Bazaar www.10corsocomo.com intimacy ofthe 3Rooms Hotel. Sozzani, thecourtyard Garden Café, oreven theinviting visit Como’s larger family—the adjoining Galleria Carla the slightchancethatyou needvariety, you could always music… andyou mayeven bumpintoSozzani herself. On may have aseatoncouchwhiledrowning yourself in and whiteportraits. You may browse, you maybuy, you andphotographers—allcaptured artists, instunningblack surrounded by achangingselectionofwriters,musicians, greeted withsoft jazzanddeeploungesounds, elegant, isabuzzwithpeopleandconversation. You’re fashion, andphotography. Thevibehere, thougheffortlessly one oftheworld’s architecture, bestselectionsofart, design, sunlight streaming inthrough largewindows, itoffers you remainsheart itsbookshop. Accented inwhiteandwith design are filtered through hereditorialchoices,Como’s and thoughtfully selectedbooks,food,fashion,music,art, structured theaddress almostasalivingmagazinewhere bookstore asaculturalphenomenon.Though Sozzani fashion editorandpublisherCarlaSozzani, isasmucha style. 10CorsoComo,conceptualisedin1990by former Trust the Italians to merge words with high fashion and 10 CORSO COMO MILAN, 000 Journey theworldonebookstoreatatimeas ESCAPE THE author Siddharth Dasgupta picks the author SiddharthDasguptapicksthe ONE FOR must-visit ones must-visit ones

ITALY —at Atlantis, all three come together independent bookstore—at Atlantis, all three cometogether of theGreek isles,andtheunexpected joys ofahidden, The watersofthe Aegean Sea, thosewhite,cliff-perched homes www.yenny-elateneo.com/local/grand-splendid ofthenarrative. form part experience where antiquity, drama,andsilenttheatricality theatre boxes asreading (now rooms) foran serving with murmursofhistory. Tip: Head intooneofthe crests embellished onwallsandspiralledcolumnsfilled ancient pride,andornamentalregalia thatreveals itselfin from thefrescoed fullof ceilings,theplushstagecurtains by Borges andGuido, it’s hard totakeyour eyes away majesty andflamboyance onview. Leafingthrough words its role of a area thatlooksoutatall thetheatrical avatar. Today, thestagehasslippedwithquietdignityinto Splendid, andthen1929,whenitassumeditscinema all thewayto1919,whenitwas Teatro Grand day resplendence. El Ateneo’s originscanbetracedback atmosphere ofdark drama,age-oldgrandeur, andpresent- you’re trappedinaDavid Lynch film,heldprisonertoits downtown Buenos Aires, you gettheslightsuspicionthat in anoldtheatre in bookshop, housed At the El Ateneo ATLANTIS BOOKS SANTORINI, GREECE ARGENTINA BUENOS AIRES, GRAND SPLENDID LIBRERÍA EL ATENEO Atlantis Books’s sea-view 10 Corso ComoinMilan. Splendid, BuenosAires; (This page)(This TheLibrería façade ofLibrairie des (Opposite page) The Colonnes inTangier;Colonnes terrace, Santorini. a books display at El Ateneo Grand

