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For anyone who looks for cool bookstores the way “normal” people might look for say, the hot new club or the best French bistro look no further! Housing Works Used Book Cafe in Soho is everything you have ever wanted and never new you needed. The bookstore is a two level haven of cheap used books, rare collectibles and new must haves. The space is cozy and calming, chairs and tables are scattered over both floors inviting you to spend the afternoon. In the back is a full on cafe with great coffee, soups in the winter, pastries and more chairs and tables at which to sip coffee and enjoy whatever great book you’ve found to settle down with.
As if a killer book selection, a calm, comfy atmosphere and a prime Soho location weren’t enough, Housing Works is also host to many events– concerts, readings and the like. This Sunday they hosted the 8th annual Lit Mag Fair. For any literary snob or book-happy nerd (both qualities I consider compliments rather than insults), this is a euphoric experience. The store is filled with tables and tables or Literary Journals… all for only two dollars. Any for those of us who read (and submit writing to) these journals, we know these mags usually run us a ridiculous twenty dollars. I went Lit Mag crazy and bought seven journals full of the best new writers.
The only downside of the event is that it is billed as a networking opportunity but was not necessarily set up to accommodate that goal. Though magazine editors wandered the bookstore with name tags on it was not easy to approach them. It would have been better to have the editors stationed at booths, to facilitate interaction rather than making it awkward for writers and editors to find each other.
Nonetheless, it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and Housing Works is a place I will return to often.