26 bookstores every book lover must visit in their lifetime

The original Shakespeare & Company  on Paris' Left Bank was a hangout for Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, and James Joyce, but closed during World War II. 

The store re-opened in 1951 and has become a popular favorite because of its ambiance and selection. 

"Time has not sundered the love-in between literature and Paris's Left Bank," writes Time. "The Shakespeare and Company bookstore has long been a fixture of the affair."

Novelist Ann Patchett and her friend Karen Hayes opened Parnassus Books in 2011 to fight the tide of closing independent bookstores. In the time since, it's become an integral part of the Nashville literary community.

Since then, the bookstore's been a smashing success. She even took an idea from food trucks and has a book truck traveling around the city.

"People still want books; I’ve got the numbers to prove it," Patchett wrote in The Atlantic. "I imagine they remember the bookstores of their youth as tenderly as I remember mine. They are lined up outside most mornings when we open our doors, because, I think, they have learned through this journey we’ve all been on that the lowest price does not always represent the best value."

The Brussels bookstore is split into eight different sections. Each one sells different kinds of books or CDs, and they also have their own atmosphere and a matching lunch and dinner space.

"The most impressive space of them all is the literature space: above your head hang no less than 800 books, a genuine literary ceiling," writes I Love Belgium. "It's in this luxurious black room that you'll find Acqua Di Parma fragrances, customized motorcycle helmets, champagne bottles, book holders, pocket lamps, delicious chocolate and a whole lot of literature books."

This bookstore features classic volumes of American and Italian books packed in traditional Venetian gondola boats. The show-stopping attraction is the back of the bookstore, which opens up to a beautiful canal.

“It’s a bookshop right on the canal that floods every year, so the eccentric, stray-cat-adopting owner keeps his books in boats, bathtubs and a disused gondola to protect them,” writes Paris Review. 

The store is also lauded for its extensive art and postcard collections. 

The Mysterious Bookshop was founded by mystery writer and editor Otto Penzler. Instead of having a wide breadth of books, it focuses on depth: it's entirely mystery-themed.

The bookstore boasts the largest Sherlock Holmes collection in the world and has every thriller, noir, or detective novel you can think of.

"When I came back to New York [from college] I just wanted to read for fun. I didn't want to read any more James Joyce, I didn't want to read any more Russian novelists or T.S. Eliot or Ezra Pound. So I started reading mysteries, which I had never read as a kid, oddly enough," Penzler told The New York Daily News.

He eventually became the world's leading expert on mystery literature, and ended up opening a shop dedicated to the genre.

This bookstore and cafe has ample greenery inside. 

"At once bar, cafe and bookstore, the Cafebreria El Pendulo offers a well air conditioned abode for reading and lounging, and living plants decorate the interior," The Huffington Post writes. 

This epic bookstore is a converted Dominican church from the 13th century. The building was left in neglect for most of the past two centuries, but was finally fixed up and converted into a bookstore about ten years ago. The serene alcoves of the church now serve as reading nooks. 

"A superb example of adaptive re-use, the Selexyz Dominicanen infuses rich and historic architecture with plentiful shelves ripe with information," writes Diane Pham at inhabitant.com. 

If an author is famous in the United States, chances are, they've done a reading at BookCourt. If they're famous in another country, there's a good chance they've spoken at BookCourt anyway. The bookstore is famous for hosting a lot of writers (it's in Brooklyn, so it makes sense) and for integrating itself into the community. It's essential for every literature-lover.

This gorgeous, 100-year-old bookstore is known for its stunning architecture and "stairway to heaven." 

"Once inside, there is the curvaceous red stairway connecting the two levels (inspired on the Parisian Galleries Lafayette), the heavily decorated walls and ceilings, and the magnificent stained-glass skylight with Lello’s motto vecus in labore will no doubt impress you," one visitor writes on bookstoreguide.org. 

The Last Bookstore's winding, colorful bookshelves has given it a reputation of being the loveliest bookstore in Los Angeles.

"It has grown since then to 22,000 square feet, a softly lit labyrinthine collection of books and records, with space for literary, musical and theatrical events," The Guardian wrote. "Visiting the mezzanine level, browsers are greeted by hanging books, suspended in flight as they erupt from a bookcase."

In addition to hosting a huge array of books in a repurposed fabric factory space, Ler Devagar is a center for cultural events in Lisbon's arts sector.

"Ler Devagar keeps a busy schedule of cultural activities that can take place in any location of the store," according to Portugal Confidential. "Concerts, plays, performance artists and art exhibitions add to the excitement of Ler Devagar, and keep you coming back time and again."

This former car dealership takes up an entire city block and boasts more than 1 million titles. 

