Loud orange and pink Penguin book spines line
the walls in Granada’s Metro bookshop like jars of sweets. And I did feel like
a child in a sweet shop when I was there a few weeks ago, with a strong hungry
impulse to take away and gobble up the contents of some of those jars. This is
partly because it is the best selection of English language books I have seen
yet in a shop in Andalusia, but also partly because bookshops are such nice
places. Why is this? What do they give us that Amazon does not?
I suppose there is a more personal impulse behind the selection –
someone has chosen those books both for their contents and appearance. So Metro
had at least two editions of Alice in
Wonderland, (one a lavishly-illustrated hardback), a good range of classics
and other very well-chosen books – some on Spain, e.g. Giles Tremlett’s Ghosts of Spain and Gerald Brenan’s South from Granada, and some not, e.g.
James Bowen’s A Street Cat Named Bob
(flicked through it – seemed down-to-earth and good, despite the sugary film
posters). And of course a third of a tabletop covered with Bob Dylan’s works,
complete with ‘winner of the Nobel Prize for literature’ stickers.
It’s also a more sensual experience, of course, than browsing
online – I particularly liked the flowery bookmarks hidden in the Penguins, and
the velvety, glinting covers of some of the hardbacks. But most of all I think
bookshop offers a different space – a cared for, curated (overused word, I
know) space which, if the assistants are not over-attentive, you can linger in
for as long as you want. Museums are sometimes called ‘dream spaces’; I would
say the same for bookshops.
So what did I come away with? Oliver Sacks’s Seeing Voices, about sign language, which I tried not to eat all
at once. I found the book fascinating, particularly the initial chapters; I had
never realised that sign language had its own grammar and vocabulary – I
thought it was a sign ‘translation’ of spoken language. There were some things
I disagreed with; for example Sacks talks up sign language at the expense of
spoken language (why not value both equally?), saying that with sign language
‘narrative is no longer linear and prosaic’ – well, neither is spoken language always
prosaic, and think of all the non-linear elements added with gestures,
intonation and so on. Anyway, I’m digressing – the book cost €13.50,
surprisingly about half as much as on Amazon for a new copy, but twice as much
as a good quality second-hand copy. No contest financially (if you don’t want a
brand-new copy) but for a refreshing, even memorable, experience the bookshop
wins hands down.
