[icebraining]

the problem is that the role of booksellers, to select interesting books and guide you in your choice, is lost.

Are booksellers in France really prepared to do that kind of guidance? To me that sounds like a romantic but unrealistic view, since it requires them to be both very well read and good judges of character. I've met people like that, but they're usually not interested in burning their life savings and losing their salaries to spend their days selling copies of Twilight.

[a3_nm]

It depends a lot where you go, and I'm not an expert in this either, but there are some libraries and bookshops in France which will advertise obscure books with a custom criticism handwritten by someone from the staff; or where you can pop in saying "I'm looking for a good textbook for a beginner-level Russian speaker who wishes to learn French" and get useful advice. It is, of course, marginal in volume compared to large chains, but it exists. (I wouldn't be able to say, however, if it is more common in France than elsewhere.)

(I am not especially familiar with it myself, but I would imagine that a good bookseller, or librarian, can be really important to people who are poorer, or less educated. If you want to read something or learn about something, it may be easier if you have someone to ask, rather than if you have just the Amazon website with a huge choice but no guidance.)