In his engaging essay, writer and book critic Jorge Carrión (b. 1976) takes the reader on a journey through the world’s bookstores. Following the author, we visit Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, Wells in Winchester, Green Apple Books in San Francisco, Librairie des Colonnes in Tangier, and the Strand Bookstore in New York, as well as small shops and massive book superstores. Carrión paints a portrait of bookstores, examining the institution through the lens of space and time as a uniquely authentic place, a world unto itself, and a significant cultural phenomenon.
*Bookstores* is a travelogue by a lively and inquisitive observer, filled with stories from the universe of writing, publishing, and selling books. For Carrión, a bookstore is not merely a space for commercial transactions, but a gathering place for people and ideas—a site for encounters capable of changing the world and individual lives.