Peruse the latest releases in indie favourites Pages of Hackney and Kirkdale Books, get wanderlust among the vast shelves of Stanfords and bag well-thumbed second-hand treasures in Bloomsbury's Skoob. London is a world-leading literary mecca and bookshops here are more than just places to pick up paperbacks - from community favourite (and the city's first Black bookshop) Beacon Books to queer Soho institution Gay's the Word, these 50 shops are the capital's finest places to seek out new stories. Time to clear some space on your to-be-read shelf. This is part of a growing series of opinionated guides which offer straight-talking insider's advice on what to do and see in London.