The Haunted Bookshop [Paperback]

Christopher Morley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2000

A charming entertainment that captures the romance of books and bookshops.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

“When you sell a man a book,” says Roger Mifflin, protagonist of these classic bookselling novels, “you don’t sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glue — you sell him a whole new life.” The new life the itinerant bookman delivers to Helen McGill, the narrator of Parnassus on Wheels, provides the romantic comedy that drives the novel. Published in 1917, Morley’s Þrst love letter to the trafÞc in books remains a transporting entertainment. Its sequel, The Haunted Bookshop, Þnds Mifflin and McGill, now married, ensconced in Brooklyn. The novel’s rollicking plot provides ample doses of diversion, while allowing more room for Mifflin (and Morley) to expound on the intricacy of the bookseller’s art. Introduction by James Mustich, Jr.

Product Details

• Paperback: 265 pages
• Publisher: Akadine Press (March 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888173572
• ISBN-13: 978-1888173574
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,436,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful old-fashioned book about bookselling and reading, August 7, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Haunted Bookshop (Hardcover)

Usually the sequel is never as good as the original, but in this case, The Haunted Bookshop is even better than the first volume, Parnassus on Wheels. If you are a booklover, you will thoroughly enjoy both. This story is set in Brooklyn just after the close of WWI. The descriptions of the city made me feel like I was really there. The book is filled with observations about books and bookselling. Although the romance woven into the plot was somewhat sentimental, the book did have its serious side, and is stronger on plot than the first volume was. The bookseller and his wife are thoroughly enjoyable and likable people. It was really fun to read about city life early in the century, when milk wagons and bakery wagons still made deliveries, and apothecaries mixed prescriptions right on the premises instead of counting out pills from a bottle from the pharmaceutical company. This was a very refreshing book, and the observations it contained about reading have not gone out of date.

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the bibliophile in all of us, May 5, 2002

By 

Chelle "Chelle" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Haunted Bookshop (Paperback)

Okay, so I admit, the cover attracted me to the book. It wouldn't be the first time that this has happened. And the title was alluring(considering that I've worked in a bookstore for years upon years and now spend my working hours in a library, is it any wonder?) And so, The Haunted Bookshop and Parnassus on Wheels in hand, I made my way to a chair by a window and found comfort in Christopher Morley's words.

"Did you ever notice how books track you down and hunt you out?...it follows you and follows you and drives you into a corner and makes you read it...Words cannot describe the cunning of some books."

That was all it took, all the motivation I needed, to buy the book. The story itself kept me reading. Roger Mifflin, owner of "the haunted bookshop," is a man after my own heart. Some may find him a bit stuffy, perhaps just a tad bit pretentious(though charmingly so)in nature, but he's a man that knows the importance of books. In fact, he can choose the perfect book for a customer just by looking at him. Now that's a talent I'd like to have.

Besides all of the book loving goin' on, the novel is peopled with charming characters, all trying to solve a mystery between reading and taking out the Mifflin's dog. The mystery is a little slow going at first, but soon after, as things fall into place, it becomes quite the page turner.

All in all, a lovely book that any bibliophile will treasure.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Booksellers Bible, September 7, 2002

By 

Susannah (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Haunted Bookshop (Hardcover)

It's been years since I read The Haunted Bookshop, but it's one of those books that really stays with you. The proprietor of the bookshop has the proper attitude about selling books and has the sign posted right up on his wall: "We sell no fakes or trashes." I first read the book when I was in 9th grade, and remember thinking wistfully that I would love to visit the Haunted Bookshop. To my immense delight, I've discovered a few over the years, where I've made wonderful finds I never would have discovered at [local stores]. When you run across one of these bookstores, they are a joy to remember forever.