COURTESY FLICKR/HERNÁN PIÑERA; 10 CORSO COMO; WILL BRADY; LIBRAIRIE DES COLONNES. Atlantis’s bevyoffirsteditions, including Steinbeck’s The form, before shippingthemouttotheworld. Tip: Don’t miss collections) inlight,postcard-sizefresh story booklet short anda Walter Benjamin translationincluded—and handmade books(bothclassics—anEmily Dickinson poetry Atlantis’s smallprintingpress, Paravion, creates sewn, brainchild of original creatorsCraig WalzerOliverand Wise, Literature Festival, foodsoirées, andfilmscreenings. The festivals, & including the Caldera Arts terrace-side literary bohemianvibeextends to readers andwriters,thepervading sunset for terrace. In on its sea-view this sanctuary choice, andAtlantis playsthisuptothehiltwithfrequent picture-perfect sunset address of picture-perfect sunsetaddress of Oia. You’ll recognise Oia asthe ofMain the heart Marble Road, quintessential oldvillagehousein a Atlantis today finds home in beneath a Venetian castlein2004, Moving from its firstlocation paint later, Atlantis wasborn. One store andafresh bluecoatof decided theirdestinyrested here. nourished by bottlesofwine,they 2002. Wowed by theislandand week in Santorini in the springof after twocollegematesspenta fashion. Thebookstore wasborn in adecidedlyserendipitous www.atlantisbooks.org Old Man andtheSea. Hemingway’s of WrathGrapes a robust Arabpresence, theroost. Stay rule forthehistory minimal atbest;French andSpanish writers,togetherwith gem. Be warnedthough,theEnglish selectionhere is scouring through thedark woodintheirhuntforahidden cabinets alignedtotheirown will,readers andrummagers atmosphere—books strewn aboutinplaces,shelves and well as a charminglyramshacklelibrary-in-flux nourish anethicthatincludesbothquietreading cornersas Colonnes, owners Pierre Bergé andSimon-Pierre Hamelin andevocativegraceful curves, dark wood. Within des bookshop’s sense—strikingcolumns, visageisclassicinevery and accentedinthecountry’s French colonial past. The architecture, dressed indistinctive maroon andgrey strokes Colonnes’s toitsbeautiful iconicstatusisdueinpart stepping backintoalargeframeofsepia.Librairiedes Maghreb, islike fragrances ofthe it iswiththesingular bookstore, infusedas Walking intothis TANGIER, COLONNES LIBRAIRIE DES

MOROCCO and and The The www.librairie-des-colonnes.org time charms. on desColonnes’s once-upon-a- Boroughs that stillseemfixated for theghostsofBeckett and screenings. Stay mostly, though, frequent bookreadings andfilm made Tangier home;stayforthe Indian Tahir Shah, whohave Henri Lévy and the Moroccan- famous writers,likeBernard- though; stayforstoriesofthe verdant valley andtreasure trove ofthe but itsbalcony views is more acaféthanbookstore, Tibetan enclave of McLeod Ganj, magic isafoot.Illiterati, inthe too-distant Himalayan ranges, Valley and looking out at the not- North India, kissedby theKangra In thelargerDharamsala region of DHARAMSALA, ILLITERATI CAFÉ

