But this doesn't really tell the whole picture. I think I'm right in saying there isn't a single independent bookshop in the whole of my county, Caerphilly, and very few in the other valleys-centred counties. It can't be a coincidence that these areas show low child-literacy markers. Yes, people can buy books in other places, but those outlets don't have the inspirational qualities of a really good bookshop.
Agree entirely, Sharon. I wouldn't be the person I am today without the bookshops I grew up with in Newport. In fact, I bought my first copy of Dante's Divine Comedy from a very small indy bookshop on Lower Dock Street, (which then became a men's clothes shop, and then probably a kebab house, and now is probably just a urine soaked doorway). And then later there was the enormous warehouse-like bookshop up by the market which had a fantastic poetry section that I bought so much from in my teens and 20s, such as Douglas Duane and Peter Reading and Heathcote Williams and Matthew Sweeney. I think now Newport has a Waterstones which about 10 years ago closed its upper floor. Great if you're struggling to get your hands on a copy of the latest Richard Osman novel.
But this doesn't really tell the whole picture. I think I'm right in saying there isn't a single independent bookshop in the whole of my county, Caerphilly, and very few in the other valleys-centred counties. It can't be a coincidence that these areas show low child-literacy markers. Yes, people can buy books in other places, but those outlets don't have the inspirational qualities of a really good bookshop.
Agree entirely, Sharon. I wouldn't be the person I am today without the bookshops I grew up with in Newport. In fact, I bought my first copy of Dante's Divine Comedy from a very small indy bookshop on Lower Dock Street, (which then became a men's clothes shop, and then probably a kebab house, and now is probably just a urine soaked doorway). And then later there was the enormous warehouse-like bookshop up by the market which had a fantastic poetry section that I bought so much from in my teens and 20s, such as Douglas Duane and Peter Reading and Heathcote Williams and Matthew Sweeney. I think now Newport has a Waterstones which about 10 years ago closed its upper floor. Great if you're struggling to get your hands on a copy of the latest Richard Osman novel.
I'm very fortunate to live very close to Griffin's and striking distance of Book-ish :)