For the sake of a more cohesive and thorough cultural experience, this week, I am branching out from the more traditional visit to museum or gallery.  Instead I travel into another artistic and cultural medium: the book, and its home, the bookstore.  I am going to validate this choice of topic in two ways: ONE, books are works of art, in a medium that is usually accessible to the masses; TWO (more importantly) if you can’t afford a trip to visit the Greek ruins, well, maybe you can afford a tour guide of Greece and a copy of some Greek poetry.  Yes?  It’s travel for the stuck-in-the-city urbanite.

Much has been written lately of the decline of the bookstore (merci, Amazon) but the truth is many bookstores still exist in all their glory, all over New York.  Although reading should be promoted in all shapes and forms, I am personally more inclined to support independent bookstores.  Using a fantastic “Reading Hot Spots” map which I got for free at Housing Works bookstore, I traipsed through the greater West Village area to these little havens on my glorious/dewy (walking!) tour.

1 – First stop was Idlewild Books on 19th Street between 5th & 6th avenues.  This is travel-book mecca, yet not in an overwhelming way.  The more general guides are supplemented by picks of authors from that country, so for example in the Prague section you will find guidebooks next to a copy of “Letters on Cezanne” by Rilke (a perfect Grand Tour read).  Therefore the store is not only a destination when you are actually going on a trip and need a guidebook.  You can go there anytime you’re itching to revisit a place you’ve already been, via it’s national literature.

2 – Just around the block on 18th Street is Skyline Books, seller of used books of all kinds and categories from art to humor to cooking.  It hides a pretty expansive selection behind a small and musty/dusty front.  This is more of a store for browsing and finding the occasional gem, although it’s quite small and the aisles not wide.  On my recent visit the books that had me interested were “The International Book of Lofts” and another on French country style -Don’t expect to find an overstuffed armchair waiting for you, but you might be in the company of a Spaniard gabbing loudly on her cell phone (ok, maybe that was just when I was there).

3 – When you’re in the West Village area, Left Bank Books is a postage-stamp sized store whose shelves are overflowing with fantastic titles and lots of first editions, if you’re an amateur.  This is the type of bookstore that makes me love New York all over again.  It’s a mess, but it’s clear that the owners have been there forever and know what they’re doing.  Part of the appeal is that you can walk in and have no idea what you’re going to find.  A good change from our otherwise I-need-this-and-I-need-it-fast pace.  Best find while I was there “The Romantic Egoists: A Pictorial Autobiography from the scrapbooks and albums of F.Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald”.

4 – Still in the West Village, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks – which is currently partially hidden under scaffolding making it all the harder to find – is (obviously) devoted solely to cookbooks.  Organized by country, there are the usual big-hits (hello, Julia Child mania) but also more obscure titles and all sorts of cooking paraphernalia (hello again, Julia Child mania).  I have a feeling the Ten-for-Two followers wouldn’t know what to do with themselves in here.

5 – Across the street, Three Lives & Co. sells new books and if you did have a particular title in mind this is your Amazon-alternative.  Among the many tempting and fantastic finds was a copy of “Letter to a Hostage” by St. Exupery, beautifully published by Pushkin Press [proving my points that books can be works of art].

There are so many other fantastic bookstores in New York – and so many other non-museum trips to be made – happy travels & happy reading!