Finding ghostwriters? Haunt the stacks at the Lower East Side Halloween Bookstore Crawl

Seven local shops are taking part in the Lower East Side Halloween Bookstore Crawl today (Saturday) from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. 

Participating stores will have various deals and spooky stuff: 

• Bluestockings

• Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks

• Book Club Bar 

• Pillow Cat Books

• Sweet Pickle Books 

• Village Works 

• Yu and Me

Details about the the 3rd annual Lower East Side Pride Bookstore Crawl

The third annual Lower East Side Pride Bookstore Crawl takes place tomorrow (Saturday) from noon to 7 p.m.

Here's more info via the EVG inbox:

Celebrate the diversity and resilience of the neighborhood's indie bookshops by spending a day shopping discounts, special giveaways and curated selections of queer books. 

This year's crawl features seven unique indie bookstores: 

• Book Club Bar (197 E. 3rd Street & Avenue B) 

• Pillow-Cat Books (328 E. 9th S.) 

• Village Works (12 St Mark's Place) 

• Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks (28 E. 2nd St.) 

• Bluestockings Cooperative (116 Suffolk St.) 

• Yu & Me Books (44 Mulberry St.) 

• Sweet Pickle Books (47 Orchard St.) 

Each bookstore will offer discounts and perks (such as free merchandise or snacks) throughout the day. No reservations are required...

Time for the Lower East Side Halloween Book Crawl

The Lower East Side Halloween Book Crawl returns... taking place tomorrow (Saturday!) from noon to 7 p.m. 

The participating shops: 

• Bluestockings Cooperative, 116 Suffolk St.

• Book Club Bar, 197 E. Third St. 

• P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard St. 

• Printed Matter/St. Mark's, 38 St. Mark's Place 

• Sweet Pickle Books, 47 Orchard St. 

• Village Works, 12 St. Mark's Place 

• Yu and Me Books, 115 Delancey (temp location) 

Per organizers: "Each bookstore will offer discounts and perks (such as free merchandise and free snacks) throughout the day."

About the Lower East Side Book Crawl — Pride Edition — tomorrow (Saturday!)

Tomorrow (Saturday!), six downtown businesses "will celebrate the diversity and resilience of the neighborhood's indie bookshops by offering discounts, special giveaways, and curated selections of queer books."

The participating shops:

• Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore, 116 Suffolk St. 

• Book Club Bar, 197 E 3rd St. 

• P&T Knitwear, 180 Orchard St.

• Printed Matter, 38 St. Mark's Place (at Second Avenue)

• Sweet Pickle Books, 47 Orchard St.

• Yu & Me Books, 44 Mulberry St.

Hours for the book crawl: noon to 7 p.m.

The 2nd annual LES Halloween Book Crawl is tomorrow (Sunday!)

Six local merchants are taking parting tomorrow (Sunday!) in the second annual LES Halloween Book Crawl from noon to 7 p.m. 

The participants (the above flyer lists the discounts/freebies at each stop):

• Bluestockings, 116 Suffolk St.

• Book Club, 197 E. Third St.  

• McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St. 

• Pillow-Cat Books, 328 E. Ninth St.

• Sweet Pickle Books, 47 Orchard St.

• Yu and Me Books, 44 Mulberry St.

Details about a LES Pride Book Crawl tomorrow (Saturday!)

Details via the EVG inbox... 

Several bookstores of the LES and East Village are participating in a bookstore crawl, the focus of which is Pride Month. 

The crawl starts at noon on Saturday, June 11, and each store is offering giveaways and prizes. 

Participating stores: 

• Bluestockings Cooperative Bookstore at 116 Suffolk St. 

• Book Club Bar at 197 E 3rd St. 

• Sweet Pickle Books at 47 Orchard St.

• Yu & Me Books at 44 Mulberry St. 

• McNally Jackson at 52 Prince St. 

• Pillow-Cat Books at 328 E 9th St.

Details on the LES Book Crawl happening tomorrow

Five local merchants are taking parting tomorrow (Saturday!) in an LES Book Crawl from noon to 7 p.m. 

The participants:

• Bluestockings, 116 Suffolk St.

• Book Club, 197 E. Third St. 

• Housing Works, 126 Crosby St. 

• McNally Jackson, 52 Prince St. 

• Sweet Pickle Books, 47 Orchard St.

A map is below... along with details on specials/giveaways...

Images via @bluestockings

Aeon Bookstore now open on East Broadway

Several EVG readers noted the grand opening Friday of Aeon Bookstore at 151 East Broadway (between Essex and Pike) ...

Per the store's Facebook page:

Aeon Bookshop is an independent bookseller in Manhattan specializing in literature, art, philosophy, occult, music. We have both used and new titles.

The Lo-Down reported that the owners are Karl Bauer, Josiah Wolfson and Benjamin George Friedman.

Anyway, here's a look around the store, which is open daily from noon to 8 p.m. ...







Aeon is the latest new book store for the East Village and LES this year ... joining Codex on Bleecker at the Bowery ... Karma on Third Street ... and Printed Matter at the Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place ... plus Mast moved to a larger space on Avenue A.

