Wythe Guide: Reading in Brooklyn
Well before Betty Smith wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, a celebrated novel that drew attention to Williamsburg, there had always been plenty of literary bustle in the area. The original Greenpoint Library opened in 1906 as one of the first Carnegie libraries, and prominent writers, like Henry Miller, Walt Whitman, and Esmeralda Santiago have lived and worked in the neighborhood.
Today, Williamsburg and Greenpoint are home to plenty of independent bookshops.
Spend the day poring over the pages of newfound (or old-found) books. Look no further than to neighborhood coffee shops, gardens, and parks for a place to settle in and read.
Read on for where to source your books, and where to go to read them.
"If you don’t have books around, you’re probably not going to read very much. When you’re at someone’s house and you see books everywhere, you think, “Oh! These are interesting people,” and then you go to another person’s house and they have no books at all, and they don’t even read, but they’re still perfectly nice people and interesting in their own right; however, I would rather hang out with the people that read because we might have something to talk about."
- Bill Hall, High Valley Books Proprietor
Black Spring Books (672 Driggs Ave)
Black Spring Books is a bookshop and literary social club located next door to Henry Miller’s childhood home on a historic street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They buy and sell mostly used books, with an affinity for modern first editions and rare/vintage printings, but strive for an eclectic selection featuring some new books as well.
High Valley Books (882 Lorimer St)
By-appointment only, High Valley’s proprietor, Bill Hall, runs this shop out of his home. Rare periodicals, design, and fashion books are what primarily sit on Hall’s shelves, but cookbooks, photography, travel, and gardening books make appearances as well.
McNally Jackson (76 N 4th St)
A branch of the independent SoHo bookstore, McNally Jackson stocks literature from around the world, its own McNally Editions of forgotten masterpieces, and an extensive selection of children's books. Weekly story times for kids take place every Thursday at 11:30am. Staff recommendations line an entire shelf, each accompanied by a handwritten note explaining why it's worth reading.
Quimby's (536 Metropolitan Ave)
A curated selection of small-press books and zines stock the shelves of Quimby. Visitors will also find locally crafted greeting cards, vinyl albums, gifts, art magazines, fiction, and non-fiction literature.
Spoonbill & Sugartown (218 Bedford Ave)
Founded in 1999, Spoonbill & Sugartown is an independent bookstore tucked inside the Mini Mall on Bedford Avenue. The shop sells new, used, and rare books in a variety of genres with emphasis on art, design, and architecture, as well as notebooks, publications, journals, and greeting cards.
WORD (126 Franklin St)
An independent bookstore selling fiction and non-fiction literature with frequent events, and book club meetings. Minutes away from the East River, find something to read and sit by the water.
High Valley Books
882 Lorimer St, Brooklyn, NY 11222
High Valley Books sits quietly in a light blue row house on the northern border of McCarren Park. The shop’s owner, Bill Hall, is serious, sincere, charming, and a wonderful storyteller. He’s been in the neighborhood, first in South Williamsburg and now in Greenpoint, for nearly 30 years. An incredibly approachable by-appointment only shopkeeper has many tales about the neighborhood, the origins of his affinity toward reading and books, and how his shop is a conduit for connection.
Having studied English literature with a background in fine art, High Valley reflects Bill's propensities through his immense collection dedicated to architecture, art, interior design, and fashion. He also carries vintage cookbooks, 18th century literature, rare periodicals, as well as photography and travel books.
Bill is a connector and High Valley Books is something of a meeting ground. It draws professors, students, typographers, designers, and photographers looking for inspiration that sits on the shelves of High Valley’s breezy first floor and Bill’s magazine-lined basement.
Take your recent purchase and find a place to sit, whether surrounded by trees, looking up at the Manhattan cityscape, immersed in the Williamsburg community, or cozied up in your room.
Bushwick Inlet Park (50 Kent Ave)
One of the newest additions to Bushwick Inlet Park, the 50 Kent plaza sits just across the street from Wythe and offers plenty of bench seating, surrounded by plants, flowers, and waterfront views of Manhattan.
Le Crocodile (80 Wythe Ave)
Open every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Le Crocodile’s no-music dining room makes it the ideal place to spend a morning or afternoon with a book. With plenty of sunlight flooding in from the dining room and no soundtrack to distract you, get lost in the pages.
Oslo Coffee Roasters (133 Roebling St)
Opened over 20 years ago, Oslo’s coffee is roasted in their trusty small-batch Probat roaster, yielding coffee that Wythe is proud to offer. Their storefronts are lovely places to read, sit or take in your surroundings.