Sam Read Bookseller

Benjamin Wood, Seascraper (Viking); Damian Barr, The Two Roberts (Canongate); Ian McEwan, What We Can Know (Jonathan Cape); Oyinkan Braithwaite (Atlantic) outside the bookshop with snowy fells beyond

Congratulations to the 2025 Nero Fiction Award shortlistees!

YouTube video by Sam Read Bookseller Rory Stewart in conversation with James Rebanks, discussing Rory's new book Middleland

Like a living anecdote from #Middleland about Cumbrian small business we've been extra busy spinning many plates, so it's taken us longer than planned, but the captioned video of our fantastic event with @rory-stewart.bsky.social and @herdyshepherd.bsky.social is now here to watch.

Grasmere today on student field trip - dwelling perpectives & 'taskscapes' - & managed to disappear for 10 to buy Ghosts of the Farm @nicolawriting.bsky.social from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social - winding back towards M6 & the weekend...

Happy birthday and welcome to the bookselling world!

View down Broadgate with the bookshop in the foreground.

Fleeting glimpses of sun on the fells in late autumn light and discoveries aplenty being made amongst the bookshelves.

Lordy, it's November, people. This means only another 8 weeks before the days begin to lengthen.
C'mon, we can do it!

Looking down Broadgate with the bookshop and Butharlyp Howe in autumnal sunshine, fells beyond. Blue sky with drifting white clouds.

Autumn weekend sunshine on the bookshop

rainbow over broadgate grasmere, with lots of people walking around outside Heaton Cooper, Sam Read Bookseller and Lucia's takeaway, and hazy sunlit fells, with autumn colours on trees. 1st bow is quite strong, 2nd is very faint.

Very brief appearance of a double rainbow over the shop and the half-term crowds this afternoon. #MyHeartLeapsUp

About last night … a little snippet of the brilliant discussion between @herdyshepherd.bsky.social and @rory-stewart.bsky.social we hosted last night at Kendal leisure centre. Thanks to everyone who came along and everyone who made this possible!

thank you!

GORGEOUS scene, I love the Sam Read Booksellers, they are a total JOY to visit in Cumbria x #SupportLocalBookShops

Sun on Butharlyp Howe and the bookshop with fells beyond.

Morning sunshine on the bookshop corner.

Today marks 2 years since @likewinterblue.bsky.social and @pollyrowena.bsky.social took the helm of the shop. What a busy 2 years it's been! We're celebrating with our biggest event by a very long way next week, only possible because of our brilliant bookselling team and so much community support.

Very reassuring, in these harrowing times, to have a stack of books from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social to come home to. Worth every square inch of space they occupied in my suitcase. A much anticipated part of every UK visit.

view down a rainy broadgate showing bookshop and mist and rain rolling down fells. The bookshop windows are brightly lit and reflecting on the wet road, looking cosy and tempting.

A very moody end to the weekend. Definitely good weather to curl up with a book.

Monstrous Tales: Haunting Encounters (Raven Books) on the left and Britain's Mythical Beasts and Dan Coxon (ed.), Unquiet Guests (Dead Ink) on the right. Both standing on the park wall outside Sam Read's with misty fells and trees beyond.

Smoky, misty autumn morning in Grasmere where #MonstrousTales and #UnquietGuests are feeling completely at home. @deadinkbooks.bsky.social @bloomsburyraven.bsky.social

Clearly we all need a sparkly paperback of @sophieanderson.bsky.social's #TheSnowGirl, and even better... you can pre-order a signed dedicated one from us: www.samreadbooks.co.uk/product/Snow...!

Books Are My Bag tote bag illustrated by Ashwin Chacko, hanging on a dry stone wall on the Easedale Road in Grasmere with blue sky and brown fell beyond.

This year's limited edition #BookshopDay tote bag, illustrated by @whackochacko.bsky.social, hanging out in Grasmere. Also a great photo for stone wall, fell and blue sky fans.

