#51: The Center for Fiction

Luxurious home for fresh reads and readers

The Shop: The Center for Fiction

Fort Greene, Brooklyn: 15 Lafayette Ave

A stone's throw away from BAM lies the Center for Fiction, a non-profit organization with a big ol’ fancy bookstore/cafe on its ground floor. The CoF is dedicated to the love of reading and/or writing, with writing workshops, reading groups, and other events for members. Memberships ain’t cheap ($180 a year or so), but if I were a member of the downtown Brooklyn literati I’d buy one in a heartbeat. The bookstore itself is elegant, modern, and spacious— three words you don’t hear a ton in this newsletter! The selection skews contemporary, with fresh looking new hardbacks prominently displayed. The store highlights small presses in its shelves, as well as staff picks with lovingly detailed descriptions. The store also features an expansive but highly un-kidlike kids section, with picture books presented with the same level of pristine modernity as the adult fare. A cafe purchase grants you access to a chic lounge area with tables, wifi, and more bookshelves, but you’ll need a membership to get upstairs.

What I got:

Scattered Over the Earth

This novel by Yoko Tawada has been described as “cheerfully dystopian” in all of its press releases. It captivated me with a description that seemed halfway between Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and Shteyngart’s Super Sad True Love Story. I’m also excited to buy a brand new novel from 2022– I’m entering the zeitgeist!