The Osmotic Bookshop is a reflection on bibliophilia/bibliomania and the practice of surrounding ourselves with books unread or half read.

Osmosis refers to the process by which proximity to such books confers some benefit.  Examples include people who sleep with books under their pillows in order that the wisdom in the books is somehow transferred to them as they sleep.

The sign at the Osmotic Bookshop reads:

Dear subscriber

Welcome to the Osmotic Bookshop. Buried in the ground near here are the top ten books as chosen by 125 of the world’s leading authors.  With their pages unturned and hermetically sealed in plastic they offer a permanent source of the world’s greatest literary achievements for you to absorb by osmosis.

Rest here awhile. Lie amongst the grasses and trees and gain the benefit of your proximity to this great literary resource.  Lay your head near or on the grass for the maximum effect. Headphones may improve the osmotic experience: simply plug your headphones directly into the earth.

Amongst the books you can experience are:

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. A masterwork of tragic love. Follow Anna’s life from the erotic heights of adulterous sin to exile and a fearful end.  Follow too the virtuous life Levin and his commitment to simple values.

Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert. A meticulous portrait of extramarital romance in the French provinces. The novel is a testament to how yearning for a higher life both elevates and destroys us.

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Everything is included in this epic novel which describes the intimate feelings of hundreds of characters. Follow Prince Andrey, Natasha and Pierre as they struggle to find the right way to live.

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. An infamous novel about Humbert Humbert a man obsessed by a nymphet Dolores Haze in a mockery of the American road novel.  Here you find love, power and obsession.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. An adventure story in which two comrades of convenience escape the law and the conventions of society and strike out for something new.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare. A melancholic prince tries to avenge his father while grappling with the deep and profound problems of existence.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. A searching fable of the American Dream in which Jay Gatsby searches for lost love in a time of lost innocence.

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust. Asking searching questions about time and memory we follow dozens of characters and their affairs, lives and betrayals during the belle époque of French society.

The Stories of Anton Checkov by Anton Checkov. Haunting, baffling and inspiring stories that reflect the earnest urgency of ordinary lives in crisis.

Middlemarch by George Eliot. A chronicle of the English town of Middlemarch this is also the story of the idealist Dorothea Brooke whose mistaken marriage takes her down a long and winding path in search of happiness.