Shakespeare & Co.

Someday, sooner than I can stand, we won't quite remember what it feels like to enter a bookstore. To be in the presence of real books. The sweet papery aroma of it. The way your blood pressure pleasantly descends in that silent crowd. How the whole place holds you in its separate space, away from the world.



I went in to Shakespeare & Co. on Broadway to saturate myself with it before this one, too, is gone. As Grieve first reported, the bookshop has lost its lease. The rent has been hiked to an insane $50,000 or more.

I asked the cashier when they're closing. He wasn't sure, but figured it will be over by the end of June or the end of July. Who knows? "One day," he told me, "it'll just be gone. You'll come by and find a frozen yogurt shop here."

They're currently having a 20% off sale.



This bookstore always has the best displays, enticing tables of selections, helping you find your way to books you didn't know you wanted. They excel at titles on filmmaking and acting, and have many shelves loaded with plays. I love seeing those sherbet colored bindings on the little scripts.

Anyway, if you haven't yet, please go shove your Kindle up your ass.