Greetings
from Three Lives & Company!
It
has become our tradition each summer to do something different with our
newsletter, taking a break from the regular schedule of staff recommendations.
New books keep coming out, old books keep piling up, and we booksellers welcome
a brief respite from the pressure to “blurb.” Of course, we are still reading
plenty: come into the shop these days and you may hear Miriam praising Julie
Schumacher’s story collection Patient, Female, or Absolutely and
Forever by Rose Tremain, a gem imported from the United Kingdom. Elaine has
been on a fine streak with new novels – Cherry Beach by Don Gillmor, John
of John by Douglas Stuart, The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley, and The
Bright Sword by Lev Grossman – while Ryan has been immersing himself in
Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation of The Odyssey, a new rendering of a
very old story indeed.
Kathryn
is reading ahead, first with Pamela Colloff’s Catch the Devil (due out
in July), which Kathryn commends “both for its unflinching investigation into
the failures of the American justice system and for its elegant, suspenseful
structure,” and then again with Switzy, Emma
Cline’s highly anticipated third novel. In Kathryn’s words, Cline “once again
proves herself to be one of literary fiction’s most astute observers of
humanity.” (You will have to wait until September for that one!) And Lucas is
working his way through his bedside table pile, savoring two New York Review
Books that he has been meaning to read since they were published: Sojourn
by Amit Chaudhuri (a recommendation from a customer) and Joshua Cohen’s The Netanyahus.
Not
only are we reading books, we are buying books too.
You may think that, working every day in a room stacked to the rafters with
books, we would be weary of bookshops by the time our weekends roll around,
preferring to spend our free time doing…well, anything besides shopping for
books. But you would be wrong! We are all, to varying degrees of devotion (or
degeneracy), proud practitioners in the time-honored arts of browsing, digging,
hunting, seeking, and scouring for books new and old; we are bookshop people,
even off the clock. To that end, we have compiled a list – by no means
exhaustive, but happily, frantically diverse – of some of our very favorite
places to shop for books. Before the list you can read our reflections on why
we chose these particular shops.
But
the fun needn’t end there! We would love to hear from you too. What are the
bookshops that have meant the most to you, that have shaped your tastes or left
their mark in some other way? Let us know, and we will be sure to pay them a
visit next time we get the chance.
~
Our Favorite Bookshops ~
Most surprising find: Ceilidh Place (Ullapool, Scotland): a
bookshop at the edge of the world, in a beautiful, remote town in the
Highlands. One room, attached to a bar and hotel. Impeccably curated. And it’s
not even the only bookstore in this small town!
Bookshop with the best newsletter
(other than yours truly): Christopher’s (San Francisco, CA): I’ve never
visited this bookshop in person (!!), but I can testify to the taste of the
buyer and the fabulous newsletter the shop sends out every month. I eagerly
await it and look forward to seeing what the booksellers recommend.
My first stop for kids’ books: Spiral
Books (New York, NY), a recent addition to the scene. I dare you to walk
out of there empty-handed. And Community Bookstore (Brooklyn, NY), whose
selection is expansive and spot-on. Community also gets my nod for its
phenomenal taste in greeting cards.
Bookstores I’d most like to visit: Parentheses
Books (Harrisonburg, VA), Point Reyes Books (Point Reyes Station,
CA), and Blue Hill Books (Blue Hill, ME).
Bookstores that defined my
childhood: Foundry Bookstore (New Haven, CT, sadly now closed) and RJ
Julia Booksellers (Madison, CT). – Miriam
A
life spent in books is necessarily one spent in bookshops. There are the
one-offs when traveling, that you dream about returning to someday with more
time and a heavier wallet (Solidaridad in Manila, John Sandoe in
London), and the ones closer to home that you stop into whenever the
opportunity arises (Dauphine Street Books in New Orleans and Argosy
here in Manhattan). There are bookshops of convenience: while it can never
compete with the others on my list in selection or aesthetics, the Booksale
shop at Robinsons mall in Iloilo, Philippines, kept me in pages at a time
in my life when options were slim. There are shops now gone but fondly
remembered: Acres of Books in Long Beach, CA, and Spanish Trail Books
near my Mississippi hometown. And there is that bookshop you consider “yours,”
the one for which you feel a protective instinct, discovered during a formative
time – the one that you leave, every visit, with at least one book under your
arm. That shop, to me, is Angel City Books in Santa Monica. – Ryan
As
a bookseller of new books for almost forty years, perhaps it is odd that my
favorite book browsing experiences come from the used bookstore. It is a great
day when I have the time to enter a used bookshop, head straight to Fiction,
and work the entire section, A-to-Z. I am aware that my eye moves almost
without thought to the spines and designs that are unknown to me, sussing out novels that I may not know or writers I have
not yet read. But I do know I enter a state, The Zone of Browsing, where
everything else drops away, the sounds of the shop become a murmur, and it is
just me and the books before me. A grand collection of books, a wall of
fiction, makes for a wonderful experience, and I can reflect on great browsing
sessions at The Captain’s Bookshelf in Asheville, NC, sadly now closed,
or Pelican Bay Books, Anacortes, WA, where I only got halfway down their
massive fiction section before I had to race off to the Orcas-bound ferry. Any
holiday, any trip is heightened by a visit to the local used bookshop.
