# Γιατί όχι κι ένας Οδηγός Μισελέν για βιβλιοπωλεία;



## Earion (Dec 10, 2010)

Από το TLS (3.12.2010).


WE waited and waited for someone to ask for our books of the year--surely the _Perthshire Advertiser _wants to know?--but the invitation never came. How we would have loved to say, with the omniscient Philip Hensher (_Observer_), that Jonathan Franzen's _Freedom _"effortlessly outshone every other novel on the autumn lists". To proclaim with Antony Beevor (_Sunday Telegraph_) that "Along with almost everyone I know, I loved _Freedom_". To say as charmingly as Tom Stoppard did (_Guardian_) that _Freedom_--you guessed--was his book of the year, and that "I am now on page 14". Back into the drawer our selections go, to lie in wait beside our neatly typed Desert Island Discs.​All the more welcome, therefore, is the request from Robin Clarke in Brazil to know our Bookshops of the Year. Would it be possible, asks, "to compile a list of the secondhand bookshops visited on your perambulations, a kind of Michelin guide? It would be a small step towards preserving such splendid places which are in danger of disappearing". Here, then, are the opening entries of our _Perambulatory Biblio Guide_.

Any Amount of Books in Charing Cross Road gets two stars and, in place of the Michelin fork-and-spoon, receives an open-book ΧΧ for approachable staff, known to treat with utmost courtesy the common request for "a book called something like ... by an author whose name I can't remember". Any Amount's location means that the stock is frequently replenished, with bargains in the open-air barrows. In place of Michelin's coin sign, for economy, we give it our ££.

When Professor Clarke has pocketed the book with no title by the unknown author, he may turn right out the door and browse the more genteel shelves of Henry Pordes, good for hardback literature but short on the unforeseen bargain. It receives a star, but the mixed staff--one model of Continental charm, one dogged English grump--means we award no Χ and no ££. Or he may turn left and walk to Cecil Court, there to scavenge in Peter Ellis. The outdoor barrows are the place to look, if for no other reason than that you avoid being snubbed by the maitre d' who seldom glances from his screen. Half a star, no & and a single £. Further chapters of the _Guide _will follow.​Απολαύσατε, όπως εγώ, το αμίμητο εγγλέζικο χιούμορ, εκείνο το "σφάξιμο με το μπαμπάκι" στην πρώτη παράγραφο;


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## Themis (Dec 11, 2010)

Earion said:


> Απολαύσατε, όπως εγώ, το αμίμητο εγγλέζικο χιούμορ, εκείνο το "σφάξιμο με το μπαμπάκι" στην πρώτη παράγραφο;


Δεν μπορείς να φανταστείς πόσο.


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