For cookbooks, Omnivore in SF. In MA, there's a general store called Davoll's that has a small well curated book section. In another life (maybe in my next life!) I'd own a book store.
Ooh, so excited to hear about Davoll's. Thanks for the rec! I can totally imagine your bookstore also having a wee bakery with, perhaps, jars of housemade caramels and jams for sale? Fearless Baker has a happy place in the baking section of my cookbooks.
Kathleen at Great Good Place is a longtime family friend. She is unreal in her ability to recommend books for people she doesn’t know based on just a few questions. We usually start with her when looking for a book.
I live a few blocks from Green Apple on Clement, so that would have to be my favorite. But I also love Browser Books on Fillmore, and back in the day, there was a Bay Area local shop called A Clean Well-Lighted Place. I'm also always good for a trip to The Strand in NYC or Powell's in Portland. So many bookstores, so little time!
Green Apple on Clement was my neighborhood store when we lived in SF (along with Thidwick). I loved to see their staff picks and get lost upstairs in poetry. I happened upon some of my favorite poets up there and liked finding new-to-me fiction in the extension a few doors down. Browser Books is a good one too! That was always my spot after visiting Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or Fraiche frozen yogurt (you can tell it's been a while since I've lived there!). Great additions. And you're right, never enough time to visit all of them!
I've been to The Strand twice but found it a bit too busy last time. I had a wonderful peaceful hour at McNally-Jackson on Fulton. I'm glad it's 3000 miles away or I would be skint. Burway Books in Church Stretton is my favourite small bookshop, and Blackwell's in Oxford, my favourite big one. II boycott my local store because they haven't read Steinbeck and have two shelves of Romantasy...
Ha! I hear you, James. Finding a bookstore that gets your aesthetic and a bookseller with whom you can have spirited conversations about shared books is a true find. Glad to hear that even though your favorite bookstores are not close, it sounds like they're ones that are a treat to visit and procure from when you're nearby them. Thanks for adding to the list!
The Homer Bookstore! It remains such a gathering place. In Anchorage, Title Wave.
For cookbooks, Omnivore in SF. In MA, there's a general store called Davoll's that has a small well curated book section. In another life (maybe in my next life!) I'd own a book store.
Ooh, so excited to hear about Davoll's. Thanks for the rec! I can totally imagine your bookstore also having a wee bakery with, perhaps, jars of housemade caramels and jams for sale? Fearless Baker has a happy place in the baking section of my cookbooks.
And people reading poetry in the back!
Kathleen at Great Good Place is a longtime family friend. She is unreal in her ability to recommend books for people she doesn’t know based on just a few questions. We usually start with her when looking for a book.
I love that! It's a gift and especially helpful in discovering gems that might not have been books I would have bought or picked up.
I live a few blocks from Green Apple on Clement, so that would have to be my favorite. But I also love Browser Books on Fillmore, and back in the day, there was a Bay Area local shop called A Clean Well-Lighted Place. I'm also always good for a trip to The Strand in NYC or Powell's in Portland. So many bookstores, so little time!
Green Apple on Clement was my neighborhood store when we lived in SF (along with Thidwick). I loved to see their staff picks and get lost upstairs in poetry. I happened upon some of my favorite poets up there and liked finding new-to-me fiction in the extension a few doors down. Browser Books is a good one too! That was always my spot after visiting Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf or Fraiche frozen yogurt (you can tell it's been a while since I've lived there!). Great additions. And you're right, never enough time to visit all of them!
I've been to The Strand twice but found it a bit too busy last time. I had a wonderful peaceful hour at McNally-Jackson on Fulton. I'm glad it's 3000 miles away or I would be skint. Burway Books in Church Stretton is my favourite small bookshop, and Blackwell's in Oxford, my favourite big one. II boycott my local store because they haven't read Steinbeck and have two shelves of Romantasy...
Ha! I hear you, James. Finding a bookstore that gets your aesthetic and a bookseller with whom you can have spirited conversations about shared books is a true find. Glad to hear that even though your favorite bookstores are not close, it sounds like they're ones that are a treat to visit and procure from when you're nearby them. Thanks for adding to the list!