The Almost Corner Bookshop

Once upon a time there was a bookshop in Rome called the Corner Bookshop. It still exists, but it's moved slightly up from the river - wisely, as climatic things go - and is now the Almost Corner Bookshop. It's run by the delightful Dermot O'Connell, has a poetry section that would put many far larger bookshops to shame and has already ordered two copies of Little Monsters. If you're in Rome and have nothing to read and want to go to a genuine bookshop (i.e. one where the owner likes, and knows about, books) you could do an awful lot worse than pass by Via del Moro 45 and say hello to Dermot. The shop's in Trastevere, just a few doors away from Mario's, a trattoria I once couldn't live without (in the most basic sense), so you can combine the visit with any number of other pleasurable things (the Minimumfax bookshop just up the road isn't bad either). And in most cases you won't spend any more than you would if you bought the books at home (assuming Rome isn't your home). Come on. You've read Doris Lessing's Nobel speech (I hope). Now buy the books. Read. Turn off the computer Stop blogging. Read. (Oh God.)