Sophie's bookshop in Berlin is more of a literary salon that brings books and book lovers together in an eccentric, arty and edgy part of Berlin

Sophia Raphaeline’s second-hand bookshop, Another Country, is to Berlin what George Whitman’s Shakespeare & Co is to Paris and Larry’s Corner to Stockholm. They are like literary oasis for English language booklovers looking for bargains in a non-English city. These bookshops have a personality of their own unmatched by other bookshops. Those who run these bookshops are also unmatched in their eccentricities. Each one of them is unique in some way, not in the ordinary sense of the word but in a special sense connected to the world of books. Sophia´s bookshop is in the Keuzberg district, which when she came there was an eccentric, young, arty, edgy, derelict, druggy part of Berlin but has over the years undergone gentrification.

Sophia´s clients are, however, mostly from Britain or America and almost all of them are students working and studying in Berlin. They are young, energetic, arty type, aspiring writers, journalists or photographers. Some want to be famous film makers or dramatists one day. Everyone has a different dream. What links them all to Sophia is their love of books, music, theatre, films and a common zeal and zest for life and, of course, nostalgia for a community of speakers of a common language. What makes everything special is that Sophia herself longs for company. So, she has turned her bookshop into sort of a literary salon organising one event or the other almost every day of the week. Every Tuesday is a film night, Thursday is a TV night, Friday is a cooking and quiz night. All are invited. Friday is the busiest of Sophia´s weekdays. Food that day is lavish at her table in the basement of the bookshop. There is a choice of fish, fowl, beef and turkey breast. Usually, there are at least two types of desserts. Everybody is expected to contribute after dinner as much as he or she thinks is just. Almost everybody comes with a bottle of wine. So there is always enough to drink which makes the atmosphere not just convivial but joyfully boisterous— unrestrained but not unruly, says Sophia. The evening is meant to be so. The literary and general knowledge quiz is the highlight of the evening with some music too. It is all great fun as the long evening often extends into a long night. The idea is to make friends and be at ease in the company of what are often utter strangers And, the books! Of course, the books are there all over in the two rooms on the first floor and the basement too. Mostly paperbacks and fiction, and all a mix of old and new on labelled shelves along the walls. There is a travel section as also a section on crime and one that contains biographies, again mostly of literary men and women. There are shelves devoted to art, history and philosophy too. Amidst all these there is little chance of your finding a gem but then one man’s gem is another man’s ordinary rock! What is certainly possible is that you may run into some book that you have looked around for long but never found in any bookshop. And you may also get a handsome bargain. But, remember, you can’t just pick and buy a book here at Sophia’s bookshop, for this is actually not a bookshop in the ordinary sense of the term. This is a library-cum-bookshop. There are books that are for sale and there are others that are only for lending; books that you can only borrow. How Sophia has worked it out is that you may borrow any of these books by depositing its price and keep it for as long as you want and when you have read it bring the book back to Sophia’s desk where she will deduct one euro or so and give you the rest of the money back. Sophia says she has devised this way so that even those who cannot afford to buy a book can easily have it to read. Kind of her, isn’t it and clever too?

Sophia is tall, somewhat gaunt looking. It is difficult to guess her age. Her voice is gentle, soft. Too gentle, sometime you may think. And laughter comes on her face all too often when she throws her neck back and chuckles so softly that you may easily miss it. Her desk is cluttered with books, her computer and a lot of wine bottles, some half filled, some with only a few dregs in them. Clients keep coming in and going out. One or two are slouching in the easy chairs. Once in a while there comes in a man or a woman with a handful of books to sell. Sophia looks at the titles, makes some mental calculations, whispers a figure in a voice so low that even I, sitting just across the desk, can´t hear the words. The seller agrees rather reluctantly, hands over the books to Sophia, collects the money and departs hurriedly.

“I am not in business here for money but for men and women who love books,” says Sophia, “Someone must do it for sake of books and book lovers. Do I love books? Of course, I do. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be in it here. But, I love people more. I love company. I like listening to people, stories of their travels, strange encounters, books they have read and books they wish to write one day. All this thrills me. I am not into it for money. I didn’t actually need money in the first place. I moved in to Berlin after the Wall was brought down. I liked it here. It was a fun place then. All sizzling with raw, creative energy. Now, it’s changed and is changing every day.”

“Do I ever have a holiday? What holiday! Here I am always on a holiday. What I am doing is what I would have done if I were on a holiday. Life for me is all holiday every day of the week, every week of the month. All twelve months, you know!”