Castle Book House

Castle Book House is right on Court Road in Palakkad. It is a place filled with stacks of books that sometimes reach the ceiling. We don't have those fancy digital catalogues; mostly we just know where things are by memory or by looking through the shelves for a bit. The air in Palakkad can get a bit humid, which isn't great for paper, so we try to keep things aired out as much as possible. Students from the nearby schools come in a lot looking for textbooks or those cheap paperbacks to read on the bus. We also get the older folks who want the morning newspapers or magazines. It’s a bit of a squeeze when more than four people are in the aisles at once. The shop has been here on Court Road for a long time, so the floorboards have a bit of a creak to them. We spend time dusting the covers and rearranging the sections when we get new stock in. It’s not a quiet library vibe; it’s more of a busy little shop where people talk about what they are reading. We just keep the doors open and let the street noise in while we work. It’s a simple life surrounded by stories and old paper, and that’s pretty much how we like it. Some days are slow, and we just sit and read the new arrivals ourselves.