New York Gem #2: The Strand

New York Gem #2 comes to you as part of an effort to cheer myself up. It's Friday, which means Rush Hour Hell (it took me over 2 hours to get from work to home today, which is outrageous, plus there was nearly a riot at the Rockefeller Center subway station when there was no more room in the train), plus it's raining (and, while March rain may smell fresh and springy in nice  places like Wisconsin, in Harlem it only serves to bring out the stench of urine even more than usual), PLUS I've been sick for over a week now and still have no voice to speak of (or with). Okay, rant over. Allow me to enlighten you about another New York favorite: the world's greatest bookstore. Otherwise known as The Strand. 

You may have seen the tote bags that advertise 18 miles of books (the bags, by the way, are über trendy in the Midwest, but toting one around Manhattan is one of the single biggest fashion faux pas you can make -unless, of course, you're carrying books you've just bought from the Strand!), but you probably won't believe that stat unless you actually see it for yourself. It is, hands down, the most overwhelming book shopping experience I've ever encountered. Half the times I've been there, it was an acrobatics feat just getting in the door - the inside of the store is almost always a solid mass of books and people.  Why the wild popularity? Simple: it's ridiculously cheap. And unlike other bargain book stores, where the selection is completely random,  you can actually (usually) find what you're looking for at the Strand. If you're the kind of person who enjoys sorting through piles of dusty, obscure, old tomes, fear not - there are about 50 carts of pure randomness outside on the street for even cheaper than what's inside.

Next to the official Oxford Press bookstore in...Oxford (and let's face it, there can be no competition there), the Strand has the best religion section I've ever seen. Needless to say, I have established very strict rules when it comes to my going there. The unbreakable one is: Never go to the children's section and the religion section in the same visit (as these are on 2 different floors, this is, fortuitously, possible). Rule #2, which I'm not nearly as good about, is: Never go to the Strand with credit cards in your wallet. When I do obey #2 and only bring cash, I spend surprisingly little time in the stacks: I exhaust my allowance within 10 minutes flat, no problem. Rule #3, you will not be surprised to learn is simply: Don't go more than once a month. Guess who hasn't been since February 18th...?

Should you find yourself in lower Manhattan and in need of a good read, I highly encourage you to check it out. I also highly encourage you to abide by at least rules #2 and 3 (I realize that #1 may not pertain to as large a subset of the population as I might like it to). Unless you have like $3000 in spending money or a great deal more self restraint than I do.