Archives for August 2018

I turned 35 this past weekend and celebrated with a fantastic trip to New York City. My husband and I dedicated most of the trip to eating as much pizza as possible. We succeeded on our mission! We ate at 6 different pizza places — 3 as a part of an official Scott’s Pizza Tour — and loved every bite. But when I’m in the city, I always try and take advantage of the rich literary offerings (check out my post on turning any trip into a literary one). Between all the NY slices, seeing The Band’s Visit on Broadway, and visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, I didn’t fit too much bookish tourism in, but what I did get to see was satisfying for my readerly soul.

Just a couple grand for copies of Harry Potter signed by J.K. Rowling!

My first stop was Books of Wonder, an absolutely enchanting children’s bookstore in the heart of Chelsea. Their selection was phenomenal! They had all the best new releases, tons of signed books (including copies of Harry Potter signed by J.K. Rowling and original illustrator Mary GrandPré), and a very robust backlist.

The store made me miss my time working in children’s bookstores, so it was pretty great when one of the booksellers couldn’t find Bink and Gollie for a customer and I was actually able to point out exactly where it was. Thankfully, the bookseller didn’t mind my butting in…I just couldn’t help it!

The next literary-ish place I checked out was CW Pencil Enterprise, a store that sells…you guessed it…pencils! This adorable shop just happened to be across the street from one our pizza destinations, Scarr’s Pizza. So, after some of the best pizza we’ve ever had (the mushroom pizza and grandma slice were to die for), my husband and I ambled over to CW Pencil Enterprise, which I’d heard about on the What Should I Read Next podcast.

I’ve found that most avid readers also have a penchant for writing utensils and notebooks. I know I do, and being surrounded by beautiful, unique pencils was a wonderful feeling. The ladies working there were lovely, and I think it may be the only brick and mortar store in the United States where you can buy a Japanese-made pencil that looks exactly like a cigarette!

In my happy place at The Strand

The last truly literary spot I visited was The Strand. It is a very rare trip to NYC that I don’t make it to the “legendary home of 18 Miles of new, used and rare books.” Each time I go, I want to see if I can ask for a book they don’t have. In the 10 years or so that I’ve been a Strand customer, they’ve had every title I’ve requested. This year, however, they didn’t have the one book I wanted! They were sold out of Sabrina (the first graphic novel ever to make it on the Man Booker Prize long list), so I left empty-handed but a little proud of myself for choosing a book The Strand didn’t have.

It really hit me during this trip that New York City is my spirit city. It’s unlikely that my husband and I will ever move there (he doesn’t dig the crowds), but I will continue to make trips there as often as I can. There are innumerable literary sites I still have to see.

I have made it a personal goal to read as many books set in NYC as possible during my 35th year, at least one per month. I think my first book for this challenge will be The New York Trilogy, by Paul Auster, which has been sitting on my bookshelf for WAY too long. I can’t wait to get started!

What books set in New York City do you love and recommend I read? Please share in the comments below!

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about turning any trip you go on into a literary one. I did just that for my recent trip to Las Vegas, so I want to share all the bookish fun I got into in Sin City.

The primary reason my husband and I were there was to attend Evo 2018, a huge fighting-game tournament held at Mandalay Bay. Between that and the non-stop entertainment that is Las Vegas, I didn’t do as much literary tourism as I’d planned, but I still squeezed some in.

In preparation for the trip, I read Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. I can’t say it made me want to go to Vegas, but the book does a fantastic job depicting the debauchery for which the city is so well known.

One of the many memorable scenes in the book (and the movie) takes place in the Circus Circus hotel and casino, which is still around today, although quite different from the place Thompson experienced.

In the book, he describes it as “what the whole hep world would be doing on a Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war…so you’re down on the main floor playing blackjack, and the stakes are getting high when suddenly you chance to look up, and there, right smack above your head is a half – naked fourteen-year-old girl being chased through the air by a snarling wolverine…”

The Fear and Loathing carousel sans booze and drug-addled Thompson

The Circus Circus I visited was MUCH tamer. There were absolutely no naked trapeze artists flying overhead. In fact, the casino and resort is really geared towards children these days. The one feature mentioned in the book that’s still there is the slots on a rotating carousel. In Thompson’s day, alcohol was served on the merry-go-round, but that hasn’t been the case years now. I’d thought the bar in the upstairs of the two-level carousel had been turned into an ice cream parlor, but when I took a peek, it was completely empty.

I asked a security guard about it and she said there’d been an ice cream parlor a while ago, but the second level has been vacant for quite a while. I was lucky that the carousel was rotating at all. Apparently, it had been sitting still for about a year until a few weeks before my visit.

Overall, the visit to Circus Circus was rather disappointing, but I’m sure if anyone visits and goes for the full Hunter S. Thompson approach (taking “two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers… and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.”) a similar experience to his could still be recreated.

The second literary spot I checked out was Bauman’s Rare Books in the Grand Canal Shoppes in the Venetian |Palazzo. It was AMAZING.  

I couldn’t afford anything, but the children’s librarian in me was elated to be in the same room as first editions of Winnie-the-Pooh ($19,500) and Alice in Wonderland ($23,000). Just for funsies, I asked the bookseller how much the most valuable book in the store would set me back. His answer: a $62,000 first edition, first issue copy of The Fountainhead inscribed by Ayn Rand. At least you’re getting a lot of pages for the price! 🙂

What do I do in Las Vegas? Nerd out at Bauman’s Rare Books, of course!

I wanted to check out one of the public libraries close to the strip, but time and a mounting Lyft bill didn’t allow for it. There were also some spots downtown that I missed — The Writer’s Block indie bookstore and Bad Owl Coffee, which serves Harry Potter-esque bites and beverages — but all that means is I’ll have to come back!

Coming up this weekend: a trip to New York City! There are so many literary possibilities… Stay tuned to hear about them!

Have you checked out any literary sites in Las Vegas? If so, please share your recommendations and experiences in the comments below!