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andriawrites's review
5.0
I had the great privilege of briefly working at the "second" and ressurected Shakespeare and Company bookshop in Paris and this book made me miss Paris and its literary corners more than ever before. The stories which Beach recounts on Joyce are especially entertaining and lovely for those, like me, who are obsessed with him, his work and his genius. Aside from its content of literary entertainment, Beach provides a great first account perspective of Paris from the early 1920s to its liberation in 1944. Truly makes you wish you could time travel back to the period a la "Midnight in Paris" and never leave the Paris of Joyce and Colette and Fitzgerald.
julchenliest's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Sehr interessantes kleines Büchlein, vor allem kann man damit wahrscheinlich viel anfangen wenn man sich überdurchschnittlich viel für James Joyce oder sämtliche amerikanische & französische Schriftsteller der 1920er Jahre interessiert.
Obwohl mein Vorwissen auf diesem Gebiet so ungefähr gar nicht vorhanden war, hatte ich eine gute Zeit, weil Sylvia Beach einfach ein paar lustige Anekdoten hier & da erzählt & dabei einen sehr entspannten Schreibstil hat.
Ein paar mehr Einblicke in den Alltag im Buchladen & Interaktionen mit jedem ausser James Joyce & eine etwas zusammenhängendere Erzähl Struktur hätten mir gut gefallen, aber auch so charmant!
Obwohl mein Vorwissen auf diesem Gebiet so ungefähr gar nicht vorhanden war, hatte ich eine gute Zeit, weil Sylvia Beach einfach ein paar lustige Anekdoten hier & da erzählt & dabei einen sehr entspannten Schreibstil hat.
Ein paar mehr Einblicke in den Alltag im Buchladen & Interaktionen mit jedem ausser James Joyce & eine etwas zusammenhängendere Erzähl Struktur hätten mir gut gefallen, aber auch so charmant!
gg1213's review
3.0
There isn't too much to say about the book. It's a memoir that briefly recounts Beach's childhood and how she ended up opening an American bookshop in Paris- then continuing in much more detail her work with James Joyce and her relationships with countless other writers/publishers of the era. It was a relatively slow read, because of all the detail and the names- but I did enjoy it. Obviously, this isn't going to be a book for everyone. If you enjoy literary history, or literature from the 1920s, then I think you'll enjoy this more. Considering the price of my edition and the, what seems to be, less than frequent publishing of the book, I definitely say that if you have a chance to read it- go ahead, but it isn't necessarily worth spending a lot of money on if you aren't completely fascinated by the subject.
areyouwithcaz's review
4.0
An extra star for Beach’s wonderful description of people and character. That generation really knew the concept of “show don’t tell” writing. It’s fantastic. The history of Shakespeare and Co is compelling. But I feel like the actual history was only about five of the chapters and the rest was all about James Joyce. I know the success of the shop was apparently tied largely to his success and lack thereof. But what about all the other writers? I so want to hear more of them! I wish Sylvia had told their stories, but how could she know how much more popular they’d all become by today.
outrageouslymoonpie's review
5.0
Credevo fosse una storia d'amore e mi sono trovata davanti un memoir. Racconta la storia di una delle librerie più famose di Parigi, la storia di una libreria che nei progetti della sua proprietaria doveva essere francese e in centro a NEw York.
LA storia della Shakespeare and Company sulla riva della Senna, in rue de l'Odeon, si intreccia con quella di decine di autori di lingua inglese, primo fra tutti James Joyce, di cui Sylvia sarà la prima editrice di Ulysses, il romanzo che nessuno voleva pubblicare perchè considerato osceno.
E così, tra un buffo episodio e l'altro, tra un macello combinato da JOyce e l'altro, arriviamo alla fine, in cui la libreria si trova ad affrontare le fatiche del dopo seconda guerra mondiale, abbandonata da tutti quegli autori a cui ha dato una mano a spiccare il volo.
LA storia della Shakespeare and Company sulla riva della Senna, in rue de l'Odeon, si intreccia con quella di decine di autori di lingua inglese, primo fra tutti James Joyce, di cui Sylvia sarà la prima editrice di Ulysses, il romanzo che nessuno voleva pubblicare perchè considerato osceno.
E così, tra un buffo episodio e l'altro, tra un macello combinato da JOyce e l'altro, arriviamo alla fine, in cui la libreria si trova ad affrontare le fatiche del dopo seconda guerra mondiale, abbandonata da tutti quegli autori a cui ha dato una mano a spiccare il volo.