Say what you will about the French — and I know people who will say plenty — they are the clever folks who brought us the wonders of the self-cleaning street toilet. And now they’ve come up with another “duh, why haven’t we had this before?” invention: the Maxi-Livres book-vending machine. Five such machines, stocking 25 titles that range from The Odyssey to a French-English dictionary, have been installed in various locations around Paris. According to the linked article, the books cost only $2.45, an incredible bargain these days, especially when you factor in exchange rates. And the thing that makes these machines really cool?

…Maxi-Livre’s distributors were designed to bypass the characteristic vending-machine-drop, which can be punishing for books.

 

“We knew that French bibliophiles would be horrified to see their books falling into a trough like candy or soda,” [Maxi-Livre president Xavier] Chambon said. “So we installed a mechanical arm that grabs the book and delivers it safely.”

While my first choice will always be a quirky, independently-owned bookshop — preferably one with a live-in cat or other animal mascot — I really like this idea. If nothing else, it would solve that nasty problem of what to read on the train-ride home if you finish your book during your lunch break…