Leafing Through Cardigan’s Community Bookshop
I popped into Cardigan yesterday and had just enough time for a quick mooch around Cardigan’s fabulous community run bookshop, ‘Leafed Through’. The shop is a fabulous treasure trove of classics and contemporary fiction – my usual hunting ground – as well as crime, fantasy, travel and children’s sections. Sadly, Cardigan has seen a number of much loved secondhand bookshops closing in recent years, so ‘Leafed Through’ has made a very welcome addition to the high street, especially for addicted book browsers like me.
I didn’t have much cash on me, which was probably a good thing as I could have spent a fortune on the fine pickings to be found. I had to buy the Balzac as I’ve been looking for that for ages as ‘The Black Sheep’ is one of the titles from the Guardian’s 100 best novels list that I still don’t have. Javier Cercas’ ‘Soldiers of Salamis’ has been on my wish list for far too long and the Vargas Llosa will be perfect for the Around the World in 80 Books reading challenge. As for ‘The Museum of Innocence’, well if Orhan Pamuk’s ‘My Name Is Red’ is anything to go by, I’m in for a treat.
Funnily enough, the lady who served me said she’d be interested to know how I got on with it as she’d found it a disappointment after the richly evocative ‘Istanbul’. Now you wouldn’t get that level of honesty in a normal bookshop, such candid booktalk would be drowned out by the Kerching! of the till.
After my browse, I headed off with the Mister, to Berlotti’s Cafe to escape the rain, peruse my swag and enjoy a coffee while enjoying the uniquely charming panoramic view!
Lucy
Sarah
Oh! I want to go there!
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The cafe is quite something. The ‘Italian *cough* terrace’ is completely over the top and usually empty, while the main bit of the cafe is busier and has walls bedecked with paintings of fantasy unicorns, sentimental clowns and weeping kittens which I can never quite manage. 🙂
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Uh oh. That sounds very kitsch. If it’s kitsch enough it becomes cool again. At least that’s what I think. 🙂
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A gigantic trompe l’oeil Italian fresco of vine-draped colonades overlooking cypress trees, villas and Tuscan hills I can handle, prancing ponies, I cannot. 😉
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Lovely haul – I’ve not read any of them, I look forward to your views so I know if I should or not! What a pretty cafe too.
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If only I could read books as quickly as I buy them. It was a good haul and I look forward to reading them probably by 2025! The cafe is a quirky little place and a nice escape from Cardigan in the rain which is frankly, drab.
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*sigh* Take me with you! We could condone each others’ excessive purchasing behaviour, and hire wheelbarrows, and leave the staff feeling like they’ve been swept over by locusts.
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Wheelbarrows – yes! Then we can get all the books, all of them! I’ve been feeling restless as I had to leave some good finds in the shop as I didn’t have much cash on me – a couple of Balzacs I’ve never seen, Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’ and another Pamuk. In the end I just had to stop looking. Also, Simon was with me saying things like ‘You’ve not read the books you’ve already got’, so I had to rein in the book love and save the frenzy for another day!
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I do hate the feeling of having to leave a used book store without all the books I wanted because I didn’t bring enough money. I think you should go back soon to see if those books are still there!
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I know – it was torture! I had to be crafty. I didn’t just buy the ones I wanted most, I picked the ones most likely to be snapped up in the next week or so, and left the more commonly found titles…. and the other Balzac – sob! Much as I love him, there probably aren’t that many people in the Cardigan area who break out into spontaneous street dance when they find a clutch of battered Balzacs in the Classics section. (Only me!)
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‘You’ve not read the books you’ve already got’ should never be uttered as a reason to not buy books, but a joyful statement of an ideal position for a person to be in. We all need books at home we’ve not read! It’s a good thing 😀 And I do that, too. Things I wish I’d bought haunt me until I go back…
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Amen to that!
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I love used bookstores! Each one is a treasure trove. There aren’t enough of them around anymore, sadly, but Cardigan’s looks like a good one. You’re lucky you were able to walk away with only four books!
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Bookshops are my weakness! Still, I keep reminding myself that secondhand books are cheaper than handbags and more healthy than doughnuts, and I did only buy four. (On this occasion). Still, if there weren’t a few in close enough proximity to where I live, I think I’d have to move!
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My sentiments exactly – “cheaper than handbags and more healthy than doughnuts”. No guilt (well, maybe a little guilt sometimes…).
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…especially if you celebrate your book haul by heading straight to a cafe for a coffee and a doughnut! Still, at least there are no handbags, so we’re good. 🙂
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The Museum of Innocence is one of my favourite books of all time! Also…that cafe! *drool*
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Well, I’m glad to hear a positive response to the book. I love what I’ve read by Pamuk, but the lady in the shop said she’d found it boring and left her copy in India (where she happened to be at the time – she didn’t make the trip especially, that would be a strong reaction indeed!) and yeah, the cafe was quite a find! 😉
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Hahaha! I’m imagining her traveling all the way to India…walking to the edge of a cliff and then flinging the book off
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I know! Extreme book abandonment – that could totally become a thing! We should go into business offering people the opportunity to travel to the ends of the earth to ritually divorce themselves from their most nightmarish reads, because sometimes, donating an unwanted book to the charity shop just doesn’t cover it.
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I hate leaving books behind in used book stores… I always feel really guilty! I just wanted to say that I’ve nominated you for a Dragon’s Loyalty Award (https://thinkingandinkingblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/dragons-loyalty-award/), because your blog is absolutely fabulous and I love hearing what you have to say! 🙂
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I know, I keep thinking about those poor orphan books I left behind, like abandoned puppies *sigh*. Ta for the nomination, that’s very sweet of you. i’ll be off to investigate pronto 🙂
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