Back from a land where people read books
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| A small slice of the history section at Waterstones Piccadilly bookshop in London. The section extends to the left beyond the frame of this photo and into and beyond the range of the next picture. (Photo by Peter Rozovsky) |
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| Ragnar Jonasson and Yrsa Sigurðardóttir amid more evidence that England more literate than the United States. Note the small sign immediately to Yrsa's right. She and Ragnar spoke in a part of the store one over from that in the photo at upper left but still in the history section. |
It was a pleasure to visit a city that buys books. As a commenter who was visiting the UK at the same time wrote on Facebook:
"B&N whines about Amazon, but I can see that in the UK, they treasure printed books and brick and mortar more because the experience is so very different from the U.S."The store also has a bar and restaurant on its fifth floor. London is not just more literate than Philadelphia, it also knows better how to show a reader a good time.
© Peter Rozovsky 2016
Labels: bookstores, Iceland crime fiction, Ragnar Jonasson, Waterstones, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 12:02 AM
7 Comments:
Peter, I'd be happy merely looking at history sections in bookstores and libraries. I enjoy history even though my reading of the subject is infrequent.
Prashant, history constitutes a great share of my reading, larger than crime recently. So this sprawling history section was a joy to browse. I could live in that building.
Tim, that is a good combination. I suspect the entire population of Iceland could fit comfortably in the history section at Waterstones Piccadilly.
A population that still appreciates books in their printed form--sounds like heaven, and I'm not sure I mean that as a euphemism (so I cheated and used the small 'h').
I read somewhere that not only do Icelanders read prodigiously, that something like ten percent of them actually write books. Which is a bit mind-blowing.
Still, the only Icelander I ever knew was more impressed by the availability of booze in the US and could get hammered on a shot glass. And did.
(He ran from the cops one night and when they finally got him they let him go because he said that in his country, no one pulls over for blue lights, only red.)
(And I get pulled over for not wearing a seat belt in Jersey after the last Noir @ the Bar.)
Iceland also throws wayward bankers in jail, but I am prepared to concede the country a degree of exceptionalism because of its tiny population.
But London and, perhaps, the UK as a whole, pretty similar to the U.S., seem to have a lot more respect for books than Americans than we do. This does not mean Americans are any less literate than the English, Welsh, and Scots, of course. Americans can probably send text messages and read news online just as well as people from the UK do.
I loved this post, and I especially loved reading the conversation in the comments! That story about the red and blue lights is amazing.
I hear that Icelanders have a propensity drink long and hard on those long spring nights.
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