Dublin Bookshops
1 July 2023 - Dublin
It was a cold, rainy welcome to Dublin last night. Nothing indicating summer at all. Coming from the heat and sunshine of Switzerland it was, perhaps, a harbinger of the week to come. I packed for it though. I slept on the plane, but I was still too tired to do anything but collapse into bed. This morning started off slowly enough. I've been working my way through Dig Ventures' "How to do Archaeology" course as a prereq for the dig next week and today I finished it. My plan for the weekend in Dublin involves bookstores and pubs. Dublin has some fabulous bookstores, and I didn't take enough time to explore them last time I was here. Nor did I purchase enough of their fine wares: local authors, staff picks, and the like. Today was about rectifying that deficit. Dublin is a place, and many bookstores of the city take that into account and have local authors and local subjects. Naturally tourists like me also eat that up. So after my morning exercises and my 3rd cup of coffee I headed out to explore the stacks. Staying at the Arlington again, the closest was Eason on O'Connell Street. I was not disappointed and picked up a history of Temple Bar, a James Joyce novel, and discovered John Banville. Iwona and I spent a nearly perfect evening at the Temple Bar last time we were here. Next on the map was Veritas, which turned out to be Catholic. Then I crossed the Liffey to Books Upstairs, which claims to be the oldest but is certainly one of the best bookstores in Dublin. Here I picked up some history, some poetry and some short stories. Then I hit up a couple used bookstores: The Secret Book and Record Store and Stokes Books. The former is a hole in the wall and the latter caters to collectors. It was time to find a pub and a burger and dive into these finds, so I spent a couple hours reading and sipping Guinness. After that I was tired, but decided to hit the Gutter Bookshop on my way back to the hotel and I'm so glad I did. It's another gem; "we are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" said Oscar Wilde. Their recommendations led me to take home another half dozen books. Next door was another used bookstore, but I didn't linger there long and went back to the hotel for a nap. Evening started with pizza and then I walked around. There are so many tourists from the US and Britain and the Spanish speaking parts of the world, but mostly it seems there are hen parties - a bride and five to ten friends. Some of them have shiny stickers on their faces. Some of them have matching hats or t-shirts. Sometimes the bride is identifiable by her veil. Or a crown. In a search for live music I found myself in a bar where a entire floor seemed to be just hen parties. It's enjoyable to listen to live music whilst reading, and the Five Lamps IPA I drank was so good I decided to nick the glass. Lamentably I didn't make it to the Winding Stair today, but fortunately they're open tomorrow.
