Where to read for a few hours?

[tobee]

So I'm sure we could all come up with a fantasy place to go and read, at leisure, for a few hours? Where you didn't have to worry about the weather?

Maybe my first thought would be a library or cafe or large bookshop. But they might be a bit noisy?

The answer would be somewhere away from home.

I long for an old fashioned women's members club in London (I think there's one at the beginning of The Enchanted April) where you can sit in a big leather armchair just far enough away from other members. Discreet "servants"(!) bringing you pots of tea etc. Lovely ladies powder room to visit subsequently! Newspapers and periodicals spread on a table to read. You get the idea?

I know there are still Private Members Clubs but probably too pricey. Where's realistic?

im really keen on the idea of somewhere indoors. Doesn’t have to be London. A specific place or type of place. Either

I know that you've said indoors BUT I'm fortunate to live within a very short distance of a lovely seafront. There are benches all the way along, some pretty gardens opposite the beach and, of course, coffee stalls, ice-cream shops and other food options available. I can spend a whole day with my book bag, moving from bench to bench when I feel like it, grazing as I go! When I'm not absorbed with my book, there are always ships & people to watch.

If it rains I can be home again in a few minutes. It's perfect!

When I was a student the college common room was a good place to read. Exactly like the idea of a members club (members bars were probably based on college common rooms actually), comfy sofas, newspapers and journals to read and a bar to get drinks and snacks from. Bliss. We even had a small balcony to look out over the river if the weather was nice. The college library was quieter but no bar or sofas.

It’s an interesting question …

I have in the past stayed in exactly the sort of women’s club you describe - and didn’t find it particularly conducive to leisurely reading. Too many distractions - other people, Chelsea, whatever had taken me to London when I wasn’t living there.

Anyway … The two most obvious possibilities are booking a hotel for a couple of nights or booking into a retreat - but the greatest bar to peaceful reading is whatever stresses and worries you carry with you. Being alone can sometimes amplify them. (That said, I did once, over a long weekend at a retreat in Somerset, re-read the entire Narnia series after finding them in the library there.)

How far are you from North Wales? If more than an hour, this would have to be a longer stay than just a few hours - but I don’t think there’s a better place in the UK for what you want:

Gladstone’s Library.

Ignore all the promotional bumf, you don’t have to attend any particular event or course. It’s essentially a breathtaking building with a glorious library, bedrooms, food, interesting fellow residents, a common room, all set in a village just beyond Chester. Highly addictive.

That sounds delightful! I've had a really busy period at work so I've booked myself a week in a cottage by the coast and I'm hoping to do much the same. I'm seriously counting down the days.

When I lived in Oxford there was a park with a library in it, on a sunny day it was lovely to sit in the shade of a tree and read.

If I win the lottery I'm having a house with a library.

Oh these are lovely answers! And yes I'm definitely going to buy a house with a library when I win the lottery 😉

I live in London but will remember the Gladstone Library.

If you’re in London you do have some choices …

Free:
https://www.vam.ac.uk/info/national-art-library

Throw money at problem:
https://www.londonlibrary.co.uk/join/join-online

If you become a Friend of any of the museums or galleries there’s sure to be a members’ room you could use for reading.

I tend to head to the Barbican if I want some peace and quiet in London; Lakeside if the weather’s warm enough, but there are all sorts of nooks and crannies inside where you can relax with no time limit or huge charge for being there.

Or you could read for the Bar - the Inns of Court libraries are glorious.

Tate Modern has squidgy armchairs (not many mind) on some floors facing windows looking down into the turbine hall. I go there for exhibitions and then quite often nab a chair and sit there reading. It's not exactly quiet, but it is a culturally stimulating and creative vibe and I settle to a good read there quite well @tobee
Costs nothing to just go in the gallery, special exhibitions cost but you don't have to visit one.

Thank you!

Most of experiences of friends rooms in galleries are usually a bit heaving. But depends on time of day and popularity of exhibition I expect.

Co incidentally I was looking up the pros and cons of becoming a friend at a gallery.

It would be rather lovely if you could sit in comfortable chairs in, say, the temperate glasshouse at Kew Gardens but they probably wouldn't want to encourage that!

Oh yes that's a good plan - armchairs in the actual galleries @heldinadream

We are spoiled in Manchester for reading places.

Portico Library- phone to check they're open. Known to randomly shut. Also has cafe.

www.theportico.org.uk

Central library- not sure there are squishy chairs in the central bit.

John Rylands Library.

Also the House of Books and Friends.

Am hoping to take DC to Gladstone Library soon

A fair number of university libraries are open to the public although they do not always advertise it well. Obviously they tend to be busy during teaching time but over the summer they're often pretty empty.

Thank you ! I hadn't thought of that!

British Library - in one of the communal spaces
Cafe in a large bookshop
Barbican - communal area
Royal Festival Hall - communal area

Thanks again! Last I looked (March) Royal Festival Hall communal area/bar was shut for renovations. Hopefully it's open again soon if not now!

Plus I didn't know if any old bozo (me) could use the British Library facilities.

During the pandemic we had a staycation in the summer. We alternated days out to places we'd never been locally with days at home. It was fankly one of my best holidays ever, all home comforts, no visitors, and no travelling. I had bought a hanging chair for the garden and would sit in it reading all afternoon, it is in a little sun trap and was perfect. No good if you have young kids needing attention though, mine were old enough to entertain themselves.

Big museums often have an under visited gallery tucked away. The history of science bit at the back of the science museum. The endless Chinese porcelain at the British museum. Both used to have seating and I spent very peaceful hours there reading and working. The Barbican is full of nooks. Churches - not the biggies, but a lot of the smaller ones in the city were good for a few hours peace and quiet. Hotels often have lounges you can sit in during the day (often with recruiters using them for free for interviews). If you don’t make a scene or look homeless you used to be able to sit in them nice and warm with a book. But yes, a club would be nice. Diogenes or Drones depending on mood.

My boys loved the reading room at The Wellcome Trust - tbf it was scorching outside and they had air con so it was lovely to just sit there for a few hours! Good selection of books if you don't have anything to hand.

Moving away from the brief, but anywhere without mobile phone signal is ideal for me!

I have a couple of favourite campsites on Dartmoor and Exmoor where I can spend all morning reading on a blanket next to the river, or in bed in the van if it's not sunny.

These all sound wonderful but sometimes, I take my book, a flask and a bit of a picnic lunch and drive off, parking up when I see somewhere I like.
I slide the seat back and settle down for a couple of hours reading.
If something happens that I don't like-someone parking right next to me-I take my mobile reading room somewhere else.

The old sofa in the upstairs window of Hatchards is a particular favourite of mine. Also the armchairs in a variety of museum cafes. Waterstones in Bradford is a good spot as well.

In good weather it's a swing seat under a willow tree. I can spend whole days there with a good book.

I've been umming and ahhing about joining the London Library for years, but I can't quite justify the membership fee to myself. One day though!

A couple of silent bookclubs have recently started up near me. Both in bookshops at various times of day. You turn up, first 15 minutes is for chatting if you'd like, then an hour of silent reading, with a bit more time for talk at the end. Or you can just leave - no pressure!

I'm very much enjoying reading these suggestions!

@JaninaDuszejko I've just been given
a copy of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead and now it all makes sense.

I always fancy the idea of sitting in a rowing boat under the willow tree @BardsAreAssholes. Maybe with a chilled glass of wine and a smoked salmon sandwich or two!