Hello ladies and gentlemen...and welcome.
I thought I'd start us off with some of the classics, which make up the beaten track so much so that roadworks are planned to re-lay the pavement.
I give you.... http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/
Now don't be snobby.
Been here before? Did you run screaming before you'd even had time to reach the poetry section at the back? Probably because an army of camera-clicking tourists (no specific nation in mind) were gawping, their fanny packs knocking books off tables, asking whether Shakespeare used to come her arrrrfen.
I understand your fear.
But the trick is to perform a matrix-style leap, running along the bookshelves, past Joyce and Dick Francis, and get to the stairs. Up here, in exhange for working a couple of hours a day, you can kip for free on one of the old sofas. Also, if you're lucky, you might get to catch a book reading AND wine tasting. Tomorrow, for example, I'm hoping to pop over to taste some of Jean-Marc Espinasse's Carignan from the South of France after Ann Mah's reading from 'Kitchen Chinese'.
Love,
Mustard