Bookshops reflect the community

We walked through a deluge to be rescued with tea in a bilingual book haven, piled into tiny bookshops, soaked up an ad hoc presentation on the history of printing, marvelled at artists' books, met comics authors and stood on Mount Everest browsing maps. Recommendations were shared and lots of laughs.

It's been a year since the first Bluestocking bookshops tour and I've introduced hundreds of people to curated selections of London's best bookshops. Each tour is an eclectic mix. Visited in quick succession, the bookshops create a collage of the area, its aspirations and past.

Grateful thanks to all the booksellers interviewed, the bookshops visited and the inspiring, excited readers who are the reason these tours exist.

During the next year Bluestocking Books will add new itineraries, including the Soho to St. James tour on 17 November and the soon-to-be-scheduled Hackney tour.

The Charing Cross tour, Shoreditch and Brick Lane tour and Bloomsbury tour will be on offer as well. If you've been on a bookshops walk and didn't write a review on TripAdvisor or Facebook, please do so as a special birthday present.

Suggestions and requests are invited to help plan the next year, just send an email