18 Miles of Books

I have a guilty pleasure, one that I pursue on days off when I have a few hours to myself.

It's Pretty Little Liars. 

Woops did I write that out loud? Okay well maybe I have a few guilty pleasures, and today I'm going to share with you my personal favorite. 

I love buying books. I love buying reference books, usually about improving your writing. I love buying books about health, and nutrition. I love buying books about the food industry, books written by comedians, books about dance, and fictional books from a whole array of genres.

It's kind of a problem. 

But even more than buying books I love browsing through bookstores, and Strand Bookstore is without a doubt the most magical bookstore in the world. Well, at least in New York City.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Strand:

The Strand Bookstore is an independent bookstore located at 828 Broadway at the corner of East 12th St) in the East Villageneighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. The Strand advertises that it has "18 Miles of Books", and is well-known among New Yorkers for its collection of publishers' overstock, used, rare, and out-of-print books, as well as the chaos on and around its shelves. The store houses the city's largest collection of rare books, and is also a contender for the title of world's largest used bookstore, its major competitor in this regard being Powell's Books of Portland, Oregon. The Strand occupies 55,000 square feet of space^[1] while Powell's flagship Burnside location has over 68,000.^[2]

A family-owned business with more than 240 employees, the Strand was opened by Benjamin Bass in 1927 on nearby Fourth Avenue, in what was known as "Book Row", which was established as early as 1890, and which had at the time 48 bookstores.^[3][4] Bass's son Fred took over the business in 1956 and soon moved the store to the present location at the corner of East 12th Street and Broadway. Fred's daughter Nancy is co-owner of the store, and is also married to U.S. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. The store occupies three and a half floors, using half a floor for offices and one additional floor as warehouse space. As of December 2011, the store has 2.5 million books..

My roommate checking out the $2 goods

What this entry does not mention is the books for sale that are on display outside of the store, on shelves 

that line the perimeter of the building. These books, Penny-Pinchers, are not to be passed by. They typically cost from one to three dollars, and though it may require some dedication to leaf through a good number of books, you are sure to find something worth your while. Last year I found a used copy of The Omnivore's Dilemma for $3.00 that had hardly been worn in, and this year I bought a 1991 copy of The Writer's Handbook for $1.00. For bookaholics across the city, it's a dream come true. 

I decided to tack a sentence on to the end of the second paragraph of the entry, mentioning these affordable books:

The store occupies three and a half floors, using half a floor for offices and one additional floor as warehouse space. As of December 2011, the store has 2.5 million books. The store sells used books that can be found on shelves outside on the sidewalk, that typically range from one to three dollars in price.

Inside the store, I recommend browsing through the rare books floor, and checking out the half priced fiction on the main level. For those of you who are artists, there are some great books on dance, music, photography, painting, opera, etc. I also like to check out the cookbook section, and I'll usually pop down to the basement level for foreign lit and books on writing. For Penny-Pinching purposes, I try to keep to 'window shopping' in these regular priced sections.