Martin Latham Book order

'A joy. Each chapter instantly became my favourite' — David Mitchell, author of Cloud AtlasA lively cultural history of the book from a charmingly idiosyncratic bookseller.'The right book has a neverendingness, and so does the right bookshop.'This is the story of our love affair with books, whether we arrange them on our shelves, inhale their smell, scrawl in their margins, or just curl up with them in bed. Taking us on a journey through comfort reads, street book stalls, mythical libraries, itinerant peddlers, radical pamphleteers, extraordinary bookshop customers, and fanatical collectors, Canterbury bookseller Martin Latham uncovers the curious history of our book obsession—and his own.Part cultural history, part literary love letter, and part reluctant memoir, this is the tale of one bookseller and many, many books.

A quirky collection of true stories from the weird and wonderful side of the Garden of England, including ghosts, castles, treasures, pirates, Britain's oldest highway and, lest we forget, the old lady who tricked the Luftwaffe.

This curious history of London whisks you down the rabbit hole and into the warren of backstreets, landmarks, cemeteries, palaces, markets, museums and secret gardens of the great metropolis. Meet the cockneys, politicians, fairies, philosophers, gangsters and royalty that populate the city, their stories becoming curiouser and curiouser as layers of time and history are peeled back.