You Love to Read? Here’s the Bookstore That you Must Visit Around the World

Reading a printed book is still one of the simplest pleasures: it trains attention, opens the imagination and gives us a reason to visit real bookshops rather than buying everything online.

As Dr. Seuss famously wrote, "The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go."

So all that remains is to go out, choose the next book and perhaps get lost in one of these extraordinary bookstores and libraries around the world.

Yangzhou Zhongshuge. Yangzhou, China

Yangzhou Zhongshuge uses water, arches and reflection as the basis of its atmosphere. Designed by XL-MUSE, the bookshop evokes the city’s canals and bridges through mirrored floors, flowing shelves and soft light. The result is a dreamlike passage through books, with a dedicated area for children as well.

Book Mountain. Spijkenisse, Netherlands

Book Mountain, designed by MVRDV, is a 9,300-square-meter library on the market square in Spijkenisse. Its pyramidal form and transparent envelope turn the building into a public invitation to read. In addition to the library, it includes an environmental education center, a chess club, an auditorium, meeting rooms, offices and shops.

Panta Rhei & Café Dias. Bratislava, Slovakia

Panta Rhei is a well-known bookstore in Bratislava, and Café Dias adds to its literary atmosphere. Designed by at26, the space uses clear lines, modular shelving and a gentle division between bookshop and café. The children’s area is arranged as a playful landscape for reading, learning and imagination.

soda.BERLIN. Berlin, Germany

soda.BERLIN is a bookstore devoted to visual culture in the heart of Berlin. Designed by Designliga, it is small but focused, with a minimal interior that lets books, magazines and visual references take center stage.

Biblioteca Can Manyer. Vilassar de Dalt, Spain

Biblioteca Can Manyer, by DFT Arquitectos, occupies a former nineteenth-century textile factory. The project preserves the memory of the old industrial building through its columns, Catalan vaults, timber beams and selected machinery, while adding a bright, cheerful public library with beautiful colored tile floors.