30-05-2025
A tale of three cities
I seem to have inherited two loves from my late mother: the love for the written word and that for travel. A combination of both made me extend my trip to Europe when I was invited to present my PhD work at the University of Bergen in Norway. I just had to visit Paris and Berlin! As a rule, everywhere I go, I have to visit bookstores and then mention their names, locations, and the date of the visit on the title page of each book or diary I purchase. This article grew out of that same impulse to document my favourite places in each of the three literary European cities I happily wandered through.
BergenAlthough the city of Oslo and the mesmerising Northern Lights are what initially come to mind when one thinks of Norway, for me, Bergen turned out to be a little slice of literary heaven. An unbelievably picturesque Scandinavian city, every street corner seems to be straight out of a fairytale. Grand Hotel Terminus, where I stayed, is bang in the city centre and displayed posters from the works of literary giants like Henrik Ibsen, who served as the resident dramatist at the city's Norwegian Theatre. My first bookish stop was the neo-Romanesque Bergen Offentlige Bibliotek or the public library. The second largest in Norway, it is a bibliophile's dream come true with plenty of reading nooks and unending aisles of books. Here, Scandinavian and Norwegian titles share space with translated works from the Anglophone and Francophone world. It also has a child-friendly space that's open to all.
Next, using both translation and map apps, I stepped into the Boksalongen (translated as the Book Salon) situated at the Litteraturhuset or House of Literature, a literary complex that hosts the city's annual literature festival. The space for book events welcoming authors, poets and reading communities also houses a collection of books that mainly includes regional literary texts or canonical works in translation, apart from an English section. 'Here, one can find all kinds of books and literary magazines, many of which are not available in chain bookstores despite the publications' high-quality writing,' said Tijana Przulj, a PhD fellow at the Department of Foreign Languages, University of Bergen. She also spoke highly of Tekstallmenningen, the city's literary organization, which acts as 'an intermediary between small presses and the public, selling books and other publications both directly to the public and through various other channels.'
I wandered through the famous local fish market and stopped to take a picture next to Ibsen's statue on my way to the city's outlet of Norli, one of the oldest bookstore chains in Norway. Much of the action in this massive space with separate levels is in the basement. It's where I bought Invisible Cities, my first Italo Calvino. The staff here is extremely helpful while also giving browsers enough space to peruse to their heart's content. My final bookish adventure in Bergen happened at the airport with wooden interiors, which houses an ARK, an outlet of another large Norwegian bookstore chain. Their 'don't judge a book by its cover' shelves in the English section immediately caught my eye. Here, the brown paper wrapping on books bear hints about plot and characters. You may open the package after you've bought the book on the basis of the hints provided. I boarded the plane to Berlin still wondering which book fit this description: Early 20th C Europe, the haves and have nots, class warfare, for fans of Brideshead Revisited. Any clues?
Pro tip: Always carry an umbrella because the weather in Bergen can turn from sunny to torrential within seconds
Berlin
The first bookstore I visited in Berlin, a city that has been on my bucket list forever, was the Schleichers Buchhandlung near Freie University. It houses a wide range of books in English, a rarity in Germany. A local told me the cosy independent book shop dates back to the Cold War when the city was divided into the Allied and Soviet zones. At the store located in what was once the western part of the divided city of Berlin, I picked up works by Behzad Karim Khani and Nadia Shehadeh. I also took a guided tour and was constantly reminded of Jenny Erpenbeck's works as I came across the many landmarks mentioned in her Go, Went, Gone, a nuanced novel on the treatment of African migrants and asylum seekers in Germany.
Next, I headed to Berlin's biggest independent bookstore, Dussmann das KulturKaufhaus. A massive structure with multiple floors, it has the largest selection of books I have ever come across in Europe. A range of souvenirs, tempting stationary and loads of bookish games are also available here. Though it was packed, staff members helped me locate the literary works of Aleksandar Hemon. I was looking for The Lazarus Project, which, sadly, was not available in any of the bookstores I visited in Europe. But I did end up buying the author's The World and All that it Holds. I was keen to visit the She Said bookshop which exclusively stocks books by women and queer writers but alas, I didn't have the time!
Pro Tip: The buses are a cheap and convenient way to travel around the city.
Paris
Doing Paris in a day-and-a-half is a feat. I had to pack in a visit to the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower, and to the one place that has been a part of my literary dreams, the Shakespeare and Company bookshop. After gaping at what I could, I hopped on a rented bicycle outside the museum and rode to the bookstore. There was a line outside with a host who let people in only when it was clear that a certain number of others had left the store. Passages inside the picturesque store are designed to open like chapters of a book, with each revealing many book-filled nooks and corners. The place is believed to have been constructed in the image of the original Shakespeare and Company book store founded in 1919 by Sylvia Beach, which also functioned as a lending library. A poster about Beach states that she was 'the first to publish James Joyce's Ulysses in 1922, when no one else dared'. The walls are laden with quotes from writers such as Anais Nin and framed photos of authors like Langston Hughes, bell hooks and Daphne du Maurier. In the used books section, I grabbed a copy of Jean Rhys' collection of short stories and of course, had it stamped by the cashier.
Afterwards, I also briefly stepped into the adjoining shop housing rare books and first editions, which were beautiful to peruse but expensive to purchase. After lunch, I browsed through L'atelier 9, which also has a small collection of books in English. Interestingly, it doubles up as a cultural space that hosts writers from small publishing houses and gives them a platform to speak about their work.
Then, before heading to the Eiffel Tower, I wandered past the picturesque book stalls along the river Seine displaying works by or on Montaigne, Flaubert and Diderot. These shops also have an impressive collection of magazines, comic books, posters and art prints. But then it began to drizzle and the shops downed their shutters, which prompted me to seek shelter and a croissant at a quaint café. Oh, so Parisian, mon ami!
Pro tip: There are many online pre-booking options for the Louvre that charge double the amount of what the passes actually cost. You can buy passes without a hassle and at the regular cost at counters inside the museum complex.
Simar Bhasin is a Delhi-based literary critic and research scholar. Her essay 'A Qissa of Resistance: Desire and Dissent in Selma Dabbagh's Short Fiction' was awarded 'Highly Commended' by the Wasafiri Essay Prize 2024.