Bookshop Bulletin BookBrunch - The publishing trade's daily news magazine

Running up to #BookshopDay we were delighted to have @profbookshops.bsky.social in the shop this week, doing bookshop research the best way, by seeing how it all works. Grasmere produced some classic queries for her. You can read a bit about it here: www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/free-ar...

Book heap on a wall with sunny fells and the bookshop in the background.
 * Tom Gauld, The Snooty Bookshop: 50 Literary Postcards * George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying 
* Carol Ann Duffy (ed), Off the Shelf: A Celebration of Bookshops in Verse 
* Nanako Hanada and Cat Anderson (trans.), The Bookshop Woman 
* Adam Biles (ed) and Sylvia Whitman (introduced), The Shakespeare and Company Book of Interviews 
* Nadia Wassef, Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller
 
* Annie Gray, The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker 
* Lily Braun-Arnold, The Last Bookstore on Earth
 
* Mario Escobar, A Bookseller in Madrid 
* Sharon Gosling, The Lighthouse Bookshop
 
* Kei Aono and Haydn Trowell (trans), Bookstore Girls 
* Poppy Alexander, The Battle of the Bookshops

Happy #BookshopDay to all who celebrate... which is clearly everyone. Here are some bookshopbooks drawn from our bookshop shelves to help you celebrate the world of bricks and mortar bookshops. #BookshopsBookshopsBooksBooks etc

Tonight! Come along and hear Sam talk about women bookellers of the C20th in Grasmere village hall, 7.30pm. #BookSky #BookTalk #BooksellerLife

Penny Bradshaw introducing Polly Atkin, in front of title slide of her 'Companions of Nature' talk

Polly Atkin in front of an image of 3 owlets

Great start to the 7th series of 'Cultural Landscapes' talks tonight: @pollyrowena.bsky.social on 'Companions of Nature' - launching the paperback edition of her book, 'The Company of Owls' @drpennybradshaw.bsky.social @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

Tomorrow evening! Come along to uni if Cumbria at Ambleside and here me talk Dorothy, owls and more …

And we will round the month off a Cumbrian bonanza, with Rory Stewart and James Rebanks in conversation about Rory's new book #Middleland. Tues 28th Oct, 7pm, Westmorland Hall, Kendal Leisure Centre. Make sure you add book at checkout to ensure a signed copy. betterboxoffice.co.uk/westmorland-...

poster for talk, with picture of Prof Sam Rayner on left, black and white picture of Dillon's bookshop on right, and bookcover for Women Booksellers of the twentieth century in the centre. Below it reads: Sam Read Bookseller presents a talk by Prof. Sam Rayner on bookselling history. 'Hidden in the bookshelves: women booksellers'. Grasmere village hall, wed 8 oct 2025, 7.30pm. Free entry. All welcome.

Then ahead of #BookshopDay on Saturday, we have a visit this week from @profbookshops.bsky.social, who will be giving a talk on Women Booksellers in the Twentieth Century in Grasmere village hall on Weds 8th Oct, 7.30pm. #Booksky #BookshopLife #BookTalk

We've got some busy event times this month, and this coming week. First, we'll be selling early copies of the paperback of @pollyrowena.bsky.social's #TheCompanyOfOwls at a talk on '‘Companions of nature: sickbed consolations & mimic hootings', Uni of Cumbria, Ambleside, Tue 7th Oct, 6.30pm.

Paperback copy of Old Soul by Susan Barker held up with the sign for Mathilde's cafe in Grasmere, and the lovely old slate building of Sam Read books in the background.

mission accomplished thank u @samreadbookseller.bsky.social 😃

With the jackdaws staring you down for any food. As it should be.

This is our very slow reply to say yes. yes indeed. In fact it's now here, staring out from the bookshelves.

Doofus holding up a copy of Tales Accursed: a Folk Horror Anthology.

Exterior shot of Sam Read Bookseller in Grasmere

Stopped at my favourite bookshop in The Lakes, Sam Read in Grasmere (@samreadbookseller.bsky.social) and dropped off a box of signed & demon stamped copies of Spooky Book No. 2. So they're there if you want one, Lake Folk 🦇..!