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rienthril's review against another edition
5.0
My copy: an ARC of the English translation. Carrión writes like thought, flitting from one memory to the next, but invariably in the direction of the weight of books, reading, and what they represent. I can see some (many?) people not being able to hang with this, but if you’ve spent any time searching for hidden bookshops yourself, you’ll be into it. Have a pen handy. You’ll want to jot down some names of secret gems (and pray they still exist). I even expanded my to-read list to boot, as inevitably talking about bookshops means talking about writers, many Spanish language ones mentioned by Carrión I had never heard of before.
Although this is kind of like travel writing, it’s not. If you’re looking for a checklist of shops, you’ll get it, but you’ll also have to sort through the irresolvable historical-cultural import of why we read in the first place: to know, to ignore, to remember, to forget.
Although this is kind of like travel writing, it’s not. If you’re looking for a checklist of shops, you’ll get it, but you’ll also have to sort through the irresolvable historical-cultural import of why we read in the first place: to know, to ignore, to remember, to forget.
acrisalves's review against another edition
4.0
Originalmente publicado em Os Rascunhos
Este é daqueles livros que já me tinha chamado a atenção, mas que ainda não tinha iniciado a leitura. A vontade veio uma vez mais com a leitura de A Religião dos Livros – Alfarrabistas, Livrarias e Livreiros de Carlos Bobone, onde se referem vários livros sobre livros e livrarias.
Mas afinal o que é Livrarias? Bem, é um livro onde o autor fala das mais famosas livrarias do Mundo, contando um pouco da sua história, entrelaçando-a com a dos seus donos e com a dos escritores. Várias livrarias possuem um papel cultural na sociedade, enquanto outras destacam-se enquanto pontos turísticos. Há outras, ainda, que estiveram na origem de editoras, ou que proporcionaram locais de encontros para escritores, influenciando obras literárias ou determinando destinos.
Para além de explorar o papel de livrarias específicas no mundo editorial, Jorge Carrión fala ainda das particularidades de quem as gerou – alguns génios loucos com particularidades, outros mais insuspeitos que gerem as suas livrarias com rigor.
Não falta, claro, um texto sobre a direcção actual das livrarias, que diminuem drasticamente de número ou se unem a grandes cadeias para sobreviver, nem os comentários às livrarias sem alma que se sucedem com a mesma oferta e a mesma exposição.
Jorge Carrión tem explorado livrarias ao longo de várias cidades, não só europeias, também americanas (norte e sul-americanas) ou asiáticas. O resultado é pitoresco, contrapondo a cultural local com as fortes influências americanas, que determinam o que se lê e o que se vende.
Falta, a meu ver, uma referência mais forte às livrarias da cultura geek. Ainda que existam menções várias a algumas livrarias portuguesas (como a Bertrand do Chiado ou a extinta Fyodorbooks) e até a uma geek (a emblemática Gilgamesh em Barcelona), faltam algumas referências que seriam óbvias para os leitores de banda desenhada como a Kingpin books. No final, ficou a vontade de escrever sobre livrarias… Mas entretanto percebi que já o tinha feito antes para algumas – e que talvez continue.
Este é daqueles livros que já me tinha chamado a atenção, mas que ainda não tinha iniciado a leitura. A vontade veio uma vez mais com a leitura de A Religião dos Livros – Alfarrabistas, Livrarias e Livreiros de Carlos Bobone, onde se referem vários livros sobre livros e livrarias.
Mas afinal o que é Livrarias? Bem, é um livro onde o autor fala das mais famosas livrarias do Mundo, contando um pouco da sua história, entrelaçando-a com a dos seus donos e com a dos escritores. Várias livrarias possuem um papel cultural na sociedade, enquanto outras destacam-se enquanto pontos turísticos. Há outras, ainda, que estiveram na origem de editoras, ou que proporcionaram locais de encontros para escritores, influenciando obras literárias ou determinando destinos.
Para além de explorar o papel de livrarias específicas no mundo editorial, Jorge Carrión fala ainda das particularidades de quem as gerou – alguns génios loucos com particularidades, outros mais insuspeitos que gerem as suas livrarias com rigor.
Não falta, claro, um texto sobre a direcção actual das livrarias, que diminuem drasticamente de número ou se unem a grandes cadeias para sobreviver, nem os comentários às livrarias sem alma que se sucedem com a mesma oferta e a mesma exposição.
Jorge Carrión tem explorado livrarias ao longo de várias cidades, não só europeias, também americanas (norte e sul-americanas) ou asiáticas. O resultado é pitoresco, contrapondo a cultural local com as fortes influências americanas, que determinam o que se lê e o que se vende.
