Chaucer Head in Stratford-upon-Avon

What better way to start a blog about bookshops and English literature than in Shakespeare country, with one of the most prolific authors in the English language?

So I found this little book store walking along with my friend on our way to eat lunch at this fabulous restaurant called The Encore. If you ever get a chance, check it out. It's by the theatre for the Royal Shakespeare Company... trust me, those two together make for a really good evening! Anyways, the Chaucer Head is a fabulous secondhand bookshop with a great variety and excellent organization. The prices are really reasonable, too. Chaucer Head has over 12,000 titles in stock, and their online website (which, incidentally, is right here) has a really neat search feature that looks through their inventory for specific titles or authors. They have an entire nook for paperback fiction, as well as an entire bookshelf for antiquarian and collectible classics, like Austen, Dickens, and Twain. Ha, yes... Twain. Kinda awesome, right?

My favorite buy from almost my entire trip to England came from this shop: I got an 1899 copy of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, for about £12. It's beautiful! I love that story. It's so quintessentially Dickens! I was super excited to find this one. Go ahead. You can think I'm silly.

 Oh, and question for you today: What's your favorite Shakespeare play? For me, I can't decide. It's between Hamlet and Twelfth Night... and a little bit Romeo and Juliet. 
 
So, speaking of Shakespeare country, how many of you are Shakespeare and Doctor Who fans? Me!!! Here's a video that you can enjoy. Ah, the talent of Tennant!