If I Were A Book…

(Photo by delviking, Flickr.com, lifted from Mirage Bookmarks’ The Most Interesting Bookstores in the World)

…this is where I would want to be housed.

Even as a (very human) reader, the photo above makes me want to hop on a plane to Portugal. It’s of the Lello Bookstore in Portugal, regarded as one of the most beautiful bookstores in the world. The bookstore opened in 1906 for one of Portugal’s most influential publishing houses. The Livraria Lello has been selling books since the late 19th century. The building was designed by Francisco Xavier Esteves (the architect who introduced the use of reinforced concrete for civil buildings in Portugal), and with a design described as “neo gothic”.

What I am in love with is the curvaceous, sinewy staircase, and the view of books from the second floor….

(Photo by stukinha Flickr.com; lifted from Mirage Bookmarks’ The Most Interesting Bookstores in the World)

There is a reverential air to books, when housed in such a splendid building. In this day and age, where so many of what should be considered sacred are are maliciously brutalised, wilfully ignored or rudely trespassed, scenes like the Livrario Lello tell of order and beauty. That could be the appeal of libraries and bookstores: they are places where choice is abundant, but where order is enforced, rules and regulations comprehensible and obeyed, where peace is the norm not the exception, and everyone is highly respectful of other people’s rights and space. Idyllic, in other words.

If I do get to travel to Europe again, it would definitely include a tour of bookstores and libraries.

Filed under: At the Stores, Books, Personal Note , Books, bookstore

Readers and Writers in Residence

I caught The Business Traveller on CNN today and was tickled pink by the segment which featured what must be a new career niche for writers: Bedtime Reader. A hotel in London is offering the live reading services of their Writer-In-Residence for customers who request for the service. That’s right. This writer will show up at a guest’s bedroom in his pajamas, and read from a book the guest selects. He’ll shuffle off when guests fall asleep, I guess. I wouldn’t be comfortable having a complete stranger read a book to me in a strange city, but it sounds like a wonderful way to earn money: getting paid to read and write. Hmmm.

Speaking of Writers in Residence, Shakespeare and Co, an antique bookstore in (where else) Paris, offers around six Writers-In-Residence places for aspiring writers. Among the warren of bookshelves the bookstore has sited six beds for wannabe (or present) writers and what is required of the writers in return is that they write (but of course) and read – yes read – a book a day. Sounds heavenly, if you don’t mind tourists and customers wandering in and out of your “bedroom” through opening hours (and sharing toilets)! Anyway, here’s a good, if dated, primer of more conventional writers-in-residence programmes in London.

The show also takes an enticing look at some of the world’s best bookstores. London’s most famous, Foyles, is listed among them but I remember this bookstore as being difficult to navigate, categorising books as it did then (in the 1990s) by publisher instead of author. From what’s written on their website, the store has had a huge transformation and now instead of housing books in overflowing, crammed quarters, the store has lifts, a cafe and even an art gallery. It even offers books for sale over the Internet. It’s good to know a century-old bookstore can keep up with the times.

You know, after watching Richard Quest and reading these articles, I am overcome by the urge to visit London and Paris…..

Filed under: Books, Collectibles, Writing , bedtime reading, bookstore, reading, shakespeare and company, writers-in-residence, Writing