For
the bookstore stocking new books, I appreciate the personality of the owner,
buyer, and staff reflected in the selection. To that point I often seek out the
Staff Favorites display to get a sense of a bookshop. Point Reyes Books in
northern California is one beloved shop, the stock wonderfully selected and
displayed by the thoughtful, caring owners, Molly and Stephen. Point Reyes
Books is as much a product of their vision as it is a part of the spectacular
West Marin landscape, as emblematic of the area as the cows across the rolling
hills, the windswept beaches of Point Reyes, the fog cresting the hills and
flowing over the land. Locally, whenever I make it to Williamsburg
I am sure to stop into Spoonbill & Sugartown Books as I know I will
find an eclectic and singular collection of books, some also on display on our
own shelves at Three Lives, but many unknown to me.
The vast and mighty world of books! – Toby
My
favorite bookstores from my home state of Connecticut are RJ Julia
Booksellers in Madison and The Book Barn in Niantic for an endless
maze of used books. From my college days in Massachusetts, I loved spending
hours at Grey Matter Books in Hadley and the used book section
downstairs at Amherst Books. Special shout out to Charlie Byrne’s
Bookshop in Galway and leaves in Greenpoint! – Elaine
My
affinity for Book Culture on 112th and Broadway stemmed at first from
forced proximity. For a few years I attended school just steps away from the
store, and it was where I sourced nearly all my coursebooks and birthday cards.
But I rapidly developed an honest and sustained love for Book Culture: its high
ceilings, its shelves of paperbacks cascading along the back walls without
interruption, and most of all the remaindered books overflowing and mosaicking
the tables and stairs. Reader, it is a remaindered-book empire, and for a
cash-rich, credit-poor college student, it was more than I ever dared to dream
of.
In
Taipei, where my extended family lives, there is a bookstore chain called Eslite. Sleekly dark-paneled and aglow with warm
overhead lights, Eslites resemble hotel bars more
than bookstores (at least compared to our cozy nook at Three Lives). But I love
seeing books in such a setting, so casually revered as the guests of honor. – Kathryn
When
I first moved to Brooklyn back in 2018 I was lucky
enough to score a tiny bedroom on a busy corner in Bushwick. The apartment
itself was a little grim – the real luxury was being able to see Molasses
Books right across the street. At the time they kept odd hours, so I would
peek out my window to see if they were open or not. If they were, I almost
always paid a visit. I have found countless gems at Molasses over the years and
have the best memories of sitting in their window seat with a coffee, perusing
the (often too many) books I’d acquired. Now in Park Slope my local shop is Troubled
Sleep, a used bookshop that came on the scene just a few years ago. It’s a
place where I often pass off my own books just to immediately turn around and
use my store credit on a fresh stack. They also always have stellar staff recs.
Lastly, I’d love to give a shout to The Red
Wheelbarrow in Paris. Shakespeare and Company is great and all, but do not
overlook this amazing English-language bookshop right by the Jardin du Luxembourg!
A worthy trip every single time. – Sarah
I
have never set foot in John Sandoe, in London, and yet I sometimes
describe it as the best bookshop in the world. I look forward to the arrival of
their paper catalogs, printed with care and ingenuity several times each year;
I draw inspiration from their book bundles, their subscription packages, even
the window boxes overhanging their storefront, spilling over with comforting
bunches of red geraniums. Each detail carries the spirit of the place, which
reminds me of so much that is good in our bookselling world: humor,
neighborliness, good taste, a sense of history. Some day,
some day I will visit.
