What's even better than a book and a sofa? A coffee with a book on a sofa. For me, anyway. And although Zweitausendeins, the Frankfurt institution of left-wing literature, had a stately sofa and, most recently, coffee to show for it, it is now closing its doors for good at Kornmarkt a week from Saturday. Currently, books, records, instead of Google Maps: Maps and travel guides to touch!
Why is the end of Zweitausendeins to be regretted? The '68 generation will remember best the publisher's unusual advertising, with the owners sending out catalogues called "Merkheft" on wafer-thin paper with the news. The F.A.Z. wrote of a "powerhouse that set the youth of the time under a subcultural current all the way to the lowlands." Zweitausendeins was also an institution closely associated with the Frankfurt publishing scene, i.e. Siegfried Unseld, and offered first-class books at reasonable prices. Curious for its time was the fact that it was distributed exclusively by mail order! How forward-looking. It wasn't until 1974 that the first shop opened here in town. On the shelves was everything that was politically left-wing: the Frankfurt School as well as the SPD's Deutschland-Berichte.
· But no one has to do without critical or intellectual stimulation in a city like ours. For those who like to combine books with food and drink, the Café Ypsilon comes highly recommended. When I moved here many years ago, I searched insistently for such a place and found it in Berger Straße: on the left the bookshelves, on the right connected by a sliding door the Café. If you consider yourself a flâneur, you'll feel right at home there.
· Readings of the particularly fine kind are also organized by the bookstore "Land in Sicht" in the Nordend, which in the self-description already very sympathetically speaks of "books and sea". They hold up the flag of the cosiness of books and tea, and give reading tips for the clientele on topics of the day. Special: by selling finger puppets (very humorous: Siegmund Freud and Couch), the bookstore supports the new Frankfurt Psychoanalytic Institute.
· A retreat into a seemingly endless world of books is offered in the city center, of course, "Hugendubel". The appeal of it all? Tucking numerous books under one's arm, then ordering a latte with a sweet slice to spend hours browsing coffee table books or reading mystery novels.
· Indoors or outdoors, in a small courtyard reminiscent of Italy in summer? What more could a book lover ask for? On <link http: www.ardmediathek.de tv hauptsache-kultur rosa-ribas-schreibt-erfolgreiche-frankfu hr-fernsehen _blank>March 24, the Lesécafe in Sachsenhausen invites you to a reading with Rosa Ribas, who successfully writes Frankfurt crime novels. Even though this is primarily a Café with a book connection, it's still one of the nicest connections in the world: a book, a coffee, a sofa.
Special book places in Frankfurt:
<link http: y-buchladen.de _blank>Café Ypsilon, Berger Straße 16, 60316 Frankfurt Nordend
<link http: www.land-in-sicht-buchladen.de start.html _blank>Land in sight, Rotteckstraße 13, 60313 Frankfurt
<link https: www.facebook.com daslesecafe _blank>Das Lesécafe Diesterwegstraße 7, Sachsenhausen
Hugendubel, Steinweg 12, 60313 Frankfurt