Falta, a meu ver, uma referência mais forte às livrarias da cultura geek. Ainda que existam menções várias a algumas livrarias portuguesas (como a Bertrand do Chiado ou a extinta Fyodorbooks) e até a uma geek (a emblemática Gilgamesh em Barcelona), faltam algumas referências que seriam óbvias para os leitores de banda desenhada como a Kingpin books. No final, ficou a vontade de escrever sobre livrarias… Mas entretanto percebi que já o tinha feito antes para algumas – e que talvez continue.
joaniemaloney's review against another edition
3.0
I'm really not the target audience for this but I picked it up anyway, so it's mostly my fault. I'm not nearly well-travelled or well-read enough (in English or other languages!) or will be in my lifetime to get to even familiarize myself with names of these bookshops, much less get to step inside them myself. There was no way I'd be able to keep up, but my curiosity got the better of me. It's like chatting with a companion who keeps switching to different languages when talking about all the places they've been to all around the world, with names of friends they've known or still keep up with when they go back, but you'll never make their acquaintance. You keep listening and don't have anything else to add, only thinking of how fortunate some lives are in comparison to your own. I appreciate this being translated in English but if English is your only language or your main one, this may be a bit of a challenge! You're much better off if you've travelled in South America or at least familiarized yourself with the bookshops and authors and relationships between them beforehand. Even better if you know Paris very well (yes, I haven't been either), and best of all, many of the famed bookshops in the continents of Europe and South America that are no longer with us.
PS: I wonder why pictures were even included in this book when most of them were so tiny, without captions, and the poor quality made the black-and-white shots even harder to make out. My favourites were the business cards by far because of the easily distinguishable text.
PS: I wonder why pictures were even included in this book when most of them were so tiny, without captions, and the poor quality made the black-and-white shots even harder to make out. My favourites were the business cards by far because of the easily distinguishable text.
jmiae's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to enjoy this book more. The premise is appealing and I was half hoping it would be a similar approach to Bookshops that Alberto Manguel's A History of Reading is to the act of reading. But it fell somewhat short of that expectation, though I don't think it's entirely fair to judge a book for what it is not, rather than for what it turned out to be.
As other reviews have mentioned, there are a lot of obscure references throughout. Depending on your perspective, of course. Those who are well-versed in Latin American literature and literary theory may have an easier time of it. I'm familiar with Jorge Luis Borges and have read Cesar Aira and Julio Cortazar, but many of the others were lost on me. This in itself is not problematic, except this book is marketed as perhaps more accessible than it actually is. It's not exactly a layman's history of bookshops, and it is certainly far more cerebral than I was anticipating.
Again, taking a more theoretical tack is perfectly fine, provided the arguments are laid out clearly. But Carrion is a little too overzealous in his ratio of literary references per paragraph, and his ideas hop around strangely through each chapter, making the writing feel disjointed and his train of thought difficult to follow. One gets the impression that he is haphazardly stitching together thoughts he's had to mirror a vague pattern that only faintly reflects the chapters he has organised them into.
Despite these issues, there were many morsels scattered throughout the book. Depending on your familiarity with the bookshops in different major cities, you will likely find at least friendly, familiar shop and it was a pleasure to read about Carrion's experiences travelling to these different pilgrimage sites, whether or not I had been there myself. He offers some interesting thoughts on the evolution of bookshops over the recent decades. And he introduced me to some new titles and set me on the trail to visit a few bookshops I'd not heard of before, and at the end of the day that is all I really want from any publication that falls into one of my most favourite book genres (if it can be considered a genre): books about books.
As other reviews have mentioned, there are a lot of obscure references throughout. Depending on your perspective, of course. Those who are well-versed in Latin American literature and literary theory may have an easier time of it. I'm familiar with Jorge Luis Borges and have read Cesar Aira and Julio Cortazar, but many of the others were lost on me. This in itself is not problematic, except this book is marketed as perhaps more accessible than it actually is. It's not exactly a layman's history of bookshops, and it is certainly far more cerebral than I was anticipating.
Again, taking a more theoretical tack is perfectly fine, provided the arguments are laid out clearly. But Carrion is a little too overzealous in his ratio of literary references per paragraph, and his ideas hop around strangely through each chapter, making the writing feel disjointed and his train of thought difficult to follow. One gets the impression that he is haphazardly stitching together thoughts he's had to mirror a vague pattern that only faintly reflects the chapters he has organised them into.
Despite these issues, there were many morsels scattered throughout the book. Depending on your familiarity with the bookshops in different major cities, you will likely find at least friendly, familiar shop and it was a pleasure to read about Carrion's experiences travelling to these different pilgrimage sites, whether or not I had been there myself. He offers some interesting thoughts on the evolution of bookshops over the recent decades. And he introduced me to some new titles and set me on the trail to visit a few bookshops I'd not heard of before, and at the end of the day that is all I really want from any publication that falls into one of my most favourite book genres (if it can be considered a genre): books about books.
jrboyne's review against another edition
3.0
I saw this book at the library and was immediately interested due to it's uniqueness. This was the first history book on bookshops that I had ever seen. I was drawn into it not only due to my own love of reading and books but due to my personal history with books through my Father who was a travelling book salesman for a long time and now owns his own bookshop. I loved the line in the early chapters, "... the bookshop is liquid, provisional, lasts only as long as its ability to sustain an idea over time with minimal changes. The Library is stability. The Bookshop distributes; the Library preserves." How true that is! The job of the bookshop is to distribute the printed word, and I welcome a challenge from anyone who'd like to argue against the idea that the printed word was the greatest man-made invention in history. The author here does a wonderful job of framing the importance of the bookshop in our culture heritage and walks us through brief history of the bookshop.