Meanwhile,
here in New York, I love shops that specialize in something different than what
we carry at Three Lives. Mast Books in the East Village is an art and
design bookshop with a perfect sense of how to display their books; Dashwood,
on Bond Street, is a subterranean treasure trove for all things photography.
And of course there is Wild Sorrel Cookbooks, Troy Chatterton’s
exquisite new shop on East 13th. You must go, even if you think you have no
need for cookbooks. Just talk to Troy: he will help you find something you do
need.
Every
time I visit my twin sister in Portland, OR I am treated to a grand tour of
that city’s used bookstores. Two personal favorites: Chaparral Books, a
light-filled haven whose name and funky location reminded me of the great Bagatelle
Books in Asheville, NC; and Wallace Books, a bright yellow house
that is absolutely filled, floor to ceiling, with used books. Then there is Melville
Books, a single room (is it a garden shed?) that may have the most
interesting stock per square foot of any shop I have seen.
The
last time I visited Melville I was delighted, though hardly surprised, to learn
that their owner is a fellow admirer of Unnameable
Books in Brooklyn, which is really my favorite bookshop of all. Since the
first time I stumbled through their doors almost seven years ago, I have felt Unnameable to be a kind of home, a collection tailor-made
for the sort of reader I aspire to be. Browsing there I am often overwhelmed by
the feeling that a great bookshop can somehow include everything – every
outrageous idea, every sublime gesture of thought. Space is irrelevant; all it
requires is our eternal curiosity. – Lucas
*
Acres
of Books
(Long Beach, CA) *Ryan [new and used; permanently closed]
Amherst
Books (Amherst,
MA) *Elaine [new and used]
Angel
City Books
(Santa Monica, CA) *Ryan [new and used]
Argosy (New York, NY) *Ryan
[antiquarian and out-of-print]
Bagatelle
Books
(Asheville, NC) *Lucas [used]
Blue
Hill Books (Blue
Hill, ME) *Miriam [new]
The
Book Barn
(Niantic, CT) *Elaine [used]
Book
Culture
(New York, NY) *Kathryn [new, used, remainders and textbooks]
Booksale
shop at Robinsons mall (Iloilo, Philippines) *Ryan [used]
The
Captain’s Bookshelf
(Asheville, NC) *Toby [used; permanently closed]
Ceilidh Place (Ullapool,
Scotland) *Miriam [new]
Chaparral
Books
(Portland, OR) *Lucas [used and rare]
Charlie
Byrne’s Bookshop
(Galway, Ireland) *Elaine [new and used]
Christopher’s
Books (San
Francisco, CA) *Miriam [new]
Community
Bookstore
(Brooklyn, NY) *Miriam [new]
Dashwood
Books
(New York, NY) *Lucas [new, used and rare; photography]
Dauphine
Street Books
(New Orleans, LA) *Ryan [used]
Drama
Bookshop
(New York, NY) *Marlowe [new; plays and scripts]
Eslite (Taipei, Taiwan) *Kathryn
[new]
Foundry
Bookstore (New
Haven, CT) *Miriam [new; permanently closed]
Greenlight
Bookstore
(Brooklyn, NY) *Marlowe [new]
Grey
Matter Books
(Hadley, MA) *Elaine [used]
John
Sandoe (Books) Ltd.
