Libros de Buenos Aires

A friend of mine just back from a cruise of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina, sent me this photo of a bookshop in Buenos Aires, because he knows first hand about the relationship between books and me:

He referred to it as “bookstore Valhalla”.

And yes—I want to go there.

It’s called El Ateneo, and was for many years a theatre with a seating capacity of more than 1000.

I’m pretty sure my friend would never have dared to go there if I were in tow, as I’d still be there, wandering through the shelves and stacking up a pile of purchases. Back when we were colleagues at Hughes Aircraft Company, he and another co-worker helped me relocate about 25 cartons of books from Pasadena to Van Nuys, using my father’s pickup truck as transport. (I leave other things to movers, but I always pack and sometimes move the books myself.)

After about his tenth carton, the third man asked, “Why’d you have to be such a literate woman?” But in fairness, they did finish the job without further stick, and I gave them a terrific lunch at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican place that had the most amazing burritos. Not even the Third Man could finish his.

Anyhow, I guess El Ateneo goes onto my bucket list. Because…damn.