Keeping tabs on downtown bookstores

A conjecture: New York University students live charmed and far more entertaining lives in comparison to Columbians, thanks to the wide array of stores and restaurants at their disposal.

This hypothesis definitely contains a grain of truth, because these East Village bookstores will make you reconsider your school of choice—or at least convince you to shop downtown next time you need to buy books.

To invoke an age-old cliché, the Strand really needs no introduction. This 80-year-old vendor of all things literary is one of those Manhattan hot spots that tourists literally write home about.

Most New Yorkers know the Strand’s mantra by heart—18 miles of books—and its convenient location just off Union Square makes it easy to find. The Strand is one of those bookstores that can lay claim to a royal family of sorts—the store was opened by Ben Bass in 1927, was taken over by his son Fred in the ’50s, and is currently run by the latter’s daughter, Nancy Bass Wyden.

When the Strand was first conceived, it was one of 48 bookstores on Fourth Avenue’s so-called Book Row. Today, however, it is the only bookshop remaining from that period.
Entering the Strand is a (semi-claustrophobic) experience in itself—the cramped cashiers and absorbed readers create something of a human obstacle course and ensure that reaching the areas further back will be a challenge, but one with exciting distractions.

Exhibit A: Strand merchandise—every dorky teenager is dying to get their hands on one of those legendary tote bags, be it polka-dotted or awkwardly cow-printed.

Exhibits B and C: Strand used and new books, all at extremely affordable prices. In particular, the Strand offers cheap faux-leather-bound classics and an unbeatable selection of art books. To wit: pair the former with the $1650 first-edition Tocqueville on sale and enjoy some sort of imperial status in your CC class.

Finally, be sure to check out the lower levels of the Strand for media and some great secondhand non-fiction, and attend some of the events the store puts together (artist Jeff Koons and writer Chuck Palahniuk will visit in the near future).

To access the riches a bit closer to home, hit up the Strand’s more obscure Central Park Kiosk on Fifth Avenue and 60th Street—or, alternatively, to shop at one of the world’s largest used bookstores without removing yourself from your dorm room, take a look at strandbooks.com.

St. Mark’s Bookshop at 31 Third Ave. is nowhere near as grand in scale as the Strand, but it is far more selective in the works it carries, and is probably one of the few bookstores that offers an extensive collection of Communist rags. While you can still pick up a more commonplace text like Rushdie’s latest novel (in cloth hardcover, mind you), St. Mark’s is most renowned for its indie texts, and houses a variety of art-based books, including unusual graphic novels and works on architecture.

According to Sarah Khan, CC ’11, “St. Mark’s Bookshop is a great place to just show up and browse, as long as you have a lot of time on your hands... It has great academically-oriented sections, like regional history and philosophy, which aren’t publicized as much.”

St. Mark’s still manages to be fairly well-rounded despite its specialized reputation, and its literature, poetry, and non-fiction collections are all top-notch. Not to be missed: the St. Mark’s Bookshop’s Reading Series at Solas Bar (232 E. Ninth St.), in which local artists and poets will offer up their literary creations to the presumably adoring East Village masses.

So next time you get an itch to browse for literary gold, head down to the East Village—it may be a schlep, but the area’s wares won’t disappoint.