An Italian bookshop and cultural hub where you can peruse shelves of Italian texts and translations, and also pick from an huge list of wines from small producers in Toscana, Piemonte, Sicilia, Veneto, Sardegna to take away or drink in. In fact the owners “(gladly) travel all over Italy to find special wines that stimulate the imagination and the taste buds!” Piola Libri is particularly popular on the evenings when it hosts authors, poetry readings or groups of acoustic musicians – and will hold a re-
opening party on 16 September with band and DJ to mark the return-to-work in Brussels. The bar is known for its evening apéritif: breathe in and squish up for a glass of wine or Venetian Spritz and enjoy with some light appetizers on the house.

www.piolalibri.be/
66-68 rue Franklin, 1000 Brussels
+32(0)27369391
Google map: bit.ly/rf1yIc

Open weekdays 12:00 – 20:00 and Saturday 12:00 – 18:00, but often stays open later.
The bookshop opens an hour earlier on weekdays.


* Bec is our Been there local for Brussels. You can view her profile here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/articles/brussels-local-rebecca.jsp and follow her tips here: www.ivebeenthere.co.uk/travellers/Becinbrussels

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I love mooching about in second-hand bookshops and London is packed full of them. I discovered a great place recently when sheltering from the summer rain after a lunch in Greenwich.
Halcyon Books is lined up to the high ceiling with shelves bursting with second-hand, out-of-print and new books on every subject under the sun.
It is possible to browse online and buy via email but there's really nothing like the smell of dusty old books to inspire and excite. It doesn't travel through the ether.
On my visit, all the second-hand books were selling for £1 each and I picked up some incredible bargains: a giant English-French-English dictionary and a massive Readers' Digest Complete Atlas of the British Isles. Two quid well spent!

www.halcyonbooks.co.uk
1 Greenwich South Street, London SE10 8NW
+44 208 305 2675
Open Mon-Sat 10.00-18.00, closed Sunday
Google map: bit.ly/qPzIWq

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This is the best English language bookshop in Rome. The owner Dermot O'Connell is a great source of information about the fantastic selection of books he stocks and will also be able to tell you where and where not to go. If you need a guide book, a good summer read, an Italian themed read or want to choose from his wide selection of non-fiction titles you must visit via del Moro 45. He also stocks some set books if you need something if you are studying in Rome. I love it!!!!

Via del Moro, 45, 00153 Rome, Italy
+39(0)6 5836942
Google map: bit.ly/pqIbbX

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The Album bookshop is a temple dedicated to the art of Bande dessinée, an extremely successful art form in the Francophone world, which has no equivalent in Britain or the USA. In Anglophone countries, comic strips are considered a mere entertainment mainly targeted at children. The expression graphic novel had to be coined to appeal to a more mature readership. In France, Belgium and Switzerland, dozens of young authors’ names and unique visual signatures catch people’s eyes whenever they pass a bookshop. Asterix alone has sold 326 million albums since its creation in 1961 and has been translated in 107 languages and dialects.

84, Boulevard St Germain, 75005 Paris, France
+33 1 43 25 25 68
www.album.fr
Google map: bit.ly/iRGyVd

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A secondhand bookshop with the largest selection in Amsterdam of books published in English. Wide variety of subjects, reasonable prices, and an interesting American owner. Highly recommended.

www.bookexchange.nl
Kloveniersburgwal 58, 1012 CX Amsterdam
+31 20 626 6266 ‎
Google map: bit.ly/jHnzZH

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A bookshop on Botanic Avenue in Belfast. The bookshop deals in crime fiction and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. However, the bookshop (and fictionalized owner) are also a central character in the books "mystery man", "the day of the Jack Russell" and "Dr Yes" by Colin Bateman.

www.noalibis.com/
+44 (0)28 9031 9601
83 Botanic Avenue, Belfast, BT7 1JL
Google map: bit.ly/evUJMn

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As Canada's largest travel book store that also sells maps, luggage and every sort of travel accessory possible, it's the place to go for inspiration and solutions. The staff are all well travelled and able to give sound advice-they've helped me out a few times with finding info for places off the beaten path.

www.wanderlustore.com
1929 West Fourth Avenue, Vancouver
+1 604-739-2182
Google map: bit.ly/eEuXOD

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It is what it says, and doesn't seem to have a name. Its claim to be included here is that, although most of the books were in Romanian, or (in fact a majority) Hungarian, I found a Broons album there!

