Why I love Manhattan: Book Off

Sep 05, 2009 05:05 PM
This is like the greatest bookstore ever.
This is like the greatest bookstore ever.
Ok, so it's been about a month and a half since I moved to New York City. This city has like everything within arms reach, it truly is convenient. There is a CVS that is open 24 hours and it's right outside my apartment. I have restaurants, laundromats and stores all within walking distance.

Today, I decided to take a trip to the New York City Public Library in Grand Central. I heard this library is huge and I wanted to see what it had. To my dismay, it was closed (probably for Labor Day weekend). So as I was walking back, I notice this store called Book Off ( a play on the phrase F**k off maybe?).

I nearly passed it by because I thought it was some college bookstore...until I saw the word comic in big letters inside. I immediately cross the street and go inside. Turns out this is a mega book exchange run by the Japanese. And because it's run by the Japanese, it is full of manga. No, I'm not talking about your local library's pathetic manga collection or the crappy selection you find at Borders.
No, this store has the MOTHERLOAD of manga. The best part, is that around 90% of their manga is RAW, meaning directly from Japan.

Now, when I walked upstairs and saw the amount of manga they had, my jaw dropped. I literally stood there for five minutes, day dreaming about all the potential chloroform and bondage scenes that were just waiting to be found. The hardest part was figuring out which manga to start with.

I was in the store for about 2 hours just flipping through manga, looking for anything interesting. I found a few good scenes and decided to buy three books. Guess how much those three books cost me? $3.27, for all three. The books were one dollar each. One dollar for me is like a drop in the bucket. I have spent $3 on a Coke on the sidewalk here.

If I have time, I really want to come back to this store. It takes about 20 minutes to get to from where I live.

As a forewarning, if any of you are in this store and happen to see some dude flipping through manga haphazardly...that would be me.

Please login to comment.

( 1 )

gytalf2000
Sep 07, 2009
I visited Manhattan for one week in 1988, and I loved it! So many things to do! I am glad that you are having a great time there, and that you discovered that "Manga motherlode"! Ha!
Manga isn't really my thing, but I know that a lot of comics fans love it!

Reply