The signpost in Gairloch pointed to the Town Square and for want of any better destination we headed that way. Shortly we came upon two rather gaudy buildings next to a small car park. In any other setting I would probably have dismissed the idea that this was somewhere worth investigating: it was however 'the only game in town'.
We found our way in via the Coffee Company entrance and immediately the aroma held promise. On entering the book section the shelves of books were interspersed with cards quoting Orwell, Oscar Wilde and various other characters in that same vein.
I was not particularly in need of reading material having recently visited the excellent Cogito Books in Hexham where I came away with these four -
... more on those later.
The selection of books was very impressive and I came away with copies of Hiking with Nietzche and The Screaming Sky. It felt very refreshing so see a range of books that seemed to have been selected with real feling rather than the more usual 'best sellers'. And that 'real feeling' was very much in line with my own preferences and had a strong environmental and ethical leaning. We resolved to return later that day for an afternoon coffee and cake.
The plan for the day involved being outside walking while the rain held off and then repairing to sheltered places once the grey skies threatened. And so in advance of the coffee another browse of the books was just too tempting. This time I selected James O'Brien's How they Broke Britain - this is an author I haven't read but I had heard him in other media and so was receptive to the idea of dipping further into his material. I came away with In Search of one Last Song too in the interest of some balance in the direction of natural history.
These will all be reviewed in due course, as will the haul from Cogito.
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