When I saw the picture above, I was reminded of a used bookstore that was in the small town where I live. Sadly, it could not survive the pandemic. I had hoped it would reopen, but the last time I drove by there, weeds had grown up all around the old Victorian house that was home to the bookstore. I don’t know what has happened to the books, but it was one of my favorite bookstores anywhere. The bookshelves were floor to ceiling and filled with books on nearly every subject and in the corners books that didn’t fit in the stacks were stacked next to the bookshelves. There were books everywhere. The organization was not the usual bookstore categories, but it was fun to wander around and look at what was there. The store also sold vintage posters and postcards. I even found a postcard of Montgomery, Alabama, which showed the downtown fountain made famous by Zelda Fitzgerald dancing in late one night when she was dating F. Scott Fitzgerald. You never knew what you’d find in the store. I always went away with too many books and having spent more money than I’d planned to spend. And as you left the store, there was another set of shelves holding books that were given away for free. It was an amazing store, and one I had looked forward to patronizing when I moved to my small town, but alas, like so many businesses, it could not survive the lockdown necessary during the pandemic. It was not able to adapt online, mainly because I’m not sure the owners even knew all the books they were selling.
Nonetheless , when it was open, it was so much fun and fascinating to wander through the store for unexpected finds. I loved the travel section the most. While I never finished my PhD dissertation, my interest in nineteenth century travel was still strong. This bookstore always had a wide selection of nineteenth century travel books and journals. A lot of people who went abroad would write about their experiences and have them published. It was a popular genre at the time when most people did not travel very far from home. Plus, I love old books. If you remember the picture of Isabella below, you’ll see some of those travel books on the shelf above her.
5 comments:
I like to have nice books about arts, aviation, architecture or sci-fi.
I also have many which are fiction «roman» (don't remember the name in English) and some biographies.
Funny language differences: in French, «librairie» is a «bookstore» and «bibliothèque» is «library» for you.
In Montréal we have many bookstores selling French books, some others are selling English ones. You can also find old books in some vintage bookstores.
When I was growing up, we had a number of books of "The Lectures of John L. Stoddard." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lawson_Stoddard
At the time there was a TV show called "I Remember Mama" about two Norwegian immigrants and their children in San Francisco in the early 20th Century. Stoddard's books and the TV show got me fascinated with Norway, and for many years I wanted to visit the country. I suppose the books are still in my house somewhere (unless we gave them away). I can't imagine we'd have just thrown them out.
En France
- bibliothèque : ensemble de livres ou meuble/salle/édifice contenant des livres
- librairie : actuellement lieu où l'on vend des livres , autrefois : bibliothèque ( ensemble de livres )
Paul Auster is very loved in France (he lived for several years in Paris); he translated Stéphane Mallarmé, Jean-Paul Sartre, Georges Simenon, etc. into English. He is the most French of American authors .
Me gusta mucho Isabel, pero también me gusta mucho la pequeña figura de un gato o una pantera, no lo sé, que está sujetando tus libros.
Es una pena que una librería como la que describes haya cerrado. Ya diciendo que estaba ubicada en una casa victoriana llama mi atención.
En Oviedo cadia dia quedan menos librerías antiguas, es triste.
Ángel
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