Letter: US best-sellers

Sir: Cynthia Reavell (Letters, 9 November) seems to have a low opinion of the American bookselling business. I have just returned from an author's tour of the US, where I found the shops of the big bookselling chains very welcoming. Open until 8pm, the shops had broad, thickly carpeted aisles where youngsters could lie and browse through a book of their choice, comfortable seats for the grown-ups, coffee shop, provision for lectures and readings, and a staff that was friendly and seemed to know something about books.

If we are to lose our local independent bookshops, wouldn't it be nice to look forward to something like this instead of the jumped-up stationer's shops that the British public have come to perceive that bookselling is all about?

Yours faithfully,

DOUGAL DIXON

Wareham,

Dorset

9 November