen
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

After dinner I went back to the hotel. I was shattered tired, and just wanted to relax and get some blogging done. I stopped at Tesco on my way, though, and got some sweets and a strawberry beer that actually tasted OK. It was nice to have a quiet night, and very much needed. I think I pretty much passed out when my head hit the pillow.

Bookshops I’m planning on visiting in London

Mittens and Sunglasses

London is such a great place for book lovers. There are so many bookshops and other book related places to visit. Some I visit pretty much every time I’m there, like Waterstone’s Picadilly (which is huge!), some I’ve only visited a handful of times, while others remain to discover. Of course I’m planning on visiting a few this time around as well. There are some shops that aren’t around any longer, like Silver Moon, and that’s sad. Fortunately, there are still a bunch of good ones still around.

One bookshop I’ve been to a couple of times, is Daunt Books in Marylebone. It’s an independent book seller, and the address is 83-84 Marylebone High Street, London. It’s such a beautiful shop.

I love second hand bookshops, and one of my favourites in London is Skoob Books. Every time I’m there it feels like I’m in a treasure chamber. Books from floor to ceiling. Of course, visiting Skoob in a hurry, is a bad plan. You need enough time to browse the shelves, and take your time. If you do, you might fine something really cool. I once found an annotated edition of Alice in Wonderland. I’m always excited to visit! What will I stumble upon this time?


A collage with photos from outside and inside of Skoob Books.
Snapshots from Skoob Books.
Photo: Mittens and Sunglasses © 2022

A shop I can’t remember ever visiting is Gay’s the Word in 66 Marchmont Street. Which I find really odd. Not the shop, that is, but that I haven’t been there. I have a feeling I might be a tad bit poorer money wise after visiting them (but richer for books). I think they have both LGBTQ+ and non-LGBTQ+ books, though it’s the LGBTQ+ ones I’m more interested in, especially if they’re YA. On the same street (82 Marchmont Street) there’s a book shop called Judd Books, that looks really interesting. They have both new and used books. It would make sense to visit that as well.

Another bookshop I stumbled upon googling, was Bookmarks. They’re the largest socialist bookshop in Britain, and have books on politics, economics, trade unionism, labour history, the environment, black struggle, women, culture, fiction, and more. That sounds really interesting to me, and their address is 1 Bloomsbury Street. Also, they seem to have some cool merchandise that I might interested in getting my paws on.

Do you have some favourite bookshops in London? If you do, which ones?