New York City can be classified as a book lovers paradise as the city is equipped with many book stores and public libraries which are filled with all kinds of books on a plethora of subjects like business, history, travel, fiction, photography, architecture and much more. The city also is home of the global publishing industry and the headquarters of most of the publishing giants are located along 6th avenue in the 50’s on the island of Manhattan.
Book groups, book signings, and book readings are extremely common at the various book stores in New York City and the city- centric free daily newspapers, the Metro and the AM New York, publish details of these readings and book signings in their listings every day.
Book reviews are also published in various sections of the New York City based press with the New York Times Bestseller list being a preeminent list which is used as a guideline of the best-selling books in the USA. This list is published weekly in the New York Times Book Review Magazine which is distributed with the Sunday edition of the New York Times every week.
Main Book Store chains in New York City:
Barnes and Noble (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ )
The bookstore chain of Barnes and Noble has several outlets all over the city and it offers a wide variety of hard cover and paperback, fiction and nonfiction books, text books, e-books, children’s books, DVDs and BluRay disks and music DVDs. Barnes and Nobles also offers books in a wide variety of languages including Spanish and French. The chain even offers used books through its website and has a membership program which has a onetime joining fee of $25. This membership entitles you to discounts on books and much more. Book signings and readings are a regular occurrence at the various Barnes and Noble Stores.
Borders ( http://www.borders.com)
The Borders chain of bookstores also has a large collection of hard cover and paperback books, (both fiction and nonfiction) arts and crafts books, children’s books, infant toys, music and movie DVDs. Borders has its own loyalty program which is free to the public. This program entitles you to discounts and special offers as well. Borders stores periodically have book signings, children’s special sessions and many other events. Borders also offers books in various different languages including French, Spanish and Italian.
Strand Books ( http://www.strandbooks.com)
This premier New York City bookstore which is over 80 years old, offers ‘18 miles of books’ on every conceivable subject like Art/ Americana, Architecture, Business, Economics, Food and Wine, Children’s books, Science and Math, History, Religion, Sport and much more. This book store also offers DVDs and hosts events like signings and readings. Strand Book store carries books in various foreign languages and has an extensive collection of out of print and rare books as well.
Bank Street Books (http://www.bankstreetbooks.com/)
This bookstore is a premier children’s book store in New York City that offers educational books, games, toys for children of all ages. The book store also offers activity books, educational kits and books on multicultural themes. The Bank Street Book collection includes Spanish and bilingual books and books on themes which are considered to be integral to a child’s development.
Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/)
This e-store is a leading source for books, kindle books (electronic books) text books, magazines, music, DVDs, games and much more. Amazon also offers used books and is able to offer books at a discount as being a e-retailer, it doesn’t incur the overhead costs that bookstores do.
Foreign Language Bookstores
Apart from these main chain book stores and stand alone book stores, Due to the multicultural nature of its population, New York City has several bookstores that offer books exclusively in foreign languages. Some of these store are:
Rizzoli (http://www.rizzoliusa.com/)
31 West 57th Street (between 5th & 6th Avenues), New York, NY 10019
This New York outpost of the Italian chain of bookstores is housed in a historic town house and it specializes in books on art, architecture, fashion, children’s topics and foreign language books.
Kinokuniya Book Stores (http://www.kinokuniya.com)
The Kinokuniya Book Stores offer books in Japanese and have two outlets in New York City.
Librairie de France (http://www.frencheuropean.com/)
This bookstore that is located in Rockefeller Center offers a wide variety of books in French and Spanish and it also has offers dictionaries in most of the languages that are spoken around the world.
Libraries
Another extensive source for foreign language books is New York City is the New York Public Library. Anyone who lives, works, studies and pays property taxes in New York State can become member of the New York Public Library for free. This Library system has branches in all the various boroughs of New York City. The terms of eligibility and the proof of identity required for obtaining a New York Public library card can be found on the website of the New York Public library at http://www.nypl.org/books/terms.html
