Mont-de-Marsan can pride itself on having five bookstores in the town center. The year 2024 is over, each takes stock of the books that have appealed to readers and also shares some favorites.
Masset Bookstore
The latest addition, the Masset bookstore opened its doors in November 2023, rue Gambetta. Anna, bookseller, takes stock of this first year of activity. “At home, Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller, ”The Maid,” had its small success.” In terms of literary prizes, in addition to “Jacaranda”, by Gaël Faye, and “Houris”, by Kamel Daoud, Goncourt 2024 prize, the bookseller points to the success of the book “Les Guerriers de l’hiver”, by Olivier Norek, Renaudot des high school students 2024. “Olivier Norek is an author known for his thrillers but this book is a historical novel. »
Other books, which are among the bookstore’s favorites, have also found their audience, such as “Le Soldat décondéé” by Gilles Marchand, “L’Été de lawitch” by Kaho Nashiki, but also “Je suis me and no one else” by Baptiste Beaulieu. “The magnificent ones: their names were André and Guy Boniface by Yves Harté” was the ideal gift for rugby fans and the people of Montois.
Anna, bookseller at the Masset bookstore.
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Lacoste stationery bookstore
“Here, the best of the year is ”Landes pine and Bulgarian roses,” immediately announces Nathalie, a bookseller for over thirty years. This book retraces the epic story of Dominique Coutière, creator of the Landes group Biolandes. In 2024, the author, Bernard Broustet, went to the bookstore to present the work. As at the Masset bookstore, “The Maid”, by Freida McFadden, and “The Winter Warriors”, by Olivier Norek, attracted many readers. “His book is phenomenal,” emphasizes Nathalie.
Another success in this bookstore: “Les Yeux de Mona”, by Thomas Schlesser. “A book full of emotions: a grandfather realizes that his granddaughter is on the verge of going blind. He decides to take her to different museums to show her the paintings and describe them to her. The particularity of this book is that we find them on the cover. It’s very well written and for all art lovers, it’s a gem. »
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Frédérique Lac, director of the Lacoste bookstore, and Nathalie, bookseller.
Ink bubbles
Comic strips, comics, mangas, works dedicated to young people, represent the identity of this bookstore opened in 2000. Among the good sales of 2024 are “Lucky Luke, a cowboy under pressure”, “Me, Fadi, the brother stolen”, by Riad Sattouf, volume 14 of the Nestor Burma comic series, without forgetting the first manga from Inoxtag, “Instinct”.
Blandine Masset, manager of the bookstore, shares her favorites. First “Le Voyage d’Ours-Lune” from Éditions Le Renard Dorée. “It’s a manga that is aimed at children but also adults. Ourse-Lune has never encountered another bear. One day, he befriends a crow. She is completely disoriented and they go to help each other. »
But also “Big Little Man”, a graphic novel by the screenwriter and designer Zanzim. “Stanislas Rétif is a storekeeper in a women’s shoe store. At a glance, he is able to identify the ideal pair of shoes for the woman, but he is only a storekeeper, discredited by his colleagues. Reduced to the size of a thumb, he will fall in love with Fleur, suffering from an illness that is gnawing at her. »
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Blandine Masset, manager of the Bulles d’encre bookstore.
Mangakona
Victor Sibut, from Montois, is passionate about manga. In the summer of 2023, with his mother Florence, he opened Mangakona, a concept store around Japanese culture. “We don’t go a day without selling a volume of the manga series “One Piece,” says the young Montois.
Among the good sales are other manga such as “Gachiakuta”, which should be adapted into an anime in 2025. “It’s a favorite. It’s dark but also funny and there’s action. » As with Bulles d’encre, “Instinct” by Inoxtag has its effect. “It’s a good manga but only one volume exists at the moment. Let’s wait for the rest. »
Victor Sibut also mentions a little surprise. “The manga ”She wasn’t a guy” is one of the big sellers. Aya is a high school student in love with a charismatic salesman at the record store she frequents, without knowing that he is actually her classmate Mitsuki. »
Characters bookstore cafe social club
The Caractères bookstore café social club is a true hybrid cultural place in Mont-de-Marsan. Aurore Pourny, a well-known face of the bookstore, has agreed to remove from the shelves the books for the year 2024, and reveals the favorites which have found their audience: “Wonder Landes”, by Alexandre Labruffe; “Rousse or the beautiful inhabitants of the universe”, by Denis Infante, “an animal fable where humans have disappeared from the face of the earth”; or “Believing in the Wild”, by the anthropologist Nastassja Martin, who fell into the clutches of a bear in 2015.
Another book which has had some success, “I still cry for the beauty of the world”, by Charlotte McConaghy: the biologist Inti Flynn is leading a program to reintroduce wolves in the Scottish Highlands, where the presence of the animal should make it possible to restore an ecosystem in crisis.”
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Aurore Pourny, associate of Anthony Clément at Librairie Caractères.