Up some steps in a courtyard off the Calea Repubblica, the main (pedestrian) shopping street in Oradea.

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This is a gem of a bookshop, luckily for me less than five minutes walk from my house. Consider it a more manageable, less touristy, less expensive version of Barter Books in Alnwick. Packed with thousands of second hand and antiquarian books, on all levels and in all corners of a victorian townhouse, with very knowledgeable and friendly staff. Great to spend some time here on a wet Saturday.

www.keelrowbookshop.co.uk/
11 Fenwick Terrace, Preston Road, North Shields
Tyne & Wear, NE29 0LU
+44(0)191 296 0664
Google map: bit.ly/9afDzM

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This is a great second hand book shop in central Bangkok near BTS Phrom Phong with a lovely cafe inside. The staff are very friendly and all books are catalogued and can be accessed through their website or just ask one of their helpful staff to look it up in-store for you. What's also great about Dasa is that once you have read a book bought from there you can take it back and they will discount your next purchase. This is a gem of a book shop for both ex-pats and travellers passing through.

www.dasabookcafe.com/
+66(0)2 661 2993
714/4 Sukhumvit Road (Soi 26-28)
Klongtan, Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110

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A gem of a bookshop, squeezed in a picturesque row of independent shops, in this seaside town more famous for oysters than books. Harbour Books is a tardis, crammed full of tempting titles. The wonderful staff have an amazing knowledge of the stock and every personal recommendation has never yet disappointed. A fair proportion of the stock is carefully selected remaindered titles, meaning great variety at a good price (many are under £3). This shop certainly stocks some best-sellers, but even more likely are many great reads that have just not made the mass-market. The children’s section has produced endless presents and its quality can be assured by my 10-year-old niece who asks in equal delight if we can go to the bookshop and traditional sweet shop next door. The most telling sign is that it is impossible to visit without a purchase (or so my own small scale research has found).

21 Harbour Street, Whitstable, Kent CT5 1AQ
+44(0)1227 264 011
Google map: bit.ly/dqM3fu

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Just two minutes from the poseurs of Bondi, behind a front so unassuming you will walk past it the first time, is this gem which calls itself a ‘bookstore café’. As to its dual identity, it is really a bookshop first, and you take your spiced chai latte to find a perch amongst the piled tomes. Photos and prints of favourite authors fill any remaining wall space. The owners put on events and sell antiquarian as well as cheap second hand. It is so deliciously unexpected it is worth the hunt. You can reward yourself with a hunk of cake when you find it.

46 Hall St, Bondi Beach, Sydney
www.gertrudeandalice.com.au/
+61(0)29130 5155
Google map: bit.ly/cTrx0F

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Allow a minimum of two hours to visit this bookshop. It is a three storey shop full from top to bottom with, suprisingly enough, books, as a bookshop ought to be. Expect a voyage of discovery challenging you to uncover new areas of learning, to become lost in a world of words. It is a beautiful sort of heaven, something from a most incredible dream, a treasure cave. When your brain and body need a rest from this unique experience, you can recover in the cafe where tasty food will delight you. There is nowhere else quite like Scarthin Books, the very best book shop, wherever in the world you start from.

Scarthin Books, The Promenade, Scarthin, Cromford, Derbyshire DE4 3QF
www.scarthinbooks.com
+44(0)1629 823272
Google map: bit.ly/afTzBF

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A short walk from Ely Station, past the glorious cathedral rising out from the Fens, on the unpretentious High Sreet, you'll find this wonderful bookshop. Walk in through the modest frontage into the comfort of a labyrinth of aesthetic shelved rooms on three floors. Knowledgable staff are happy to help, recommend and advise; but equally happy to leave you to browse, even encouraging this by bringing freshly brewed coffee or tea. Regular, meet the author, events are also held.

