Bookstores Galore

Another thing we really enjoy about living in England is all of the second-hand bookshops.  We would probably like second-hand bookshops in any country, but a lot of the charm would be lost if we couldn't actually read the books!  Living in another country that you share a language with has a lot of perks, and this is one of them.

In many second-hand shops you can buy books quite cheaply; some shops put a higher value on their offerings, and then of course there are lovely bookshops with beautiful brand new books, too.

When I was in high school and got my first part-time job, there were two things I would spend my weekly check on:  clothes and books.  I wasn't extremely particular in my book-buying then.  I would buy anything that struck my fancy, not really thinking about if it would be a book I would return to time and again.  Lucky for me, I was a big re-reader in high school so most of my books did get read several times.  These days I try to be a little more particular about what I purchase.

These days my criteria for book-buying follows one main guideline:  If you own it already at home, try not to buy it again.  Without making any other rules for myself I've found that I'm really drawn to buying more paperbacks, probably because they're lighter to transport across an ocean.  I've also started picking up the old Penguin paperbacks when they're books I know I'd enjoy or read anyway.

Whatever your book-buying technique, there's a bookshop for you in England.