Although the front part of this former record shop is now the Art of Tea, the Didsbury Village…read moreBookshop still remains in the back room! It's a great little shop that's crowded with endless rows of bookcases, each holding a huge variety of secondhand and collectable titles, including lots of coveted vintage Penguin paperbacks! For some reason, the shop also does a great line in books about classic Hollywood icons. I've picked up everything from straightforward biographies of Clara Bow and Jean Harlow to a slightly odd biography of Jayne Mansfield written by her psychic here! The prices aren't cheap at around £2 6 per book. But there really are some great one-off titles here that you'd struggle to find elsewhere. The man who works here is very chatty and will happily recommend titles to you. His mind seems to function like a human stock control system, too. So he can usually tell you whether or not there's a particular book in stock, saving you hours of rifling through the shelves!

Fantastic second hand book store at the back of the Art of Tea. Literally crammed floor to ceiling…read morewith books of all descriptions and in the type of environment perfect for rummaging through old books, especially when you have a couple of hours spare. This shop is situated directly behind the Art of Tea as part of a four piece (alongside zero and the Picture framing service) avant garde nod to commercial shopping. The perfect one stop shop for your creative needs and caffeine addled brains. Have a good rummage through the countless number of books (thankfully listed by style and subject matter) then pop next door to grab a brew and purvey your literary acquisition. I found a bargain on a Stanley Kubrick hardback perfect condition and sold for a very good price considering it's quality. This part of Didsbury Village is slowly but surely re emerging from years in the wilderness and this type of book shop is exactly the type of thing Didsbury currently needs.

This is the only shop in Chorlton that sells brand new books. Although the bars on the windows…read moredon't entice you into this bookshop, I would advice you to go in and have a browse. Although this is quite a small store they manage to pack quite a lot in, including a range of current and classic novels. These are shelved around the edge of the front room, and in the middle there is a table with many discounted books ranging from travel guides to recipe books. In the back room there are non-fiction books including foreign language books and dictionaries. The staff are really friendly, and if they don't have the book you're looking for then they can order it for you. They also have a gift wrapping service, and a great selection of arty cards including ones with Quentin Blake illustrations which I love. Let's hope that the giants of Amazon and co. do not force this lovely traditional bookshop out of business.

Toni Morrison Alice Walker…read moreJeanette Winterson Angela Carter Raymond Carter Richard Yates Cormac McCarthy Annie Proulx Carson McCullers It might be smaller than the travel section of Waterstones but Chorlton Bookshop is a lovely independent bookshop stocked with fine fiction and poetry. I've only visited half a dozen or so times but the fact I've never left empty-handed speaks volumes about the owner's selection. As well as a lots of classic British and American fiction, there's a strong, wee selection of African-American fiction, womens fiction, crime noir and books by critically acclaimed local authors. If I remember rightly, it was Chorlton Bookshop where I bought a copy of Jackie Kay's excellent debut novel Trumpet many moons ago. Since then, the Chorlton based author has produced some compelling books of poetry and short stories but I'm still holding out for her second novel. C'mon, Jackie! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiEyuJTyAlI

This is what book shops are about. there is a severe lack of old style book shops and being able…read moretio rummage on a shelf as opposed to knowing what your going in there for. Great selection and very helpful man who was working there.

My favourite bookshop by far! & Recommend to anyone looking for the nostalgic, truly serene…read moreexperience & pleasure of browsing in a book shop that only book-lovers and Literary minded people know and can delight in! Or ANYONE, looking for just about any genre of Books for any age to buy as gifts or for oneself, will find something or other they will be pleased to purchase! & What a wealth of books & happy experience of a bookshop !..that transports you back in time of recent decades.. thanks to its cosy, quiet & instantly welcoming, homely feel to it & above all, the polite, courteous & v. helpful staff to complete the bookshop's excellence! & reputation known, that we all maintain in our hearts well :) ! I have been going to this bookshop since almost twenty one years, :) when my Two Children, were only under five n half yrs of age. Thank you & Congrats!! to E.J Morten bookshop for being the Best !

I love Bookline. It's one of those shops that's remained faithful to its patrons, seeing through…read moredecades of change on the high street to keep delivering a personal touch to one's book-buying. The owner is so incredibly helpful and has made this shop his passion over the years. Inside, the weathered sign and small shop front belies the size of the store. It's a veritable tardis, with sections on just about everything: art, fiction, history, home and garden, languages, reference, travel. Everything you'd expect from a larger chain. It's sad to hear that sooner or later the owner will be retiring from the business, I just hope that it isn't the end for Bookline. Support your local stores!!

this is one of the cutest thrift stores I have been in and I love the fact that they had a whole…read morebookstore on the other side separated between the clothes and HomeGoods, 10/10

Another day, another Oxfam, and another Oxfam that is 100% defined by its location. In this case,…read moreDidsbury. Home of the well-dressed, the well-heeled and the well-read. This wee shop takes in a normal Oxfam and an Oxfamm bookshop, and is jolly well stocked on all counts. To the bookshop first, which has a great window display of signed first editions. None of them hugely lucrative or historically important, but still pretty cool. Inside, the sections are clearly demarcated and all well stocked and, more importantly, alphabetised. The crime/thriller section is, as in all charity shops everywhere amen, very good; full of your latest Cornwells, McDermids, Ludlums and whathaveyou, as well as a brand new Charlaine Harris box set for £15 (the True Blood books, to the uninitiated). The general fiction section, too, is well-stocked, and te Literature section is modest but respectable. In glass cases around the place you will find rarer and older books, including an early edition of Pride and Prej for £100; nice if you're a wealthy person with an Austen habit. The other side, selling the usual second hand bric a brac and fairtrade shizzle, is solidly good, carrying a lot of Topshop, Pringle and Coast clothes, and a lot of jolly nice smart menswear. The homeware and bric-a-brac section is pleasingly mad. Wine glasses sit beside ugly china tat and Chinese urns. This Oxfam has a very convenient drop-off point; a well-manned back room that will happily take your bags of stuff, and help you to 'tag your bag' so that Oxfam can claim Giftaid on all the stuff they sell. Oxfam Didsbury; a better class of customer, and a better class of second hand stuff.