Images via Facebook

ICYMI: Art bookstores are 'alive and well' here

The New York Times Style Magazine on Sunday took notice of the recent art bookstore additions in the neighborhood ... a piece titled "The New York Neighborhood Where the Art Bookstore Is Alive and Well" takes a look at Codex on Bleecker at the Bowery ... Karma on Third Street ... the relocated Mast on Avenue A ... and the incoming Printed Matter at the Swiss Institute on Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

The lead...

The alternative art scene found a home in the East Village in the early 1980s. Artist-run collectives and unconventional exhibition spaces started to fill the empty storefronts; before long, however, the slept-on real estate became bank branches and chain coffee shops. But, as of late, the East Village has been reclaiming its reputation as a cultural haven with a series of new independent art bookstores.

This is the link.

And there is one baffling passage in the article ... in the section about Mast (h/t Dave on 7th)...

In 2010 [Brian Leitgeb] and his wife, James McKee, opened Mast Books in Alphabet City, built around a few large and extraordinary personal book collections he had purchased. And last week, Mast moved to a larger location just down the block, marking its official entrée into the East Village.

Early word on Mast

The used book store opened yesterday on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Fourth Street...



And the store is not called (regretfully?) THINGS WITH WORDS AND PICTURES IN THEM THAT ARE NOT GLOWING RECTANGLES or Off Track Books or Better Books Than Those Sold By That Crazy Sassmonster In Front Of The Old Methadone Clinic Down The Street Who Threatened My Girlfriend After She Laughed At His Sea Shell Chandelier...

Anyway, people who shopped here yesterday have good things to say...
EV Grieve reader BaHa said, "Not just art and photography, good selection of fiction. Picked up an Edith Wharton I had wanted for 30% off cover. Nice people, too."

And from another reader:

I bought an hp lovecraft book and "all the pretty horses." They were around $6 each. Curated I think in this case means "classics" or well known or essential reading. Which is kind of nice as long as they have more of a more recently published selection. I asked them what the store was called and they said "mast."

Previously on EV Grieve:
More on the Avenue A used bookstore

More on the the Avenue A used bookstore

An EV Grieve reader left this comment about the used bookstore opening on Avenue A in the former Etherea Records space...

We nosed about a couple of nights ago as they were moving in the (!) books. Focus is on a "well-curated" collection of art and photography books. From the tone of it I'd guess more the real (or at least intellectualized) version rather than the Taschen version.

And from another reader...

I just dropped by and learned a few things: No name, yet (I think we should make a few suggestions), the stock includes some nice books, and the guys in the store seem to know what they are doing.

A few name suggestions:

Books on A

The Last Bookstore

Erinaceous

Booknik

End of the Line

Death Books for Cutie

And it opens this weekend...

Oh, and any suggestions for a name? Like, I Can't Believe It's Not a Yogurt Shop ...Or: Up Yours, Amazon Marketplace!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Look! Books! Real books!

Look! Books! Real books!

Last month I told you that a used book store is opening at the former Etherea Records space on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Fourth Street...

When this place does open, I think a few skeptical people (not me, never!) expect to find a store with 3-4 fake books and 30 different kinds of draft beer or froyo or froram (frozen ramen, of course...)

But! Over the weekend, workers were busy putting up books on the shelves...



It is, indeed, a used book store... and, if all goes well, look for it to open this weekend.

Used book store opening on Avenue A

Shockers! An EV Grieve operative reports that a used book store is opening at the former Etherea Records space on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Fourth Street... A crew was working on the space this past weekend... opening date expected around May 1...



Wow. A used book store and a fishmonger opening soon on Avenue A...? I'll be passing out in the corner now for a few minutes.

Things to do on a nice spring day: Buy something from an independent bookstore

An EV Grieve reader sends along the following e-mail...

St Mark's Bookshop is my favorite bookstore. They've been a gathering place for authors and readers on the cutting edge of literature, politics, art, and cultural theory for over 32 years now. And they're facing a daunting retail economy at the moment. I'm challenging my friends to SUPPORT ST MARK'S BOOKSHOP *TODAY* by buying a book (or 2, or 5) Today, if you are so moved.

Stop by the store on 3rd Avenue, call them up at 212-260-7853, or check out St Mark's Web site:

A FEW BOOK SUGGESTIONS:

JUST KIDS, by Patti Smith, a memoir about her young days with Robert Mapplethorpe, *SIGNED*, $27 (they're actually now out of signed copies...)

LET THE GREAT WORLD SPIN, a novel of New York in the 1970s by Colum McCann, $15

"STORE FRONT: The Disappearing Face of New York" A beautiful and heartbreaking book of photography by James T. Murray, Karla L. Murray, $65

A new book of poetry, BORIS BY THE SEA, by Ugly Duckling Presse editor, Matvei Yankelevich, SIGNED, $14

THE OTHER SIDE OF PARADISE, a memoir of a journey from surviving a heartbreaking Jamaican childhood to discovering her voice, by Brooklyn performance artist and Def Jam poet, Staceyann Chin.

THIS IS BERLIN NOT NEW YORK, a DVD about 10 underground New York artists traveling to Berlin to make art and friends. $16

Thank you for that e-mail... of course, there are many fine independent book shops around...such as East Village books...



And Bluestockings on Allen Street...Here's a list of independent book sellers in NYC. And this is a favorite topic of Jeremiah's Vanishing New York. He has written extensively about the loss of stores, particularly in the West Village. Here's a post on the new location of Left Bank Books.