Hi I’m back and let’s get straight to the blog
on the 24th of June 2025 I went to V.E Schwab book signing for bury our bones in the midnight soil and I decided to make it a bookish day in London because why not. And I’m bringing you with me because what is the point in having a bookish blog if you don’t post anything 😅.
I am afraid to say but I have started running (I am planning a blog) and like so many runners I have strava which I decided to track this walk with so here is the map.
you my be asking why I decided to do this and well I thought it would be fun and as the book signing wasn’t until 7pm it seemed like a good idea to fill the time, but I will admit that I didn’t realise it would take all day to wonder around. But first we made our way to London on the train.
WHSmith
First stop was the WHSmith inside st pancreas station just because, considering this is a bookshop in a train station they have quite a good collection of books and a nice mix of genres.
Word on the water
ever since I heard about this floating bookshop I knew I had to visit it. This unique shop is a dutch canal boat which dates back to the 1920s it first became a bookshop by Joe, Paddy and Stephane in 2011 at first due to mooring laws they had to move every 2 weeks but as it was effecting businesses they managed to get a permanent mooring in 2015 you will now find it on Regents cancel towpath London.
this was a very cozy bookshop which was much bigger then we expected and it had a lovely selection of books.
Housmans
This bookshop wasn’t originally on my list but gays the word was closed so we asked the lady at word on the water for some recommendations and she said this one. This one is a Socialist bookstore which was established in 1945 in fact they are the longest running radical bookshop in Britain, they specialise in publications on progressive politics, such as feminism, pacifism, Black politics, LGBTQIA+ politics, environmental justice and anarchism.
This definitely wouldn’t of been my fist choice of shop but at the same time it was interesting to see different books that I my not of seen and there basement The basement was full of what you would normally see in a bookshop or their main floor had politics art poetry all sorts of very interesting titles.
Brunswick Bookshop
On the Way to the London review we found this shop in front of us and it would have been rude not to go in.
it opened in 2024 and is part of the house of books which is an independent bookshop group. This was definitely more my sort of shop it isn’t very big but it looked nice and had good books and bookish stuff.
The London review
This shop is situated near Bloomsbury in the heart of London and it opened in 2003. It was a nice size shop which also had a basement which had the kids/YA books as well as a separate room for bookish stuff such as art, book marks and mugs. There was definitely lots too see but we must of missed a room as I didn’t see where you could order coffee.
The Fable
we picked this place as it had been on another blog about book things to do in London and the fable was on the list as a book themed restaurant and there was definitely some things that were bookish
but I wouldn’t call it a book themed restaurant.
there were positive though the food was nice (not booked themed but nice) and considering we were in London it wasn’t too badly priced the book table dose look really cool but it’s designed for big group of people so if you are like us and there is only 2 of you then you are not setting there, there was wall paper on the other side of the room which had book tiles on it and when you get your bill they put it in a book so it is fun but a more fancy book theme place than we were expecting.
Blackfriars Bridge
For some of you this will seem like a odd stop for a book day in London, this bridge features heavily in Cassandra Clears infernal devices as it’s the place Jem and Tessa visit and as I finished that Series earlier in the year I had to add it to list of bookish places.
park break
Cecil court
Cecil Court is one of the older thoroughfares in Covent Garden which dates to the end of the 17th century and is nicknamed booksellers row due to being home to about a dozen antiquarian and second-hand independent bookshops who specialise in children’s classics such as Alice in wonderland to modern signed first editions, we ended up going in to golds borobooks originally I was just thinking this would be more for window shopping as I had heard it had antique secondhand books which would be a bit over my price range but it was just nice to browse.
Foyles
Foyles first started in 1903 by to brothers William and Gilbert Foyles who had failed their civil 
service exams so they started selling their unwanted textbooks, which started 115 years of being a family owned independent bookshop. There are some stories about this shop such as them telegramming Hitler to ask him to sell them the books he was going to barn in 1930s (he wouldn’t).
In 2018 the then- chairman Christopher Foyle and the board of Directors decided to sell the company to Waterstones with the condition that Foyles would keep there name. Which is known as beginning a chapter in there history.
I definitely wish I had more time to explore this shop as there are several floors to explore and I definitely think it would be easy to get lost but I guess that is why they have a computer by the entrance so that the booksellers can tell you where to go to find your book.
Forbidden planet
forbidden planet, which is named after 1956 film, opened in London on Denmark street in 1978. visitors included Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Alan Moore and Douglas Adams. When Adams went to the shop to sign his first Hitch-Hikers guide to the Galaxy book in 1979 the queue was so long Adams thought a demonstration was taking place. As the shop started to branch out of just comic books to also include film and television they opened a second store on St Giles high street. They eventually became so popular that there was over crowding so they moved to new Oxford street.
I had said before we set of that forbidden planet would be the shop that I would struggle not to buy lots and definitely was. When you walk in you find the shop is filled with everything you could think of from pop culture from figures to toys which was cool but the real magic (for me anyway) was downstairs where they had all the books and there was lots. They had comics shelves of manga a graphic novel bit and a bit for Disney books also gaming books and then we released we should be going but on the way out we saw that the other half was fantasy books so lots of books.
Hatchards
this is London’s oldest bookshop, having been established in 1797 by John Hatchard, publisher and anti-slavery campaigner. Hatchards has been a landmark on Piccadilly, since Georgian times in fact queen Charlotte was one of their first customers, it my be two centuries old but it combines the best of the finest old traditions and the new.
this was the bookshop that was on the top of my list and due to taking a bit to long in forbidden planet I didn’t have long to wonder but the bit I saw was absolutely beautiful and has a lovely old book shop feeling.
Book signing
Then it was time for the reason that we came to London the V.E Schwab book signing event and it was amazing the venue was at union chapel (which as she said was amusing to talk about toxic lesbian vampires in) the first half was a general chat about the book and then the second half was an audience Q&A (Michael was picked to ask a question) the whole thing was absolutely phenomenal I’ve been following her for about 8 years but this is the first book event that I’ve managed to go to. It was really interesting hearing her discussing her process and I think it will make my reading experience of bury our bones even better. The questions people asked were also really interesting, Michael asked about how she’s able to get so many books out and she answered with more detail then she has before, of course I already knew about the 6 oven stoves which are keeping her various ideas cooking but she also added that when she first gets a new idea it’s left next to the oven for a year to see if it’s still interesting and if it is then it’s added to the rotation.