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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A rich stack of brilliant new autumn paperbacks gathered from the bookshop table and challenging the field wall opposite...

A tall stack of books on a stone wall with fields, fells and cloudy blue sky beyond.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Glimpses of autumn sunshine in Grasmere as the bookshop shelves are full of the hustle and bustle of the season (and the thwack of falling leaves)

A view of the bookshop from Moss Parrock, with sunny fells and trees beyond.

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Christina Martin @christinamartin.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If you're in and around the Lake District, and missed The Sondering, there's now signed copies of both books in store at the excellent @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

Photo taken by Will the bookseller of me with my books after the event.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Looking forward to bookselling for Evie King at The Sondering in Rydal tomorrow, and hearing all about new book GET AHEAD OF BEING DEAD (published by Short Books).

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Spent some time today delving into the bookshop's archives ahead of this coming week's Bookselling Research Network conference at Bangor University. This postcard was sent to Sam Read by a Glasgow publisher in 1898, hoping to arrange a meeting to show off samples of their works.

A postcard sent to Sam Read by a Glasgow publisher in 1898.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Wonderful to get a visit today from Emily Woof whose beautiful new novel Ecstatic has just been published by @wiltonsquare.bsky.social. Signed copies on the shelves!

Emily Woof, holding a copy of her new novel Ecstatic inside Sam Read's with bookshelves behind

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

"You don't water the books?" Despite this parched summer, the bookshop has been looking beautiful swathed in sunshine.

Sunshine on Broadgate House in Grasmere with blue sky and green fells above.

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Alan Cleaver @postalpathsguy.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

I was in Grasmere today when Will Smith from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social ran out and grabbed me kicking and screaming into his shop to sign some books. I signed about 50 and then he clarified he wanted me to sign MY book, The Postal Paths. There's also one rare unsigned book left in the shop 😁

Alan Cleaver in front of Grasmere's postbox

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Another bustling day at the bookshelves met by the calm of evening, with clouds over the fells and owls calling from the Easedale Road.

Lit window of the bookshop in the evening with cloud drifting over Silver How beyond

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Will Smith @likewinterblue.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Yesterday, a lady in the bookshop hinted darkly that Grasmere was involved in some kind of conspiracy and that red squirrels must be made up. Today, after leaving the shelves of @samreadbookseller.bsky.social, this mythic figure was chomping outside our house.

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Alex Paknadel from off of comics @alexpaknadel.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Fabulous birthday haul from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social I'm Grasmere. Pound for pound, the best bookshop anywhere.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Happy publication week to these excellent books...

A stack of books on a stone wall with green fells beyond...
☀️ Claire Daverley, People in Love (Fig Tree)
☀️ Cassandra Neyenesch, A Little Bit Bad (Fig Tree)
☀️ Maggie O’Farrell, Land (Tinder Press)
☀️ Fiona Mozley, Awake Awake (John Murray)
☀️ Melissa Albert, The Children (Bloomsbury Circus)
☀️ Tony Tan, Hong Kong Cult Recipes (Murdoch)
☀️ Layla McCay, The Queer Bookshelf (Scribe)
☀️ Paul Maunder, For a Yellow Jersey: The Scandalous History of the Women's Tour de France (Quercus)
☀️ Rebecca Tamas, The Book of Mysteries: Wild Time and the Ritual Year (Pushkin ONE)
☀️ Jean-Yves Mollier and George Miller (trans), A History of Booksellers and the Bookshop (Mountain Leopard Press)
☀️ Katie Clapham, Receipts from the Bookshop (Phoenix)
☀️ Natasha Carthew, Rough Edges: Where Land Meets Water, the Untold Stories of Coastline Communities (Sceptre)
☀️ David Turner, Disability: A History of Resistance (The Bodley Head)
☀️ Thomas Crowther, Nature's Echo: Harnessing ancient feedback loops to heal a changing planet (Torva)

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 10/05/2026

Blue sky and fluffy white clouds chasing across the sky above the bookshop. Bicycles on the Fred Whitton chasing along the roads (not in picture).

A view of the bookshop looking down Broadgate with blue sky and sunshine on fells

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

A week today! Join us for the online launch of @beewyld.bsky.social's new book #TheApothecaryByTheSea - a year in an Orkney Garden - pictured here during a glorious #Grasmere #GoldenHour. Vik will be interviewed by our own co-captain @pollyrowena.bsky.social - April 28th, 7.30pm BST.  Link in bio.

hardback copy of book the apothecary by the sea, with illustration of orkney with sea, sky and green cliffs and flowers on the cover, upright on dry stone wall in golden evening sun, with blue sky behind above green hill with oak trees

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Alex Paknadel from off of comics @alexpaknadel.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Fabulous haul from the glorious @samreadbookseller.bsky.social in Grasmere.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

A spell of Good Friday without sideways rain, as a wealth of good reading heads out the bookshop door.

