Last night, in preparation for a long journey, I went book shopping. Most of my time was spent in Housing Works’ bookshop on Crosby St., my favorite in New York. I found what I was looking for and had an iced tea. Though The Strand, my next stop, has them beat with selection, Housing Works Bookstore & Café is just plain pleasant to shop in. Why not have your next internet date there?

Last night’s experience reminded me of a similar, deliciously private experience I had amid last weekend’s family tension. I visited Feldman’s Books for the first time. I got to overhear sexy gossip from the awesome clerk (not the owner) and her friend while browsing the fiction section, eavesdrop on an, um, especially close mother and son in the paperback building and curse my main man in the shack-like bathroom in the garden. If my suitcase hadn’t already been bursting, I would have browsed the excellent art section more carefully. Instead I stuck to fiction.

I found not only a rare novel by wild woman Caroline Blackwood, but a nice Penguin Muriel Spark novella I'd never seen before and the perfect airplane book (review to come) as well, all for under twelve bucks. I was excited to see that they had 2 copies of Robinson, my favorite Spark novel, a copy of Project Superior and multiple Kathryn Davis books on the to-the-ceiling shelves.

I am not the only fan. I wish I had taken a picture. It would have been titled "Carrie Tryharder Takes a Holiday from Her Holiday," and once that lucrative mousepad contract was signed, I could spend all of my time jetting across the land supporting indie bookstores as I go.

Menlo Park, which is essentially a main street downtown and clusters of suburban homes has three bookstores. Where is Hell’s Kitchen Books, or Tenth Avenue Tomes, or Grande Librería Infierno?

What are some of your favorite bookstores?