#67: Passageway Books

A narrow trove of gems

The shop: Passageway Books

Chelsea, Manhattan: 150 9th Ave

Books are passageways to lands real and imagined, to the rich internal lives of writers and their characters. All that said, I think this bookstore’s name refers to the narrowness of the store itself! Passageway books doesn’t have a massive selection on display, but each book is interesting and cool. The prices vary, but there’s plenty of stuff in the affordable $10-15 range for my fellow cheapos. This being Chelsea, the selection veers heavily into art and design, including some stellar gallery pamphlets on sale towards the front. Book hunters will have fun here, but leave your bulky backpacks behind. 

What I got:

Chosen Poems~ Old and New

This year I’ve been getting more and more into poetry, a realm I’ve previously balked and/or yawned at. With my newfound zeal for verse, I’m diving back into Audre Lorde, one of New York’s most iconic poets of the last century. This book from 1982 collects much of Lorde’s work up to that point and includes seven new poems. Lorde’s book Coal was one of my most challenging and moving reads from last year, so I’m excited to dive back in.