OK, so if you’ve got any spare £££s you might choose to spend them on
or
or even (it won’t work).
But let’s face it…these will last you a lot longer.
And they’re more nourishing (yet non-fattening). So I went to hunt some down.
It’s been Independent Booksellers Week 2014 and today book obsessives and book bloggers are celebrating with the IBW Bookshop Crawl. You can follow events on Twitter at #bookshopcrawl. I did cheat a bit, though. I knew I couldn’t make Saturday so went out and about on Thursday when the sun was shining!
I decided to hit the independent bookshops of Brighton & Hove, which are all just a street away from the sea, and I started at the Kemptown Bookshop. 
This guy keeps watch from just over the way 
and this is the view from the end of the street. 
Inside three floors of beautiful books 
plus 20th century prints from Bookroom Art Press 
and delicious stuff for stationery freaks (which means all writers).
and a busy children’s department downstairs where I found this!
and bought this gorgeous book. 
Then a bus hop across town to City Books on Western Road
which is full to bursting with 
and 
even books about bookshops.
They run lots of author events which is why they have a great many signed copies.
And downstairs (again) a children’s section with lovely picture books
and this! 
In the end I succumbed to these…
And just round the corner there’s this, so I sat in the sun to check out what I’d got so far.
Last stop was The Book Nook in Hove, a dedicated children’s bookshop with a little cafe, too. 
This is at the end of the street (not gloating or anything).
Inside there’s fun 
factual 
and all kinds of gorgeous fiction, new 
and classic.
Plus a book boat 
and on the walls some special artwork from visiting authors and illustrators. 
And finally, essential to all book browsing… (I can recommend the flapjacks)
The haul in my Gruffalo bag:
The books I ended up with were A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld; Unexploded by Alison Macleod; Goth Girl & The Ghost of A Mouse by Chris Riddell; The Ocean At The End Of The Lane by Neil Gaiman; The Jade Boy by Kate Cain; Small Blue Thing by S C Ransom; The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper.
Sigh of satisfaction. Money well spent. Indie bookshops still there. My work is done. ‘Til the next book binge.
