/lit/ - Literature

>>11664255

Check out Kinokuniya if you want some Japanese classics. They specialize in mostly Japanese literature and some light novels and manga upstairs. Visited both there and Book Off several years ago and enjoyed it a lot.

>>11664255
Damn, dude. My favorite used shop Skyline Books on W. 28th closed a few years back and it pains me not to be able to rec it. Strand, I guess.

>>11664255
If you come here without checking out the Strand you're messing up. There are other, better, specialty shops if you're looking for something niche, but in terms of overall quality, Strand is untouchable. Huge and varied selection, especially in the basement, you can tell that its curated by people who actually know what they are doing.

t. New Yorker

Every bookstore in NYC is full of overpriced coffee table books and "contemporary nonfiction" and biographies aimed at middle aged women. People can rattle off a list of bookstores, but ultimately they're nearly all the same because skyrocketing rent has homogenized most of NYC's hobby-businesses.

mercer street books and st marks books are the best for used

Book offs selectiom sucks I wouldnt bother, all the other suggestions itt are good though.

MFA student here:

Book Culture
Mast Books
Blue Stockings
Shakespeare & Co
Alabaster Books
Strand


You'll find interesting selections at each while also exploring areas of the city.

Book culture has the best selection of literature while Strand and Mast always seem to have that one book you cant find anywhere.

>>11664255
>I am going to New York City tomorrow
There's your first mistake.

>>11664255
definitely go to the book off on 45th st if you get the chance!

>>11665856
Unironically this.

I thought Book Off was just here in Japan.

Alabaster is a good used book store

>>11664255
Westsider is pretty neat. Plus it’s near Pynchon’s place if you want to go author watching.

>tfw I just moved to New York City
What am I in for bros?

>>11668069
>tfw I am moving to NYC in a month
t. gooned midwesterner

>>11668069
Where are you moving anon?

>>11668107
Williamsburg but this fuccboi
>>11668073

>>11668146
If you're in Williamsburg you're in for a lot of annoying people, high rent, and the fact that the L train is slowly being shut down. Good news is, there is a lot of great food by you, and plenty of cool record stores/bars. If you have any more specific questions I'm here for a while.

>>11668107
I'm actually in Hoboken which is right across the Hudson River from New York

>>11668497
are you going to stevens or something? hoboken is great, although you won't get any "hip cred" being there, if that's why you moved to the city

>>11668510
Yeah, I'm at Stevens. I like being outside the city while it's still so close to just visit

>>11668529
go over to jersey city and check out "word" bookstore sometime on newark ave downtown by the grove street path, they have a twin store in brooklyn, but like everything in hudson county it's mostly patronized by ex-brooklynites who came here to have kids, baby strollers everywhere, but still seems to have decent community, plus the bars over there are a lot cooler than the sportsbar jock shit in hoboken, no offense if that's ur thing, jc pride festival is this saturday on that block, check it out

>>11668529
Stevens is a good school, have many buddies who went there, you will have a great time anon, and make sure you respect those angels who work at Bagels on the Hudson, they are your lifeline. Treat them well.

>>11668069
Existential dread. But hey theres lots of bars

McNally-Jackson on Prince St. is another decent one

How does one go about relocating to NYC without having money beforehand and having a bad credit score?
I've always felt I could take advantage of my Bugman degree there but thought it would be almost impossible to coordinate interviews without living there first. Even if I could save $1000 for a months rent, most places want a commitment of 12 months and will preform a credit check.

>>11669525
just stay in airbnb until u get your shit together or rent some cheap ass room off craigslist with cash

>>11669532
I've considered this.
Most aren't cheap and usually are for 1 week. I need a solid month. The craigslist strategy might work.

>>11664601
Yo gimme all the books on your syllabi (not the grad courses you may teach but classes youve taken). I'll cherish you forever.

>>11670054
you can re-up your airbnb as much as you want, they just say it's only for a week to get around regulations, my friend stayed in one for like two months before, and the cost evened out to about the same as a moderately priced room $20-30 a day

Can I piggyback on this and ask for some bookshop recommendations in SF/Northern California? Don't want to make a whole thread for it.

I'm specifically interested in vintage and hard to find out of print books, so shops specializing in that would be ideal (pricerange doesn't matter). Yelp and google are full of casual readers diluting my results.

>>11668164
What would you recommend in the area? Any #books? How are the people annoying?

>>11664335
>t. new yorker

>>11670819
the best part was he's recommending the worst tourist trap bookstore in manhattan

Book Culture
McNally Jackson
Alabaster
Argosy
Rizzoli

>>11670849
>Rizzoli
Italian art is the shit, french art is very overrated. I am gonna start reading the Name of the Rose before the miniseries with John Turturro comes out.

>>11668529
hey i go to stevens too lol what are you majoring?

>>11664255
everything i wanna read i have on my kindle but i'd like to check some of these spots out

>>11672846
I'm in computer engineering

>>11672846
Different anon, but I transferred from Stevens 3 or 4 years ago

>>11673461
I Miss it compared to where I am now

>>11670849
>>11664601
>>11667437
based alabastersposters

>>11673693
I love Alabaster. My brother and I were in there one day and a guy goes up to the register, asking how much a book costs. The guy behind the counter goes "Twelve bucks.: The customer says "Twelve?" like he's clarifying, and the cashier just has the most resigned look I've ever seen, and says "I can do ten."
I love grumpy booksellers. The only one I can think of who was grumpier than this guy was the owner of Cosmopolitan Books, in LA (now defunct). All of the books there were from the owner's personal library and you could see how much it pained him to part with even the most humble volume. A great experience.