Booksellers: The Mysterious Bookshop, The Strand

Several weeks have passed since I returned from visiting my sister in New York. She calls it "The City." By "The City" I think she means that New York is bigger and better than everywhere else. I think she also calls it "The City" to demean all other cities. San Francisco, for example, is a "cute little town." "Washington D.C. is nice; but its no New York." I like visiting her because she knows where to find the best of everything. For dumplings, there is this little place off Mulberry Street. For hamburgers there is a secret place hidden behind a curtain in a hotel lobby. And for cupcakes you go to the Magnolia Bakery.

Its when she shows me these hidden gems that I think she is right. New York is "The City." But at times she is wrong. A New York icon will tout itself as the biggest and best. I visit, and am sorely disappointed.

Take bookshops for example. During my last visit to New York I made a point to visit The Strand, New York's most famous bookseller. I also stumbled across a delightful bookseller called The Mysterious Bookshop.

The strand holds itself out as the biggest and best; "18 Miles of Books" reads its sign. It is big. But size isn't everything. As I perused their shelves, I noticed that they simply carried more copies of the same books found in every Barnes and Noble or Borders. Moreover, my mother was with me. She was looking for a book set in London while travelling to England later that week. The staff couldn't make one recommendation. DICKENS, maybe!! I left very disappointed.

Within hours of leaving the strand, we stumbled across The Mysterious Bookshop. And within minutes the attendant had recommended several books for my mother. He asked where she would be staying, then asked several questions about authors she liked and disliked. Then he recommended two or three books based on her answers. She left with one in hand. She loved it. I left with a copy of Paul Auster's New York Trilogy.

That's The City, home to the biggest (The Strand and) and the best (The Mysterious Bookshop)!! But beware, for they are not one and the same. Here's a link to the biggest: http://www.strandbooks.com/home/. But if you are looking for the best, try something mysterious: http://www.mysteriousbookshop.com/index.php.