Libreria Bookstore | Secret London

What? Libreria Bookstore

Where? 65 Hanbury St, London, E1 5JP

Type: Independent / Selected

Highlight: Staff Picks

Libreria bookstore is possibly one of London’s best kept secrets, if I could describe Liberia anything it would be either Aladdin’s Cave of wonders or Ariel’s undersea grotto of prized treasures.

The architecture and layout of the space deserves praise on its own. The slender shelves with books and books nestled in corners or lain across horizontally seem at first to extend to no end. On and in between artsy lamps hang from them to cast some light to the space and on the books (no squinting needed!). Hidden in plain sight are reading nooks you can rest in comfortably while browsing peacefully.

They have their own curated playlist which plays softly in the store; it’s lo-fi funk music if you would call it a “type”. Something chill with a bit of spunk.

The store is set in East London, an area brimming with art, free expression, and creativity. Libereria reflects that in the choice of books it offers. As they state in their website: “Browsing in our bookshop is a world away from the narrow algorithmic recommendations of Amazon.com.” Pretty cool and fits right up my alley, if you’re looking for diverse books or hidden gems this is definitely the place to go.

Books Bought

Both of my two books were staff picks, and I commend the store for having knowledgable friendly staff with such interesting reading preferences. It’s always great to discuss books and discover new favorites by trying out to read something out of your “norm”. Staff picks are usually indicated with a board or a paper next to the book picked, then it would have the name of person, reason of choosing this book.

I ended up getting The Order of Time, by Carlo Rovelli. Interesting read but the physics parts drove me crazy a bit. My other book was Talking to my Daughter by Yanis Varoufakis. This is was really intriguing and thought provoking. You can read my review here for Rovelli’s book and my review here for Yanis’s book.

With every book purchase you get a bookmark curtesy of the store itself AND a stamp on each book! (it looks gorgeous and it’s done with one of those wooden old school stamps, the kind you dip in ink first).

Availability Online? Yes they do have a website and if you request any delivers you can email them hello@libreria.io.

They also have a bookclub with the hashtag #LibreriaBookClub, every once in a while they’ll announce a meeting to discuss the book virtually. So it’s super cool of them to have this during quarantine, it’s a great way to stay connected with customers and bring in new comers too!