📚
Ok, this is a more obscure rec but bear with me. I recently started spending weekend days strolling into a new used book store in the Lower East Side called Sweet Pickle Books. The store has become a comforting place to make a quick cheap purchase for me, and also my go-to store for presents. Every time I go in there I find myself picking up books with the coolest names or covers and just buying them hoping I’ll like them. I’m currently reading J.G. Ballard’s Super-Cannes which I probably would have never even known about had I not stumbled upon it and thought the cover looked cool. I suggest this method for branching out from your usual genres or authors.
Mar 16, 2021
Related Recs
😃
It’s important to note that my Amazon dilemma is particularly potent because I used to have a firm belief that the next book I bought had to be in-store. This was, in part, inspired by Fran Lebowitz (someone I both love and fear), who says you have to touch a book in person to truly decide on it.
But as I continued to shop in-store for my books in East London, I found that a type of hyper-curation takes place. Many bookstores, whether chains or independent, carry the same selection. This makes sense, as stores need to invest in books that are more likely to sell, but it also means shoppers are led into a quasi-algorithmic experience of book shopping. To find more niche titles, you almost always have to turn to online sources (see above). To find a happy medium, I’ve started using the resale site World of Books. You can find pretty much anything and everything there. and always at a discount
Sep 18, 2024
📚
I love record stores and the discovery that happens when old stock mixes with new. More recently I've been getting deeper into art books and love buying books for people as gifts. NYC has a great community of shops like Karma and Mast, and there’s a gaggle of independent vendors that work the fairs like the Printed Matter MoMA PS1 Art Book Fair. I started going to the fairs a few years ago. They are like record fairs but even crustier in some ways, full of curmudgeons and characters. Check The Booksellers documentary for a nice slice of this world. I have met a few dealers and developed some rapport, one of which is Jeff Hirsch Books in Illinois, which has an incredible inventory and their sales emails are one of my favorites of all types. Even if you don’t buy, you learn something.
Apr 6, 2021
😃
My local used bookstore. It’s a smaller, cozier version of stores like Strand and the general area is worth a visit (close to the park).
Mar 9, 2024
Top Recs from @molly-yelon
💁
You want to know what I’m fucking with right now?? MYSELF! Nothing makes me feel more powerful than when I feel good about myself. I’m certainly no stranger to feeling down about myself or not believing in myself, but I can usually pull myself out of those slumps with a face of makeup and a great outfit. Put on those jeans!! That skirt!! Those shoes!! Whatever makes you feel hot as shit, feeling hot is one of the only things we have anymore! I feel hot in black tights and a black skirt! Throw it on, and own your socially-distanced gathering!!! YOU are smart, cool, funny, and stunning!! And make sure to tell your friends they’re hot too!
Mar 16, 2021
🏋
I like working out, but the hardest part for me is getting up to actually do it. I try to entice myself to rise to the challenge with nice workout clothing that I think looks cool and makes me feel hot. Of course, this method has to include my workout gear as well. I started working out at home during the pandemic doing a mix of various workout videos, with my fave being @isaacboots Instagram live workouts, which require wrist and ankle weights. I decided to splurge on these very chic weights from bala bangles, because like 50% of the enjoyment of working out for me is the post workout selfies. They also make sleek hand weights if you’re not an ankle weight person.
Mar 16, 2021
🍸
Like all of the other things I’ve mentioned so far, I got into martinis for aesthetic purposes. I mean, is there another drink more chic and sexy than a martini? I don’t think so! I also hadn’t been a vodka drinker since my Sophomore year of college, drinking vodka crans at Lucy’s (IYKYK). It also makes me feel very cool and hot when I pull out my little martini shaker in my apartment to shake some up myself. I take mine extra dirty with olives and Kettle One vodka.
Mar 16, 2021