In Which a Wee Bit of Great Britain Comes to My Neighborhood

To meet a handsome fellow from London who also owns a secondhand bookstore that carries mostly books by English authors or books about or published in Great Britain, for me is akin to meeting a rock star. 

My heart be still.

Paul Wheeldon, owner of the straightforwardly named Paul Wheeldon Secondhand Books, brought a bit of England into my life when he opened his shop in my neighborhood.

What a perfect place to have a bookish chat on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. 

I discovered that Paul is originally from Harlow New Town, Essex, which is about 25 miles northeast of London. He met his American wife, Sara, in London. She worked in a secondhand book store on Gloucester Road in a building that now houses Slightly Foxed new and used books. Both bibliophiles, they had a book business of their own going - selling online and to bookstores. 

They moved to Louisville five years ago. Paul first opened the store in a space he shared with an art gallery. He recently relocated to a spot just a half mile from me in a building he shares with a record store in the front and a vintage shop upstairs.

His shop at the back is very cozy and comfortable. His curated shelves hold books on military history, shipwrecks, global travel, high-end fashion, royalty, along with literary classics and contemporary British fiction. There are a shelf or two of antique and collectible volumes. The walls are hung with pieces of his own art and vintage maps. A black typewriter sits atop one bookcase. A bobby's hat rests atop another. Of special interest is an entire bookcase full of Penguins.

"I like to think I am a Penguin specialist," he says. "I always look for the orange stripe."

And it's not everywhere that one will find a book featuring Rowing Blazers and boxes full of Tatler and British Vogue magazines.

He only occasionally orders or sells online, he says, preferring to do business face to face.

What has been a great book find for you?
I was living in London and had gone to Norwich on a book buy. I picked up a prayer book and the inscription read: 

To Edith. 

Thinking of you. 

From, 

Edith Todhunter 

1915 

Kingsmoor House 

Kingsmoor House, a small country manor, was five minutes from my home in Essex. I have visited the house. This book now rests permanently on my nightstand.

A more recent find was a first edition copy of The History of Mr. Polly by H.G.Wells from 1910. Although not a particularly popular or valuable book, I knew right away that I had to have it in my personal collection.

What do you like to read?

Bad science fiction. I am particularly fond of the War Hammer series. There are lots and lots of them written by different authors. They are very predictable: the good guys face adversity, they get a beating, and then they come back and win. 

I especially like Sherlock Holmes. To me, Jeremy Brett was the best portrayer of the detective. The man lived it. I also like the Inspector Maigret series by Georges Simenon. The most recent one I read was At the Crossroads. I love that time period and I think they are sexy mysteries. I don't know how he does that.

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Oh, yes. I am destined to spend much time browsing and buying at Paul's bookshop. I am invited to come in anytime for a spot of tea. Aren't I lucky to have this little patch of literary Britain so close by! 

You can see more of Paul and his bookshop here.

Inspector Maigret Takes a Case

Georges Simenon
creator of Inspector Jules Maigret

I have now returned three mysteries unread to the library that take place in Paris. All three were duds. I have written my thoughts on the first two and will not waste any more time writing about the third.

I don't know what I was thinking. What I needed to do was to spend time with pipe-smoking Inspector Maigret of Paris. Classic! I stopped by a used book store hoping to find one or two of Georges Simenon's creations. Zéro.

So I headed to the main library and found two shelves full of Maigret mysteries. What to choose? After careful consideration I picked Maigret and the Millionaires and Maigret on the Riviera. In the first, Maigret solves a murder that happened at the luxurious Hotel George V. In the second, no surprise here, he is on a case on the Côte d'Azur.

I am sure I won't be disappointed.

On another note, I finished reading Paris Was Ours: Thirty-two writers reflect on the City of Light. Well, actually, I finished reading all the ones written by women of which there were 21. I will save the experiences of les hommes for another day.

Here are stories of women at all stages in life: single, divorced, married, mothers, students, young, mature, and émigrés all trying to find their way. Some had easier times than others. Some had connections when they arrived in Paris to ease their way with French customs; others had no one. The different views are what put the zing in these tales of Paris. No matter what memory or illusion one might have of how Paris is or could be, there is always someone who will come along to offer a totally different view.

Remember Hemingway's quote from yesterday?

There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other.

The stories from Paris Was Ours prove that to be true.