thu, 11 March 2004 Metropole Paris 9.1O/11 – Monday, 1–8 Mar <h3>Number 9.1O/11:– Monday, 1–8 March</a> <!-- the below lines check to see if 'print' has been called. Then it inserts the correct link into the right of the navbar. Notice the second line of 'echo $_SERVER' code - and notice the '?media=print' after it. When you are in 'screen' version, this is the link that will be displayed - and this is where the 'print' call is sent to this page. If it is already 'print', no '?media=print' is inserted into the URL, telling the php to compile a 'normal page' -->
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<h2 class="c3">A Passion for Literature</h2><img src="life911a.jpg" alt="photo: san francisco book co" align="middle" height="220" width="330" />
<div class="c1">
<p class="c4">Used books, great selection and good
prices.</p>
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<h3 class="c5">Paris Life – No 41</h3>
<div class="c1">
<p>by Laurel Avery</p>
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<p class="noindent"><b>Paris:– Friday, Friday, 6. March
2004:–</b> Step into a crowded Métro car
during any typical rush hour, and you are likely to
encounter a hushed silence, akin to the reading room at the
local library.</p>
<p>Seemingly half of the commuters have their noses buried
in a book, and not only in pulp fiction, but in works from
the likes of Baudelaire, Zola, and yes, even J.K. Rowling's
'Harry Potter.' I've seen more than one bibliophile miss
their stop due to being completely consumed by what they
were reading.</p>
<p>Certainly, television has impinged somewhat on people's
reading time, but its effect has mainly been felt in
the<img src="life911b.jpg" alt="photo: shakespeare and company" align="left" height="180"
width="230" vspace="2" hspace="5" /> newspaper industry,
where readership has been dropping steadily for the past 20
years. Some papers are struggling to keep operating, as
more people get their information from televised
news.</p><i>The most famous of all – Shakespeare and
Company.</i>
<p>Books, however, are still sacrosanct, and in fact there
has been a surge in the number of paperback sales in France
over the past few years. Paperbacks here are very
reasonably priced, as long as they are in French.</p>
<p>If you are in search of a new English–language
book, however, one can only hope you have a trust fund from
which to draw the mountain of euros you will need in order
to obtain them. These books are considerably more
expensive, no doubt due to the cost of having to import
them from English–speaking countries.</p>
<p>Stroll through nearly any area of Paris and you are
likely to encounter at least one small bookstore on every
block. Most carry books in a wide range of subjects, but
many also specialize for those with interests in finding a
specific genre of book, including those for children, the
occult, religion, art – you name it.</p>
<p>There is even one bookstore along the Seine specializing
in French law and administration. Those books must be an
exciting read! One can just envision Parisian
administrative officials poring over them until the wee
hours so they can find yet one more reason why you should
not be allowed a Carte de Sejour.</p>
<p>For those of us still trying to get a handle on the
French language, there is the American Library, where you
have access to thousands of titles in English – with
some in French – all for a reasonable annual
membership fee of 96€ per person, or 150€ per
family. When one English–language book you buy in a
bookstore costs an average of about 20€, after you've
borrowed just a few books from the library the fee has
easily paid for itself.</p>
<p>Another nice feature of the American Library is that
they decide from time to time to put a 'free book' rack,
just outside the front door, where you can pick up titles
that have remained unsold inside on their 2€ rack.</p>
<p>The French revere their writers, with Victor Hugo being
practically on an equal footing with God. Everyone tells me
I should read 'Les Miserables' in the original French,
though<img src="life911c.jpg" alt="photo: abbey bookshop"
