Loved this book, but then I love Paris and Shakespeare & Co Bookshop. Great insight into behind the scenes in a bookshop in Paris, Where people for various reasons are permitted to stay in the 'ramshackle store with oodles of character'. The author was allowed to stay here for an extended period of time and this book tells the story of his time there and how life is lived in this little pocket of Paris. Prefer the 'American' title 'Time was soft there' and cover art rather than the British release title of Books, Baguettes and Bedbugs. 'Never judge a book by it's cover' maybe so but it is very important, the cover draws you in and entices you check the book out. ( )

An interesting read, this memoir of a man who stayed as one of George Whitman's many guests in his famous Parisian antiquarian bookshop "Shakespeare and co.". Having visited there myself, this insight into daily life in this extraordinary shop is interesting. Well written. ( )

http://talesofarampaginglibrarian.blo... ( )

On the run from an unfortunate mistake in his Canadian life as a crime journalist, Jeremy Mercer heads to Paris to escape for a while. Caught in a rainstorm near Notre-Dame one afternoon, he spots a welcoming light across the river and thus stumbles inadvertently on the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. Invited upstairs for tea by the beautiful woman behind the desk, wandering the labyrinth of books and beds, he soon realises that this is no ordinary bookshop and, as a poor writer, is invited to join the ranks of lost souls inhabiting the book-lined rooms.

So begins his whimsical and quintessentially bohemian stay, under the watchful eye of eccentric owner George Whitman (surely the star of the book, with his fascinating life and Communist ideals), who renamed his unique store after the original literary oasis, run by his good friend Sylvia Beach, which was forced to close down during the Second World War. Here all are welcome to browse and lose themselves in their reading; tea is offered on a Sunday; eclectic readings take place in the library; literary and political opinions are argued out – and those in need of a bed will find one amongst the books in return for a few hours helping around the shop and in the kitchen.

Mercer deliciously evokes days trawling the scattered tomes, nights spent storytelling by the Seine, tourists attracted by the store’s reputation, wanderers attracted by Whitman’s generosity, showering in the public washhouses, scrounging leftover food to get by: in short, a poor life, without good facilities or scope for wastage of any kind, but a happy, lively life nonetheless. The characters moving through Whitman’s utopia are many and varied, yet he remains, a kind of rock in the tides of time and tourism, as the chaos of youthful dreams and books and wine whirls around him.

Of course, eventually reality bites for Mercer and it’s time to move on – but his journey is magical and the lessons of the bookstore honest. Now I have Sylvia Beach’s own book 'Shakespeare and Company’ to read, and I recommend the documentary ‘Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man’, made towards the end of Mercer’s time in Paris and readily available online. Still not sure whether to read it? Try searching online for photos of the store in all its glory – if that doesn’t persuade you, nothing will! ( )

A charming story of living in a famous Paris bookstore. Mercer attentively describes the international crowd that crashes in Shakespeare and Company, and recognizes the many reasons that people leave their lives for a chance at something new. ( )