Staff's favorite bookstores
by Anabella Wewer, with everyone's help
A majority of the skew staff moved into the Lehigh Valley (PA) not long ago, and all of us "from away" (as I heard someone in Camdem, Maine say once) seem to agree that Encore Books, in the Village West Shopping Center, is the place to go for comfy chairs in the Valley. Good selection, average prices, and way too many books about the Internet, but I guess that's happening everywhere.
Scott's other favorite local bookstore is Another Story, on about 8th and Linden. Another Story is a used-book store, and the stock doesn't change frequently enough to stop in daily or anything. But he believes, and so do I, that trading books with used-book stores is a civic duty right up there with flossing, and Another Story fills what would otherwise be a hole in the local civic-duty market. The talking bird is a nice touch as well, at least most of the time.
For sheer size, Boston University's bookstore is pretty good. They claim to be the largest in New England, 6 floors in all, although only four have books on them. Go figure.
Avenue Victor Hugo on Newbury Street in Boston, is the reason why I was late for work after lunch, many, many times. It's a used books bookstore with a lot of character, and the selection is huge and changes rapidly. I never did find a hardcover copy of The Plains of Passage after I had seen it there many times, and figured it'd be there for a while, so I'd get it when I had more spending money. So, my Clan of the Cave Bear series is incomplete... Eric describes it as "a used book store with that nice musty book smell and a very friendly cat that wanders store looking for people to pet him. Meow" A must visit in Boston, but make sure you have plenty of time...
A little down the street and on the other sidewalk there is Trident, a cool bookstore that also has a cafe in it. There are a lot of books about Buddhism and philosophies of all walks of life, but they have a pretty good all-around selection. Some interesting art books, and one of the city's best magazine collection are to be found there. The cafe is excellent, with a menu that caters well to vegetarians, and their desserts are awesome! But... the place could stand being a little bigger; both the cafe and the bookstore sections are excellent in their own right, but together, well, it gets loud.
Speaking of magazines, Tower Records in Boston (and I pressume everywhere else), has a great selection of magazines. There you can obviously find lots of mags about music related issues, but they also have everything from Car & Truck to Communication Arts and everything in between (and beyond).
According to John, there is a large bookstore in Lexington, KY, that gave out rather artsy vibes, but not to the point of nausea, called Joseph Beth's. Not many chairs to sit and read in, but the book selection can't be beat. They have authors in for signings and readings all the time, and the cafe is excellent.
And, of course, in Scott's own words, "there is, somewhere between Syracuse and Alfred, N.Y., a used-book store by the name of Phoenix Books. I believe it to be on Route 17, though I have traveled right by where I thought it should be and not seen it. This sense of mystery appeals to me; Phoenix is, in a sense, the Toyland of bookstores, to which, once one leaves, one can never return."
"I can't, at least. Never could find the place again. It emerged from a fog bank one Sunday afternoon, and I stopped in. Garrison Keillor, who had just departed permanently and surlishly from my car radio, was playing on the stereo, clear as a bull in China (or something). Friendly, attractive shop owners, dressed in native garb, greeted me as I walked through the door, and offered me nectar and ambrosia. I may be remembering some of this wrong. Books abounded in the place-good books with reasonable prices and covers intact, nary a McRomance novel in sight. I frittered away three ethereal hours there, while upstate-N.Y.-in-November gloom wafted about outside, and when I emerged, I felt as though I had experienced a sort of used-book epiphany. It's difficult to explain."
"If ever a lonely traveler succeeds in finding (attaining?) Phoenix Books, perhaps he would be so kind as to notify me. I left my scarf there, among other things...."
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