World of Books: Charl + Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Everyone has their neighborhood bookstore or their local library they call home. Maybe both even. I know I do - in TWO different cities. World of Books if a bi-weekly feature that allows me - and any of YOU - to share the bookstores and libraries you love so much. If you want to be featured on World of Books too, make sure to go HERE and fill out the contact form!

Moss Books – Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom

Hi everyone! Big thanks to Gaby for letting me stop by to show you guys my local bookshop!

I’m from Birmingham in the United Kingdom but came to university in Cheltenham in September 2012. I found Moss Books during Freshers’ Week, where a group of us went in search of it one day, with a little map of Cheltenham we’d just been given and everything. We got a little lost at first, which is kind of ridiculous now as I know Cheltenham like it’s my hometown now. Moss Books can be found in the less nice area of Cheltenham, but I still love it! (Besides, there’s a Waterstones shop in the posh area of Cheltenham ten minutes away to make up for it, and it’s a great place to go when I fancy splurging on books.)

Anyway, Moss Books is a cute little second-hand bookshop with an internet café upstairs, although I’ve only explored that area of the shop once. It has that great old books smell as soon as you walk in, and the books are literally piled high which I love – it’s like an Aladdin’s Cave when you walk inside!

They have any kind of book you can think of, from Crime to Poetry collections. I do Creative Writing at university and at the moment live just round the corner from Moss Books so it’s really convenient for buying my books, if they happen to have what I need! Occasionally, they do a half-price sale on their books, meaning you can get books for as little as £1!

I don’t know about you, but I just love a used book, knowing it’s been passed from person to person and sometimes having its own story inside the book – like when there are notes scribbled inside or bookplates so I know who the book once belonged to. That’s what I like about Moss Books – you never know what you’re going to pick up. Once I picked up a copy of One Day by David Nicholls and found this inside:

It made me happy because I love cute notes like that, but also a little sad that she obviously didn’t love the book that much because she gave it away! (Don’t be put off, One Day is great!) It made me think more about whose owned books I have now before me, how they originally came to have the book and why they gave it away.

Moss Books also have really great antique-y books – one day I hope to own loads of them, but I’m yet to find one I really want to read so I’m holding out until I find that one special book!

Hope you enjoyed having a nosy round my local bookshop!

Charl xoxo

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I mean, as if I didn't want to go back to the UK ASAP as it is... Has anyone ever visited Moss Books? Maybe you're international and you also want to share your favorite indie! Let Charl and me know everything in the comments below!