On a hectic day, just stepping into a bookshop, without even opening a single volume, will calm me. There's something about being in the presence of all that effort, all that possibility. I feel myself expand in the company of books. I can breathe there. To think of bookstores vanishing from the city makes me panicky. Which is why I'm so relieved that the latest of our vanishing indie shops has been reincarnated.
The Biography Bookshop has opened a new location, further east on Bleecker and under the new name "bookbook."
Bookbook is open for business and Independent Bookstore Week is a great time to make a visit to check them out. The new space is bigger than the last, bright and airy and filled with books. And, as in the old space, they've still got plenty of cheap remainders for sale on carts outside.
For a brief time, bookbook coexists with the old Biography. But not for long. In January the old location closes and turns into a Marc Jacobs store, which may or may not sell books.
I remember a time when 8th Street was filled with bookstores, from 6th Avenue to 2nd Avenue, much less bookstores were all over the city. 4th Avenue was a used readers haven as was 18th Street and Broadway. God, the books and journals you could get there.... Where did they vanish? How many are left now, five or six? We are coming to an ignorant future...hurry up, turn the page...sigh :(((
ReplyDeletebought a copy of Lowlife there. glad I did
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