Museum of European Photography

Sometimes I amaze myself at how slow I am to actually go and see things in Paris that are literally on my door step, especially if they are things I am really interested in, like photography. This Museum is in St Paul, 4eme (i.e my 'hood) is in a lovely building which combines 18th century and modern architecture. The front court yard has a gorgeous Zen gravel garden of black and white raked gravel with a lovely glass sculpture.

On at the moment is a huge survey exhibition of French photography from the last fifty years: many iconic images and much of them familiar, but worthy of close inspection  Do visit if snapping is your thing.

Costs 7 Euros plein tariff. No queues. Well stocked book shop. Check it out.

Details here: http://www.mep-fr.org/us/

English Language Bookshops in Paris - La Belle Hortense

Bit of a cheat this one, but they do have a shelf or two of English books, honestly.

What they have rather more of are decent bottles of wine. A lovely place to buy a book and settle down for a nice glass and a good read, all just ten minutes from my front door. I think I might start calling it the Mother ship for its perfect invention.

Get down to rue de Vielle Temple in the 4eme pronto if you want to sample its delights.

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 6

Gibert Jeune at 10, Place St Michel ( in the 5th) is the place to go if you want the classics, are studying English literature or want a dictionary and don't want contemporary poetry or anything too interesting. In other words the first floor, which is devoted to English Language books, is no better than a UK branch of WH Smiths and probably a lot worse. That said I did pick up a second hand copy (they have some used books, probably acquired from students) of the collected Elizabeth Bishop for 6 Euros, which I call a result.

Details here: http://www.gibertjeune.fr/page/public/index.php

 

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 5

The Abbey Bookshop (29 rue de la Parcheminerie in the 5th), run by an affable Canadian who moved from Toronto in 1994, is one of the most stock filled spaces I have ever been in. There is hardly any room to move without knocking over piles of new and used books. Good news for lovers of the word and especially the Canadian word.

The poetry selection was comprehensive with classics and current volumes, but as ever the mark up on new books is high. The second hand books however were reasonably priced and I picked up a couple of things I have missed in recent years.

Unbelievably the bookshop holds occasional events. When I asked a friend later where and how, he explained that that was what the summer streets are for - ah Paris!

Details here: http://www.alevdesign.com/abbey/abbey_en.html

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 4

The Red Wheelbarrow at 22 Rue St. Paul and directly in my 'hood is packed floor to rafters with fiction, non-fiction and children's books and has an admirable section of poetry. The present owners have put the business up for sale, so if you want to run a charming bookshop, now's your chance.


If you want to buy books at a very reasonable price in Paris, this is the place for the time being as everything is on sale - up to 50% off, which makes the foreign mark up more palatable.

Details here: http://rwb.paris.free.fr/index.htm

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 3

Galignani's wears its credentials in stone as the first English language bookshop to be established on the continent. Great location on the rue de Rivoli opposite the Tulieries. Less great are the prices of its new stock, which are a significant mark up on the UK RRP. The poetry selection was disappointing: a large number of classics padded out with popular anthologies made up over half the shelves. Pity.

http://galignani.com/

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 2

The San Francisco Book Company is small, but perfectly formed. It has a good selection of mainly second hand books  that are not as expensive as I expected (i.e. comparable with the same in the UK). There are several shelves of poetry that you have to bend over to browse, but luckily there is a stool provided for those with bad backs. Jim Carroll is a friendly and informative book seller. Go there (in the 6th - 17, Rue Monsieur Le Prince), buy books.

http://www.sanfranciscobooksparis.com/shop/sfbparis/index.html

English Language Bookshops in Paris - 1

As my French is, well, fairly rudimentary and my need for the spoken word is huge, it is a great surprise to find that Paris has so many English language bookshops. I suppose the most famous of these is Shakespeare and Company on the Left Bank (just opposite Notre Dame). http://shakespeareandcompany.com/

Not only is it packed floor to ceiling with an excellent stock of new and some quality second hand books, at not too bad a mark up on UK prices, but it also holds author readings almost every Monday and a writers' workshop on Saturdays in the late afternoon/early evening.

In the last few days I have heard Edward St Aubyn reading from his latest novel - the finale to a five book series (At Last) that I was not familiar with, and attended the writer's workshop where we are a rather strange tourist attraction. I have never been part of a group where work-shopping is a random spectator sport for book browsers before! I imagine I will get used to it.