Someone running across a phalanx of these self-professed "book nerds" wouldn't be wrong to sense a connection to 21st century pop music fandoms, the social networks supporting artists like Taylor Swift or Charli xcx. Bookstores with names like Slow Burn or Lovestruck sell bookmarks or other trinkets emblazoned with Swift lyrics alongside those with quotes from leading romantasy author Sarah J. Maas.
I always loved spending time at Midtown Scholar. It is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. It's a converted old theater with cozy wooden walls, several floors of books, a stage, a balcony filled with little tables and a coffee shop. Midtown Scholar is also one of poet Kate Baer's favorite bookstores. So on a rainy day last week, we met there to talk.
Mount Tabor Park's trails scale an extinct cinder cone volcano and meander alongside three reservoirs that once supplied the city with drinking water. In a city besotted with farmers' markets, the Saturday PSU Farmers Market is the biggest, and the only one that operates year-round. The many color-coded rooms in Powell's City of Books including a rare book room filled with signed copies and first editions hold more than half a million volumes total.
Events & Readings Poetry open-mics, topical discussions, author events, and more Politics and Prose A full calendar of events, and the Connecticut Avenue shop has a coffee-and-wine bar. Busboys and Poets A combination restaurant/event space/bookstore. Food events One More Page Pairs chocolate and wine with books and events and hosts a Boozy Book Fair. Book clubs, children's hours, and more
Barnes & Noble is experiencing tremendous growth as it opens new stores, having opened 23 bookstores in 2025 alone. The strategy of empowering local booksellers is proving successful.