align="right" height="240" width="175" vspace="2" hspace="5" /> just being able to decipher my electric bill every
month is struggle enough.</p>
<p>My language skills are improving slowly, though I'm not
sure that learning street French qualifies me for reading
the likes of Rimbaud.</p>
<p>But when I think of the profusion of materials available
in the Bibliothèque Nationale, one of the largest
research libraries in the world with nearly 13 million
books, it inspires me to get busy with my French
lessons.</p><i>The Abbey Bookshop – Canadiana a
specialty.</i>
<p>In 1537 King François Ier decreed that any book
sold in France must have a copy deposited at the state
library, so there exists a wealth of obscure books I can
find nowhere else. But of course, they are all in French,
so if I want to be able to take advantage of the libraries
here I'd better get serious about learning the
language.</p>
<p>More modestly, the antiquarian bookstalls lining the
quais of the Seine sell everything from Voltaire to old
copies of Playboy. These cater mainly to tourists and
collectors looking for rare treasures.</p>
<p>There are also a number of excellent
English–language bookstores, mainly scattered
throughout the 5th and 6th arrondissements, where
naturally, most of the French publishers are located.</p>
<p>While searching in vain for a simple English dictionary
– not English–French or English–Swahili,
etc. – I found a few of them at the San Francisco
Book Co., which has a nice selection of used books,
especially paperbacks.</p>
<p>The Abbey Bookshop, just a stone's throw from Notre
Dame, has so many titles crammed into their small space
that there's barely room to move. But somehow the owner, a
Canadian chap, knows exactly where to find the title you're
in search of. They will also order any book for you that
they may not have in stock.</p>
<p>And you can always pick up a copy of 'The New Yorker' at
the Village Voice, tucked away down a tiny street near
Saint–Sulpice. This bookshop sponsors a number of
readings, lectures and discussions each month.</p>
<p>Sylvia Beach was the founder of Shakespeare & Co. in
1919, and published James Joyce's 'Ulysses' in 1922. The
original shop in the Rue de l'Odéon was closed down
by the Nazis in 1941 when Beach refused to sell her last
original copy of Joyce's 'Finnegan's Wake' to a Nazi
officer.</p>
<p>No expat writer's life in Paris would be complete
without the occasional visit to Shakespeare & Co.
The<img src="life911d.jpg" alt="photo: village voice"
align="left" height="175" width="235" vspace="2" hspace="5" /> present owner, George Whitman, opened a bookstore in
1951 and in 1964 got permission from Beach to adopt the
Shakespeare & Co. name, with the intention of keeping
up the tradition of supporting writers in Paris.</p><i>The
Village Voice – mostly for new books and
magazines.</i>
<p>There is still a respect for the written word here that
inspires legions of writers to come and try their hand at
establishing a quiet voice consisting of nothing but ink on
paper in a world overwhelmed with the daily bombardment of
sounds and images. But when the sounds and images are gone,
the words will remain.</p>
<p class="noindent"><b>The Abbey Bookshop</b>, 29. Rue de la Parcheminerie,
Paris 5. Métro: Saint–Michel. InfoTel.: 01 46
33 16 24</p>
<p class="noindent"><b>The American Library</b>, 10. Rue du General Camou,
Paris 7. Métro: Ecole Militaire or RER 'C' at Pont
de l'Alma. InfoTel.: 01 53 59 12 60. Open Tuesday to
Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00.</p>
<p class="noindent"><b>San Francisco Book Co.</b>, 17. Rue
Monsieur–le–Prince, Paris 6. Métro:
Odéon. InfoTel.: 01 43 29 15 70. Hours: Monday to
Saturday from 11:00 to 21:00, and on Sunday from 14:00 to
19:30.</p>
<p class="noindent"><b>Shakespeare and Company</b>, 37. Rue de la Bucherie,
Paris 5. Métro: Saint–Michel. InfoTel.: 01 43
26 96 50. Open daily from noon to midnight.</p>
<p class="noindent"><b>Village Voice</b>, 6. Rue Princesse, Paris 6.
Métro: Mabillon. InfoTel.: 01 46 33 36 47. Hours:
Monday from 14:00 to 20:00, and Tuesday to Saturday from
11:00 to 20:00.</p>
<div class="c1">
<p class="c2">Text Laurel Avery © 2004</p>
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