If you enjoy reading, don’t miss Shakespeare and Company when you visit the city of Paris. It is a famous English-language bookstore on the left bank of the river Seine. The first Shakespeare and Company in history was opened in 1919 by an American, Sylvia Beach. Ms. Beach did more than sel1 books. Her bookstore was also a library, and she even prepared beds for writers visiting there. Ms. Beach was not only kind to people but also good at choosing books, so her bookstore was often visited by writers like Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce. But in 1941, after the Germans took power in Paris, Ms. Beach was told to close her bookstore.

In 1951, another American, George Whitman opened in Paris another English- language bookstore, Librairie Mistral. Since then, just as Ms. Beach did, Mr. Whitman has also made his bookstore a library for people to borrow books, and a free hotel for writers to stay in. To remember Ms. Beach, Mr. Whitman changed the name of his bookstore to Shakespeare and Company in 1964, two years after Ms. Beach died.

Next time when you are in Paris, don’t forget to visit this friendly bookstore, and see if you can spend a night there.