Showing 1-13 of 13 results
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192 Books
This small indie bookstore, located right in the gallery district, with sections on literature, history, travel, art and criticism. The rotating art exhibits, during which the owners organize special displays of books which relate, thematically, to the featured show or artist are a special treat.
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Bluestockings
It's rundown and ramshackle, but full of history and fueled by the alternative attitude that once permeated the Lower East Side. A hold-over from the freewheeling '70s, Bluestockings offers books on a range of radical topics, including gender studies, black liberation theory and plenty more.
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Books Of Wonder
It's never too early to infect your children with book fever - and this is the place to do it. Among the first-edition signed Maurice Sendak's you'll find all the most popular kid-lit of the day, with options for even the youngest kids. It's a hands-on environment with patient and informed staff.
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Drama Bookshop
Broadway fans will find treasures in print at this expansive bookstore, which has taken its theater (plays and musicals) seriously since 1917. Staffers are good at recommending worthy selections. Check out the website for regular events, such as talks with playwrights.
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East-West Books
With a calming effect that takes place upon entering, this groovy bookstore stocks a wide array of books on Buddhism and Asian philosophies, plus chill-out music, yoga mats and earthy-crunchy jewelry.
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Housing Works Used Book Cafe
Relaxed, earthy and full of fabulous books you can buy for a good cause (proceeds go to the city's HIV-positive and AIDS homeless communities), this spacious café is a great place to while away a few quiet afternoon hours.
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Jumel Terrace Books
Housed in a historic private home, this new shop specializes in tomes on Africana, Harlem history and African American literature. You've got to call to set up an appointment, but if you're fascinated by rare books, and rare opportunities to shop at a beautiful home, it's worth it.
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McNally Robinson
Zone out in the cozy café (with wi-fi) inside this fully-stacked indie store that has books on every conceivable subject - food, fiction, travel, architecture, LGBT, to name a few - as well as magazines and newspapers from around the world.
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Murder Ink/Ivy's Books
The city's first shop devoted to crime and mystery fiction has been stocking everything of the genre, plus stacks of out-of-print titles, since 1972. Its space-partner, Ivy's Books, carries a broad selection of new and used books, with tasteful journals, greeting cards and kids' books in the mix. Gus the dog works here.
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Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop
The world's oldest bookshop geared to gay and lesbian literature (open since 1967) lives in a lovely red-brick townhouse and stocks both new and used books, a fine range of magazines, rainbow flags, bumper stickers and other gifts. Its founder went on to create the Gay Liberation Movement after the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
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Rizzoli's
This handsome store of the Italian bookstore and publisher sells great art, architecture and design books (as well as general-interest titles). There's also a good collection of foreign newspapers and magazines onsite.
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Shakespeare & Co
A bookstore with branches around the city (and in Paris), Shakespeare & Co does its best to hang on to an indie vibe, even though it's now pretty much a chain. It stocks lots of film and theater books and pays homage to the arts in many ways, including its excellent reading series with local authors.
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St Mark's Bookshop
Just around the corner from St Marks, this indie bookshop specializes in political literature, poetry, new nonfiction and novels and academic journals. Don't let the slightly antisocial vibe from the staff put you off.
Showing 1-13 of 13 results
