Carlos Aldana Lira
What to Read? 4 Used Bookstores in Seattle
Today, you can find exactly what you want using Google, Amazon, or any other link aggregator. It's rare to simply stumble into something unexpected or eye-catching. A used bookstore, though, guarantees that.
While doing research at the University of Washington, Seattle, I visited four used bookstores. I entered each without expectation, but I never left without a new find in-hand.
Magus Books
Magus Books is a small but densely packed shop. You'll find corners extruding from the wall to make room for more books, and you'll spot a pile of yet-to-be-sorted books in their backroom as you enter the shop. It's a normal used bookstore otherwise.
While running for groceries, I visited the shop and bought Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer's Bitter Fruit , Daniel Wilkinson's Silence on the Mountain , and a Langenscheidt Spanish pocket dictionary .
Twice Sold Tales
Twice Sold Tales' walls are practically made of books. From floor to ceiling, books line every aisle and wall of the shop — including overhangs, window sills, and the checkout counter.
Twice Sold Tales employs cats, too. You can find them roaming the shop or sleeping atop shelves, and some might let you pet them. During my visit, I counted five and petted two.
After petting the cats, I bought James Watson's The Double Helix , J.S. Mills' volume of The Federalist , Stephen Holmes' The Anatomy of Antiliberalism , and Emily Yates-Doerr's The Weight of Obesity: Hunger and Global Health in Postwar Guatemala .
Third Place Books
Your home is your first place; your workplace is your second place. Your third place is somewhere else — a cafe, makerspace, or arcade. It's a safe, open place you find community in.
Third Place Books is a bookstore designed as a third place. While selling new and used books, the store offers a cafe, pub, wireless internet, and event nights. If you visit regularly, you can make the shop your third place.
During my visit, I bought Andrew Keen's The Cult of the Amatuer , Richard Nisbett's Mindware , Jonathan Haidt's The Righteous Mind , and Yuval Noah Harari's Sapiens .
Ophelia's Books
You can find new and used books in Ophelia's , but you'll get frustrated if you're not looking for a specific author's works. Ophelia's organizes its books by author, alphabetically. The shop's warm, cramped space doesn't make the search any better.
Still, you should visit Ophelia's. Its selection is diverse, it sells artwork and shirts, and you might find its resident cats, Boris and Arkady .
On my visit, I bought Marshall McLuhan and Bruce Powers' The Global Village , Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility , and a couple of upcycled pins.
Where Are These Bookstores?
Below is an interactive map of the bookstores I visited in Seattle. These bookstores certainly aren't in walking distance of one another, but they're easily accessible using Seattle's light rail or buses.
If you ever visit Seattle, I recommend reserving a day for bookshopping!
See this site's sourcehut repository to view its source code and provide feedback. This site's code is modeled after that of Amy J. Ko's faculty website .