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gopalms's review against another edition
5.0
Fascinating and unputdownable book that takes you around the world with stories and insights about readers, writers, books, publishers and bookshops. The insights into the reading habits are fascinating.
cintiandrade's review against another edition
3.0
Um livro um pouco irregular, na minha opinião. Tem trechos e capítulos inteiros incríveis, mas outros onde acho que falta charme ao texto, onde ele parece apenas um compilado de nomes e informações.
Achei também um pouco desorganizado, a ordenação e agrupamento das histórias dentro dos capítulos me pareceu um pouco solta e acabei me perdendo às vezes. O projeto gráfico não ajuda na orientação do leitor - cada abertura de capítulo contém o título do próprio capítulo e o título do próximo capítulo, cortado, além da escolha da fonte com alteração de peso dentro da mesma palavra (pavoroso) e certos grafismos escandalosos que causam desconforto (em mim, ao menos). Achei que o livro ficaria muito mais interessante com fotos, também.
Achei também um pouco desorganizado, a ordenação e agrupamento das histórias dentro dos capítulos me pareceu um pouco solta e acabei me perdendo às vezes. O projeto gráfico não ajuda na orientação do leitor - cada abertura de capítulo contém o título do próprio capítulo e o título do próximo capítulo, cortado, além da escolha da fonte com alteração de peso dentro da mesma palavra (pavoroso) e certos grafismos escandalosos que causam desconforto (em mim, ao menos). Achei que o livro ficaria muito mais interessante com fotos, também.
sjfurger's review against another edition
I received this as an ARC from the ALA annual conference. This book was interesting - a meditation on the history and cultural importance of bookshops. I enjoyed the various philosophical perspectives: East/West dichotomy (or lack thereof), the importance of material goods, the special space and opportunity offered by a bookshop. It was a very unique book, and I did enjoy it a great deal. There was one thing that bothered me, and it is when our author/narrator is in Marrekesh and is disappointed that all the books are in Arabic. He has spent so much time formulating and articulating this idea of bookshops as global spaces that he forgets that most local bookshops exist to serve a specific (local) population. Overall, an interesting read and I hope for a successful pub date this October!
zezepin's review against another edition
1.0
Unfortunately an incoherent collection of facts and memories, summed up much like a raw data file.
catincaciornei's review against another edition
3.0
Mr Carrion is a Spanish professor of literature, a writer and voracious reader. His book is an extended essay, somewhat a reader's travel journal, an intellectual mildly sentimental exploration of bookstores throughout the world. He is asking and trying to answer big bold questions such as why do books matter? and what is the place of the bookshop in today's cultural landscape? The reading is enjoyable but a little high strung. Somewhere at the book's end, Mr. Carrion, although trying to embrace newness and technology, only continues in the long established intellectual line that independent is best, that ebooks are a sign of cultural consumption decay; he does quote that the 'extensive' reader 'devours eagerly and quickly', a type of 'irreverent, self-assured reading', that we come to appreciate 'surface rather then depth, speed rather than reflection, sequences rather than analyses, surfing rather than penetration, communication rather than expression, multitasking rather than specialisation, pleasure rather than effort.' "Bookshops" is a nice book, but it's a compendium of what has been, not at all forward thinking of what is to come; that is a pity.
sjfurger's review
3.0
I received this as an ARC from the ALA annual conference. This book was interesting - a meditation on the history and cultural importance of bookshops. I enjoyed the various philosophical perspectives: East/West dichotomy (or lack thereof), the importance of material goods, the special space and opportunity offered by a bookshop. It was a very unique book, and I did enjoy it a great deal. There was one thing that bothered me, and it is when our author/narrator is in Marrekesh and is disappointed that all the books are in Arabic. He has spent so much time formulating and articulating this idea of bookshops as global spaces that he forgets that most local bookshops exist to serve a specific (local) population. Overall, an interesting read and I hope for a successful pub date this October!
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