It stands out among the small books that stand on a thin shelf on the wooden wall on the right, as soon as you enter this cubicle, and it is The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann’s masterpiece. It is in French, like the rest of the works that accumulate on the humble supports that hold the books in this glass and wood space installed in the Plaza del Patriarca in Valencia.

Very close to that of the brilliant German author, on the right, are two by Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera and The Colonel has no one writing to him. On the left are four titles (stories) by Jack London, which suggest formidable adventures of the American writer.

This installation has been carried out by “Base Culture-Maison des francophonies”, a French-speaking association with the aim of promoting French culture through books, and which also offers French language courses. The entity is chaired by Paul Pierroux-Taranto.

The library will remain in the Plaza del Patriarca until October 29 and then will move to the Plaza de la Reina, the Jardín de Viveros and the Plaza de Patraix. The installation will be present in Valencia until March 2024. It is run by a young volunteer from the association: “he can take the book you want, and you can take it with you.”

I ask him who makes the selection of works that are offered to citizens in a part of the city where thousands of tourists pass through every day, a large part of them French. “The selection is made by the president of the association,” he says.

There is a chair that can be used for a first approach to the works, and also a mat on the floor that, one senses, can also be used. It is a small room, more symbolic than functional, but it fulfills the objective of allowing you to approach a selection of books, in French, and with some interesting texts.

There are works, of course, by Honoré de Balzac, the great Alexandre Dumas, Georges Simenon, Raymond Chandler, John Steinbeck, John Irving, Elia Kazan and several French authors that I don’t know.

Of the four walls, three are made of glass and only one has two lines of shelves. The effect of feeling inside the square, due to the transparency of the glass, and among books, is interesting. In a few minutes, several people come in to look at the books. The idea should spread.