A blog rec for the people interested in tumbleweeding!

My friend Tom has this amazing blog where he interviews Tumbleweeds and staff members. So you can get a lot more information about the Tumbleweed ~*~lifestyle~*~.

And here are all my posts about Shakespeare and Company.

I did some drawings of Kitty and Colette. See more of them in my interview on Tom's blog!

June tumbleweeding, Shakespeare and Company

 Sita engages in the universal tumbleweed activity, screwing the shutters onto the antiquarian

 The tumbleweed closet, from which you will have to wrestle your possessions each morning, if you become a tumbleweed. Don't bring anything fragile or valuable! This little closet along the stairwell used to be a "Turkish"-style toilet--back when tumbleweeds had to go to the public showers.

 Another classic tumbleweed activity: fishing the change from the wishing well. Before the bookstore installed that table on top, the coins in the well would regularly surpass 20 euros' worth each day. Nowadays we might get about 5 euros a day. There also used to be a gas valve at the base of the well, and sometimes George would open the gas and set the hole on fire.

 Every night by the Seine, hundreds of people filled these little amphitheaters to salsa dance.

The place Maubert, two blocks from the shop, hosts regular produce and flea markets

 While the staff went bowling, Sita manned the corner till

Tumbleweed Life, Shakepeare and Company, Paris

 Ben

 Many more posts about tumblweeding at Shakespeare and Company listed here.

 me and Sita

 Sita and Colette

 Chris Adrian reading

 Terry, whose favorite song is "Girl from the North Country"

More views of the Tumblweed archives

More Tumbleweed Bios, Shakespeare and Company, 2013
Many more posts about tumbleweeding and Shakespeare and Company listed here.

Tumbleweedy

Tom interviewed me for his Shakespeare & Company tumbleweed blog.

Paris, 2013
many more posts about tumbleweeding and Shakespeare and Company listed here.

more scenes from Shakespeare and Company

many more posts about tumbleweeding and Shakespeare and Company are listed here.

After the jump, some old bios and some weird finds from the bookshelves.

Tumbleweed Hotel, Shakespeare and Company

 It's very hard to express what an amazing miracle it is to sleep overnight at Shakespeare and Company. To live here (for free), you have to show up at the store and ask Sylvia, the owner, George Whitman's daughter (you can't reserve a place or anything). The winter's less crowded than the summer, but you can't ever be sure of a spot. How long can you stay as a tumbleweed? Most people stay a week to a month, but one guy stayed seven years. The only requirements, other than tidiness, are that you have to work 2 hours a day in the shop, read a book a day, and write a one-page biography of your life. Upstairs in George's old room are thousands and thousands of these one-page biographies, going back five decades.

many more posts about tumbleweeding and shakespeare and company are listed here.
and here are my best ideas for travel on the cheap, if you'd like to see!