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suza_looza's review
4.0
This one gave me the warm fuzzies. I love a good memoir. I really do. Now I just wanna visit the bookstore EVEN MORE !
vegprincess's review
3.0
This wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. There were a few parts that just dragged for me, which made me feel bored with the whole thing.
karinlib's review
3.0
Books about books are an auto buy for me. I've worked many years in bookstores and libraries, so I thought this would be a wonderful read. Who wouldn't want to live in the iconic Shakespeare and Co. bookstore in Paris? After reading this book, I don't think I would like to live there, visit, absolutely.
Jeremy Mercer, a Canadian crime reporter, received a death threat from a source. He fled to Paris, walked into Shakespeare and Co., where he was invited to tea. He applied to the owner George Whitman to live at the store, and within a short period of time the bookstore became his home for the next 4 months. Although I had heard of the bookstore before, I hadn't realized that this was a place starving artists and writers can crash for a while in exchange for helping in the store.
Although the book was fairly well written, I would have liked to learn more about the books in the store and a little less about the eccentric people that lived there. I also don't think I would have liked to live in a place that didn't have a shower or bathtub.
Jeremy Mercer, a Canadian crime reporter, received a death threat from a source. He fled to Paris, walked into Shakespeare and Co., where he was invited to tea. He applied to the owner George Whitman to live at the store, and within a short period of time the bookstore became his home for the next 4 months. Although I had heard of the bookstore before, I hadn't realized that this was a place starving artists and writers can crash for a while in exchange for helping in the store.
Although the book was fairly well written, I would have liked to learn more about the books in the store and a little less about the eccentric people that lived there. I also don't think I would have liked to live in a place that didn't have a shower or bathtub.
rampaginglibrarian's review
4.0
Jeremy Mercer tells of a bookstore unlike any other, George Whitman's Shakespeare & Co. in Paris, France. I found Time was Soft There to be a much more appealing and relatable book than An Alphabetical Life. Although, as i mentioned, Shakespeare & Company is an entirely unique store (one that serves as new and used book store, a lending library, and a kind of free hostel for struggling writers) i found many of the characters somewhat familiar and, in some ways the bookstore itself almost recognizable as the bookstore i called home/work when i was in grad school. Mercer was definitely a much more likable voice for me as well.
Shakespeare and Company, in its current incarnation, opened in 1951, first named Le Mistral it then changed its name when Sylvia Beach, the owner of the legendary first Shakespeare and Company (publisher of Joyces Ulysses and rhapsodised about in Hemmingway's A Movable Feast), died. George Whitman, a communist, likes to think of his store as a "socialist utopia" and will let writers stay there for the price of their biography, their help with opening the store in the morning (dragging all the boxes out to the street and setting up the shelves); an hours worth of work in the store per day; closing the store at night; and reading one book per day. Sounds almost cool~though the living conditions aren't the greatest~but it is Paris. Wonderful, wonderful book.
Shakespeare and Company, in its current incarnation, opened in 1951, first named Le Mistral it then changed its name when Sylvia Beach, the owner of the legendary first Shakespeare and Company (publisher of Joyces Ulysses and rhapsodised about in Hemmingway's A Movable Feast), died. George Whitman, a communist, likes to think of his store as a "socialist utopia" and will let writers stay there for the price of their biography, their help with opening the store in the morning (dragging all the boxes out to the street and setting up the shelves); an hours worth of work in the store per day; closing the store at night; and reading one book per day. Sounds almost cool~though the living conditions aren't the greatest~but it is Paris. Wonderful, wonderful book.
nuthatch's review
4.0
If you ever wished you could move into a bookstore and live there you will love this book.
essjay1's review
3.0
The story of the authors Tien at Shakespeare & Co in Paris. Worth it for the step back in time, and the Parisian scenes.
baharshahraki's review
4.0
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“بله درست است که شکسپیر و شرکا کتابفروشی معروفی است، بله درست است که اهمیت ادبی اش هم کم نیست، اما اینجا بیش از هر چیز دیگری یک سرپناه است، درست مثل کلیسای آن سوی رودخانه، جایی که صاحبش به همه اجازه می دهد آنچه را که لازم دارند بگیرند و آنچه را که می توانند ببخشند..”
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اگه عاشق کتاب باشین می تونین با این رمان زندگی کنین. سفرنامه ی نویسنده به یکی از معروف ترین کتابفروشی های دنیا..
“بله درست است که شکسپیر و شرکا کتابفروشی معروفی است، بله درست است که اهمیت ادبی اش هم کم نیست، اما اینجا بیش از هر چیز دیگری یک سرپناه است، درست مثل کلیسای آن سوی رودخانه، جایی که صاحبش به همه اجازه می دهد آنچه را که لازم دارند بگیرند و آنچه را که می توانند ببخشند..”
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اگه عاشق کتاب باشین می تونین با این رمان زندگی کنین. سفرنامه ی نویسنده به یکی از معروف ترین کتابفروشی های دنیا..
carrieliza's review
4.0
My sister and I happened upon Shakespeare & Co. one cold, rainy Paris winter day in 2007. We didn't know anything about the place. We just said 'huh, that bookstore seems to be an English-language bookstore, let's check it out.' Also there's a small NYC chain called Shakespeare and Company, so our initial thought was maybe this one was somehow related.
Of course I loved the store, and I bought a book. It wasn't until much later that I learned anything about the store/the history. So this book was a fun read for me, just a peek into what goes on inside this place.
Of course I loved the store, and I bought a book. It wasn't until much later that I learned anything about the store/the history. So this book was a fun read for me, just a peek into what goes on inside this place.
farzi_q_pickle's review
4.0
3.8
“In a place like Paris, the air is so thick with dreams they clog the streets and take all the good tables at the cafes”
I enjoyed this book. It feels like a city version of Kerouac and being on the road…The travel to Paris without knowing which way you’re heading or how you’ll come out of it. While I don’t think I’d particularly enjoy George or the author of I got to know them in person, I appreciate their eccentricities and a different view of how life can be lived. This is definitely not the pretty dream I imagined of living in a book store but it’s gritty and interesting and I could see how this could really be formative and life changing for the people who lived there for the many reasons that they did…It was a quick read and now In ready for that trip to Paris!
“In a place like Paris, the air is so thick with dreams they clog the streets and take all the good tables at the cafes”
I enjoyed this book. It feels like a city version of Kerouac and being on the road…The travel to Paris without knowing which way you’re heading or how you’ll come out of it. While I don’t think I’d particularly enjoy George or the author of I got to know them in person, I appreciate their eccentricities and a different view of how life can be lived. This is definitely not the pretty dream I imagined of living in a book store but it’s gritty and interesting and I could see how this could really be formative and life changing for the people who lived there for the many reasons that they did…It was a quick read and now In ready for that trip to Paris!