9 High Street, Ely, CB7 4LJ
www.toppingbooks.co.uk
+44(0)1353 645005
Google map: bit.ly/d1UFSm

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Cafe du Livre. Bookshop and cafe. Hidden away, and tricky to find, in the patio of the Hotel Toulousain, in Guiliz, but well worth the effort this great bookshop is a meeting place for the English speaking community. Thousands of books, fiction and non fiction, old and new, line the walls of this stylish place, including a permenant collection of moroccan books that you can browse whilst enjoying an excellent coffee, fruit juice or glass of wine.Enjoy breakfast, a light lunch or tapas cooked by two star Michelin chef Richard Neat (of Casa Lalla). The food is great. Local guides, International Newspapers, free WiFi, readings, poetry, what more could you want.

Cafe du Livre (in the patio of Hotel Toulousain) 44 rue Tarik Ben Ziad,Gueliz, Marrakech. (+2443 2149)

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Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights is a unique independent bookshop residing in a cosy Georgian building in the centre of Bath. Tucked behind the busy streets, you can put your feet up with a cup of coffee and browse through books at leisure. Staff offer a friendly, informed and personal service, helping you to discover new books from their fantastic selection.
Themed literary evenings are led by well known authors and enable readers to share their love of books over a glass of wine, sample food from around the world and listen to a local talented band. Other delights include reading spa treatments, a bibliotherapy room, reading groups, personalised gifts and the famous tin-tin wall. Whether you are nine or 90 enter here and you will be hooked.

14 – 15 John Street, Bath, BA1 2JL
+44(0)1225 331155
www.mrbsemporium.com
Google map: bit.ly/aV591v

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Feisty independent bookshop in uptown Washington, well worth the ride out along Connecticut Ave to it. Far more departments than the name suggests, including children's section full of favourites old and new, airy ambient atmosphere, community noticeboard, fresh food and the best coffee in town downstairs. The cheerful assistants all got together to help us chose the perfect present for an eclectic friend. We went to buy a book, stayed all day, and returned next morning. Open every day, and book signings and talks take place most evenings.It's been there for 25 years and you can see why.

5015 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC 20008, USA
+1 (202) 364-1919
www.politics-prose.com
Google map: bit.ly/aO7qUI

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Situated in the heart of the mind-bogglingly picture-postcard-perfect village of Alfriston in West Sussex (where Stella Gibbons wrote Cold Comfort Farm), ‘Much Ado Books’ is a literary gem of epic proportions. Named Independent Bookseller of the Year in 2007, a recent move just up the High Street has achieved the impossible end of improving on an unsurpassable original; taking in the addition of an extra floor and a beautifully-appointed barn venue which plays regular host to workshops, talks and even Christmas card writing afternoons. Also remaining intact in the move is its trademark selection of happily co-existing new and second hand books, lovingly handpicked by the owners, and featuring the likes of rare Bloomsberry first editions and a shelf of recently-reissued Barbara Pymms. The upshot feels like a series of personal recommendations from a friend of impeccable taste - the perfect antidote to the ubiquitous glut of three for two bestsellers of its rivals.

High St, Alfriston, East Sussex, BN26 5TY, +44 (0)1323 871222, https://muchadobooks.com/index.php
bit.ly/bn2CKB

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A specialist in vintage cookbooks run by a brilliant lady named Bonnie who really knows her stuff! She will find you books based on the type of illustration you like, the nationality of food, era, illustrator, brand sponsorship. It's small and cram packed, you can easily lose a day here. Prices range from a couple of dollars to hundreds (she showed me a first edition illustrated by a Mr Andrew Warhol!).

bonnieslotnickcookbooks.com/
163 West Tenth Street
New York, New York
10014-3116
+1212-989-8962
Google map: bit.ly/bn2CKB

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An historic book shop with a beautiful art nouveau exterior and a fascinating interior dominated by a grand staircase. Visitors are welcome to browse and also to enjoy a coffee and a cake from the small cafe whilst admiring their surroundings.

Rua das Carmelitas 144
Porto
(+351) 22 200 2037
Google map: bit.ly/dfKIen

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