Used Bookstores Worth Visiting
From Boston to San Diego, here are some of my favorites. What are yours?
Hello friends! I was cat sitting this week for a friend who lives next door to a used bookstore in Manhattan’s East Village. I had never been to East Village Books before being tasked with looking after kitties Mycroft and Irene, but I stopped in and picked up novels by Iris Murdoch (of course) and Wallace Stegner. Hauling home a new stack of second-hand books reminded how much I love used bookstores. They’re always full of interesting editions and other gems, and I try to find one whenever I’m traveling for work or a vacation. I wanted to discuss them this week, so I’m starting our conversation by showing some of my favorites from across the U.S. I hope you’ll also share your favorite spots—in the U.S. and abroad—in the comments below. To kick things off, let’s begin here in:
New York City
Mercer Street Books & Records
I could do a whole other newsletter about my favorite used bookstores across this city—and I probably will when we get closer to Book Con. I thought about including the Strand here, but I figured everyone knows that place already. Instead, I went with Mercer Street Books & Records in Greenwich Village. It’s an old-school New York place Donna and I have been going to for years. I’ve purchased many books there, including an inscribed copy of ‘Free Food for Millionaires’ by Min Jin Lee and a one-of-a-kind translated Soviet-era textbook, ‘Philosophical Problems of Elementary-Particle Physics’. (The cashier was like, ‘I knew someone would want this!’ Ha!) Donna has acquired several art books there as well. Whenever we stop by, it’s almost impossible for us to leave empty handed.
Boston
Brattle Book Shop
I lived in Boston for several years during and after college, and I could do a whole other newsletter about bookstores there, too. Brattle Book Shop is the one I visited most often, and it’s high on my list whenever I return. It seems to specialize in antiquarian and nonfiction books; I bought most of my Walter Lippmann collection there. I was super into old journalism and political books when I was studying philosophy and publishing an academic journal/zine, but these days I’m more interested in fiction. The shop has plenty of that, too. If memory serves, I bought a vintage pocket-sized hardcover copy of ‘BUtterfield 8’ by John O’Hara there. On a trip to Boston last year, I was excited to discover another used bookstore, Commonwealth Books, nearby. So the next time I’m in downtown Boston, I can do a mini second-hand shop crawl.
Chicago
Myopic Books
Donna is a native of the Chicagoland area, so we visit the Windy City pretty regularly. Whenever I’m in Wicker Park, I head straight for Myopic Books. The selection is incredible, and it’s my go-to for hard-to-find titles. One time, I searched high and low in New York for ‘I’m Trying to Reach You’ by Barbara Browning. No dice. Not even Mercer Street had it. But Myopic did. It’s another one of those stores that I’m hard-pressed to leave without buying something.
Las Cruces
COAS Books
Donna and I were drinking Topo Chicos outside Stop & Read Books in Marfa, Texas, when a local man struck up a conversation with us. He told us about a bookstore he had recently visited in Las Cruces, N.M., called COAS Books. When we told him Las Cruces was the next stop on our southwestern road trip, he insisted that we visit the store. He needn’t have worried—his description made it sound like heaven on earth. We spent only one night in Las Cruces, but I could have spent days in COAS. It seemed to go on and on with shelves of used books of every genre. I particularly loved the rows of pulp cowboy novels. I found a copy of ‘The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You’ by Dorothy Bryant, which I had been searching for, and ‘A Fire Upon the Deep’ by Vernor Vinge, which was recommended by a BoG subscriber. But I could have bought so many more. I can’t wait to go back!
Portland
Powell’s Books
Speaking of places that are like heaven on earth, Powell’s City of Books in Portland, Ore., is the closest I’ve seen yet. Donna and I visited Portland on another of our road trips (this one from Seattle to Los Angeles), and I swooned so hard, the photo I took of the exterior is unusable. So I had to go with this shot of the shopping bag. If memory serves, it includes copies of ‘A Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories’ by Thomas Mann (the yellow/green/blue pocket edition) and ‘Salvador’ by Joan Didion. Though Powell’s also sells new books, I remember the used-book section being massive. I once contemplated moving to Portland just to be closer to Powell’s. It’s that amazing.
