New York City Adventures: Books, Baseball, and Pizza!

Hi everyone! It’s been a bit quiet on here recently, but that’s because I’ve been away on holiday in New York City – and what a trip it was!

We flew out with Virgin Atlantic and stayed at the Kixby Hotel, which is just a stone’s throw from the Empire State Building. It was my first time back since 2011, and while the city has always been bustling, it felt even busier this time around.

During our trip, we packed in plenty of adventures: catching a baseball game, seeing a gig at a dive bar (Jon Snodgrass), watching a magic show, tackling five escape rooms, and of course, indulging in plenty of pizza – vodka slices are my new fave. Naturally, I couldn’t resist visiting a couple of bookshops – more than once!

Back in 2010, I discovered an incredible bookstore called Partners & Crime, which specialized in crime and mystery novels. Sadly, it’s no longer around, but I did stumble upon another gem: The Mysterious Bookshop. Established in 1979, it holds the title of the world’s oldest and largest mystery fiction bookstore. If you’ve watched A Murder at the End of the World on Netflix, you’ll recognize it as the shop where Darby does her reading!

We ended up visiting The Mysterious Bookshop twice, and I picked up some amazing reads:

• I Was a Teenager Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones (which has been all over Instagram!)
• A signed copy of I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell
• Home is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose (I’ve read it digitally but couldn’t resist the American VHS-inspired cover)
• A signed copy of Assassins Anonymous by Rob Hart
• Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak
• Murder Book by Thomas Perry
• Lights Out by Elise Hart Kipness

Of course, I also had to visit The Strand, NYC’s largest indie bookstore, which has been around since 1927 and boasts an incredible 18 miles of books! From there, I picked up:

• A beautiful Folio Society edition of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
• A signed copy of Liars by Sarah Manguso
• Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay (another title I’ve seen making the rounds on Instagram)

Aside from books, I couldn’t resist grabbing some bookish merch – t-shirts, tote bags, and a cute book nook to build when I got home.

Stay tuned for reviews of all these titles! Have you visited any of these iconic bookstores? Let me know in the comments!