Jeremy Mercer

Jeremy Mercer (born 1971) is a Canadian journalist, translator, and author of several books. Quotes I used to be a crime reporter for a newspaper in a midsize Canadian city. We liked to say we had a population of a million people, but that figure included farming communities an hour's drive from downtown. For me, a more relevant statistic was the murder rate. There were a steady fifteen or twenty a year, maybe twenty-five if things were particularly good, at least good from a crime reporter's point of view.Mine was a foul profession. The object was to pry into the dark corners of life and drag out all that was vile and diseased for public contemplation: an infant girl raped with a flashlight, a toddler drowned in a backyard swimming pool while the baby-sitter napped, a young father crushed by a rowdy car of drunken teens. This was the daily routine, a steady stream of sorrow that gradually colored my vision of humanity and dulled my sense of compassion. Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co Macmillan 2006 9780312347406 https://books.google.com/books?id=dTRPu3gQWXQC&pg=PA4 4 (262 pages; 1st edition 2005) 2. Shakespeare and Company (bookstore) Shakespeare and Co, Rue de la Bûcherie#Notable buildings 37 rue de la Bucherie, Paris, FranceGeorge Whitman has been running what he calls "a socialist utopia masquerading as a bookstore" for 50 years. His store has long been a literary hub, attracting the likes of Henry Miller, Richard Wright, and William Burroughs. More importantly, George has been inviting people to live in his shop from its very first days. There are now 13 beds among the books, and he says that more than 40,000 people have slept there at one time or another. All he asks is that you make your bed in the morning, help out in the shop, and read a book a day. After living here for five months, I was inspired to write my own book about the place. Jeremy Mercer's top 10 bookshops 5 December 2005 The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/06/top10s.bookshops Marseille is the anti-Paris. Lodged among the rocky cliffs on France's southern coast, it is a brash and sun-scoured city. Instead of the refined culture and polished façades of the capital, this sweaty port exudes a raw humanity difficult to find in the north. There is little of the wealth of Paris and none of the rush; in Marseille, it is still custom to take a siesta in the afternoon and to spend the early evening sipping apéros under the cooling sky. Chapter 1. October 1971 When the Guillotine Fell: The Bloody Beginning and Horrifying End to France's River of Blood, 1791–1977 Macmillan 2008 9781429936088 https://books.google.com/books/about/When_the_Guillotine_Fell.html?id=xlSQE7VekvwC&pg=PT7 (321 pages) During my four months at the bookstore, I read over one hundred and fifty books. ... That's the biggest luxury in life, right? Time. To have that time to be in one place to read ... or whatever you want — whatever your passion is. Alastair Miller in conversation with Canadian author Jeremy Mercer August 26, 2025 Viking.TV, YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6HYLvl11BM&t=883 (quote at 14:43 of 1:11:58 in video) External links Mercer, Jeremy Encyclopedia.com https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/mercer-jeremy www.encyclopedia.com Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Journalists from Ontario Category:Non-fiction authors from Canada Category:People from Ottawa Category:Translators from Canada