This lovely book shop is soon to be closed down due to building work…read more Inside it as all the usually students books autobiograhys and even childrens book. Theres a place to sit and read before you buy and a starbucks coffee shop and even toilets( a first) staff are knowledgeable and very pleasent . didnt buy anything this time but had my eye on a beatles lyric book for a christmas gift so that was good !

As an English Literature student I literally have to guzzle my way through books and so, when I…read morehaven't planned ahead and ordered my pre-term shelf full on Amazon, Blackwell becomes a weekly port of call. This particular branch is situated within the slightly defunct University Shopping Precinct and consists of three floors of academia alongside your more mainstream reads and children's books. I love the fact that you can purchase a copy of 'Hamlet' on the ground floor and then traverse to the top floor to obtain your very own 'Yorrick' model skull from the Medical section. (They also have a really fun selection of pens concealed as syringes, spines and finger bones up here which make great gifts for children.) There is a lovely little café always heaving with intellectuals and there are well positioned sofas for moments of seated contemplation. If you sign up for a Blackwell loyalty card you'll earn one point for every pound you spend within the store and when you've collected one hundred points you'll receive a five pound voucher. It's not the most generous loyalty scheme I've ever encountered but beats being poked in the eye with a burnt stick, eh?

I had a badly paid temp job in a call centre just before Christmas. Desperate times call for…read moredesperate measures. In mid-November I decided to have a look around Chorlton to see if I could find any inspiration for Christmas presents. I am not a typical girl as I hate shopping, but book shopping doesn't count as shopping so I naturally gravitated towards Oxfam Books, one of Chorlton's two bookshops. I came out 79p worse off and tried to shove the foreign children's book I had purchased into my pocket in case I bumped into anyone I knew and aroused suspicion. When I arrived home safely I carefully set about rubbing out the price in the front cover without leaving any smudges. Christmas Day: Me: Merry Christmas sis. Sister: Wow! 'Snow White' in Dutch. That's amazing. So thoughtful! Me: Glad you like it sis. Mum: Go on then, read us some. Sister: (starts to read aloud in Dutch) Mum: That's brilliant. Where did you get it from, Kirsten? The Internet? Me: *cough* Oxfam Books *cough* Alongside obscure foreign books Oxfam Books also sell a range of novels, travel guides and reference books. They are currently accepting donations, so when I get round to having a spring clean I will donate my old books and maybe replace them with some new ones. Well, they'll look new once I've rubbed out the prices!

After a copy of Zadie Smith's White Teeth? How about Toni…read moreMorrison's Paradise or Marilynne Robinson's Home? Step this way then.... Nestled amidst charity shops, cafes and green grocers, Oxfam Books is a small store packed floor to ceiling with great secondhand books, CDs and vinyl. As it's in deepest, suburban Chorlton, its a fabulous place to pick up copies of recent paper and hardback fiction. There's also a strong selection of literary classics, African-American fiction, gay and lesbian fiction, biographies and reference books. Go by all means but leave the Raymond Carver books for me please!

Amazing place that accepts you for being you. *Warning* @ Social Refuge where they treat you…read moredifferently if your not like them. I visited this coffee shop recently and left feeling pretty uncomfortable with how I was treated. From the moment I ordered, the staff came across as dismissive and noticeably colder toward me compared to other customers around me. There were a few interactions that felt unnecessarily sharp, and it gave the impression that I wasn't particularly welcome there. I want to be fair, but as a straight customer, the difference in tone and attitude didn't go unnoticed. Whether intentional or not, it made the experience feel exclusionary rather than inclusive. It's a shame because the space itself has a lot of personality, but the service made it hard to enjoy. I'd hope they work on creating a more welcoming environment for everyone.

I get the irony by starting with the quote "don't judge a book by its cover" but tbh this is…read moreexactly what I've been doing every time I've walked past this place in the past few months... Whether it was because the area of town is a bit random, the building a bit unattractive and me thinking it was more of a bookshop - something just seemed to be putting me off. But today in my meeting with Matt F we decided to give it a go and what a great decision it was! First off this place is huge and a labyrinth once inside - one half hipster bookshop, the other half cool cafe with a real nod to health (check out the menu on my pics). A really lovely environment with working fountain and a variety of places to sit. The food was excellent too - my breakfast pancakes were probably the best I've had in Manchester so far which is saying something. Quick note that they don't do sides - at one stage I thought I was going to turn into Jack Nicholson in '5 Easy Pieces' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8 but thankfully the guy sorted us out with a side of toast after I asked nicely...repeatedly... Very friendly staff, great venue. I'll be back soon to work/eat/drink coffee/read a book - or all at the same time!