I haven’t posted a five out of five review in a while because I haven’t read anything lately, I consider that good, but also because I’ve been busy with research for an upcoming novel. I visited a London medical and a pharmaceutical museum where I took photos of medical equipment and pages of medicines used in earlier times. Between reading those notes as well as the history of the town where I’m setting part of the story, pleasure reading has slipped from my usual routine.
But while I was roaming the streets of Lisboa, I heard a tour guide ask the couple he was with if they wanted to see the oldest bookstore in the world, and my ears pricked. No, the couple weren’t interested, but I was. I scrambled across the street to the corner with a window displaying a certificate from Guinness World Records confirming Bertram Livraria Bookstore was established in 1732 and was the oldest operating bookstore in the world.
I had to step inside. And what was the book displayed in the most prominent position that first drew my eye and probably everyone else’s who entered? Indias Vasco de Gama! The bookshop just lost one point in my view. The store had a series of arches that led from one section to the next with a café at the back. Books were mostly in Portuguese, but there was an English section. That’s where I spotted Klara and the Sun—the store just scored a point. This was one of the most memorable books I’ve read in the last couple of years, not just because the author was Japanese/Canadian, but the story was unique.
Read and Write 