Arnold Bennett in Cyprus

As regular readers know, I do like unexpected references to home whenever I leave Staffordshire.

In a Turkish Cypriot bookshop (in Nicosia actually), I was looking for a book in English to read - but in vain.  Then suddenly I spotted 'The Old Wives Tale' by Arnold Bennett - a tale of Staffordshire people by a Staffordshire writer...!

By coincidence, there's a major exhibition soon all about Arnold Bennett.  In north Staffordshire of course.  Not Cyprus.

Bookshop with no name

Good second-hand bookshops are few and far between in Staffordshire.  Bizarrely, one of the best has no name, is very hard to find, and occupies nothing more than... a corridor.  This is it.

Run by an absent man called Peter (I'm told), it can be found at the back of the Maximum Health health-food store (formerly called Wikijum) in Stone High Street, where the owner kindly takes your money on Peter's behalf if you choose to buy a book. 

But don't be put off: the choice of books is great, and the sections are very efficiently labelled.  The range is not just a lot of old, dodgy paperbacks, but some excellent and fascinating hardbacks.  All at reasonable prices.

But... it is all a bit strange.

Books revival in Newcastle

There are not many rare & second-hand book shops in town centres in Staffordshire. I can count them on the fingers of one hand.
I guess that charity shops (the Shelter one in Hanley is okay) have stolen the bottom end of the market, and that Amazon/ebay has the more lucrative end.

So it was nice to see a new one opening - in Merrial Street, in Newcastle-under-Lyme (near the police station). The books are a tad pricey for me, and it's not easy to find what you want, but the range is good and the owner's enthusiasm is infectious. (He will bargain too, if pushed).

The owner is convinced that news of the 'death of the book' (hello, Kindle!) is premature. He says you can't love a kindle like you can a book, and a kindle "doesn't smell like an old book". (He's right there!). I wish I was as sure as him - but I'm not.