Polare, Maastricht

Polare書店，荷蘭馬斯特里赫特

Converted from a 13th Century Dominican church in 2006, the Polare bookstore in Maastricht is a temple of books that raises reading to a religious experience. Polare came under threat when Polare declared bankruptcy in February. It remains open for the time being under the name `Boekhandel Dominicanen` but staff have launched a crowdfunding campaign to save it from closure.

荷蘭馬斯特里赫特的Polare書店是2006年由一座13世紀的多米尼加教堂改造而來的。在這座書籍殿堂里讀書，閱讀不再是閱讀，而是一種虔誠的體驗。不過，Polare公司今年2月宣布破產，因此Polare書店正面臨關門的危機，現在書店以Boekhandel Dominicanen的名義繼續經營，員工們正在發起眾投以挽救書店關張。

El Ateneo, Buenos Aires

El Ateneo書店，阿根廷布宜諾斯艾利斯

Visitors can go from stage to page at this Argentinian icon. First built as the Teatro Grand Splendid in 1919, before becoming a cinema in 1929, El Ateneo appeals to the dramatic reader. With frescoed ceilings, ornate carvings and plush red stage curtains, it has retained its original splendour: customers can sit in the theatre boxes to browse in comfort.

在這棟如同阿根廷名片的建筑中，游客可以收獲到由舞臺到書墨的美妙體驗。該建筑始建于1919年，當時是Teatro Grand Splendid大劇院，1929年改成電影院。無論是天頂畫、華麗的雕刻還是奢華的紅色大幕布，El Ateneo依然保留著當初的雄偉壯觀：顧客可以坐在劇院包廂里享受舒適閱讀。

Libreria Acqua Alta, Venice

Libreria Acqua Alta書店，意大利威尼斯

Could this be the world’s only underwater bookstore? Translating as ‘high water bookshop’， its canalside spot means an extra level of organisation for staff: the rubber boot-wearing owner has to move his books from the floor to bathtubs and higher shelves during regular flooding.

這或許是世界上唯一一家“水下書店”。店名直譯過來意為“高水書店”，這家書店位于威尼斯運河邊，為了防止書籍受水泡，員工必須具備一定的書籍擺放能力。隔三差五洪水來襲時，老板就要穿上橡膠雨鞋將書從澡盆和地上挪到更高的書架上。

Librairie Avant-Garde, Nanjing

先鋒書店，中國南京

Called China’s most beautiful bookshop, Nanjing’s Librairie Avant-Garde was built inside a former government car park that had also been a bomb shelter. To find their way into the 4,000 sq m underground space beneath Wutishan Stadium, visitors follow a yellow-striped road; inside, a replica of Rodin’s The Thinker sits alongside a cash till made out of old books, and pillars with famous literary verses carved into them.

這座坐落于南京五臺山體育場地下的4000平方米書店被稱為中國最美的書店，改建自早年間的一個地下車庫，當時也是一處防空洞。讀者可以順著地上的黃線前行，書店門口是一尊羅丹的思考者雕塑復制品。書店的收銀臺由舊書堆砌而成，兩旁的柱子上還刻有不同的文學名言。

El Péndulo, Mexico City

El Péndulo書店，墨西哥城

This branch of Mexcian bookstore Péndulo offers a cultivated way to avoid the heat of Mexico City. Customers can leaf through shelves spanning two storeys or sit at the cafe listening to live music. In 2013, the chain celebrated its 20th anniversary by ‘releasing’ 1,000 books stamped with the message “This is a free book. Read it and return it to another public place.”

El Péndulo是墨西哥城一處文雅的避暑場所，讀者可以在這個環形雙層書店里翻閱書籍，或是在其咖啡廳聆聽現場音樂會。2013年，這家連鎖書店為慶祝創立20周年，免費派送了1000本書。這些書本上印著“這本圖書是免費的。讀完后請將其送到其它公共場所?！?