The author is Catalonian and the book was originally written in Spanish. Because of this, it was hard for me as an English reader to understand all of the references to Iberian and Latin American history and to relate with all of the names and bookshops in that part of the world. This resulted in many dull parts of the books that left me wanting.
I loved his journey across the U.S. and gave me excellent bookshops to visit whenever I get a chance as well as a brief history of the book-chain of stores that dominate at least the U.S. market today. Overall a good book for book lovers that gets lost in the cultural background of the author. Perhaps another book like this written by an English speaker with that cultural background would make for a better book in English.
The author is Catalonian and the book was originally written in Spanish. Because of this, it was hard for me as an English reader to understand all of the references to Iberian and Latin American history and to relate with all of the names and bookshops in that part of the world. This resulted in many dull parts of the books that left me wanting.
I loved his journey across the U.S. and gave me excellent bookshops to visit whenever I get a chance as well as a brief history of the book-chain of stores that dominate at least the U.S. market today. Overall a good book for book lovers that gets lost in the cultural background of the author. Perhaps another book like this written by an English speaker with that cultural background would make for a better book in English.
jensteerswell's review against another edition
5.0
Reading this, I realised it's been a long time since I went into a bookstore purely for the pleasure of browsing. I don't even go in if I read a review of a book and decide I want to own a physical copy of it, I buy the book on the internet. In fact, there are now only two reasons why I go into a bookstore anymore: 1. To buy book-related items to give as gifts to my literary friends (I get books for them online!) or 2. I'm travelling and I sense there is a danger I will run out of things to read before I get to the end of my trip. This happens pretty often.
I suppose it's also a time thing: when I was a kid, I had no system for picking out books, so I just went in and picked out whatever piqued my interest. Now I have to maximise my reading time, so I have exactingly curated lists.
Hopefully this book will change that attitude, and I'll start going into the world's great bookshops for the experience, not just because it's a 4-hour train journey home.
I suppose it's also a time thing: when I was a kid, I had no system for picking out books, so I just went in and picked out whatever piqued my interest. Now I have to maximise my reading time, so I have exactingly curated lists.
Hopefully this book will change that attitude, and I'll start going into the world's great bookshops for the experience, not just because it's a 4-hour train journey home.
vernalequinox's review against another edition
2.0
This book, part travelogue part commentary, aims to celebrate bookshops and the role they play(ed) in the social and intellectual lives of their communities around the world, with a particular focus on the Spanish-speaking world. Although the author's aim is noble enough, it often reads like a collection of notes; the focus shifts abruptly from paragraph to paragraph within a given chapter so we go from comparing bookshops in a particular city to literary anecdotes to the challenges bookshops face today with the widespread use of the internet in the space of a couple of pages. These shifts, in my opinion, result in a meandering, unfocussed narrative that does not advance the overall aim of the book. Moreover, it seems to me that the book would have benefited from tighter editing; asides from the issues of structure, my copy contained some glaring typos (Alexandra the Great instead of Alexander the Great being an obvious example) whilst sentences tended to be overlong or grammatically awkward at times (the book is an English translation from Spanish), and images needed captions. Overall, although there were some genuinely enjoyable parts, the author's commentary tended to stay on the surface. The subject could have been explored in greater depth and focus, which, in turn, could have resulted in a genuinely more informative and enjoyable book.
anniefwrites's review against another edition
informative
slow-paced
I don’t know what it was about the writing style in this book (or perhaps the translation), but I just did not find this book accessible. The sentence structure, vocabulary, references, and movement from topic to topic were confusing for me, and a lot went over my head. I did glean some really interesting information about bookshops, and it definitely made me think of bookshops in a different way, but I felt like I was reading a book meant for someone much more worldly and “literary” than me.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism, Death, and War
sweetjaneeyre's review against another edition
Υπάρχει λόγος που δεν έχω τελειώσει αυτή την μαλακια εδώ και τόσο καιρό και αυτός είναι ότι, ανάμεσα στις ομολογουμένως ενδιαφέρουσες πληροφορίες, ο συγγραφέας κάνει έναν άτυπο πολιτικό σχολιασμό όπου και σε ο,τι τον βολεύει. Φχαριστω, δεν θα πάρω.
Και τούτο δω δεν θα πάρει μοναστερο μόνο και μόνο γιατί δεν το τελείωσα, για κανέναν άλλο λόγο.
Και τούτο δω δεν θα πάρει μοναστερο μόνο και μόνο γιατί δεν το τελείωσα, για κανέναν άλλο λόγο.