Reading is Sexy

My mum will strongly disagree with this but I had my first ever taste of Pancakes in my student flat in Sheffield- made for me by my best-friend.

He was taken aback by the fact that I’d never had pancakes with honey and bananas. He told me it was the best ever combination and I wasn’t convinced; he started to get the ingredients and the mixing bowl and I wasn’t convinced; I watched him mix eggs and flour and water and I wasn’t convinced; I watched him pour the batter (or is that dough?) into the non-stick pan that he had pre-heated to the perfect pancake-frying temperature and I still wasn’t convinced; I watched him double flip the pancake on the pan and I was half-convinced; he put it on a plate and chopped the bananas and drizzled the honey on top and I was nearly convinced; he rolled and packed the pancake, offered it to me and as soon as I took the first bite, I was sold!

Pancakes with Honey and Banana- nearest thing to soulfood, if there ever was…

Homepage

You create an account-for free. Then you create your ‘Wishlist’ of all books you would love to own/read; and then create your ‘Inventory’ of books you own but wouldn’t mind getting rid of. You earn a certain number of points for a certain number of books you list on your Inventory. You earn points every time you successfully send one of your books that another member has mooched. And you give points to the member you mooch from. You don’t HAVE to mooch a book from the member who has mooched from you unless they have a book you’d love to have. Theres forums and you can become friends with other members regardless of where they’re based (!), you can give ‘smooches’ to members and quite often, you get sent the loveliest notes or bookmarks from members you’ve mooched from; BookMooch recommends books you might like based on the kind of books you’ve mooched. Needless to say, I LOVE BookMooch. I became an active member in January of 2008 & in a space of 18 months I have mooched 157 books and away 72 books! The only cost involved is the postage you pay to send the book.

I’ve been to many of these but I’m unable to remember any of their names. HOWEVER, I can remember where they are and try to describe their location.

Book stall at the Swiss Cottage Sunday Market- in the little square type thing in between the Central School of Speech and Drama and the Hampstead Theatre, every Sunday there is a market- of fresh produce, cheese, bread, antique jewellery, some clothes and books. The Book stall is AMAZing! The seller has the most varied and diverse collection of books you ever in a stall as small as that. And he was friendly and helpful as anything. AND he always gave me a discount!

Book Market under Waterloo Bridge on Southbank- tables stretching to 30 – 40 metres in length, laid out with books, all kinds of books- so many books that your neck starts to hurt for having to tilt it to read the titles- THAT many books! Mostly reasonably priced, varied in genre, little risk of backing into somebody else looking up books at the same table and the added bonus of enjoying the breeze and view on Southbank.

Black Gull Books at Camden Lock – As the sub-title suggests, it is located on the lock, behind the bar called ‘Lock 17’ (behind-ish. You have to do this thing where you come down the stairs from the bar into the market, walk past the cookie stall, up one step, past the jewellery stalls and a couple of shops next to ‘Village Games’). Good Luck finding it! Hundreds and hundreds of books from floor to ceiling and chances are that you’ll find the book that you’ve been looking for forever.

Second Hand Bookshop off Hampstead High Street- I haven’t a clue what this shop is called but what I do know is that when I walked into this store I felt like the little boy, in Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s ‘Shadow of the Wind’, who gets taken to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge old library of forgotten titles lovingly preserved. The smell, the atmosphere, the bookshelves scaling complete walls and books stacked on the floors due to the lack of space, the friendly shop owner who proudly talked about the shop having existed from the 70s. I was in there for nearly 90 minutes and I didn’t make it past the first set of shelves I made it to after I’d got over my awestruck speechlessness! As you go up Hampstead High Street towards Hampstead tube station, theres an alley way to the right between the little Boots store and Paul’s Bakery- this bookshop is on the left side in the first block of buildings! – This shop is called Keith Fawkes Book shop and its on Flask Walk, off Hampstead High Street.

Homepage