Joy-bringing post on Flavorwire spotlighting the world's 20 most beautiful bookstores – shops "so beautiful they're worth getting out of the house (or the country) to visit, whether you need a new hardcover or not" – as chosen by their staffers.

Some I'd seen pictures of before (Livraria Lello, in Porto, Portugal); some – Shakespeare and Co and the glorious Barter Books in Alnwick – I've even visited. But most were entirely new to me, and ever so easy on the eye. Of these, my favourites were VVG Something in Taipei (intimate, comfortable, pleasing levels of clutter) and, at the other end of the scale, the majestic Librería El Ateneo Grand Splendid in Buenos Aires, a converted 1920s cinema in which the boxes now function as reading rooms.

All of which has led, inevitably, to my attempting to rank the bookshops I've been to on a looks basis. Barter Books is definitely in contention for the top spot (it's quite near my mum's house in Northumberland, so I'm a semi-regular customer: in the Flavorwire pictures, they actually neglect to show the best bit, with the fire and honesty-box tea and coffee – and the fact that in the other room there's a model railway running around on top of the bookshelves).

Wenlock Books in Much Wenlock is also splendid. But after giving the matter considerable thought, I think my favourite is Richard Booth's Bookshop in Hay-on-Wye. It changed hands a couple of years back, and the current owners have spent considerable time and effort restoring the once-decrepit building to its former glory: nowadays the dark wood glows, light streams through the sparkling windows, the armchairs are beauteous and plentiful. And – important, given that one really oughtn't to judge a bookshop by its cover, no matter how attractive – the shelves are always brilliantly stocked. On my last visit I came away with an Anne Tyler novel, Brian Aldiss's autobiography and Jamaica Inn, all for under a tenner. That really is beautiful.

Of course, such lists can always go on a bit longer, so please add some more …