(London, England) *Ryan, Lucas [new, rare and out-of-print]
Kinokuniya (New York, NY) *Marlowe
[new; Japanese books, magazines and ephemera]
leaves (Brooklyn, NY) *Elaine
[used and rare]
Love
& Legends Books
(Brooklyn, NY) *Marlowe [new; fantasy and science fiction]
Mast
Books
(New York, NY) *Lucas [new, used and rare; art and design]
Melville
Books
(Portland, OR) *Lucas [used]
Molasses
Books
(Brooklyn, NY) *Sarah [used]
The
Nonbinarian Bookstore
(Brooklyn, NY) *Marlowe [new; volunteer-run, exclusively queer]
Parentheses
Books
(Harrisonburg, VA) *Miriam [new]
Pelican
Bay Books
(Anacortes, WA) *Toby [used]
Point
Reyes Books (Point
Reyes Station, CA) *Toby, Miriam [new]
The
Red Wheelbarrow
(Paris, France) *Sarah [new; English-language]
RJ
Julia Booksellers (Madison,
CT) *Miriam, Elaine [new]
Solidaridad (Manila,
Philippines) *Ryan [new]
Spanish
Trail Books
(Biloxi, MS) *Ryan [used; permanently closed]
Spiral
Books
(New York, NY) *Miriam [new and used; children’s]
Spoonbill
& Sugartown
(Brooklyn, NY) *Toby [new and used]
Troubled
Sleep
(Brooklyn, NY) *Sarah [new and used]
Unnameable Books (Brooklyn, NY) *Lucas
[new and used]
Wallace
Books
(Portland, OR) *Lucas [used]
Wild
Sorrel Cookbooks
(New York, NY) *Lucas, Three Lives [new and used; cookbooks]
~ Staff Favorites Now in Paperback ~
Fiction
James by Percival Everett (Vintage)
Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven (Penguin)
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Vintage)
Consider Yourself Kissed
by Jessica Stanley
(Riverhead)
Nonfiction
Daughters of the Bamboo Grove by Barbara Demick (Random House)
Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li (Picador)
~ Signed Editions ~
Fiction
New York Ironweed by Amanda Deutch (Fence)
The Circle by Dave Eggers (Vintage)
Contrapposto by Dave Eggers (Knopf)
The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers (Vintage)
James by Percival Everett (Vintage)
Girl’s Girl by Sonia Feldman (Dial)
Don’t Stop by Bonnie Friedman (Europa)
Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer (Doubleday)
The Midnight Train by Matt Haig (Viking)
Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami (Knopf, translated by Laurel
Taylor and Hitomi Yoshio)
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann (Summit, translated by Ross
Benjamin)
Audition by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead)
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy (Ballantine)
See You on the Other
Side by Jay McInerney (Knopf)
The Typing Lady by Ruth Ozeki (Viking)
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (Harper)
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett (Harper)
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett (Harper)
The Patron Saint of
Liars by Ann Patchett (Harper)
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Harper)
Whistler by Ann Patchett (Harper)
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston (Berkley)
Food Person by Adam Roberts (Vintage)
Go Gentle by Maria Semple (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Where’d You Go,
Bernadette by Maria Semple (Little,
Brown)
Flesh by David Szalay (Scribner)
Nonfiction
Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Vintage)
The Last Supper by Paul Elie (Picador)
The Irish Goodbye by Beth Ann Fennelly (W.W. Norton)
Radiant by Brad Gooch (Harper)
Marketcrafters by Chris Hughes (Avid
Reader)
In the Days of My Youth I Was Told What It Means to Be a Man by Tom Junod (Doubleday)
Still Life with Remorse by Maira Kalman (Harper)
Walk With Me: New York by Susan Kaufman (Abrams)
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe (Vintage)
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday)
Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe (Vintage)
The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe (Vintage)
These Precious Days by Ann Patchett (Harper)
Truth & Beauty by Ann Patchett (Harper)
New York Seasons by Amy Plitt (Rough Guides)
Dear New York, I Love
You by Ria Sim (Countryman)
~ The Three Lives & Company Bestseller List ~
1. Whistler by
Ann Patchett (Harper)
2. Yesteryear by
Caro Claire Burke (Knopf)
3. Strangers by
Belle Burden (Dial)
4. The Land and
Its People by David Sedaris (Little, Brown)
5. Famesick
by Lena Dunham (Random House)
6. London Falling by
Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday)
7. The Things We
Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Random House)
8. Lives of the
Saints by Nancy Lemann (New York Review Books)
9. Dear New York,
I Love You by Ria Sim (Countryman)
10. On the
Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle (New Directions, translated by
Barbara Haveland)
11. John of John by
Douglas Stuart (Grove)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
SPECIAL ORDERS:
A reminder that we
specialize in special orders. In our small shop it’s always a challenge to find
room for all the new, notable, and exciting books; if you’d like a book that we
don’t have on hand, we are always happy to order it for you. We place orders
almost daily and the usual turnaround time for a special order is two business
days. For some books it may take longer, but we’ll be sure to discuss the
particulars with you before we place an order. Additionally, we can ship books
to you anywhere within the United States. Give us a call, send us an email, or
stop in any time.
PREORDERS:
We are happy to take
preorders for forthcoming titles, and we will let you know as soon as the book
arrives. We are all too familiar with the fervid desire to possess a new book
at the first possible moment, and we will do everything in our power to make
sure the book lands in your hands hot off the presses.
GIFT CERTIFICATES:
We offer gift
certificates, which you may purchase in any amount.