New York is most certainly the place to go for buying, as well as reading, wonderful books.
The books above were purchased from: The Strand bookshop, The Strand (pop up stalls near Central Park), Book Thug Nation and random stalls on Bedford Avenue (Brooklyn) at weekends and evenings.
This is going to be a rushed post because, clearly, I have a lot of reading to do, but it seems the right time to set out what I loved about my NY book buying.
Disclaimer: in London I don’t go to specific second hand book shops. I go to charity shops and, when I’m lucky, library sales. These kinds of things don’t really make their way into guide books so I’ve no idea if the Big Apple has an equivalent. Basically I’m aware that I’m not really comparing like with like. Charity shops don’t always have the most literary bent, so there will be as many copies of ’50 Shades of Grey’ as of Dickens. I have no wish to read the former and I already own complete hard and Kindle copies of the latter so such shops are a delightful hit and miss; keeping up the suspense for what I might find and also helping me curb my buying. In contrast, I’ve been patronising pretty heavy-weight literary second hand book shops while on holiday. ‘The Rough Guide to New York City’ describes Book Thug Nation in Brooklyn as ‘Serious (but not as scary as it sounds)‘. I don’t think anyone would say the same about the Animal Welfare Charity Shop on Lower Marsh, SE1, but then I live near the latter and still keep the buying under control. I’m not sure the same would be true if I lived near BTN. It contains my dream library and only the limitations of my suitcase prevented me from going completely overboard.
The best things about NY book shopping
1. Russians! This may not be everyone’s first priority, but there are translations here that either aren’t available in the UK or that are so obscure they only appear in flagship bookstores and even an optimist like myself wouldn’t expect them to filter down to second-hand shops for several years to come. New Yorkers really buy Russian literature, they must, because I have seen more than one copy of the Platonov and Krzhizhandovsky books above. This means people buy them and then don’t want them enough to keep them. Wow.
2. NYRB, my new favourite publishers; they are responsible for the translations mentioned above. I had hoped to be able to pick up their titles more easily here, but I hadn’t realised how big they were and also how fabulous. The books are attractive, the list is excellent and lots of bookshops have whole shelves devoted to them. They also have lovely copies of ‘The New York Stories of Edith Wharton’ and ‘The New York Stories of Henry James’ which I resisted … just…
3. Expectations met: I’ve been looking out for some of these NY classics for ages. ‘Call it Sleep’ has yet to appear in any of my regular charity shop trips, and I’ve been hoping for ‘What I Loved’ for ages. I’ve never been so optimistic as to expect ‘Nightwood’ or Nella Larsen, because they simply aren’t that well known in the UK. What a joy to discover them in their native territory.
All in all, New York has delivered, and I have lots of happy reading ahead of me!
It looks like you found some real treasures! I’ve never heard of Book Thug Nation, but now I’m furiously Googling and planning to go sometime – thank you for sharing!
100 North 3rd Street – and there are $1 book stands outside 🙂
Nice haul. Nothing like shopping for books on holidays!
I know. And they’re the best souvenirs too!
Ooooh – all those lovely Platonovs and Krzhizhanovsky – wonderful stuff! 🙂
I’m so excited about them – I’d hoped for some, but managed to far outdo my expectations.
Nice finds! I love NYRB! They consistently publish really good books. I’ve yet to read one of their I have not liked. Enjoy!
They really are wonderful. Limiting myself to the books above was a real challenge.
Nice haul! I’m a huge fan of the NYRB list. Like Stephanie, I’ve yet to be disappointed by one of their books. Enjoy your reading.
I’ve only just discovered them – but they’re very hard to resist!
The Russians and some classic NY literature too I see! Wonderful haul indeed!
I tried to restrict myself by only allowing books specific to my current reading projects…
Another reason to go to New York – secondhand bookshops! It sounds like you’re having an amazing time, and I truly sympathise with the agony of limited suitcase space – that must be torture!
It’s a good problem to have, but still a tough one!
Glad to see you’re having a productive holiday! Any good poetry purchases?
By the way, I spend all my money on the Southbank bookstalls outside the BFI. I’m truly impressed that you live near them but manage such restraint 😉
No poetry yet – last time I was here I went crazy over second hand Jorie Graham and Luise Gluck. No such luck with Gluck’s most recent collection, more’s the pity. Are there any other American poets you’d recommend?
For contrmporary New Yorkers try Marie Howe, Mark Doty, Martha Rhodes. And of course there’s the ‘New York School’ of Frank O’Hara, Kenneth Koch, John Ashberry, James Schulyer etc – modernists/surrealists from the latter partr of the c20th.
The American collection making waves at the moment is Claudia Rankine’s Citizen. It’s shortlisted for the Forward and I’ve heard loads about it so if you happen to see a copy….?
Xx
The only name I know from that list is O’Hara (I’ve got a cute little edition of his ‘Lunch Poems’). I’ll be looking out for the others … hope the books are slim though …
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