Keen to broaden your literary horizons for 2025?
Topping & Company’s Coffee with a Bookseller experience is one way to inject some variety into your book choices.
Readers probably won’t be surprised to learn that I love books. Words, language and stories have always been important to me.
Recently however, I realised that when I reach for a new novel I tend to stick to something safe. Like many people I return to books written by a few authors whose work I know I will love.
With limited free ‘reading time’ available, I have been veering towards the dependable. I don’t want to take a risk on something I might not like.
Coffee with a Bookseller
So when I heard about Topping & Company’s Coffee with a Bookseller sessions, I jumped at the chance to pick the brains of some fellow book lovers.
We are spoilt for choice when it comes to bookshops in St Andrews. Waterstones has been a reassuring presence on Market Street for decades.
A wander further along to the cobbled end of the street, the quirky Bouquiniste has been selling second hand and antiquarian books since 1982.
A relative new kid on the block, Toppings opened its doors on Greyfriars Garden in 2014 and has been a destination for book fans ever since.
Customers love the inviting lighting, the floor to ceiling bookshelves and the stacked tables and nooks and crannies.
Most of all we love the library-style ladders and the friendly staff who offer tea or coffee to enjoy while we soak up the bookish atmosphere.
A cosy St Andrews destination for a cold day
I arrive at Toppings on a freezing January morning, delighted to be heading into the cosy shop. I walk past a welcoming wood-burning stove and find a nook all set up for my book chat.
Coffee and biscuits arrive along with a few glasses of water and some general chat about notebooks. I think I’m going to enjoy this.
The first part of the experience is led by Jen Thomas, a film and philosophy student who works part-time as a bookseller. She tells me a little bit about the idea behind Coffee with a Bookseller: “I actually did one myself before I started working here,” she enthuses. “My mum got it for me for Christmas and I left with a huge pile of books!”
Toppings St Andrews sessions tailored to each reader
The idea of offering a bespoke session came about, Jen explains: “because people come in and ask for recommendations but we, or they, don’t always have time to give in-depth advice.
“When they get in touch for Coffee with a Bookseller, we ask them to let us know what authors and genres they enjoy reading. We also want to know whether there is anything they would like to avoid.”
That information allows the whole team of 18 booksellers to pitch in with ideas.
“It’s nice because we all read differently,” Jen comments. “We have read different things and have different areas of interest. It’s a nice team effort.”
When I sit down with Jen, and later with her colleague David Thomas (no relation), it is clear that a lot of thought has gone into the selection of books.
She has an in-depth knowledge of each of the titles. She is able to explain what she likes about them and why she thinks they might appeal to me.
The first few suggestions are modern Irish fiction, inspired by my love of Maggie O’Farrell and Colm Tóibín.
Books set in the past
I included historical fiction on my list but asked for something different. I want to move away from my ‘safe’ choices – Philippa Gregory and Kate Mosse.
An amazing set of suggestions included local writer Vicki Masters’ The Pittenweemers and novels set during the Second World War.
Sebastian Barry’s Days Without End examines the American Civil War. It was recommended to Jen during her own Coffee with a Bookseller session and she is keen to pass it on.
She makes such a good case for all the titles that she recommends that I already have quite a pile set aside when David arrives to talk me through his suggestions.
Another part-time bookseller, David lives in nearby Kingsbarns where he works as an artist.
“My job when I do these is often to offer books that are different from the books that are already on the list,” he remarks, before launching into an enthusiastic pitch for Pachinko by Min Jin Lee.
“It covers a century of Korean history and involves a journey to Japan. When it came out it was one of those books that nobody could say a bad word about.”
Books that transport the reader
He also recommends A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towels: “This book is very atmospheric, with a very strong sense of place. You read it and feel like you are being transported somewhere.
“Based on what I could tell from your tastes, I thought ‘that’s someone who likes books as transport – teleportation devices to a different time or place’.”
Interestingly, his books include a few non-fiction titles, which I wouldn’t usually consider. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel – a true story of the world’s most prolific art thief.
He heads off to man the front desk. leaving me to finish my coffee and consider the wonderful array of books at my leisure.
I would have happily scooped up the entire pile but resisted the temptation to take them all home.
All I need now is time, peace and quiet to devour the clutch of new books I have acquired.
I wonder if Toppings does sleepovers?
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