In spite of the recent developments regarding the Amazon Kindle in South Africa, Ann Donald’s faith in the importance of print books and the joy of bookstores - independent, like her own Kalk Bay Books, and otherwise - is ever stronger after reading Lewis Buzbee’s The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop:
A friend lent me The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, a book she’d bought at the bookshop that lives in the heart of every bookseller - Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. It is an ode to booksellers and reminded me why I became one in the first place.
The book, bearing the Shakespeare & Co stamp on the title page, is a permanent reminder to its owner of the pleasure she had browsing around this unique shop. With a history that extends back to its first owner, Sylvia Beach, who ensured James Joyce’s Ulysses was published, its demise during World War Two, to the current shop - named in homage to Beach - Shakespeare & Co epitomises the allure of bookshops. Somehow, I doubt that my friend would get as much pleasure from an Amazon stamp or a Kindle link.
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