Sacramento
Beers Books
People always seem to be talking trash about Sacramento, but Donna and I had a great time when we stopped for a night on a road trip from Berkeley to Lake Tahoe and back. We visited the wonderful Crocker Art Museum, ate at an amazing restaurant owned by a guy from Queens and slept in an allegedly haunted house. We also visited Beers Books, which is described as one of the oldest and largest used bookstores in northern California. (The grand opening sign was due to a relocation.) I loved its cheeky ‘Still no beer’ note on its temporary sign—I can imagine a lot of confused customers without it. Beers has a great selection of books. I bought a tremendous little novel called 'A Coin in Nine Hands' by Marguerite Yourcenar. Whenever I tell people I want to go back to Sacramento, they look at me funny. But I want to have another round at Beers.
San Diego
Bluestocking Books
Donna and I visited San Diego on a road trip (we take a lot of road trips) in southern California that took us from Los Angeles to Carlsbad to San Diego to Palm Springs, through Joshua Tree, and back to L.A. It was a whirlwind trip, and I don’t remember much about our time in San Diego proper beyond the low-flying airplanes and visiting Bluestocking Books. Perhaps it was a combination of the two that inspired me to pick up ‘Coffee, Tea or Me?’ by Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones, which is described as the ‘uninhibited memoirs of two airline stewardesses.’ The cashier gave me a sideways glance when I bought the late-1960s-era mass-market paperback. But I thought it was a unique find!
Tucson
The Book Stop
Donna was getting a spa treatment at our hotel in Tucson, our last stop on our southwestern road trip, and I was getting restless. It was a million degrees in late June last year, but I was itching to hit a bookstore. So I headed over to The Book Stop. Nobody was on the street, and there were only a few people in the store, which was kept somewhat dark in what I imagined was an effort to keep cool (I don’t think the air conditioning was working that day). If I wasn’t sweating bullets, I would have rummaged around longer because what a treasure trove of books! I found some odd trade-paperback gems: ‘Children of Dune’ by Frank Herbert in the same design as my copy of the original ‘Dune,’ and ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ by Patrick Süskind, which allegedly was Kurt Cobain’s favorite book.
Washington, D.C.
Second Story Books
In a rare turn of events, I did not visit Second Story Books on a road trip with Donna. I was staying near Dupont Circle on a work trip, and I found it by googling ‘bookstores near me.’ It’s a lovely shop, filled with used and rare books, and I could have stayed for hours if I didn’t have somewhere else to be. I picked up ‘Wide Sargasso Sea’ by Jean Rhys, which is terrific and led me to ‘Jane Eyre,’ which became a new favorite and one of my most popular reviews. So I owe a lot of reading enjoyment and traffic to Second Story. I hope my job finds another reason to send me back to D.C.
Honorable mentions
I want to shout out a few more places that I didn’t include above:
Capitol Hill Books in Washington, D.C., is a great shop recommended to me by
. I didn’t include it above because even though I enjoyed scouring its maze-like shelves, I didn’t buy anything. Next time!South Congress Books in Austin, Texas, was on my original list, but in writing this newsletter I learned its storefront closed in January. It was a lovely shop that I visited when I was in town for a work conference, and it’s where I bought ‘Eileen’ by Ottessa Moshfegh—my favorite of her novels. Apparently, South Congress Books carries on as a pop-up shop at Uncommon Objects.
Womb House Books started out as an Etsy shop selling used books that I became obsessed with, and they have since expanded into a storefront in Oakland, Calif. I haven’t been there yet, but I can’t wait to visit!
Yellow Dog Bookshop in Columbia, Mo., also was on my original list, but I neglected to take a picture of it when we were in town for a wedding more than a decade ago. So, I cut it. Bummer. It’s where I bought a copy of ‘Leaves of Grass’ by Walt Whitman.
What are some of your favorite used bookstores? Let us know in the comments!
Thanks for reading! Thanks also to
for inspiring this post and, as always, thanks especially to Donna for editing this newsletter!Until next time,
MPV
I got three in the DMV:
- Second Story Books (Rockville)
- Friends of the Library
- House Mouse Books
Don't forget skylight books in Los Angeles 🙏🏾