Bibliomaniac cover art

Bibliomaniac

An Obsessive's Tour of the Bookshops of Britain

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Bibliomaniac

By: Robin Ince
Narrated by: Robin Ince
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

'A unique, funny picture of Britain... A love letter to bookshops and the vagaries of public transport.' Richard Osman

Why play to 12,000 people when you can play to 12? In Autumn 2021, Robin Ince's stadium tour with Professor Brian Cox was postponed due to the pandemic. Rather than do nothing, he decided instead to go on a tour of over a hundred bookshops in the UK, from Wigtown to Penzance; from Swansea to Margate. Packed with witty anecdotes and tall tales, Bibliomaniac takes the listener on a journey across Britain as Robin explores his lifelong love of bookshops and books—and also tries to find out just why he can never have enough of them. It is the story of an addiction and a romance, and also of an occasional points failure just outside Oxenholme.

©2022 Robin Ince (P)2022 W. F. Howes Ltd
Entertainment & Celebrities Travel & Tourism Celebrity Funny Witty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

How to Build a Universe cover art
Infinite Monkey Cage cover art
Confessions of a Bookseller cover art
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop cover art
Steeple Chasing cover art
The Accidental Detectorist cover art
The Full English cover art
Between the Stops cover art
A Load of Old Balls cover art
Reading Allowed cover art
Barry Cryer: Same Time Tomorrow? cover art
The Gifts of Reading cover art
Julia cover art
My Lady Parts cover art
No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy cover art
An Emotional Dictionary cover art

What listeners say about Bibliomaniac

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    8
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    30
  • 4 Stars
    4
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    24
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Warm and friendly…

Thank you to Robin Ince for both writing …and then reading, this lovely book …on books. Listening to Robin read his book was like wearing a warm and snuggly jumper on a very cold day. Robin is great company while out on a walk and I feel a little sad that it’s now ended. Thank goodness for the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage! ;-)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

Very jealous of Robin, to wander through these enchanted bookshops with him is a delight.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not entirely Truthful but fun none the less.

Red Lion Books has not been in Red Lion Walk for many years, it has been in High Street Colchester so certainly not where Robin says just after the Pandemic. The room in the Church with the stained glass in Wivenhoe was not actually built at the time the Red Lion Bookshop was where he said it was. Maybe time travel is real after all. I was hoping to use the book as a guide to bookshops but if this is how different times and locations are conflated I am not sure it would work in that way. Shame , it would have been fun.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

just sublime

anyone who loves books, loves book shops, and buys too many books they don't read this is for you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Protect Robin Ince at all costs

On a personal level Robin has become a cultural beacon for me in showing his empathy and tireless, enthusiastic energy. This book shows his passion for what books can do on a physical level. It was both cosy with cake and drinks but also fascinating with his infinite tangents, quotes and conversations with people in bookshops who think he works there. I hope he has his own chaotic, shambolic bookshop one day.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intensely fascinating and wonderfully quirky book

Great story, and journey through your tour. It was a great way to get to know you and your fascination with books, reading, words, life, and many other aspects of you. 😊😊😊. Highly recommended

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Once at his best.

This book isn't about books. It's about people, interaction, stories, journeys, worlds large and small, epic and domestic. It's deeply human, very charming, forensically insightful on the human condition. It's beautiful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A love letter to bookshops and people

A beautiful use of time. Robin Ince is fascinating, funny, warm, humane and slightly obsessed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Blissful armchair book shop tour

I really enjoyed listening to this audible book. It enabled me to revisit in my mind’s eye some of the bookshops that I have visited and also create a to do list of those I haven’t.
If Robin ever contemplates undertaking another such tour there are several towns and bookshops I could guide him towards, not least The Old Hall Bookshop in Brackley, thriving and staffed by friendly and knowledgeable readers.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

After My Own Heart

Very engaging, relatable book. Thanks for the list of recommendations to add to my own teetering TBR piles.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful