A BOOKSHOP in Chepstow is among hundreds of independent ones in Wales to open a ‘virtual bookshop’ today as part of a campaign to champion the personal recommendation of books.

Chepstow Bookshop was among the first to join the ‘My Independent Bookshop’ network by opening their own virtual bookshops and giving people an inside-the-covers look at their favourite reads. The initiative, launched by Penguin Random House UK allows book lovers to set up a virtual bookshop, share and review their favourite reads, and discover books online.

Readers can set up their shop with 12 books at a time on their shelves – changing the display as often as they choose by season, genre or mood – the possibilities are endless. They can give and request personal recommendations among the community, while integration with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ makes it easy to share their collections with friends, family and fans in their social networks. Visit www.myindependentbookshop.co.uk