From BookRiot:
If you’ve ever heard the phrase “book town” and thought it was just a cutesy name for a place, then you’ll be pleased and/or surprised to hear that book towns are real, true destinations.
. . . .
A book town is defined, loosely, as a small town or village that is home to a large number of bookstores. The bookstores are primarily used and/or antiquarian, and many of these book towns play host to book lovers who travel to see them and experience a quaint world of book shops upon book shops. There are a few dozen designated book towns throughout the world, and some of them even host their own literary festivals, making a perfect reason for a trip or two.
. . . .
Hay-on-Wye, Wales
This might be one of the best-known book towns. It’s been featured around the internet and caught the attention of many a book lover on Tumblr. Hay-on-Wye is Wale’s national book town and plays host to the annual Hay Festival. This year’s Hay Festival — celebrating its thirtieth year — kicks off on May 27, and information about the event can be found here.
Fun fact: Jasper Fford, author of the “Thursday Next” series, is from Hay-on-Wye. Seems fitting!
. . . .
Stillwater, Minnesota
Did you know that the USA boasts its own book town? Located on the St. Croix River and an hour or so from the Twin Cities, Sillwater was America’s first official town to earn the distinction. Pictured above is the Loome Bookstore, which is one of five in town. Though there aren’t as many bookstores as some of the other book towns around the world, the focal point is the sheer number of antiquarian books available for sale.
. . . .
St. Martins, New Brunswick, Canada
With almost a dozen booksellers in this small, picturesque Canadian town, St Martins is a relative newcomer to the “book town” distinction, earning the title in 2007. St. Martins is a tiny town with just over 300 residents, so the proportion of books to people is pretty outstanding.
This isn’t Canada’s first or only book town. Sidney, British Columbia, also boasts the title, though the population and book ratio is a little different.
Link to the rest at BookRiot
Sounds too much like that ‘super mall’ states away that I will never visit because I have no other reason to travel there.
With the web at my fingertips ‘where’ something is matters not a bit (though they’ll not get many visits if their webpages aren’t friendly.)