INDIA INDIA 000 ä BazaarESCAPE

(From left) Illiterati fiction titles, fiction favourites, and rarities to be found and Miller included. This being Paris, a certain frozen Café, Dharamsala; a gondola used as a anywhere. The tranquillity of sitting back on an armchair and romance is deeply ingrained within Shakespeare’s display at sipping a glass of red wine while reading up on your onward assemblage of a ramshackle façade, the scrawled manifesto Libreria Acqua Alta journey through Europe via all the travel knowledge at hand is at the entrance, a treasure trove of tiny rooms and secluded in Venice. immeasurable. Despite its sprawling dimensions, the mood reading spots, and walls, stairs, and doorways showcasing here remains intimate. Named after the only colony the Danes scribbled literature all their own. Take my advice: ever established in India, Tranquebar stays true to the Grab something from the café next door, take a seat on exploratory ethic of its Coromandel Coast origins. the porch’s tumbledown bench, say a silent hello to the www.tranquebar.net Notre Dame just across the Seine flowing by in front of you, and allow 37 rue de la Bûcherie to whisk you away SHAKESPEARE AND COMPANY PARIS, FRANCE to a literary nirvana. Though Shakespeare and Company might be something www.shakespeareandcompany.com of a predictable inclusion, it still remains a deeply personal one. I’ll readily agree that THE ABBEY BOOKSHOP PARIS, FRANCE it’s overrun with tourists, many with not Filled with quirky charm, cosy little the littlest interest in literature. But when nooks and crannies, and the ramshackle you’re in the company of Shakespeare’s romance of Shakespeare & Company, legendary yellow and green visage, mixing but sans the tourists and teenagers out to it up with the Beat Poets of the ’40s and grab a selfie, The Abbey Bookshop is of words that bookend the seating Frizzio, and his equally up-for-it staff, the Lost Generation of the ’20s, nothing literary deliciousness served on a typically arrangements make it a must-visit. The When you’re in the rubber boots in tow, to switch into else seems to matter. Nostalgia, myth, Parisian platter. This quintessential key word at Illiterati is atmosphere: The action: Books are swiftly relocated from stories, and fables are Shakespeare’s calling French bookstore is, ironically enough, elegant French chairs and sofas nourish company of floors and low-level shelves to an assembly cards, and they involve a gamut of cultural owned and steered by Canadian Brian it, the fresh northern breeze fosters it, Shakespeare’s legendary of makeshift spaces—bathtubs, higher crusaders and literary vanguards: The Spence. You’ll leap over books lying and the interesting selection of shelves, a rowing boat, and even a venerated founder George Whitman, its haphazardly on the floor, jump to reach spirituality, travel, tantra, philosophy, yellow and green visage, gondola included! Even in dry weather, angelic current owner Sylvia Whitman, for a classic stored near the ceiling, and and India-centric books cement all of it mixing it up with the Acqua Alta spoils you with magic—that and books by writers of the ilk of generally find yourself COURTESY ABHINAV CHANDEL; FLICKR/MARTI AND TOOMAS HINNOOSAR; TOBIAS STAEBLER; ABBEY BOOKSTORE. ABBEY STAEBLER; TOBIAS HINNOOSAR; TOOMAS AND FLICKR/MARTI CHANDEL; ABHINAV COURTESY together. The Dalai Lama makes a bench by an open door, barely a breath Hemingway, Joyce, Ginsberg, Burroughs, (Top) The entrance to the wrapped in the nostalgia frequent appearance on the bookshelves Beat Poets of the ’40s removed from the canal, being a Abbey Bookstore. (Below) the afforded by old volumes courtyard outside and the tables, as do journeys into and the Lost Generation case in point. There’s nothing quite Shakespeare and Company. and life through an Eastern and Western metaphysical like splashing about here during the unhurried prism. In a city thought—yours to both buy and of the ’20s, nothing else rains, though. For a reader, this notorious for its anti- borrow. The wood-fired food is a smoky seems to matter quasi-underwater bookstore offers Anglo sentiments, Abbey is reservoir of memories old and new, the surreal thrill of roaming and an eclectic reservoir of with local organic produce inhabiting a browsing through thousands of nearly 40,000 titles in delicious selection of Himachali, Mediterranean, and French books and European rarities in the midst of all the English. Abbey’s main fare. Drop into Illiterati late at night too, when you’re likely to seafaring drama, even as Frizzio’s cats keep bumping into draw, unarguably, is its find itinerant musicians and a crowded house in the midst of you on their own naval explorations. home—the 18th-century much homegrown melody and merriment. www.atlasobscura.com/places/libreria-acqua-alta Hotel Dubuisson building, illiteratibooksandcoffee.wordpress.com all Latin Quarter charm, TRANQUEBAR BOOK CAFÉ COPENHAGEN, DENMARK façade etched in poetic LIBRERIA ACQUA ALTA VENICE, ITALY If you’re a literature addict who also happens to be swirls, and carved doors Literally the ‘high water bookshop’, at Libreria Acqua Alta you afflicted with wanderlust, then Tranquebar might well be meant to elicit sighs. For find yourself wading into a wealth of atmosphere. You enter your Shangri-La. Accented with dark walls, rich wood, me, Abbey’s mellow through a druid’s chamber of wonders, as a burrowed brick- large spaces, and understated style, the address compels lighting, notes of Ella and and-stone entrance and a cobblestone pathway open up to a you to pick up a book. Tranquebar spreads its arms Duke drifting in the air, door of faded green. The imposing crest of a lion holding up beyond just books though, also enveloping a restaurant, and off-the-beaten-path an open takes the whole medieval air a notch further. a performance space that’s choc-a-bloc with its yearly presence on rue de la The entire entranceway is lined with books and a wrought- calendar of music and theatre, and the frequently Parcheminerie, are quiet iron chair; there is a distinct nautical theme at play here, and appearing trinkets, memorabilia, objets d’art, and knick- reminders of just why a the reason for this becomes abundantly clear during the knacks gathered from around the world. Travel literature bookshop is often the monsoon. Whenever it rains and whenever the canals overflow, is the bookstore’s raison d’être, with the shelves and quickest and surest way the canal-side address of Acqua Alta becomes flooded with displays bearing probably the largest collection of into a city’s character. n water. This is a clarion call for the industrious owner, Luis wanderlust-related journals, guides, magazines, non- abbeybookshop.wordpress.com

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