Hay-on-Wye, here I come!

Hello everyone. Today is Tuesday and I bring you something a little special. I don’t  know if you remember but a few months ago I told you I had left my job and I was going to be trying other things. I spent some time in Barcelona, ​​visiting my parents, I came back to England, I published a  novella ‘Family, lust and cameras‘ (never hurts to do some advertising), I set about writing my new romance novel (‘ I Love Your Cupcakes‘ if I don’t change the title), and I’ve been translating my works and those of other writers.
But I had other plans. You will remember that I have talked about Hay-on-Wye before (here’s the link to the first post, in case you didn’t see it).

https://olganm.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/hay-on-wye-a-paradise-for-booklovers/

Hay-on-Wye’s castle

It is a gorgeous town in Wales where there are many nice bookshops. ‘Town of books’. In 1962 Richard Booth (you can see a picture of his gorgeous bookshop that also has a lovely coffee-shop in my previous post) came and decided to open a bookshop. Many others bookseller followed suit, and now Hay runs an international literary festival every year, which has sometimes even been exported to other countries, and has become a haven for book lovers.

The clock tower in Hay

I would love to run a bookstore (the thing is complicated but what worthwhile thing isn’t) and I fell in love when I visited the place. Despite how much I like books, I have never had a business and I thought the best way to learn would be to dive right in. The first time I visited there I talked to Anne (co-owner of Addyman Books, in fact she and Derek have two more bookstores, Addyman Annex and Murder and Mayhem, of which there is also a photo in the previous post) and I told her I’d like to become a bookseller and to learn the business. After thinking about it, talking to friends (hello Sumi!) and thinking about it a bit more, I decided to get in touch with Anne. We spoke, I came back to see her … and now I have been here for a couple of weeks, learning the business of second-hand bookshops and enjoying life in the paradise of books.

One of the hens

I hope to do a few posts explaining how things are going. Right now I’m at Annie’s (no, not the same one), with Mike, Flora the cat, Ivy the dog and four hens who are great escapists (I used to find them outside more often than in the henhouse, although now their enclose has been reinforced and it’s like Fort Knox). I have spent most of the time in the Annex, but on Friday the 13th (very appropriate) I was covering ‘Muder and Mayhem’ a fantastic store, so I leave you some pictures.

Inside of ‘Murder and Mayhem’ a genre bookshop with plenty of atmosphere

Props in ‘Muder and Mayhem’

Oh, and the link to Addyman Books (although the website is undergoing some work).
http://www.hay-on-wyebooks.com/

Thanks for reading, and if you’ve enjoyed it, like, share, comment and  CLICK! And if you’re nearby, come and say hello!

What would your ideal bookshop be like? Please comment.

Bookshop (Photo credit: conxa.roda)

My parents always tell me that when I was a small child, before I learned to read, I always wanted to know what any signs or anything with writing on it said. Later on, once I learned to read, I became an avid reader. My school was a pretty small neighbourhood school (it no longer exists) and it did not have a library, but the readers amongst us used to exchange books and read anything we could get our hands on, from ‘The Famous Five’ and the Adventure Series (I always preferred them to the Famous Five, but that’s me) to ‘Jaws’, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe, Gustavo Adolfo Becquer o Mercé Rodoreda.

I’ve always been happier with books than with any other presents (or nearly) and I still am.

When it comes to books I’m like a moth to light, if I see books anywhere I’ll go and have a look, it doesn’t matter if it’s a supermarket, a charity shop, a car-boot sale. And of course, I love bookshops although they’re having a bit of a hard time and have changed beyond recognition. And yes, now we have big bookstore chains, somewhat anonymous but usually reasonably supplied and full of other things, the small specialised bookshop, the independent bookstore, second-hand bookshops that are true time-travelling machines.

Because of my job there have been periods of my life where I’ve travelled a fair bit and one of the things I remember more clearly of the places where I’ve stayed (or visited)  is where the bookshops are (or where). I must admit to feeling really disappointed when I revisit a place where I’ve been before and a bookshop I liked has disappeared. It’s like losing an old friend. When it comes to bookshops, like most important things in life, they are not all created equal

Reflecting on all that, I wanted to ask you, readers, if you could have the bookshop of your dreams, what would it be like? Would it be enormous with everything on it? Or small but quirky with lots of character? Would it only sell books or sell related items (DVDs, e-readers, magazines and writing materials, audiobooks, other equipment…)? Would it sell other kinds of stuff (postcards, craft items, toys…)? Would it have a tea/coffee shop attached? Would it organise events (book readings and signings, host book clubs, run competitions, have other guests…)? Would it have only new books, second-hand books, have a section for exchanging books…? Books in several languages? Best-sellers and less well-known books, local interest books? Would it offer other services like Wi-Fi and e-store? Would it be located in a remote place, around the corner, in a shopping mall, in a hidden nook in a magical place?

Dream on! It’s free (for the time being!)

And thinking about this and after a fellow author and good friend sent me some pictures of one of her favourite bookshops, I decided to start a board on Pinterest dedicated to bookshops, and once I started checking I was amazed at the fabulous building and beautiful pictures people had pinned. Have a look, and if you’d like to pin your own pictures or others you find, let me know and I’ll invite you to pin with pleasure.

http://www.pinterest.com/olganm7/bookstores-booshops-and-interesting-shops/

Thanks for reading, and if you’ve enjoyed it remember to like, comment, and share!

books (Photo credit: brody4)

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