Anthony Frost din Bucuresti, cea mai buna librarie din lume

*Rupert Wolfe-Murray cunoaste bine Bucurestiul, desi nu este de-al locului. Dupa ce l-am luat la intrebari in cadrul rubricii Interviu cu un expat despre Bucuresti, Rupert Wolfe Murray a vrut sa va arate orasul din punctul lui de vedere. Drept urmare a mai scris o cronica a unui loc pe care il viziteaza destul de des: Libraria Anthony Frost.

Libraria Anthony Frost din Bucuresti este cea mai buna librarie engleza din lume pe care o stiu eu. Si asta nu din cauza decorului, a cafelei sau alte lucruri mici care fac o librarie misto, ci pentru au cea mai extraordinara selectie de carti.

Criteriul selectiei este urmatorul: "Putin este mult". Cu alte cuvinte nu au foarte multe carti, insa au o colectie de clasici moderni, cativa autori recenti si cateva titluri despre Romania.

Modul in care sunt aranjate cartile la Anthony Frost este altfel, in comparatie cu alte librarii unde pur si simplu sunt puse multe volume.

Seful se numeste Vlad si mi-a spus ca instrumentul lui cheie este "lopata .... adica trebuie sa stii de ce anume trebuie sa te descotorosesti".

El a mai spus ca se publica mii de carti zilnic si e foarte greu sa faci o selectie.

Dar le aleg pe criteriul: "cartile pe care le-ar placea sa le aiba acasa".

La aceasta librarie si atmosfera este placuta. Eu am petrecut aproximtiv 3 ore vorbind cu vanzatorii si am plecat acasa cu 4 carti, pe care nu mi le permiteam, dar pe care trebuie neaparat sa le am.

Librariile independente sunt greu de intretinut, dar daca va plac cartile ii puteti ajuta trecand pe acolo si cumparand carti.

Anthony Frost, best bookshop in the world

Anthony Frost in Bucharest (not Budapest) is the best English bookshop I know of anywhere in the world. This is not because of the decor, coffee shop or any of the usual things that make bookshops great, but because they have the most brilliant selection of books.

The key to their selection is "less is more" in other words they only have a few books on display, an inspiring collection of modern classics, a few new books and some titles about Romania.

This is quite unlike most bookshops I know who simply pack the shelves with anything and everything.

The guy in charge is called Vlad and he told me his key instrument is "the shovel...knowing what to get rid of." He also told me there are thousands of books being published in English every day and it's really hard to choose from them.

They choose the books they'd like to have at home. It's also got a great atmosphere and I just spent about 3 hours there -- chatting with them, playing with a small kid and leaving with 4 books I really can't afford but simply must have.

Independent bookshops like this always struggle to survive and the rent for their city centre location is high. You can help them to survive by visiting their shop if and when you're in Bucharest (I'm not going to tell you to buy a book as you'll be unable to resist if you're anything like me).