English bookshops in Paris

Hey Charlie !

I go to Paris quite often and, as a matter of fact, I am there right now as I speak (or should I say as I write ?). Anyway, the other day I decided to search for good English bookshops in Paris, mostly because I had to buy a book but also because I have a huge passion for bookshops... So here are 3 English bookshops that I discovered and that you should really go check out next time you come to Paris.

1) WHSmith :

A pretty famous one, that you can also find in the UK (and probably in other countries as well, but I don't know which ones) ; they have a huge choice of literature pieces, novels of fiction, books for teens and kids, English magazines and basically anything you can wish for. 

A quite classy entrance, I'd say

Plus they have a tea room (British vibes, right?) and they serve lunch. So you can come in, buy a book and then go upstairs to start reading it with a cup of tea... How cool is that ?

It's so well-organised that you can find the book you're looking for right away (and if you can't you should probably go check your vision, sorry!)

I would also like to add that they have a large amount of english films, sell english tea and snacks and, on top of all that, have a big choice of pop culture-related objects ; mugs, posters, goodies for example (mostly of Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Star Wars so no need to say that I wanted to buy literally everything)

So, to recap real quick, WHSmith is a great English bookshop in which you can always find this one book you're looking for. 

2) Calignani :

The "first English bookshop established on the continent", as it is proudly written at the entrance. 

See, it is written at the entrance !

This bookshop is really great, mostly because the place itself is just beautiful : it looks like an antique bookshop, kind of like Hogwarts' library if you see what I mean (and that's where I am trying to see how many of you know the basics)

We were not really supposed to take pictures, so I tried taking one sneakily

Surpringly, they also sell books in French. It bothered me a little, but it can be seen as a big advantage: if you have to buy some books in English and some in French, you don't have to go to two different shops (yeah, I know, that is a pretty weak argument but hey, I'm trying to search an advantage to it despite my disappointment)

So, if I had to resume it, I would say that this bookshop is not exceptional but that they have a big choice of books, and that the place is really worth taking a look !

3) Shakespeare and Company :

The last but most definitely not the least ! Even the name of the shop is amazing, am I right ?

Anyway, this one is my favourite and honestly if I could I would live there and never leave this place! No but seriously, my dad had to literally drag me out...

The bookshop is cut in 3 parts : a café, an antiquarian books' shop and the bookshop itself. Unfortunately I was not able to try the café (but it only means that I will have to go back to try it mwahaha). I also couldn't go to the antiquarian books' shop, for the simple reason that it was closed (once again, it means I will have to go back, so no regrets).

Here you can see the bookshop, unfortunately I did not take pictures of the café and the antiquarian books' shop

The bookshop itself is just breath-taking, I don't have any other appropriate words in mind to describe it. But here is what I was thinking when I entered it : BOOKS. EVERYWHERE. B O O K S.

Okay so maybe it was not exactly what I was thinking but seriously, this place is a maze of books, or at least it feels like one (*hum*Also I got lost in it for ten solid minutes*hum*). 

There are books everywhere. And I'm lovin' it.

Upstairs, there is a room where you can just pick any book and sit to read for as long as you want, a room where there is a piano and a typewriter, which you can both freely use and an entire floor dedicated to poetry. I'm gonna stop rambling bout this shop right now, otherwise I'm afraid I'll never be able to stop.

So there you go, I introduced you to those really great shops and honestly, how could I not write an article about them? It felt criminal not to share it.

Of course, I ended up buying 3 books instead of the one I was supposed to buy but oh well, that was very much worth it (except that I no longer have any money, but who cares?)

I'll give you the addresses of the bookshops, in case you want to go see the magic of these places by yourself :

WHSmith : 248, Rue de Rivoli 

Galignani : 224, Rue de Rivoli

Shakespeare and Co. : 37, Rue de la Bûcherie

Thank you for having read my (way too long) first article,

See you soon, 

- Anna

Resisting the hate

Hello Charlie,
So I've been searching for like an hour to how to write a post (because something changed here!) and finally Matteo saved me so thanks you Matteo.
What is happened in Paris is just an awful thing, it's almost magical how someone could have that much of hate inside him/her to do something like this.
I don't know if you know, but in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq.... we're suffering from a dictatorial rule.(nothing really different from terrorists) So most of the new bands are trying to talk about that and criticize it through music. So I chose a song that I love and basically it's talking about resisting and to not shut up (sorry) when you need to speak and i thought it could be relevant of what's happening.
Mashrou' Leila ((Leila's project) Leila is a girl's name) is the name of this band and they are Lebanese. I translated it for you, it's just after the song. enjoy!

we can wait for the dawn, so we could finish counting the stars

and we repeat and repeat and repeat

we can carry the rocks, up to the mountain, and throw the

and we repeat and repeat and repeat

we can open our eyes when they throw dust in them, tell them we are still able to see!

we can refuse to eat each other, even when people could see our bones, tell them we're not hungry!

(long pose of beautiful music:P)

we can shake till it collapses, the cage the we've been in, tell me what are we afraid of?

we can stand till it's perish, the shadow that we've fought, tell them we are still resisting

we can take off, we can fly, when we've accepted crawling

if we bear the winter, the fate is the the spring..

(some mind calming music)

tell them we are still resisting 

resisting

resisting

resisting

tell them we are still standing

tell them we are still bearing

tell them we are still able to see

tell them we are not hungry

tell them we are still resisting

tell them we are not hungry

.....

if you liked them i guess you can find the songs translated in google, if you didn't I would be more than happy to translate them for you :)

 have a nice week. 

Judy A.

Pray for Paris

Hi Charlie,

I woke up this morning because my best friend (yes, the same one who wrote a short text I put in an article a few days after Charlie Hebdo (yes, once again, they are very close to the most sensible areas)) phoned me, terrorised. Don't worry about them, they are fine.

But over 120 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in Paris yesterday evening. That makes over 120 people's families and friends who are mourning, people who didn't know them but were there at the attacks, people who will probably be traumatised for life, and there are still people who are somewhere between life and death, and their families and friends are also terrorised.

I don't know what else to say, most of us already know what happened anyway.

I hope every one of you who has loved ones there has heard from them, and I hope those loved ones are safe.

Judith

PS : while looking for a picture to include in this article, I saw that a brand for clothes has been created called "pray for paris" and they have already created many designs - and put them on sale. I don't know about you, but I find the fact that this manslaughter has been turned into a way to sell is simply outrageous.

PPS : I'm sorry for the lack of organisation of this article, but I can't think straight and I felt the need to share a few thoughts on this catastrophe.

Charlie Hebdo

                                   

Today, 07/01/15, a horrifying crime has been committed in Paris and its extreme gravity was related by almost all the media of the world. This morning while I was calmly listening to Mr. Leveque lesson, three terrorists heavily armed and very well informed made irruption in the Charlie-Hebdo's headquarters and killed the janitor. Then they entered into the meeting room and started to opened fire on two of the major cartoonists: Wolinski and Cabu “ça a duré au moins cinq minutes” says Coco who was hidden under a desk. They killed 11 people,among them the boss of the newspaper, his bodyguard, journalists and cartoonists from this satiric newspaper which, according to them, had insulted Allah. These terrorists then fled in a car and had a little shooting with a police car, and another with two policeman on bike. They wounded one and then calmly killed him.

They were clearly speaking French although they shouted “Allahou Akbar “, which proves that this attack was done by a Islamic fundamentalist group . this is the biggest attack on the French land since 1961. However, nowadays political context and security makes  it even more shocking than the previous one. Thousands of people protested against this act  an unbelievable violence but these killers are still free despite the huge mobilization of police forces.

Raphaël Mussillon