Monday, December 06, 2004
Boston Bookselling
We spent a great three days in Boston last weekend visiting friends and their new baby. Most of the time was spent cooking and changing diapers to give the new parents a break.
The group indulged my little bookstore obsession on Saturday to take a quick tour of Brookline Booksmith and Trident Bookstore Cafe. My last visit to the Booksmith was around 2000/2001 to show them the BookSense.com project. This store has developed a very loyal following in the area, and well deserved. The staff is very knowledgeable, the events lineup is incredible (David Sedaris!), and the selection is a nice mix of new, remaindered, and used. I scored a great copy of Nicholas Basbanes's Among the Gently Mad
Trident was a new find. It's a great place to grab a quick lunch or hang out with a book and a cup of coffee. According to their history, the owners originally had a bookstore "in 1976 at the end of the "hippie turned back-to-the-lander, turned Buddhist, turned entrepreneur" sort of era." Ah yes, I'm sure we all have our hippie/buddhist/entrepreneur stories to tell.
The store reminds me of Atticus in New Haven or KramerBooks in DC where the cafe part is a large focal point for the bookstore. I imagine these places generate most of their revenue from food instead of books. Great selection though, especially the magazines and sidelines.
|
Go to Top of Page
The group indulged my little bookstore obsession on Saturday to take a quick tour of Brookline Booksmith and Trident Bookstore Cafe. My last visit to the Booksmith was around 2000/2001 to show them the BookSense.com project. This store has developed a very loyal following in the area, and well deserved. The staff is very knowledgeable, the events lineup is incredible (David Sedaris!), and the selection is a nice mix of new, remaindered, and used. I scored a great copy of Nicholas Basbanes's Among the Gently Mad
Trident was a new find. It's a great place to grab a quick lunch or hang out with a book and a cup of coffee. According to their history, the owners originally had a bookstore "in 1976 at the end of the "hippie turned back-to-the-lander, turned Buddhist, turned entrepreneur" sort of era." Ah yes, I'm sure we all have our hippie/buddhist/entrepreneur stories to tell.
The store reminds me of Atticus in New Haven or KramerBooks in DC where the cafe part is a large focal point for the bookstore. I imagine these places generate most of their revenue from food instead of books. Great selection though, especially the magazines and sidelines.
