Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Bookstores I’d Love to Visit


Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

A photo of two bookcases next to each other, each covering one wall in a room and gently touching in the corner. They are both filled with books. Sadly, Covid killed off some my favourite bookstores that I would have loved to include in this list, so I decided to pivot to fictional answers instead.

 

1.Women & Women First from the television show Portlandia 

Why I’d Want to Visit: the owners were humorous and memorable characters. I loved seeing the absurd lengths they took some of their beliefs.

 

2. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore from  the novel Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan

Why I’d Want to Visit: It has ties to a secret society. What could be cooler than that?

3. The Travel Book Company from the film Notting Hill 

Why I’d Want to Visit: I’d forgotten travel books were ever a thing! It would be interesting to see an entire store dedicated to them.

 

4. The Village Bookstore from the film Beauty and the Beast 

Why I’d Want to Visit: Beauty and the Beast was set in the 1740s. I don’t know what the literary trends were back then, so I’d be curious to see what sorts of books were available to average citizens.

 

5. The Android’s Dungeon & Baseball Card Shop from the television show The Simpsons 

Why I’d Want to Visit: It seems pretty similar to real-life comic book stores (wacky Simpsons physics and logic and such aside), but it would be cool to make comparisons.

 

6. The Magic Box from the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Why I’d Want to Visit: To see what they had to offer. I wouldn’t touch anything, and I’d make sure I was safely back home before dark when the vampires and other monsters started causing trouble.

 

7. A. Z. Fell and Company From the novel Good Omens by Terry Pratchett

Why I’d Want to Visit: Because Aziraphale had invited me to stop by. It would be neat to see what sorts of things he’d collected over the millennia. Other than that, it seems like the sort of place best avoided due to how much it bothered him to have visitors at the private collection of materials he kept there.

66 Comments

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66 Responses to Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Bookstores I’d Love to Visit

  1. What a fun twist on the topic! (As a bonus, I’ve now added a couple of the books you mention to my TBR.)

    Happy Tuesday!

    Come see my Top Ten!

  2. I like that yours are fictional! I couldn’t think of many at all. Should have gone your route!

  3. Yes! The Magic Box was so cool! I’d also like a poke around Giles’ library.

  4. I love what you did with the topic! After reading your thoughts, it makes me want to visit them too.

  5. Great list! I had forgotten about the bookshop in Notting Hill. That would be a really interesting shop to see — definitely niche, but I wonder what places you could visit without ever leaving the shop?

    I went a different direction this week, and posted some more quotes about books: https://bookwyrmknits.com/2022/10/04/top-ten-tuesday-more-quotes-about-books/

    • That’s a good question. I’ll be there would be some fantastic places to visit there.

      I saw this comment just moments after commenting on your post. 🙂

  6. I’m sorry some of your favorite book stores didn’t survive the pandemic. This twist on fictional bookstores is pretty fun though! Top of my list would def be the Cemetary of Forgotten Books from Carloz Ruiz Zafons quartet novels. Don’t know if I would dare to take a book home though…

  7. I see some on your list here I’d love to visit. This is a great twist you put on the topic.

  8. It’s so sad what COVID has done to our world. All the deaths are hard enough to imagine and then you throw in lost businesses, jobs, houses, etc. I’m glad you were able to pivot. I also love some of your choices! They made me smile. Thank you for stopping by! 😀

  9. Love your twist on the topic! I’d love to visit The Magic Box too. And the bookstore from Beauty and the Beast would be interesting indeed!

  10. Jo

    I’m really sorry to hear some of your favourite bookstores didn’t make it through Covid, the sheer level of damage that it’s done to the world is still difficult to get my head around to be honest. Anyway, on a less downbeat note, I love your picks! I’ve never seen Portlandia, but Women & Women First sounds like the kind of shop I’d love to go into. I also loved the sound of Aziraphale’s shop in Good Omens, maybe he would be more willing to have us there if we promised we only wanted to chat about books rather than buy them?

  11. Yeah, Covid killed off a lot of good things. Nice tweak to this week’s prompt!

  12. I love learning about all these fictional bookstore this week. Looks like there are a lot of books that feature them that I need to pick up.

  13. I love that you went with fictional shops and bookstores for this week’s TTT. I know what you mean about Covid killing off some of your favorite stores. Sadly, my two favorite bookstores are gone now, too.

  14. FAbulous!! Yes to the Magic Box!! (But per Giles’s warning, we must remember not to speak Latin in front of the books). And I”d love to check out Belle’s village bookshop too!

  15. What a fun twist on this! Love your list!

  16. I mean, as Belle is the ultimate (or one of them) bookish fictional characters, anything she loved visiting is a must. 🙂 Also… I watched Notting Hill not too long ago. Totally forgot about that store. Thanks so much for visiting my website, Lydia!

  17. Love your twist on this topic, Lydia. I forgot The Simpsons had a bookstore. I loved the one on Buffy. And ties to a secret society? Sign me up.

    Thanks for sharing and for visiting my blog today.

  18. Yeah, I doubt #4 is very true to life! Still, little village bookshops just seem so quaint, don’t they?

    Happy TTT!

    Susan
    http://www.blogginboutbooks.com

  19. Ooh some good choices on this list, my two favorites from your list would be Women & Women First (Can’t go wrong with Portlandia), and the bookstore from Beauty and the Beast!

  20. This was fun! I want to go to The Travel Book Company from the film Notting Hill too!

  21. A great twist on this week’s topic. Thank you for stopping by my blog earlier.

    Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
    https://readbakecreate.com/nine-favorite-fictional-bookstores-libraries/

  22. Oh, now that was a great twist on this week’s choice for bookstores. I love it!

  23. What a lovely idea for a twist. Yes, I also would love to visit the travel bookstore from Notting Hill. From Beauty and the Beast, I’d love to go to the library in the beast’s castle. Doesn’t it look amazing.

    In any case, I really enjoyed your trip around the fictional bookshops.

    Thanks for visiting my My TTT this week which is on books about bookshops which is only partly similar to yours because a lot of them exist.

  24. What a great spin on this week’s topic! I’m especially drawn to the bookstore in Beauty and the Beast. It’s one of my favorite movies. 🙂

  25. THIS IS SUCH AN AWESOME TWIST ON THE THEME! I love it! ❤️

  26. Fun post! Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore would definitely be an interesting one to visit.

  27. I loved your take on the topic this week. Neat idea!

  28. A.Z. Fell and Company was one of the few fictional bookstore I thought of before I decided to do libraries. But I don’t know if I could even count it since I’m not a huge fan of Good Omens. XD It felt like cheating to use it.

  29. A.Z. Fell and Co. would be a real treat!

  30. Oh my God, I would love to visit the Notting Hill bookstore! What a fun list.

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