View down Broadgate in Grasmere. Clouds and a hint of blue sky above a sunny bookshop. A 555 bus at the Keswick bus stop.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

Weekend bookshop sunshine in Grasmere and new books flooding onto the bookshelves.

Bookshop, sun on fells beyond, blue sky above

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 28/02/2026

Fresh bursts of blue sky and weekend sunshine across the bookshop window.

Sun on the bookshop window and the fells beyond Broadgate

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

However you feel about Valentine’s day we are aflame with books to fall in love with/by, and will always help you find "the one". As the sun lit the snow on the tops pink at shop closing this afternoon, we put together this little stack of #RecommendedReads on love and loving. #BookSky #Valentines

Book stack on low dry stone wall with shop with lit windows in front of snow-capped fells at dusk: Still Smitten: Short-Form Comics About Long-Term Love, Love In Exile, No & Other Love Stories, Heated Rivalry,The Romantic Poets, 44 Poems on Being With Each Other, Love Poems,Writers & Lovers, Stories for Lovers, In Love With Love.

setting sun lighting snow on fell tops behind the shop

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

A dusting of snow on the fells beyond the bookshop hustle and bustle.

Snow on the fells in Grasmere. A winter view down Broadgate with Sam Read's on the corner in the centre.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Celebrating paperback publication day for @mwcraven.bsky.social's #TheFinalVow with a visit and signing. Catch your signed Final Vows and selected backlist on the shelves whilst you can! #ChooseBookshops #IndieBookshops #CumbriaCulture #CumbriaCrime #BookSky

Mike Craven wearing a smart woollen pea coat and glasses on his head, signing The Final Vow and poe backlist in the bookshop

Mike Craven outside shop window wearing blue wool coat and red and white beanie hat, holding up paperback of The Final Vow.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

An eclectic longlist for the 2026 Women's Prize for non-fiction! @womensprize.bsky.social Take a look at the titles here... www.samreadbooks.co.uk/shop/women-s...

samreadbooks.co.uk

Sam Read Bookseller Online Shop

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

A top (withens) amount of Emily Brontë's #WutheringHeights selling from the bookshelves at present. Moody, passionate, and that's just the booksellers...

A stack of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights in three editions. On top is the latest film tie-in edition, followed by a Penguin English Library paperback and a Vintage Collectors Classic

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Always great to see so many browsers out and about in Grasmere this time of the year.

Herdwick sheep outside the bookshop with Heaton Cooper Studio and Silver Howe beyond.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

New paperback fiction on the bookshop table right now...

A stack of books on a wall with blue sky and fells beyond...
📚Grace Murray, Blank Canvas (Fig Tree)
📚Camille Bordas, One Sun Only (Serpent’s Tail)
📚Elaine Garvey, The Wardrobe Department (Canongate)
📚Nnedi Okorafor, Death of the Author (Gollancz)
📚Eowyn Ivey, Black Woods, Blue Sky (Tinder Press)
📚Kiyoshi Shigematsu, The Blanket Cats (Maclehose) tr. Jesse Kirkwood
📚Claire Lynch, A Family Matter (Vintage)
📚Aria Aber, Good Girl (Bloomsbury)
📚Ragnar Jonasson, The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer (Penguin)
📚Fredrik Backman, My Friends (Simon and Schuster) tr. Neil Smith
📚Various Authors, Stories for Lovers (British Library).

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, Grasmere is bathed in sunshine from dry stone wall to jackdaw wing.

The bookshop seen from the back of Moss Parrock with Butharlyp How and fells beyond. Blue sky above.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

A last glimpse of light in the Grasmere sky for 2025. Wishing you all a happy new year and we'll see you back in the bookshop on Friday 2nd January 2026 (doors open at 10am!)