"The sixty-eight-thousand-square-foot space is divided into nine color-coded rooms, which together house more than 3,500 sections," writes Poets & Writers. "From the moment you walk in, it feels as if you could find anything there."

Craig Walzer and Oliver Wise, two young Americans vacationing in Santorini, couldn't find anything to read in English. So they made their own bookstore.

"Atlantis’s bookshelves, which the staff built themselves, are filled with novels, poetry, short-story collections, biographies and philosophy tomes," Joanna Kakissis wrote in The New York Times. "The staff is happy to advise on their favorites — Mr. Bloomfield is a serious fan of Robertson Davies, the Canadian writer, while Maria Papagapiou, another young staff member, loves Panos Karnezis, the Greek-born Londoner."

The front door of Livraria de Vila is made of revolving bookcases. And that's just the entrance. Once you get inside, you'll notice books on every surface: on shelves from floor to ceiling, on nooks and crannies, and even on shelves carved into holes between each floor.

The Bookworm is both a lending library and a bookstore with a ridiculously expansive collection. There's also a gourmet European cafe on the premises. 

"We love this Beijing spot when we're craving a double-dose of intellectual stimulation and decent café food. Thousands of English-language books fill the shelves and may be borrowed for a fee or read inside. New books and magazines are also for sale," writes Fodor's Travel. 

This Miami-area bookstore is especially known for its great selection of art titles and is housed in a stunning building from the 1920's. 

"No local author considers himself “made” until he’s read at Books & Books, and no lit-minded visitor considers a vacation complete until he’s browsed for autographed stock in at least one of the stores," CBS Local writes, adding that the store has constant special events. 

This East Village retailer boasts its famous "18 miles of books." It's a New York City landmark.

"There's still the unique thrill of finding a copy of The Grapes of Wrath once belonging to the Rikers Correctional Library in their 49-cent bin," writes Gothamist. 

This bookstore in the nation's Capitol is best-known for its amazing line-up of speakers. Past guests have included J.K. Rowling and Bill Clinton. It's also known for President Obama's annual visit on Small Business Saturday, where he shows off the books he plans to read on the next year.

"Priding itself on its well-read staff and inside-the-Beltway speakers, this bookstore dating to 1984 makes its home in a nondescript neighborhood north of the Van Ness metro," writes Travel & Leisure. "Politics and Prose combines impressive on-site inventory with a pleasant downstairs cafe."

Bart's books is the largest outdoor bookstore in the world, and is situated in a picturesque town in Southern California. 

"Bart’s Books is a beautiful outdoor bookstore where you can sip lemonade in the courtyard surrounded by a maze of bookshelves, play a game of chess in the shade or read a short story under the apple tree," writes travel and lifestyle blogger Messy Nessy Chic. 

This shop used to be a train station, and miniature trains still go around the shelves. The architecture, which includes rounded ceilings and decorative lighting, is stunning. 

"The books range from such categories as paperback and fiction, poetry and plays, history, philosophy or women studies to crime, biography, business and economics and even such topics as transport, maritime, gardening, needlework, etc.," according to bookstoreguide.org.

"Barter Books also has open fires in the winter, a station buffet with a menu made up of home-made and/or locally sourced food (both hot and cold) and specialty coffees and teas, and a children's room filled with toys," according to the guide. 

Tucked away off of Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street, the used bookstore Sefer Ve Sefel offers a dizzying array of English-language books for a shop in the Middle East. There's an outdoor balcony filled with books and then multiple levels indoors, where the store offers everything from dime-a-dozen sci-fi to complicated works of Jewish philosophy.

This bookstore is next door to the University of Iowa's famous Writer's Workshop, a program with famous alums including Kurt Vonnegut. 

"Owned by a pair of poets, the shop features 40,000 titles leaning heavily toward fiction, travel, children’s, and—no surprise—poetry," writes Travel & Leisure magazine.

John K. King houses more than a million books in an abandoned glove factory in Detroit's industrial backlot.

"Cardboard signs, musty paperback aromas, and a hand-scrawled map out of a Wes Anderson panic attack are your only tour guides as you lose track of time and the person you came with," writes Megan Cytron at Trazzler.

This eclectic bookstore is known for its indie vibes and knowledgable staff.  It's also a hub for famous authors' readings and book signings. 

"Despite its size, Boulder Bookstore has the feel of that around-the-corner gathering place that is a favorite to frequent, linger, read, visit and shop," writes CBS Denver. 

Authors who have visited in the past include Christopher Moore, Joyce Carol Oates, Deepak Chopra, Garrison Keillor, Jon Krakauer, Mitch Albom, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Prachett, and Sherman Alexie.

Founded in 1903, the flagship Charing Cross Road location of Foyles has more than 200,000 different titles. It even includes a huge auditorium for events.