For the comfort of a book in english for travelers or lost soul ex-pats. Shakespear and Co. 37 rue de la Bûcherie, just the other side of the river from Notre Dame (left bank of course!)
I’ve loved books since I was a tiny girl. My mother tells me I always respected the pages and turned them with care. Today I spend most of my money on books. I have books in my collection that I’ve had for years and haven’t read yet and still I buy more. I will read them when the time is right. I had a book by and about Madame Blavatsky since I was 15, when I finally read it recently I found there was a small section in french and I could read it! If I had started it all those years ago, I wouldn’t have even understood the english part, let alone the french.
I believed until recently that this bookstore had connections to the original publisher of James Joyce’s Ulysse but they have just used the name.
I’m not sure of the connection to City Lights bookstore in San Francisco, but they carry many of their books and there is a similar vibe. Please go look at this site for photos of the most beautiful bookstores in the world.
I’m so glad this bookstore is here, it is one of those beatnik phantoms in Paris that I can actually track down.