As Britain marks the National Year of Reading, independent bookshops are facing soaring costs from a still-broken business rates system. The reform has fallen short, says Nic Bottomley – and risk undermining the very places that make the literacy campaigns possible T his summer our independent bookshop in the heart of Bath, Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights , turns 20. Two decades of joyful engagement with customers about books coincide perfectly with the National Year of Reading – a timely