Livraria Lello, Porto

Livraria Lello書店，葡萄牙波爾圖

This Portuguese landmark opened at the turn of the 19th Century. Its Art Nouveau space is dominated by a curving staircase with ornate wooden carvings to match its intricate wall panels and columns. Stained glass windows with plant motifs and a skylight showing the monogram of the store’s founder José Lello add to the churchlike appearance.

作為葡萄牙的地標性建筑，該書店于19世紀初開門迎客。書店的新派藝術區極具特色，流線型樓梯上的精美木雕與設計復雜的墻壁以及立柱相得益彰。玻璃窗是彩色的，繪有植物主題的圖案，而天窗上則印有書店創始人José Lello姓名首字母交織組成的圖案。這一切都讓顧客有如步入教堂般的神圣感。

Bart’s Books, California

Bart’s Books書店，美國加利福尼亞州

Bart’s Books – which calls itself “the world’s greatest outdoor bookstore” – was set up in 1964 by Richard Bartinsdale, who left book cases on the street to sell titles he no longer wanted. Passersby could leave money in a coffee can. Now, the store has nearly 1m books – many of which are still sold through an honour system – as well as a courtyard where browsers can play chess under the shade of an apple tree.

自詡為“全球最大戶外書店”的Bart’s Books創立于1964年，創始人Richard Bartinsdale將自己不再需要的書籍全部放在沿街書架上出售。路人可以將書錢放在咖啡罐中。現在，該書店藏書量近百萬——許多書依然靠顧客自律掏錢購買，書店里還有一處庭院，“書蟲”們可以在院子里的蘋果樹下擺局下棋。

Shakespeare & Company, Paris

莎士比亞書店，巴黎

Named after a bookstore frequented by Ezra Pound, Ernest Hemingway and James Joyce during the 1920s, the shop on Paris’s Left Bank has become equally legendary. Opened in 1951 by the American George Whitman – and run by his daughter Sylvia since his death in 2011 – it became a gathering place for Beat Generation writers like Allen Ginsberg and William S Burroughs. From the start, Whitman allowed travelling artists and writers to lodge at the shop, which is also a lending library.

由于上世紀20年代，埃茲拉？？龐德、歐內斯特？？海明威、詹姆斯？？喬伊斯等文學大家成為這里的常客，莎士比亞書店幾乎可以稱得上巴黎左岸的傳奇。這家書店是1951年由美國人喬治？？惠特曼創辦的，2011年惠特曼離世后，由他的女兒西爾維亞接手經營。這里曾經是艾倫？？金斯伯格、威廉？？巴勒斯等“垮掉的一代”作家的聚集地。這里不僅賣書，還能借書。創立之初時，惠特曼還為旅行到此的藝術家和作家們提供住宿。

Corso Como, Milan

Corso Como書店，米蘭

Hidden behind an unassuming facade, Corso Como was founded in 1991 by former editor-in-chief of Italian Vogue Carla Sozzani. She brought her fashion nous to the complex that combines book and design stores with a cafe, hotel and roof garden.

這家看似“貌不驚人”的Corso Como書店由前任意大利版《Vogue》雜志主編卡拉？？索珊尼于1991年創立。她將自己的時尚理念融入到這座集書店、服裝店、咖啡館、酒店、屋頂花園于一身的“多面體”之中。

Honesty Bookshop, Hay-on-Wye

誠實書店，威爾士海伊鎮

The tiny Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye is a bibliophile hotspot: its literature festival, set up in 1988, was described by former US president Bill Clinton as "the Woodstock of the mind". More than 30 bookshops line the narrow streets – but the most striking is a set of shelves in the grounds of the town’s Norman castle.

這座威爾士小鎮堪稱“愛書者天堂”： 創辦于1988年的“海伊文學藝術節”被美國前總統克林頓稱為“心靈的伍德斯托克音樂節（譯者注：目前世界上最著名的系列性搖滾音樂節）”。超過30家書店沿街林立，然而最引人注目的還是位于小鎮諾曼式城堡腳下的一排書架。