Quirky reading material abounds at indie bookstores

When it comes to New York’s independent bookstores, names like Book Culture or Strand are familiar to Columbia students. Less well-known, however, are their counterparts across the East River.

BookCourt, located at 163 Court St. in downtown Brooklyn, is large and well-lit. Its two rooms offer a large selection of new fiction and nonfiction, with a sizable children’s section. There are also small collections of foreign language titles, local interest books, and literary magazines. To give a sense of the atmosphere, an entire bookshelf is devoted to titles published in the New York Review Books Classics series. BookCourt’s recent best-sellers include books by Patti Smith and Michael Pollan. Employees and customers rapturously discussed the dynamics of the contemporary publishing industry—one customer even noted with slight disdain that “this neighborhood is chock-full of wannabe writers.” Signs advertised a variety of literary events, such as readings and workshops. Between its capaciousness, its skylights, and its benches, BookCourt is a pleasant place to spend an afternoon, but students watching their budgets should note the lack of used books.

A few blocks away, at 212 Court St., is Cobble Hill’s Community Bookstore. Customers may appreciate that this establishment offers a selection of typewriters, used composition notebooks, LPs, and cassette tapes mixed randomly into its inventory of books. “You’ve got a lot of stuff here,” one customer observed to the proprietor, which was quite an understatement. Though there are token attempts at alphabetization and categorization, the presence of numerous boxes and piles of loose books—sitting in aisles with a capacity of one person—give the Community Bookstore the appearance of an indoor rummage sale. The jarring juxtapositions that result, like a Spanish translation of Georges Bataille’s “L’Erotisme” next to a Time Out guidebook to Las Vegas, are intriguing. In spite of the disorder, Community Bookstore has a good stock for browsing. Used books predominate, but many recent authors are well-represented with new books, and there is a large and eclectic foreign language section.

Spoonbill & Sugartown Books, at 218 Bedford Ave., makes several gestures at quirkiness appropriate to its Williamsburg setting. In the back, one bookshelf is headed by a vintage sign for “Church Supplies,” and in front customers can pick up some colorful “amazing Japanese masking tape” to affix Grizzly Bear autographs onto scrapbooks. Requisite hipness aside, Spoonbill has a good selection of used classics at reasonable prices. It is also distinguished by a large selection of journals and magazines, and an especially impressive supply of art books. The store is also worth a visit because of the streetside stalls that share Bedford Avenue, which are numerous and better-stocked than their Broadway equivalents.

While websites like Amazon may often be cheapest, and Book Culture will always be closest, students looking for a novel location for browsing could do worse than to spend an afternoon checking out these independent Brooklyn bookstores.