Brightly lit bookshop windows and Broadgate House with dark sky and a hint of light blue beyond

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 28/12/2025

Our 20 top selling books at Sam Read's for 2025 look like this! Top 5 were: 1. Rory Stewart, Middleland 2. Polly Atkin, The Company of Owls HB 3. Esther Rutter, All Before Me 4. David Nicholls, You Are Here 5. Stephen G Rae, Folklore of the Lake District

A stack of books on the bookshop table, with bookshelves beyond. Top 20 books are: 1. Rory Stewart, Middleland (Jonathan Cape)
2. Polly Atkin, The Company of Owls (Elliott and Thompson) - in hardback
3. Esther Rutter, All Before Me (Granta)
4. David Nicholls, You Are Here (Sceptre)
5. Stephen G Rae, Folklore of the Lake District (Folklore Press)
6. James Rebanks, The Place of Tides (Penguin)
7. William Wordsworth, Selected Poems (Macmillan Collector's Library)
8. Robert Macfarlane, Is A River Alive? (Hamish Hamilton)
9. Alfred Wainwright, Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells: 70th Anniversary Edition Box Set (Quarto/Alfred Wainwright Books & Memorabilia)
10. Polly Atkin, The Company of Owls (Elliott and Thompson) - in paperback
11. Sarah Hall, Helm (Faber)
12. Jack Cornish, The Lost Paths (Penguin)
13. Elif Shafak, There Are Rivers in the Sky (Penguin)
14. Tracy Chevalier, The Glassmaker (The Borough Press)
15. Tom Chesshyre, Lost in the Lakes (Summersdale)
16. Samantha Harvey, Orbital (Vintage)
17. Kim Tillyer, Beginner's Guide to Cyanotype (Search Press)
18. Tiffany Francis-Baker, Concise Foraging Guide (Bloomsbury Wildlife)
19. Simon Armitage and Beth Munro (illustr.), Dwell (Faber) 
20. Ellie Wood, The Hotel at the Heart of the Lakes (HarperNorth)

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 27/12/2025

Morning sunshine in Grasmere on the third day of Christmas. Here for all your bookish wants and needs until 5pm.

Sunshine on the bookshop on College Street, and on Easedale Road and Helm Crag

Sunshine over Loughrigg, seen from Stock Lane

Sunshine on Silver Howe and on bare winter trees

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Swathed in sunshine in Grasmere on a calm and clear Christmas Eve

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

⭐🎄We're open on Christmas Eve until 5pm. From 4pm you can join in the carols on Moss Parrock and drift in for your last minute presents. After that, we'll be back open again on Saturday 27th December at 10am!🎄⭐

A view of the bookshop in the dark with dark blue sky and shadows of fells beyond a lit-up Broadgate House, with street lights and windows aglow.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Much needed sunshine on the bookshop corner on these short winter days.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

The bookshop's lighted windows and the bustle of Christmas book buying

Bright bookshop windows reflected on the wet road. Outline of a fell and street lamp beyond.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

The extraordinary sight of sun on bookshop!

broadgate, grasmere in bright winter afternoon sun, with the bookshop in the centre, and sunlit fells behind.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

Your bookshop-adjacent Grasmere heron content for today. Some ducks seemed to take a dim view of this.

Heron beside a stream with rushes behind. Two ducks in front, one giving a stern gaze to camera.

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Deborah Cole @decole.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Last year’s standout from my @samreadbookseller.bsky.social haul was @herdyshepherd.bsky.social #ThePlaceOfTides. This year’s is #TheCompanyOfOwls. We all DO need lights to follow. Thank you @pollyrowena.bsky.social

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

We don't condone favouritism, but if there was a more exciting bookshop encounter than @witchmountain.bsky.social had today when Bert the tawny owl and his domesticated humans came into the shop for their winter visit, pray do tell. We wonder what the tawny owls who live across the street thought?

A man in a camo jacket stands in the bookshop, holding up The Company of Owls by Polly Atkin while a tawny owl sitting on his shoulder sit above the book, looking pensively out.

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girlwiththemessyhair @girlwithmessyhair.bsky.social · 07/12/2025

Perfect day in Lakes yesterday. Shopping at Hawkshead Xmas market. Food at Chester’s by the River, then booking at @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

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Norman Hadley @normanhadley.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

In our algorithm-hammered world, what a delight to step into a proper, independent bookshop with a niche request ("Have you got a pictorial guide to cow breeds, simple as a Dorling Kindersley book, but for adults?") and get an unfazed, helpful and successful response. @samreadbookseller.bsky.social

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 29/11/2025

Squeezing out some of the last, and best, of the late autumn sunshine in Grasmere.

Blue sky above the bookshop with light and cloud and on the fells beyond. Looking down Broadgate from next to Moss Parrock in Grasmere.

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Congratulations to the 2025 Nero Fiction Award shortlistees!

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

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Sam Read Bookseller @samreadbookseller.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

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.

youtu.be

Rory Stewart in conversation with James Rebanks, discussing Rory's new book Middleland

YouTube video by Sam Read Bookseller

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