Bookstore Quest #2: Book Culture LIC

Sleek Queens spot with all sorts of finds

The Shop: Book Culture LIC

Long Island City, Queens: 26-09 Jackson Avenue

With no shortage of drama for this iconic NYC chain in the past few years, it’s great to see the Queens branch of Book Culture is still going strong. Book Culture LIC feels like a fancy museum gift shop, beautifully laid out with all sorts of tchotchkes and locally made goods— you are just as likely to walk out of this store with a Swell water bottle or Brooklyn-crafted oil diffuser as you are the latest Sally Rooney novel. Don’t let the bougie lifestyle goods scare you off fellow nerds, this shop has a friendly staff and a healthy selection of literature, genre fiction, and a downstairs kids section packed with woke picks for kids like Feminist Baby and any of 18 different RBG- themed picture books (we miss you Ruth!!) 

What I got:

Bring Me the Head of Quentin Tarantino

Sometimes a title just grabs you-- and I’ve been dreaming about this one since hearing it advertised on Levar Burton’s storytelling podcast a few weeks ago! Julian Herbert’s short story collection freshly translated by Christina MacSweeney promises to be dark as hell, exploring the seedier corners of Mexican society. As someone who likes reading about sketchy stuff, I’m pretty dang excited.

Blind Date-- An Unkindness of Magicians

A uniquely Book Culture treat is their“blind date” shelf-- a series of opaquely wrapped books with labels like “Read this if you like authors x, y, and z.” I couldn’t resist a book labelled for lovers of Octavia Butler and Ursula K. Le Guin, so I took the leap and ended up with… An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard! I’m not going to spoil my blind date by researching this one!