Daniel Bolger returns with a feature on Dublin’s best bookshops.
Here is a list of what I judge to be some of the best bookshops in Dublin, and it’s in no particular order. Now, I’m no authority on Dublin or bookshops, but I worked in a larger bookshop in Dublin City Centre for a while a couple of years ago (though I was by no means a proper bookseller), plus I buy more books than I can reasonably afford. It is not definitive, but rather a list of five really good places to buy books if you’re out and about in Dublin City Centre, and if you want a place a little different or more intimate than the big dogs and stickered foyers of Dawson Street. So I’m leaving out Reed’s on Nassau Street, Waterstone’s, Hodges Figgis, Eason’s on O’Connell Street and Dubray on Grafton Street, which all have their highlights and drawbacks but which we probably all know well enough by now.
And if I’ve missed any of your favourites, please add them below in comments.
Chapters
1 Ivy Exchange, Dublin 1 | +353 1 872 3297 | www.chapters.ie
Chapters probably doesn’t need another recommendation, but it’s a long-time Dublin favourite. This is a gigantic place, with new and RRP books, reduced books, and an impressively massive second-hand section that comprises the entire second floor (while this floor can lean towards messy in certain corners (if that bothers you) it’s still very well laid out), already-reduced books further reduced to clear all over the shop and lots of (very) special price tables scattered around the place. Upstairs they also have used DVDs (including box sets) and used CDs so it’s hard not to leave with *something*, given that you’ll most likely spot a book you’ve been wanting to read on sale for next to nothing. But just in terms of books, the stock is as comprehensive as anyone could reasonably expect, so it’s a good place to check first even if you’re looking for something specific and you’re near the area. The atmosphere is straightforward, that of a large bookshop, not especially warm, but that’s not really what you come for.
The Winding Stair
40 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1 | +353 1 872 6576 | www.winding-stair.com
This place is also known for its restaurant, and it has a great location right next to the Ha’Penny Bridge and it’s a beacon of care and charm on the Liffey’s north quays. It’s just a lovely bookshop, ridiculously charming, with buckets of character: lengthy staff recommendations you don’t have to squint to read, nice coffee, dark wood shelves, comfy furniture. The selection is good, and what you’d expect for a shop of its size, plus some second-hand books, but the best part is the old-school, bohemian atmosphere which has the effect of making you feel smart and classy just walking in. It is also staffed by super-nice people; they get a lot of tourists, given the location, and standing outside of it for a few minutes, I heard at least three groups say, ‘This looks nice’, and go in for a look. One woman I spoke to, Nanette from Dublin, is a recently regular customer there: ‘I was looking for that book [a Ted Hughes collection] for ages, and I’d never been in here before but I was walking by once and saw it in the window, it’sa lovely little place.’
The Gutter Bookshop
Cow’s Lane, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 | +353 1 679 9206 | www.gutterbookshop.com
This great new independent bookshop, with easy-to-talk-to, knowledgeable staff that are adept at tracking down books for you, is in a fantastic area: on Cow’s Lane: that nice, quiet spot away from the loud throngs in Temple Bar, with delicious cafes (including Queen of Tarts) across the way, and a common area to sit down outside that is noticeably clean and hassle-free. They also always have good music playing (closer to an iTunes playlist than chatty radio or head-office-approved mix CDs), which makes browsing a pleasure; and because the selection, while not huge, is obviously carefully chosen and of a high standard (not high-brow, just high-quality), you can spend more time than you meant to reading the blurbs of titles you might not have noticed in other stores. Inside, it’s clean and bright, truly a shop for book lovers, but inviting enough for anyone passing by; there’s even a cute little area for the kids’ books, complete with colourful chairs and fake grass on the floor; they also host book clubs and events, like book launches and signings. Most of all, there is a palpable atmosphere of enthusiasm for reading and love of books. I was there recently with Orlaith Delaney, a friend of mine from Laois, who commented on it being ‘nice and bright, spacious not as cluttered as the other small shops. Plus the books are interesting, not like in [large chain].’
Books Upstairs
36 College Green, Dublin 2 | 01 679 6687 |
Perfectly located on College Green, the people who work at Books Upstairs (usually it’s just one at the till) are incredibly friendly and genuinely good-natured. It’s a small shop with a quiet, homey, lived-in atmosphere (no small feat, as this is just opposite Trinity on Dame Street, remember) with its original features and creaky floorboards and lots of interesting books (they are particularly strong on Irish interest titles). Like most small shops, the focus is on selection, which is diverse and high-quality and full of harder-to-find books; the shelves are stocked full of new, recent and classic titles you probably want to read (or at least know you’re *supposed* to want to read!) of all genres. They even have a comprehensive selection of journals on the second level, and it was one of the first in the country to have a LGBT section. Plus, just about everything is really inexpensive it’s sort of the original bargain bookshop. But what’s most striking is the amount of books you might not have even noticed somewhere else, but which here you find yourself leafing through and seriously considering buying in this lovely shop is full of surprises, and a great place to find something new to read.
