Bookstore Explorer | Lower East Side Halloween Book Crawl
Someone made a mistake and let the bookworm loose on some unsuspecting bookstores…
It has been several months since I first did this series, but when Bluestockings Cooperative announced the Lower East Side Halloween Book Crawl, I knew I had to check it out. For those who did not see my last Bookstore Explorer series, I want to explore bookstores around New York City to get to know my home better. After I visit a store on my list, I come here and review the store and give a book recommendation based on the vibe of the store. So hopefully someone else will want to explore it and at the very least you hear about a cool book.
To be honest, this will be the last of this series for a minute. My bookshelves have spoken, I am running out of room and have a big move planned for next year. So outside of a couple of subscriptions, I am committed to, I am going to try going on a book-buying ban for a bit. So let’s enjoy this crawl review while it lasts!
Sweet Pickle Books | Lower East Side, New York City
Recommend for: Book Browsers, Discount Hunters, Pickle Lovers.
Favorite Parts: The Pickles, Wide-Ranging Used Collection, Great Staff.
Shopping Notes: Sells/Accepts Used Books 📚, Small/cozy store, Great merch 👚.
My first stop was this long skinny hole-in-the-wall used bookstore. This cute and quirky store feels like you are stepping into your favorite person’s favorite place. The walls are covered with handpainted signs (including pickle people), tables of homemade pickles for sale, and piles of donated and collected books that they just want to share with everyone. It is a quirky daydream of a place and if you can’t tell, I fell in love. I loved digging around the wide book selection, the unique vinyl records for sale, and chatting with their wonderful staff. I also had the chance to try donating some books. I donated about a dozen books from my shelves, the store does not buy them from you instead you get a jar of free (and may I say delicious) homemade pickles. In the future, will absolutely be donating regularly and plan to come back to dig through the shelves.
What I Bought: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan | The book is based on Chinese mythology, Xingyin the secret daughter of the banished moon goddess. When she is threatened with discovering she goes into hiding until she gets an opportunity to learn magic alongside the emperor’s son. I checked this out from the library, but could not finish by the due date. What I read really enjoyed. I am excited to see where it goes.
Book Recommendation Based on the Store: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg | I picked this book for a) the small town store centered on homemade food and b) the fact that I bought this book at a used bookstore (and you can normally find it at one). The book centers around two friends who open up a cafe in ‘30s Alabama. These women lean on each other for everything from safety from abuse to parenting help. It is a story of a community that seems perfect for a place like this.
Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore | Lower East Side, New York City
Recommend for: Specific Searchers, Capitalist Questioning Readers.
Favorite Parts: The Store’s Philosophy/Nonfiction Section, Community-Focus.
Shopping Notes: Large Warehouse-Like Store, Masks Required 😷.
Bluestocking Cooperative was the major promoter of the Book Crawl so of course, I had to stop by. I visited Bluestocking before the pandemic, tragically it closed but joyously reopened at a different (and may I say better?) location. Bluestocking, outside of just being a solid bookstore, has a very specific philosophy and nonfiction sources. The store is a cooperative, worker-owned store “guided by the principles of abolition feminism, solidarity, and transformative justice practices.” It is a fascinating structure. Besides that, their nonfiction section is dedicated to their core principles. Had it not been a busy crawl day I probably would’ve flipped through their entire feminism section. In fact, this is one store that I recommend for the nonfiction section more than fiction. While they have bestsellers, classics, and diverse staff fiction picks, their nonfiction is so robust and detailed, it is hard to beat.
What I Bought: Squire by Sara Alfageeh, Nadia Shammas | I had seen this book on all kinds of new release lists for this year. Aiza is a member of a subjugated class in the Bayt-Saji Empire. To change her circumstances she enrolls in competitive squire training while hiding her class ranking. In the process, she questions everything she knows. I love a good graphic novel and even better if it’s in an entirely original fantastical world.
Book Recommendation Based on the Store: We Do This 'Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba | This book has been on my TBR list for a while. It is a series of essays on everyday people organizing collectively for social justice, transformative politics, and abolition. All topics that this store is passionate about and believes in. If you are a supporter of the store, and its philosophy, I think this could be the book for you.
Book Club Bar | Lower East Side, New York City
Recommend for: Pub Lovers, Cozy Cottage Core/Academic Aesthetic.
Favorite Parts: Attached Bar, Seating Lounge, Overall Vibes. 🛋
Shopping Notes: Active Coffee/Wine/Beer Bar 🍻, Staff Picks Abound.
Book Club is the bookstore of my dreams, a store with a well-stocked, varied collection attached to a bar. Several times I have been the girl sitting at the end of a bar enjoying a glass of wine and a good book. And unlike other bars where I get weird looks for reading, here it is encouraged! The actual bookstore feels like you are stepping into a bookworm’s idyllic living room: comfy sofas, plenty of lamps to read by but soft lighting, and importantly floor to ceiling bookshelves. Of the crawl’s bookstores, this is the most straightforward one with a good balance of frontlist and backlist fiction and nonfiction books. I also loved the subtle staff picks, all over the shelves are notecards identifying the store’s favorite reads. I truly fell in love with this place, I want to meet up with all my bookish friends here for happy hour.
What I Bought: Nothing!! Look I know it’s silly, but that is an accomplishment for me to walk out of a store without a book. Instead, I sat and read my current read and had a seasonal Pumpkin beer. Cheers!
Book Recommendation Based on the Store: Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol by Mallory O'Meara | This book has been downloaded on my iPad for months, I swear I will get to it. Drinking has been largely seen as a “male” activity, but women have been at the center of drinking culture and its creation. O’Meara sets out to correct the record. A funny great book about the history of the cocktail seems perfect for fans of this store.
I wasn’t able to get to every store on the crawl, here are the ones I missed and want to get to in the future:
McNally Jackson (been here, love it, will go again)
All in all, this was a fabulous crawl and showed me several stores I want to revisit and books I want to read. I hope this has given you some ideas of what to look for in your next store or given you the inspiration to check one of these out!
I hope you have a wonderful Bookstore Explorer moment of your own.
Until Next Time, Happy Reading!
❤️Doodles❤️