Books Are Jazzy

A reader lives a thousand lives before they die. The person who never reads lives only one.

Bonjour à tous et à toutes! 

I had the absolute pleasure of spending the past few days in Paris. Oh, the warm breeze by the Seine, the sweet chant of French treating my ears and all those pretty views. I could write a novel about all the amazing feelings the city gave me and my adventures, but I'll only concentrate on what is relevant concerning this blog. And that is my little travel reading diary.

On my first day I walked through the blossoming Jardin du Luxembourg and witnessed locals enjoying the sun with a book in hand. This made me envious and I just had to experience this luxury of stopping in the middle of the city's hustle to praise the unexpectedly beautiful weather and get lost in a book. Luckily, I was already on my way to the well known bookstore Shakespeare & Co. Why not treat myself to a new book? With this thought in my mind I traversed towards Notre Dame and the Seine to where the book shop was located -almost in the center of France that is.




I fell in love with this cozy, mystical shop already on my first visit to Paris. I now returned to find myself adoring the walls stacked with books from floor to ceiling, the ladders, the cat, typewriter and allover vibe even more than four years ago. I took my time picking out a book considering what would feel most calling to my soul at that moment. I ended up picking up a collection of stories, Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor. It was a choice well made as reading one story at each location I would stop at turned out to be just the right dosage per read.






So far the book has been cracked open in Montmartre in a park just below Sacre Coeur, in Jardin du Mars, under the steel legs of the Eiffel Tour, on a bench on Champs Elysées and I remember not where else. These moments, sitting down, breathing in the Parisian air and reading a couple of pages were one of my favourite moments on the whole trip.





Bisous,
Anna
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Continuing on with my series of bookstore reviews, here is my favorite: Shakespeare &Co. I envy all Parisians for they are the lucky ones who have this gorgeous book shop in their city. I would love to have it near home, but to be completely honest, the location is part of the boutique's glory. So that wouldn't exactly get me the aspired result...




But why am I so in love with this particular shop? Well, let me tell you. It is one of those places that has walls lined with books, from floor to ceiling, corner to the next. I mean, I thought bookshelves that require ladders only existed in movies and books but no! Shakespeare & Co has got that. The store is so picturesque in every imaginable way. You can sense the books, the sight, smell and tingly feeling in your stomach. Yup. All included. Oh, and they are in English so not being fluent in French, ce n'est pas un problème.

Moving on upstairs  you will find live music played by a pianist, a book club gathered in a cozy corner room and a tiny cubicle equipped with a typewriter. I was hoping I'd never have to go.




Of course no book store is ever exited without a new book in hand -right? Well the shop doesn't disappoint  when it comes to unforgettable purchasing experiences either. Every book is stamped with the shop's logo. So cool.

Walking out in itself might feel pretty terrible, but the ambience of Paris mends the pain. Notre Dame is also right around the corner so you get two birds with one stone. Ace.




-Anna

A bookperson cannot visit Paris without dropping by Shakespeare & Co. It would be a sin.
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About Us

Hi! We're Laura and Anna, two twenty-something women who love reading! We originally met each other in Atlanta, GA, over 10 years ago. Since then, we moved back to our home country of Finland, and now that we are in university, Anna lives in Turku, Finland, studying medicine and Laura lives in Asheville, NC, studying literature.

We read in a wide variety of genres, including all forms of young adult fiction and some adult books as well. Laura tries to focus on fantasy, but sometimes her coursebooks get in the way, whereas Anna is happy to read anything other than her textbooks!

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