Emma Batchelor: What I’ve been reading, writing and listening to this month (travel edition part two!)

Posted on 25 April, 2023

I am now safely back in Canberra but in the spirit of keeping my holiday magic alive, this month  I am offering a second travel edition full of reading recommendations from a few bookstores in Europe.

London Review Bookshop (London)

Ever since reading Love, Nina, a collection of letters written by a young Nina Stibbe detailing her time working as a nanny for London Review of Books editor, Mary-Kay Wilmers, I have wanted to visit this bookshop. Nestled not far from the British Museum, the London Review Bookshop and café is like a cosy cuddle in the heart of the city. After lunch from the café, I wandered around the bookshop collecting armfuls of books and LRB merch.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

I’m a fan by Sheena Patel

I’m a fan is a blistering debut about sex, violence, politics, and status. A single speaker uses the story of their experience to examine the complicated hold we each have on one another. This book is top of my to-be-read pile.

Published 2022 | Rough Trade Books

Living Rooms by Sam Johnson-Schlee

In this new essay, academic and writer Sam Johnson-Schlee invites us to consider the dreams and fantasies we have about our homes. I have come back from my trip inspired to re-shape my space and I think this piece of writing will provide the perfect jumping off point for questioning the way I think about my home.

Published November 2022 | Peninsula Press

Shakespeare and Company (Paris)

When I first tried to visit Paris’ oldest English language bookshop there was a line about 100 (!) people long. Thankfully when I circled back in the early evening I was able to get inside. It turned out the store was undergoing renovations but there were still plenty of books to browse. I also went upstairs to visit the reading rooms complete with pictures of many of the well known writers who have been connected with the shop during its long history.

Here are the two books I bought, complete with a special Shakespeare and Co stamp:

No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souhami

I picked this book up because of its cracking title. It’s a Sunday Times Book of the Year and Winner of the Polari Prize and tells the extraordinary story of how a singular group of women in Paris between the Wars fostered the birth of the Modernist movement.

Published April 2021 | Head of Zeus

Lonely Castle in the Mirror by Mizuki Tsujimura translated by Philip Gabriel

I have been seeing this book around for a while and when I saw it again in Shakespeare and Co as a staff recommendation I thought it was time to get a copy. A bestseller in Japan, Lonely Castle in the Mirror is about magic, confronting anxiety and the power of connection.

Published April 2021 | Double Day

She said (Berlin)

This bookstore was recommended to me by a friend of my brother. Stocking books by female and queer writers, She Said is absolutely incredible. I spent over an hour browsing and collecting a stack of books before having a chai and carrot cake from the bookstore café. The shop was full of people talking about books, sharing recommendations and shopping. It was honestly a dream.

Here are two of my favourite finds:

Helen House by Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya

I read this little book in one sitting. It’s a queer ghost story about trauma and grief that is both erotic and unsettling. It is also full of original illustrations by Kira Gondeck-Silvia.

Published October 2022 | Burrows Press

Hustling Verse edited by Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme

Hustling Verse is an anthology of more than fifty self-identified sex workers from all walks of the industry exploring their lived experience through the expressive nuance and beauty of poetry.

Published 2019 | Arsenal Pulp Press

Curious Fox (Berlin)

This bookstore is a neighbourhood favourite tucked away under an apartment building. It sells new and second-hand books in English. I picked up a handful of books set in Berlin including these two.

Siblings by Brigitte Reiimann translated by Lucy Jones

The novel I am currently working on draws on the experience of my brother and I and our sibling relationship. When I saw this book, which explores loyalty, fear and sibling love in a divided Berlin, I knew I had to have it. This is a new translation of one of East Germany’s most important writers.

Published February 2023 | Penguin

The Berliners by Emma Harding

Time-travelling between decades, The Berliners re-lives the tumultuous experience of a city on the frontline of history through the interlocking lives of six people.

Published February 2022 | Hachette

Globe Bookstore (Prague)

I came across this bookshop by accident and I am so glad that I found it. After having breakfast in the Globe café, I spent time browsing books in what turned out to be one of the oldest and largest English language bookstores in Prague. The bookseller and I had a great chat and he made a number of recommendations to me from a publisher translating Czech writers into English.

Here are two of those recommendations:

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders by Vítězslav Nezval translated by David Short

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders was written in 1935 at the height of Czech Surrealism, was eventually published in 1945 before being translated into English in 2005. The story of Valerie is described as a bizarre erotic fantasy of a young girl’s maturation into womanhood on the night of her first menstruation.

Published June 2005 | Twisted Spoon Press

Aviaries by Zuzana Brabcová translated by Tereza Novická

Aviaries is an experimental novella composed of diary entries, vignettes, dreams, observations, interior monologues, meditations, short anecdotes, newspaper headlines, and excerpts from poetry and prose. All these elements meld together to detail the life of a woman navigating a city indifferent to those living on the margins.

Published February 2019 | Twisted Spoon Press

Bonus listening recommendations

Podcasts are such a big part of my life wherever I am but now that I am home and finishing off my second novel, I find that I have been spending more time with shows discussing books and writing. Here are a few of my regulars:

• In Writing – The latest season of one of my favourite writing podcasts has dropped with a batch of conversations with all kinds of writers.
• Literary Friction – Long-time friends Carrie and Octavia are still discussing books and ideas and I am still listening!
• Secrets from the Green Room – Now hosted by Irma Gold and Karen Viggers, season three of this podcast continues to discuss the ins and outs of writing and publishing.

Once again, if you are travelling any time soon, these are beautiful shops (most with cafés!) to visit, if not, ask any of our amazing local booksellers to order a title in for you if they don’t already have it.