Welcome to the final installment of Boston Bookcrawl! I have loved recording my bookstore expeditions and thoughts on literary spaces in the Boston area over the past year. I hope you have been able to visit some of these stops or found others I didn’t write about for your own personal bookcrawl. There is truly an amazing number of indie bookstores in this area for you to explore and support.
I initially wanted this week to feature Side Quest, a unique bookstore in Bow Market. Side Quest is a fantasy book and game store that highlights female and marginalized voices in the genre. They have books, tarot cards, roleplay game books and a range of trinkets. It’s a paradise for the nerd-inclined. However, tragically, it’s the last few weeks of the semester, and — as I am sure you can relate to — I had no time to venture to Bow Market. Instead, I alternated between Tisch Library, the Campus Center and my desk. It’s just how the book page crumbled, and I sadly was not able to visit Side Quest for this column. I did stop in at the beginning of the semester and can say that it is definitely worth a visit, especially if you love science fiction and fantasy. It is a small space, but the staff is incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, making it a wonderful experience.
And so, in our final edition, I decided to review a place I have become concerningly intimate with over the past two weeks — Tisch Library. While not a bookstore per se, if you don’t return a book, they will fine you around $100 — and then you get to keep it. So, in a way that I’m sure librarians won’t appreciate me saying, it is a very expensive bookstore. Luckily, you don’t have to pay that much to read the books, as long as you return them. Anyway, the title of this column is ‘Bookcrawl,’ which is not limited to bookstores, and I feel justified in including it.
I think we all feel comfortable in the library space, with its brutalist exterior and purple first-floor walls, so I want to focus on the leisure reading shelves on the second floor of Tisch. In my four years here, I’ve seen that selection grow. Sure, it feels like a taunt to pass those shelves with exciting books I’d love to crack open but instead have to read some neuroscience study or a Shakespearean play. Yet, there is something comforting about the leisure section. Maybe it’s a reminder that reading is fun — a fact I can forget in the depths of a semester. Maybe it’s a reminder to carve out leisure time, whether it’s to read or do something else. Either way, those are some of my favorite shelves in Tisch.
The selection is strong, ranging from young adult titles to those cemented in the literary canon. There is also a range of graphic novels and a mix of fiction and nonfiction. Speaking with some librarians for a different project, they mentioned the care and effort that go into curating those shelves. And I think you can tell. The shelves really fit a wide range of tastes, even with limited space. Another tip for finding your next great read on campus is to check out the Division of Student Diversity and Inclusion Hub in Tisch, where you can find some amazing titles by LGBTQ+ writers and writers of color.
If finals are bearing down on you and you dream of escaping to one of Boston’s many bookstores but can’t, then maybe it’s time to give the Tisch Leisure Reading shelves a chance. It’s a great place to wander, read some blurbs and maybe check one or two out. There’s no guilt if you don’t end up reading it and no money lost if you end up hating it. It’s even better during move-out, as you can read a dozen books without having to cart any of them home.
I left Tisch with a handful of H. G. Wells and C. S. Lewis literary criticism, but also grabbed a copy of “You Dreamed of Empires” by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer, from the leisure reading section. I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but fingers crossed for me.
