In honour of World Book Day, Globetrotting writer / journalist / professor Bob Templer takes us on a tour of his top ten bookshops around the world.
Bob Templer is the author of Shadows and Wind, one of the best accounts of modern Vietnam. It was written while he was working at AFP in Hanoi during the early 90s. Bob now splits his time between NYC and Budapest.
He lived in and around two dozen countries and has visited more than 100 countries for work and/or play. He seeks out bookshops wherever he travels and finds it hard to pass one without walking in. Books are the only kind of shopping he likes!
His perfect present would involve any book on architecture – plus a whole set of first editions of James Bond and John Le Carre and to be set up a beach house somewhere to enjoy them! His favourite holiday destination is Tiger Tops in Nepal where he comes dangerously close to donating his entire life savings to baby elephants every time he visits. Here are some of his favourite places to shop:
Elliot Bay book company – Seattle, downtown | Buzzhopper
Browse over 150,000 titles in this lovely, multi-storey bookshop with a fab cafe.
Kinokuniya Books (South Shinjuku branch) – Tokyo | Buzzhopper
Librairie Delamain SA bookshop – Paris, palais royale | Buzzhopper
Arthur Probsthain bookshop – London | Buzzhopper
ArchitekturZentrum (The Architecture Museum) bookstore – | Buzzhopper
Buchhandlung Walther König (Bookstore) – Berlin. Burgstrasse | Buzzhopper
Strand Bookstore – NYC | Buzzhopper
Queens Park Bookstore – London, Queens Park | Buzzhopper
William Stout Architectural Bookstore – San Francisco | Buzzhopper