Shakespeare and Company

This guide to Shakespeare and Company in Paris begins with George Whitman, who died in the apartment above the shop in 2011 after six decades living there, and the strange bargain he offered anyone who wandered in: sleep among the shelves for free in exchange for reading a book a day and writing a page of your own life story. It follows how he named the shop for Sylvia Beach's original store and the Ulysses she published when no one else would, and how his daughter Sylvia Whitman has kept the tradition running since 2006. Look closely at the beds tucked between the shelves before you leave.