Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Paris, France

We were recently in Paris to celebrate our wedding anniversary and Christmas. Since publishing my book was one of my major accomplishments in 2014, I had books on the brain and had to stop by and see the legendary Shakespeare and Company bookshop. I wasn’t disappointed, it was just as wonderful and quirky as I had heard.

For any book-lover, the Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris is a must-see. It’s been the centre of the English-speaking literary community there for sixty years. Located just across the Seine from Notre Dame, it’s housed in a crooked 17th century building with huge exposed beams. The building, which was originally a monastery, has been transformed into a magical place which feels like visiting an eccentric uncle’s study. Every space is filled with books, interspersed with art objects, philosophical signs, and here and there, a vase of flowers or a cat.

Upstairs in the reading room there’s a piano waiting to be played by a talented customer, little nooks with sleeping or reading spaces, tiny work stations equipped with typewriters, and bulletin boards filled with notes left by visitors over the years. And of course, this famous little bookshop is crowded with people browsing all those lovely books. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).