Paris, Part II: Shakespeare & Co.

I’ve wanted to see Shakespeare & Co. since I read A Moveable Feast in high school.  The legendary bookstore served the likes of Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Joyce. and Pound from 1919 until World War II, when it shut down.  The store I visited was founded in the fifties in honor of the original, and served as a focal point of Beat literature.  Apparently it also has a hostel/commune, although I didn’t see that.  I did see a bunch of interesting reads.  The store was incredibly cramped in a charming way, with a narrow, one-direction-only type staircase leading to the second level.

inside the bookstore