Remembering What Makes A Great Book Store…

By Angela Buckingham

I love books. Books are fabulous. My apartment is on the verge of collapsing through the floor under the weight of all the books I have accumulated by begging, borrowing, stealing (and buying).

But a book shop in my neighbourhood, Fundstück, has made me remember that the best book shops ARE the best books shops, because of the people in them, not just for the books they sell.

Fundstück has a wide remit for a small space. It sells blankets, coffee cups, notebooks, tea and chocolate candy to complement their fabulous collection of German books and a perfectly targeted selection of books in English about Germany and Berlin in particular. The book collection is a constant challenge for me to improve my German so I can enjoy more of what it has on offer.

This store is a celebration of all that is good in life, particularly if you live in a cold city that can often be a little grey. The heart of this store is Silke Strempel. She is always available to chat about books, publishers, writing, what is happening in Berlin. Her patience, knowledge and welcome make her a great guide to German literature and English literature about Germany.

We have to patronize stores like Fundstück – because what they give us is so much more than the books they sell. They are the navigators in a world of reading that can seem too full, where the treasures can be hard to find and where too many of us don’t have the time to read something we won’t adore.