I have to give a major shout out to Paramount Books - a fantastic independent bookstore nestled in…read morethe sometimes overlooked and forgotten Shudehill area of town. Ok so there may be a million KFC ripoff takeaways and a few random shops that have seen better days around it but Paramount stands out as a well looked after 2nd hand book store with loads of character! I was pulled in on a wet and windy Monday by their comic book sale - in fact there's a whole area in the back dedicated to rare comics and graphic novels (fantastic selection) - inside there's a fantastic selection covering everything from music and film to politics, history and philosophy - really good to browse and possible pick up a tome to take home (wow that rhymes...) The best part of this place is the owner who basically is exactly what you'd be looking for if casting this place in a Hollywood movie. With glasses dangling from his neck and a scholarly look as he sorts the shelves - the classical music in the background makes you really feel what a unique place this is in the world of chain stores and amazon. Make sure you check out Paramount soon and enjoy a slip back into yesteryear!

Thank the lord for Paramount Book Exchange…read more One of the few independent bookshops left in Manchester, it's a strictly DIY affair run by a genuine book lover. The sign outside suggests it's only open Fridays and Saturdays but it's usually open Monday to Saturday unless the owner has popped out for something. The lively window displays give a great indicator of what's in store with stacks of new, vintage and secondhand books everywhere. Fans of cult fiction, sci-fi, horror, crime noir, queer fiction, biographies and pop culture will find much to treasure here as the stock leans more towards William Burroughs, Poppy Z Brite and Neil Gaiman than Harry Potter. There's also a small selection of 60s-90s vinyl for crate diggers. All they need is a coffee machine and I'd happily move in!

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

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.

As a book lover, I saw this shop and ran inside. The smell of old books and leather was almost too…read moremuch to bear. I got all excited like a child in a sweet shop, wandering what I could possibly find here. It is only small but let me assure you that you can spend hours in here. They have old version of Pride and Prejudice and even some Winnie the Pooh books. In Tameside, it is rare to find book stores like these as there is only WH Smith around. So this is a great find. I love this place. So go and have a look at what surprises you may find.

One of the most impressive bookstores I have seen through my travel around many cities in the world.read more

This Waterstones is one of two branches in the city center of Manchester, and is probably the…read morebetter branch out of the two, beating the Manchester Arndale branch which is both smaller and busier than this one, located on Deansgate fairly close to St Anne's Square and Market Street, opposite House Of Fraser, or as it's known to locals, Kendals. This store seems to have more of a vintage vibe, more old than new but still the vibe is quite nice for a bookshop, and they did have a selection of books. The store is set over several floors, as I recall there were 3 floors with lift access, in a rather old looking lift, which didn't look very pleasant and escalators available, and there was also a nice store guide to say what is on which floor, which was helpful. The layout of the books also seemed a lot nicer than some Waterstones stores I have visited, pricing seemed reasonable at most RRP prices, but still every book I noticed, was near enough all cheaper on Amazon, especially with delivery charges, which is one thing Waterstones needs to compete with. I'd normally come to Waterstones to take a look, and a read of books without buying, and buying what I like on Amazon, although I'm sure most people use Waterstones as a library, my friend even previously got banned from the Arndale store, for going in every week store, and just sitting in there from open to close, and reading books, without buying, so don't do it too much! There wasn't a lot of staff here I noticed, other than the tills, it would have been useful to see a few staff dotted around then, especially on the main floor, I think is called "Ground" where customers enter and exit the store onto Deansgate. This store is quite a nice Waterstones store and is a very large size and deserves a solid 3 stars, albeit sadly I feel I can't go any higher due to issues with the distribution of staff, pricing not being competitive with retailers such as Amazon and the lift looking something from Victorian Britain.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a bookworm? And I like markets? That would make this pretty darn…read moreperfect then wouldn't it. St. Ann's Square, that perfect little spot for the quaint and quirky stalls making up markets of Christmas, flowers, art, food and fashion, is also home every now and again to an exchange of literature. I'm afraid there aren't any definite dates, you simply need to find out when the book market is on from the website. Keeping track of Manchester magazines like Large and CityLife will help with this. (We don't talk about Manchester Confidential any more.) As we all know second hand books can be cheap as chips, and this is your opportunity to grab some rare and unusual reads. Come here for something to take on your next holiday or if you're stuck for a subject to write an essay on. There's plenty to choose from, and I don't know about you but for me there's just something about books which have already been read several times that makes them all the more special. It was here that I managed to get a first edition copy of a Victorian novel I was including in my thesis, which is probably worth a fair bit of money now. Literary nest eggs. Now there's a concept I'll happily get on board with.

Fantastic place. I'm from London but I've spent the last four or five years living in Manchester…read more People are forever asking me what I think of Manchester, and I always say that its got everything. One of the few things it really lacks though, is second hand bookshops. Browsing the second hand bookshops in London is a great day-trip in itself, but in Manchester you rarely find a good second hand book, let alone a place with a good number worth looking at. I should mention The Art of Tea in Didsbury here, which is probably the only exception to the rule, apart from Manchester Book Market. I study English literature so you can imagine this is pretty close to my heart. Not only can you get rare books for good prices here, but they genuinely have a wide selection so if it's a classic you're after then you've a good chance of picking it up for a couple of squids. They've usually got all Dickens (who could want anything more) as well as plenty of other classic works. Spend £10-£20 quid and get yourself half a dozen quality books. Plus some great editions. I too picked up a gem in a colour-illustrated copy of Oliver Twist.

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 !

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?

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!

It may be a little off the beaten track (a good few minutes of deviation from the Oxford Road…read morecorridor anyway) but this place is absolutely worth the venture. Located on an industrial estate and looking from the outside like a carpet warehouse, Sharston Books is a trove of bibliographic marvels. There are books on any and every subject, bulging from shelves and crammed into creaking cases. From nasty yellow exploitation paperbacks (see the conspiracy section featuring titles like 'Genesis Revisited' and 'Tunguska - Cauldron of Hell!') to Everyman Library first edition folios; from travel guidebooks to military histories. There are so many books here that they spill out from the shop proper and fill giant green shipping crates in the car park outside. There is hours of browsing fun to be had here. The books themselves are reasonably priced (for example cook books cost about £3-£4, paperback fiction can be less than this) but the shop can't compete with the value for money of Oxfam et al, (there is a photocopied newspaper article attesting to this pinned to one of the bookshelves). Where Sharston Books really succeeds is in offering excellent customer service - as well as offering a wide selection of books the proprietors also run a no obligation finding service where, at customer request, they will attempt to track down and purchase a copy of that rare or special book. Really Excellent.

When you first arrive you may well think you have gone to the wrong place. It is not a conventional…read morebookshop but rather a huge warehouse on a small industrial estate. Another bit of advice is wrap up well! it is the sort of place you will want to linger at but it is NOT what you would call warm!!(freezing in fact!) There are books as far as the eye can see loads of nooks and crannies. Loads of secondhand stuff although they do seem to have a lot more new stuff now. It is very unusual with some truly awful prints and pictures also for sale (although why anybody would want to??????) There are loads of magazines. I was delighted to get a bundle of out of print magazines a couple of visits ago. The only disappointing thing is that the prices have risen significantly, although it still does have bargains. You will pay more than you would at a charity shop. It is still worth a visit provided you are well wrapped up! If you are looking for unusual or old books this is a great place to start your search.