New Blog Series: Bookstores of Boston!
Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who really care for books read all of them. There is no other course.
—Andrew Lang, Adventures Among Books
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There are many things I love about living in Boston, but the wealth of great bookstores is at the very top of the list. In South Jersey (where I'm from), Barnes & Noble is the only option for miles, and who knows if there'll even be any B&N in ten years' time. In 2012 and early 2013 (before and after Hawthornden) I worked at the customer service desk at my hometown B&N, and the signs were not encouraging. I wanted to reach across the counter and shake anyone who whined that the Amazon price was cheaper.
Does Amazon let you browse through a stack of magazines in the cafe for hours without purchasing any of them? Does Amazon give you free WiFi and a table to work at your laptop or meet up with friends? Did Amazon give you a place to charge your phones during Hurricane Sandy? Can you have a twenty-minute conversation with Amazon about Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series? Does Amazon host local authors for in-person events?
Look what I found while going through some old papers. #sadfacepic.twitter.com/xUAsqRg4ml— Camille DeAngelis (@cometparty) December 27, 2014
Okay, you get my point. B&N is the best we can do in South Jersey, but independent bookstores are (for the most part) SO much better. Employees at chain bookstores are often making just above minimum wage, and they aren't necessarily interested in literature. For many of them it's just another retail job. Walk into an independent bookstore, though, and you'll find booksellers who are wildly enthusiastic about what they're selling you. It isn't just a job for them, it's a natural extension of their lifestyle. Yes, you'll usually pay more than you would at Amazon, but you have to look at the big picture: bookstores are a vital cultural resource. Imagine a world with no more brick-and-mortar bookstores (which is easier to do in my little pocket of South Jersey, I am sorry to report) and you may find you don't mind paying the full sticker price after a lively conversation with a bookseller who full-out adores that particular author. You come away from that transaction on a high that has nothing to do with retail therapy.
My friend Rachel Simon, who runs our monthly MG/YA writers' meetup, inspired this idea for a celebratory blog series on the independent bookstores of Boston. I must confess that I haven't actually been to many of the bookshops on the list below, or have only visited them quite recently in preparation for this project. I tend to frequent Harvard Books and Porter Square Books (or Trident, since it's right below my yoga studio), so I'm doing this series partly for my own edification.Here's a preliminary list, including secondhand bookstores:
Trident Booksellers and Cafe, Back Bay
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline
The Children's Bookshop, Brookline
Harvard Books, Cambridge
Pandemonium Books, Cambridge
Porter Square Books, Cambridge
Rodney's Bookstore, Cambridge
Seven Stars, Cambridge
Brattle Book Shop, Downtown Boston
The MFA Bookstore, Fenway
Papercuts, Jamaica Plain
Newtonville Books, Newton
New England Mobile Book Fair, Newton Highlands
Back Pages Books, Waltham
This list is far from exhaustive, particularly when it comes to secondhand and antiquarian bookstores, so if there's a shop I've missed that you really love, please let me know!I'll be posting about my experiences at these indies each Monday for the next few months, but I could really use your help: do you have any anecdotes (great customer service, fascinating author event, etc.) that you'd like to share? Because I have much more to say about the three bookstores I frequent, I'd really like to even things out and do each store justice.First up next Monday (predictably enough): Porter Square Books!
@cometparty Sure! How about @bestsellerscaf in Medford, @BackPagesBooks in Waltham, or brand-new @papercutsjp in Jamaica Plain?
— Boston Book Festival (@bostonbookfest) January 5, 2015