Bookstores

TaliaDownUnder · Apr 1, 2008

What are your favorite bookstores and what makes them so special?

For example, I love a little bookstore that has used and new books. I love walking into a room and smelling musty old books. I also love finding a great bargain (and really, it means that I'll end up spending even more than in a super-chain of all new books).

I also like bookstores that have a little cafe/coffee shop. Yum.

A reading room as well? That is -ideal-

How about you? What makes a bookstore memorable? If you were to set up your own perfect bookstore, what would you include?

bluntforcetrauma · Apr 1, 2008

Playboy.

Mumut · Apr 1, 2008

ABE books online. Some really interesting old books.

D.R.Agony · Apr 1, 2008

I like the Dragon Bookstore because they have pet humans instead of pet Cats, which make me sneeze

Phaeal · Apr 1, 2008

Horrocke's Books in Arkham, Massachusetts. They have a lovely front room full of conventional books and a back room full of occult books, new and ancient. The door between the rooms has a discreet sign saying, Quiscunque quaerat, intra. (If you're looking for something, come on in.)

Great coffee, too, and hand-squeezed lemonade in the summer.

Zelenka · Apr 1, 2008

My favourite used to be Blackwells on Charing Cross Road, though I'm not sure why. I used to buy my law books there on the way home from work when I was starting to save up for this degree. If I had a bad day at work, Blackwells ended up much richer too. I used to loathe the Books etc. / Borders a bit further up as they always had concerts and jazz quartets right in the middle of the shop, stopping you getting to the shelves and generally making a racket when you're trying to browse. (I have always been a bit bad tempered...

)

johnnysannie · Apr 1, 2008

Larry Mc Murtry's Booked Up bookstores in his tiny hometown of Archer City, Texas are among my favorite bookstores of all times. Spread between four different buildings in this small town, Booked Up has about any and everything anyone could possibly want. For a book lover such as myself, it was well worth the drive to spend hours wandering through the numerous stacks in multiple buildings.

If you've read McMurtry's The Last Picture Show or any of the books with Duane as a character in the fictional Thalia, Texas or seen the movies, Archer City will be very, very familiar.

They even have a website now:
http://www.bookedupac.com/index.html

Will Lavender · Apr 1, 2008

Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington, Kentucky. The only independent bookstore I know of that's big as a shopping mall.

Square Books in Oxford, Miss.

The Strand in NYC.

Oh -- and of course City Lights in San Francisco.

The list goes on. I even like the corporate stores. I love bookstores, could spend entire days in them even if I don't buy a thing.

Will Lavender · Apr 1, 2008

johnnysannie said:
Larry Mc Murtry's Booked Up bookstores in his tiny hometown of Archer City, Texas are among my favorite bookstores of all times. Spread between four different buildings in this small town, Booked Up has about any and everything anyone could possibly want. For a book lover such as myself, it was well worth the drive to spend hours wandering through the numerous stacks in multiple buildings.

If you've read McMurtry's The Last Picture Show or any of the books with Duane as a character in the fictional Thalia, Texas or seen the movies, Archer City will be very, very familiar.

They even have a website now:
http://www.bookedupac.com/index.html

I would love to take a trip to Booked Up. I saw a documentary on PBS once where McMurtry talked about this. Seems like he modeled is stores after a village in Ireland that is just a huge assortment of connected bookstores.

Tish Davidson · Apr 1, 2008

I'm going to be in Portland in nid-may. Any tips or thoughts about Powells?

ChaosTitan · Apr 1, 2008

Growing up, I loved shopping at Atlantic Books Warehouse. The family who owned the stores attended my mom's church, and they were a terrific couple. They were the only bookstore in town, and two other branches existed in the two closest "cities." Those cities each had a mall and a Waldenbooks, their only competition.

Then Barnes & Noble moved into one of those cities, and within a year, that ABW branch had to close. I have my fingers crossed that the big chains stay away from the other two branches. I love the atmosphere of ABW. They feel like a warehouse, but still warm and inviting, and I always loved their selection. I try to stop in whenever I go home to visit my parents.

Komnena · Apr 1, 2008

A used book store in Evansville Indiana called the Book Broker.
Carmichael's in Louisville.
Joseph Beth of Lexington.
Davis-Kidd of Nashville.
Half Price Books.
All Booked Up. Louisville
Reader's Corner Louisville
Unique Books Lexington

rugcat · Apr 1, 2008

Will Lavender said:
The Strand in NYC.

Oh -- and of course City Lights in San Francisco.

Both great.

Also in San Francisco, The Green Apple, and for SF/F books, the wonderful Borderlands Books with Ripley the Sphynx cat.

Will Lavender · Apr 1, 2008

Komnena said:
A used book store in Evansville Indiana called the Book Broker.
Carmichael's in Louisville.
Joseph Beth of Lexington.
Davis-Kidd of Nashville.
Half Price Books.
All Booked Up. Louisville
Reader's Corner Louisville
Unique Books Lexington

Great list. I hear Quills in Louisville is a nice place.

WendyNYC · Apr 1, 2008

The Corner Bookstore in NYC. It's a small place, but it's in my neighborhood, the staff is friendly and I get the feeling that they actually READ, unlike the unhelpful people at my local big-box store. Plus they know me, and also they support local authors.

Susan Breen · Apr 1, 2008

The Village Bookstore in Pleasantville, NY is a very cozy place to go and the owners are great and when I had a reading there, they put out cake and cookies, which I thought was very nice. But I also love Barnes & Noble, especially the one across from Lincoln Center, which is where I also had a reading. Four whole flours of books and the most incredible cheesecake. Actually, I've never had a bad time at a bookstore.

Sassee · Apr 1, 2008

Any bookstore that has the cushy chairs. Those are my favorite.

Bookstores

TaliaDownUnder

bluntforcetrauma

Esquire

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

D.R.Agony

Phaeal

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

Zelenka

Going home!

johnnysannie

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

Tish Davidson

ChaosTitan

Around

Komnena

In Honor of Peter Tomich,USS Utah

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Will Lavender

Everything is what it seems.

WendyNYC

fiddle-dee-dee

Susan Breen

Sassee

Momma Wolf