As blue Monday is not yet upon us I still managed to stick to at least one of my resolutions – last Sunday I started my 12 bookshops for 12 months tour of London bookshops, as Hatchards (booksellers since 1797). The day was unbelievably sunny, blue skies and not a single cloud, but also really chilly, cold, piercing wind all the time, so the bookshop was a welcome refuge. I spent over an hour there. I’ve been to Hatchards before, but only at the ground floor, this time I ventured upstairs (the staircase is lovely too) and took my time.

The place is massive with four floors giving enough space to be able to present a lot of books cover facing rather than spine facing, which I obviously prefer, otherwise reading the titles on the spines makes my neck hurt, not to mention how stupid it makes one look to walk along a bookshelf with your head at a weird angle. The good thing was that it wasn’t crowded, as, despite the size the place is not very spacious, a lot of space is taken by the tables, but on a calm day, it’s not a problem. The crime section had a lovely couch next to the window, it was very tempting to just take Agatha Christie’s book off the shelf and make myself comfortable. I was also shocked by an entire room devoted to culinary literature, a whole room! And not a small one either. The booksellers were also lovely, overall a very nice experience if I’m in the centre I’ll definitely come here rather than super-crowded Foyles.

Here are some pictures (forgive the quality, I am not a photographer and clearly the gene does not run in the family, it just stopped with my mum):

Here’s what I bought, I’m done with book buying ban, but still trying not to go crazy, so from the original pile of 7 books those were left:

The Power (r)- Naomi Alderman – I’ve wanted this book since I first heard about it, can’t wait to read it, especially now that the noise died down a bit I am curious if the book defends itself.

Cold Comfort Farm (r)- Stella Gibbons – recommended to me by David @The Reading Bug back in April last year when I asked about advice on some uplifting and life-affirming books, the time has finally come!

American Psycho – Bret Easton Ellis – I’m pretty sure I will not like this book, I definitely am not able to watch the movie, but this purchase proves I do also care about how books are published, I’ve seen this cover for few years now and it never stopped to fascinate me, it’s one of the most beautiful covers I’ve seen, beauty in simplicity.

Hatchards is right next to Fortnum & Mason and as often the display windows were lovely, this time the topic was tea:

And last but not least a typical London curio, this is what was parked at the Ritz, because your guard dog deserves to travel in style: