When I saw the post above, my response was “that’s the kind of bookstore I would like to own” — just tons of books and never any customers to bother you. It got me thinking about an old bookstore I used to go to in a small town, the kind of town with only one stop sign. The store was in an old log cabin from probably the turn of the century or so — no straight walls or 90-degree corners to be seen. The shelves were filled with books, but there were also piles of books on the floor, and the sorting method on the shelves might have made sense to someone, but not me — it didn’t appear to be alphabetical or by topic.
When I spoke to the older lady who ran the store, she appeared to be almost completely uninterested in selling any books. She was happy to talk about them until the cows came home — favourite authors, new books and old books, anything related to books. Or the weather for that matter. But she never mentioned how much a book cost, and when you asked to buy one it seemed like she just made up a price on the spot. And she seemed almost sad to let it go (maybe I am making this up but it seemed that way to me).
There was an overstuffed arm chair in the corner that looked very lived-in, with a small table that had a vase of flowers and a teapot and a cup and saucer, and a pile of books. Of course, there were cats who came and went — I have no idea whether she owned them or not, they paid no attention to her. And as I left the last time (she closed it not long afterwards and someone sells weed out of there now) I thought what a perfect life that would be. I honestly can’t even remember whether she had a cash register or not.
The bookstore below feels similar, although they do sell books somewhat more enthusiastically. It’s the Shakespeare & Co. bookstore on the Left Bank in Paris, right across the Seine from Notre Dame cathedral. It was opened in 1951 by George Whitman, and named after a bookstore of the same name that was founded in 1919 and closed in 1941. In addition to selling books, it houses aspiring writers in exchange for helping out around the bookstore — more than 30,000 people have slept in the beds found tucked between bookshelves. The shop’s motto, “Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest They Be Angels in Disguise”, is written above the entrance to the reading library.
