Reviews

Shakespeare und Company: Ein Buchladen in Paris by Sylvia Beach

outrageouslymoonpie's review against another edition

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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.

lindseysparks's review against another edition

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4.0

I've read so many things about Shakespeare and Company and it was wonderful to finally go there (sort of - it's not the same location), and then to read this book written by the founder, Sylvia Beach. It was nice to get her perspective and read her stories about starting the bookstore, all the writers who came to visit, her adventure publishing Ulysses and WWII. She focuses quite heavily on James Joyce and all of the help she gave him, not just in publishing Ulysses but in supporting his family so he could write. I don't know if he appreciated her enough. I've always wanted to own a bookstore, so I also loved her stories about starting out. There wasn't a lot of detail about WWII, but it's just so sad that she had to close because she didn't want to have to sell to Nazis, and that she ended up in a concentration camp for a little while. She survived, but never re-opened the store. (The one open now was opened later by someone else.) I would love to travel back in time and visit her store in the 20s.

cammie13's review against another edition

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informative lighthearted reflective medium-paced

3.5

literamoi's review

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informative medium-paced

4.0

rialowenschuss's review against another edition

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emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.0

Dense but a really valuable read

mmcloe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted reflective slow-paced
I've always loved and admired and tried to fashion myself after Sylvia Beach. What an incredible gift to bring together some of the most colorful and brightest minds of a generation into community with one another. 

Also she spent 6 months in an internment camp and just mentions it in a sentence??? Girl are you okay???

millie1's review against another edition

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Reading different book instead 
for now

juliaviola's review against another edition

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3.0

En av de finaste och coolaste ställena jag besökte i Paris. Älskade att få läsa om Sylvia och bokhandeln och alla författare som sprang omkring. Lite långtråkigt närmare slutet när det var lite väl mycket fokus på Joyce, men på det stora hela en läsvärd bok!

andie94's review against another edition

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funny informative lighthearted slow-paced

3.25

sjareads's review against another edition

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lighthearted slow-paced

2.75

i found this book to be very misleading. there was too much focus on james joyce’s life (which i get, because beach published ulysses) but i thought the book would dedicate more time to other writers as well. i just became uninterested in the book.