{"product_id":"9780312347406","title":"Time Was Soft There : A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare \u0026 Co.","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eTime Was Soft There\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Jeremy Mercer\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWandering through Paris's Left Bank one day, poor and unemployed, Canadian reporter Jeremy Mercer ducked into a little bookstore called Shakespeare \u0026amp; Co. Mercer bought a book, and the staff invited him up for tea. Within weeks, he was living above the store, working for the proprietor, George Whitman, patron saint of the city's down-and-out writers, and immersing himself in the love affairs and low-down watering holes of the shop's makeshift staff. \u003ci\u003eTime Was Soft There \u003c\/i\u003eis the story of a journey down a literary rabbit hole in the shadow of Notre Dame, to a place where a hidden bohemia still thrives.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Jeremy Mercer's tale of George Whitman and his beloved bookstore is a book of revelations, for it tells the hard-to-discover true story of George's life and of the twenty-thousand-and-one nights of this enchanted place that continues to be, for its habitées as well as for its creator, a way of life.” —\u003ci\u003eLawrence Ferlinghetti, cofounder and owner, City Lights Bookstore\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The memoir is much more than an entertaining romp through Parisian literary bohemia at the turn of the millennium. \u003ci\u003eTime Was Soft There\u003c\/i\u003e will likely be the last firsthand account of an aging legend.” —\u003ci\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Mercer has fashioned a colorful de facto biography of Whitman . . . a tightly written, insightful memoir of Left Bank literary radicalism. A great read, both funny and quietly moving.” —\u003ci\u003eSan Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The milieu he evokes, while a long way from that of the Lost Generation, has its own charm.” —\u003ci\u003eThe Wall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The memoir ably captures a romanticized version of the bum's life.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Mercer is a fine writer with a keen and jaundiced eye.” —\u003ci\u003eChicago Tribune\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780312347406\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Picador","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40673543553230,"sku":"9780312347406","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_f2808483-86fc-41e8-98c9-97b0068c8d5f.jpg?v=1644919252","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780312347406","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}