City Lights Booksellers & PublishersRecycle BookstoreBookBuyers Bookstore
City Lights
If you happened to be in San Francisco, there is one bookstore worth checking out: City Lights.
City Lights Booksellers & Publishers is located at 261 Columbus Ave. in China Town and it’s not very far away from Washington Square. It was founded by Lawrence Ferlinghetti in 1953. I like to relax and walk around Washington Square. Then I will walk to City Lights bookstore. This bookstore isn’t just an ordinary bookstore. It is also a publisher. Two years after store opened, City Light Publishers started.
Founded in 1955, with nearly 200 books in print, City Lights publishes cutting-edge fiction, poetry, memoirs, literary translations and books on vital social and political issues. — City Lights Publishers
If you like to read poems, the poetry room on the top floor is where you must go.
Recycle Bookstore
This bookstore is located in San Jose. There is another one, Recycle Bookstore West, located in Campbell. Both are great stores, but I think the one in San Jose has a bigger collection of books.
I really enjoyed browsing the shelves of books there. If you are in the South Bay area, be sure to check out these 2 bookstores. Oh yes, there is a black cat that lives in the bookstore. May or may not be the reason I went to this bookstore. I won’t admit it. :)
BookBuyers Bookstore
This bookstore used to locate on Castro Street, Mountain View. It was closed in 2016 and moved to Gilroy. City of Gilroy is about 40 minutes drive from San Jose.
I wouldn’t say it’s very far away, but the new location is not considered in the bay area anymore. Unless you happened to live in Gilroy, chances are you won’t go to this used bookstore very often. However, this bookstore is huge. There are way more collection of books here than Recycle Bookstore. The first time I went to this bookstore and planned to stay half hour. When I walked out of the store, 5 hours passed already. This place is just awesome!
