Weekend Stubble

Over at the Times, Jeremy Mercer excerpts his new memoir Time Was Soft There, about his Paris sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. :

Eve peered at me. You mean you don’t know who George is?” She beckoned me towards a collection of photographs lining the walls.

“That’s George.” Eve was pointing to one picture where the man was leaning over a table full of books with a broad smile. “He runs Shakespeare and Company.”

She said this as if it explained everything but it still didn’t make sense. The books I could understand, likewise the tea party — just. But the beds . . . there were beds everywhere . . .

“But what exactly goes on here?”

“You don’t know? The bookstore is like a shelter. George lets people live here for free.”

I will now pause for a few minutes to allow some of you to go rummaging for your passports...