Whenever I travel, I am obsessed with visiting all the historical buildings and all the churches even though, with time, I know those memories fade and blend into one blurry feeling of awe and beauty. Over time, it is always the little things that stick with me. The French’s idiosyncrasy of saying “bonjour” when stepping into and out of an elevator. Waiters at American delis who always serve water with a straw and are perplexed when you request no ice. The Swiss, polite but reserved, until you ask them for a referral to their favorite cheese store. Buckle up! You are in for a 20-minute verbal presentation comparing and contrasting the inventory at the 3 nearest neighborhood shops.

In London, people read. On public transportation, at coffee shops, solo diners in pubs, people bury their nose in a physical book instead of their phones. More than once, a waiter asked me what I was reading, had strong opinions about it having read it already, and happily engaged in a 15 minute conversation about literature genres and favorite authors. That never happens in Montreal – more often than not, if someone remarks on my book, it is followed with a sigh, “I was never much of a reader, maybe I should try again, I just never have the time“.

It is during one such conversation that I first heard of Word on the Water. “I promise you will never find a bookshop like it again“. I teased the waiter, asking him if his word was his bond? “Absolutely. If you don’t fall in love the second you step on that boat, come back here and drinks will be on me.” A challenge! Well then, off I went to discover this one-of-a-kind shop.

Located in King’s Cross (of Harry Potter fame), Word on the Water is a bookshop… on a 100-year old Dutch boat! It has a small stage on the roof, where it hosts poetry readings and small concerts on the (rare) evenings it doesn’t rain in London. On the sidewalk in front of the entrance, there is a little kiosk with roses and a small sound system, manned by an retired pirate named Jamie who greets you with a toothy grin and waits patiently for you to exit from the barge with more books than you can carry. He then adds up the book haul in seconds – without pen and paper or calculator!

Pirate Jamie is but the first fantastical element. From the outside, the bookshop looks small. Step inside and you wonder: how on earth can so much fit into such a small space? The only explanation I have come up with is that, like Alice in Wonderland, Word on the Water does not abide by “normal” laws of physics. We become little beings in a world of book giants. Imagine: a bookshop with no wall-to-wall bookshelves or tables stacked with books! Like any boat, I suppose, Word on the Water has engineered every inch of space to its maximum usefulness, leveraging every nook and cranny.

Maybe that’s why we, along with all the other tiny independent bookshops, are thriving at the moment. Our little boat is human-scaled, you have to bend like Alice after she has eaten the magical cakes to enter, the selections have all been chosen by humans for humans – rather than calculated by an algorithm on the basis of your previous purchases and other titles that were popular among those in your socio-economic category.

"Indie View: Word on the Water". Bookbrunch. 15 October 2022. Retrieved September 19, 2024.

There are three main spaces on the boat. Upon entering – watch your head! – there is a fiction space. Then – watch your head again, or you will whack yourself as I did! – three steps take you down into a narrow corridor filled with non-fiction before opening up to a cozy room that is full of children’s and young-adult fiction, with a wood-burning stove and ceilings high enough that everyone can stand up straight. There are many spaces to curl up and read. Two teenagers in the throes of first love cuddled in a corner – again, a cultural difference: I’ve spent a lot of time in Montreal bookshops, and I’ve yet to see any teenagers hanging out in one as a romantic a rendez-vous!

While I shopped, tea brewed on the stove and a dog observed my book choices with wise eyes. I must have spent almost 2 hours on that boat, perusing the books. There were all kinds: recent publications, older ones, the classics, hard cover and paperback. Books I’d never heard of before and best sellers. There was only 1-3 copies of any book on hand, giving the impression that the book collection had been curated especially for you by owners you never met, but who were willing to share their home with you, so that you could sway on the waters to the rhythm of the printed word.

“I promise you will never find a bookshop like it again“.

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If you have any bookshop recommendations, please let me know in the comments!