A week ago on Sunday I fell in love... Not just with the entire city of Paris, where I was visiting my friend Hannah, but also with a bookstore so perfect it makes me want to fly back there instantly! Yes, Shakespeare and Company is firmly set on the tourist trail and a foreign-owned shop (and therefore could be considered by purists as 'non-Parisien'), but these beauty flaws are easily overlooked. Inside it is an exquisite blend of charming wooden bookcases, tiny cosy corners, rustic chandeliers and the right amount of literary chaos that sets it apart from big chains like Borders or Bennetts.
Hannah & I in happily spent over an hour in the upstairs reading room, where we browsed through books on France with the sights & sounds of the Seine in the background. Every Sunday at 4pm the shop even offers tea up there, talk about service!
What's more, the building houses three floors, with the upper one prividing living arrangements for writers-in-residence. Who cares about the lack of privacy and cockroaches in the bedrooms, I'd sign up for a creative writing course this minute just to get the opportunity to hang around there for a while! As an aspiring writer Hannah could easily apply for this, but I guess she prefers the comforts of her au pair quarters in the 16th arrondissement, Paris' poshest neighbourhood. Moi, jealous? Never... ;-)!
2 comments:
I started both Platforme and Almost French--an interesting and somewhat incompatible pair. I miss our coffee dates :) And I found a plastic sheet for 25 euro--36 slots!
Bizarre yet interesting literary combination indeed! Hanging out in that bookstore or a nice cafe chatting to you would definitely be on my list of things-I'd-like-to-do-right-now. Alas, it's not to be, we'll just have to catch up in LOndon or New York next year ;-).
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