This is a long shot but who knows, maybe someone from Penguin looks at this sub. I know this isn’t about a book per se, but I’m hoping it can reach someone who I have been looking for, for a long time.
In 2019-2020 I lived on rue de Passy in the 16th. On rue de Passy we had a community library. During a particularly horrible summer (2019) I got lucky. For years I couldn’t find English books and didn’t have the money to order Amazon from England, or go to Waterstone’s on rue de Rivoli (I believe it’s now yet another English brand bookstore, it changes owners often). I also couldn’t afford the 140€ yearly membership that the American Library charged. English books were so hard to come by. I would read anything in English I could get my hands on (shampoo bottles with English directions, any little scraps I could), but for many years I didn’t read books. Which as a ferocious reader is a travesty.
But then I discovered the Passy library and would find brand new Penguin hardcovers in English. I must have read 60 books that summer. My vocabulary improved (I had spent 6 years getting used to speaking broken English and not using my extensive vocabulary). It made that miserable summer slightly better.
I assume this person worked for Penguin because how else did brand new hardcovers make it to Paris?
So Penguin person, whomever you are. I hope one day I can find you so I can thank you for giving me the chance to visit so many new places and beautiful worlds during that horrible summer of 108F heat, trapped in my s****y chambre de bonne, dealing with my horribly abusive ex boyfriend. It’s because of you that I was able to make it through. I hope you are living your best life. You deserve it.
by seeingpinkelefants