Oxfam Bookshop
23 Parliament Street, Dublin 2 | 01 670 7022 |
This Oxfam charity shop just sells books, so if you’re looking for a second-hand bookshop that’s *just* a second-hand bookshop (not clothes + a few books, or furniture + a few books), this is a good bet. It is clean and modern and bright inside, with friendly staff, and it doesn’t have the familiar musty, over-worn atmosphere of some charity/second-hand shops it isn’t the cheapest second-hand bookshop around, but that doesn’t matter: it’s as cheap as anywhere and the small change you do spend is going to Oxfam. One avid reader I spoke to, Tony McDermott from Lucan, comes here first whenever he’s looking for a new book: ‘I’m in here regularly it’s a good selection, and you find some surprises you wouldn’t expect, so it’s nice for impulse buys that you know is going to a good cause.’ True that add to that the fact that the books are all in good condition (i.e. theyíre not scribbled all over, with passages inexplicably underlined thrice in red ink) and the books are logically organised making browsing easy, this bookshop should be on the route of everyone buying books in the City Centre.
News
Christmas For The Indies
‘Business has been nicely steady, sales are up year-on-year, not dramatically huge figures but when “level is the new up” any growth is very positive.’ That’s how Louisa Cameron of Raven Books in Blackrock describes the year so far.
‘Our strong bestseller for the past few months has been Klaus Laitenberger’s Vegetables for the Irish Garden,’ said Cameron, ‘A fantastic book from a lovely man, and a great gardener. I’ve already sold several copies as Christmas presents – The Great Modern Poets, edited by Michael Schmidt, a gorgeous hardback with a CD of the poets reading their own work, nicely laid out with bios of each poet and a selection of their work, lovely price point too! Lots of poetry at the moment with Soundings, Human Chain and the Penguin anthology all selling.’
Cameron said that ‘Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals is the strongest cooking contender so far and there’s lots of interest in John Lonergan’s The Governor but I don’t know yet if it’ll prove to be Christmas Gift material.’
In terms of fiction, Cameron said, ‘The Finkler Question has been slowly building momentum since winning the Booker, several of the bookclubs that come in are doing it currently. Room is still selling steadily, also Freedom, and Cutting for Stone is gaining from word-of-mouth just as The Help did.’
For Kids, Cameron pointed to, ‘Mo Willems is the hands down bestseller in picture books’, and she said that, ‘Jan Brett, Astrid Lindgen and PJ Lynch always go well at Christmas with their beautifully illustrated classic tales. Older readers are all about series – Celine Kiernan, Suzanne Collins, and Derek Landy are all doing well at the moment.’
Bob Johnston of the Gutter Bookshop in Dublin city centre said that his shop was, ‘just entering our second year so it’s still difficult to know if trade in general is up or down on last year – this time last year very few people knew we existed! There’s definitely a sense of caution in the air but also a feeling that people are fed-up with watching every penny and that they have a right to spend their money on something that will make them happy! November is usually quiet as people plan and prepare for Christmas and this year doesn’t feel any different.’
He also selected a huge list of titles that he sees as potential Christmas hits for indies including, Paul Auster’s Sunset Park, Anne Enright’s The Granta Book of the Irish Short Story, Armistead Maupin Mary Ann in Autumn, Iain M Banks‘ Surface Detail, Eoin McNamee Orchid Blue, Benjamin Black Elegy for April, Carol Ann Duffy and Rob Ryan The Gift, John Boyne Noah Barleywater Runs Away, Edmund De Waal The Hare with Amber Eyes, Simon Garfield Just My Type, David Sedaris Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, Kris, Rob, Matt & Dave Cyanide and Happiness: Ice Cream and Sadness, Judith Schalansky The Atlas of Remote Islands, Kevin Dwyer Dwyer’s Ireland, Orla Kiely Pattern, Dan Shanahan If You Don’t Know Me, Don’t Judge Me, Catherine Fulvio Catherine’s Italian Kitchen and The Dubliner 100 Best Restaurants 2011.
‘The idea of one bestseller for Christmas has long gone,’ said Des Kenny of Kenny’s in Galway. ‘In fact the range of what is available now is so vast that there are few bookshops that can carry everything.’
Still Kenny pointed to a few titles, ‘I suppose the only book that has really hopped off the shelves in the last few weeks has been Tubridy’s JFK in Ireland. Another mover has been the reprint of Soundings.’
‘There are a few dark horses outside of the mainstream titles on sport and the recession and I think that these will vary from Independent Bookseller to Independent Bookseller. With us Rita Anne Higgins’s Hurting God would certainly be a candidate as would Lorna Siggins’s Once Upon A Time in the West. Another one just in is John O’Donoghue’s The Four Elements and of course one that will always go is Heaney’s Human Chain. History and Biography are as always varied but I think Tom Garvin’s New Republic has a nice feel to it as has Eamonn Sweeney’s Down Down Deeper and Down.
Kenny finished his round up of the season with a note of caution, ‘Like all other retail businesses the bookshop’s backs are against the wall. There is the occasional bright spot but it is hard fought for.’
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