THE RED WHEELBARROW BOOKSTORE

On our last full day in Paris I stumbled on this wonderful bookstore only a couple of hundred metres away from our hotel in the Marais.

Owned by two savvy women, Penelope Le Masson, (Canadian but has lived here in Paris for 17 years), and Abigail Altman (from Albany,NY but has lived here for 7 years), The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore, was started here in the 4th arondissement in September 2001.They are English langauage book specialists and every recent fiction title I could think of was available along with an astonishing backlist, and lots of non-fiction titles too, and kids books.

This is my kind of bookstore. Packed to the gunnels with books, especially fiction, sourced from both the UK and the US, and Abigail knew where absolutely every book in stock was located. The picture above shows Abigail and me discussing books while the one below shows one of the more unusual bookshelves I have come across.

When I mentioned to Abigail the new John Burdett title that I blogged a couple of days back, she said it wasn't here yet but immediately produced for me one of Burdett's backlist titles, Bangkok Tattoo, which I instantly bought to read during our Thailand stopover on the way home. I notice by the way that Burdett is described by some as Asia's John Grisham, another lawyer turned author.

Next time you are in Paris looking for something to read, or you just want a good browse around a fine bookstore, do yourself a great favour and head across to The Red Wheelbarrow Bookstore, 22, rue Saint-Paul, 75 004, Paris. You will not regret it. They are open every day.

Tel. 01 48 04 75 08

good.reading@wanadoo.fr

http://www.theredwheelbarrow.com/ This website is worth a visit.