An abundance of colourful books fills the stalls outside David’s Books, Music Cards and Café in Letchworth, a thriving bookshop established in 1963, hosting regular literary events and covering three shop windows and two floors. I like the combination of the dark green façade with a yellow logo.

We walk in through the café; it is friendly and open plan and the ceiling is decorated with greenery and oranges. Along the counter is a glass cabinet filled with delicious cakes and decorated with small models of jungle animals. There’s a sort of miscellaneous feel to the place and we relax taking it all in. Above our table are small bookshelves with ‘off the beaten track’ books like Collected Curiosities and Prince: The Biography. We’re seated close to some green sofas, a table displaying St Eval scented candles and a wide selection of quirky cards.

We order two Americanos and some cake. Apparently there are thousands of second hand and antiquarian books upstairs so I buy my husband another Americano that he can linger over and I go off and explore undisturbed for half an hour. I set off immersed in a tide of literature and wallow in this hugely eclectic selection, impressed by the combination of second hand books alongside the very latest publications.

It’s not everyday that I see a Classics section, I then turn a corner into an alcove filled with bargain books. The children’s area is bright with low-level shelving, fun furniture and a book corner where parents are reading to their children. (They say that the sign of a good bookshop is that it can also be used as a library). I like the way the books are categorised with ‘Up to 8ish’ or ‘Up to 12ish’ written at the top of the bookcases. I spot a small leaflet about Joanna Harris, who was here about six months ago promoting her new book.

David’s is clearly run by knowledgeable people with a genuine love of books. I chat with Paul, one of the owners, who tells me that the premises once housed a bank. I compliment him on his store and on how wonderful that such a huge bookshop exists that isn’t Foyles or Waterstones. David educates me a bit about the area and how Temple Press was founded in Letchworth by Joseph Dent; this of course led to the renowned beautiful Everyman’s Library of little turquoise hardbacks in 1906.

I climb the stairs up to the second-hand books and discover that I am alone. I open a door into a labyrinth of bookcases teeming with dusty old hardbacks and weave my way in and out of an endless overflow of intriguing books of varying heights packed side by side. I notice some old bindings with no dust jackets, their spines embossed in gold. I love being inundated with such a wealth of categories ranging from Memoir to Military, from the Occult to Photography.

The late afternoon sunlight falls onto the shelves, creating depth and shadow. It’s perfectly labyrinthine up here. I enjoy the musty smell and searching through piles of forgotten books of peculiarity and wonder at the foot of the bookcases.

I pick up a bright orange hardback filled with limericks for my sister; she’s always loved a bit of nonsense verse and used to love reading these aloud when we were children. It came as no surprise to me when she turned into a philosophy student at university!

Books help us to find out something new about ourselves and push our boundaries. Marcel Proust characterised the heart of reading as the moment when that which is the end of the author’s wisdom is but the beginning of ours as readers. The opening sentence of a novel is an invitation to enter into and experience the thrill of being transported to another world where scenes from a fictional world are a point of entry and escapism into a parallel universe. I could go on but suffice to say that my love affair with books goes on and on.

  • Marisa Laycock moved from south west London to St Albans in 2000. She enjoys sharing her experiences of living in the city