The Red Book Shop

The Red Book Shop is situated on London Road, five minutes walk from Trongate. I’d never heard of this place before I saw it today, lucky since I was just passing and would’ve missed it had I gone on my usual route to the Barras.
It’s small and apparently only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday but it’s worth checking it out if you’re looking for some studying material (especially if you’re into your politics, which I’ll get to later). Each bookshelf is well ordered and split into sections so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for if you’re in a hurry. It’s very well priced and I can imagine it being interesting for book collectors as many of the novels and theory books looked like they were at least 50 years old (great for nostalgia). The books looked in good enough second hand condition, and sometimes it’s nice to buy a yellowing, well fingered read, anyway. Shows the book’s had more than just a shelf life.
The shop also has a collection of political activist T shirts on offer, of a socialist nature. I know statments made on similar T-​shirts have been consistently popular amongst fashion conscious students but these ones are especially designed to convey politial messages.
I picked up 3 books; one of which was Sense and Sensibility with a gorgeous, well adorned hardback 70s cover. It was what attracted me to it and it didn’t escape the attention of the shop owner, who without me having to say began educating me on the style of cover art from that era. The two guys who were in were full of friendly banter and I got 3 books for 3 pounds so I was a happy customer.
A lot of the books were political commentaries, and I got the impression the shop was aimed towards people interested in socialist theory (hence the ‘Red’ in the shop title), but it’s not all it’s got to offer and so is worth a gander. The emphasis this shop seems to be on ideas and intelligent reading. Be your purpose here be political, on a quest for learning materials or just for kicks, you won’t be disappointed (and on a superficial level, it’s worth going in just to get a sniff of that delicious old book smell).