The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World

Janesville, Minn., has a Carnegie library. Was a 30-second walk from my house. Spent two hours a day in there during the summer. It's still a library too, thankfully.

 

It is to me.

 

The most delicious bookstore is the one in Cleveland that used to be a Twinkie factory that Harvey Pekar wrote about. The Cream filling is still in the pipes in the bookstore.

 

And there are over 100 Carnegie Libraries in Canada-- most of them in Ontario.

Mimico (before it got swallowed up by Etobicoke) had a Carnegie which they tore down for a 1967 Centennial Project and built this:



I think there are a lot of Carnegie libraries in Double J's stomping grounds

 

I was in the American Book Center in Amsterdam last summer. And yes, it's pretty damn cool.

 

Love Tattered Cover and the original Elliott Bay. Could have spent all day in both of those places last time I was in Denver and Seattle.

 

I just looked it up and I've been to the sites of 10 Carnegie Libraries in SoCal -- only two of which are still Carnegie Libraries, sadly. Half of the other sites saw their Carnegies torn down and new libraries (in that bland 1960s utilitarian style similar to JR's picture above) built in their place. What a shame.

 

It's on Capitol Hill now. Shitty location and a shitty building.

 

My most beautiful bookstore:

 

Mine: Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington.




That's the cafe and the pond out back.


Round part on the left is the back of the bookstore.