Source: TDC Youtube
After an extensive review of video histories, The Daily Conversation is the best source I have found over the history of New York for those who are interested.
I started traveling to The Big Apple in July 2017 and have been a monthly visitor ever since. I always marveled at how travelers to the city came away in awe and with a desire to be a steady consumer of the lifeblood that allows the city to thrive. I typically stay in the Midtown District and make daily jaunts to explore areas such as the Garment District, China Town and Queens.
Image Source: Epicreads.com
During my visit in July 2017, a wonderful gentleman introduced me to Book Court. Being an avid reader, I was delighted by the surprise bookstore tour as our first date. I had the pleasure of speaking with several familiars over the history of the bookstall.
The location has tripled it space since its opening in 1981 and regularly plays host to from Kings County and beyond. For bibliophiles who are interested, this gem can be found in Boerum Hill.
Image Source: DNAinfo.com
What really made my heart sing on our book tour date was Greenlight Bookstore's reading series featuring immigrant authors. Immigrants are a major part of New York's history and present. After all, no one can lay claim to being a North American native other than the indigenous Native American peoples and it should be recognized that without immigration, this country wouldn't be the beacon of hope that it is to world.
We attending a reading on a Tuesday evening that featured fiction By Ian Bassingthwaighte, Live from Cairo
Live from Cairo features a lively debut novel about an impulsive American attorney, a methodical Egyptian translator, and a disillusioned Iraqi-American resettlement officer trying to protect a refugee who finds herself trapped in Cairo during the turbulent aftermath of the January 25 revolution.
The setting is Cairo, 2011. President Mubarak has just been ousted from power. The oldest city in the world is reeling from political revolution, its consequent hopes and fears, its violence, triumphs, and defeats. But for the people actually living there, daily life has not slowed down but become wilder, more dangerous, and, occasionally, freeing.
Dalia, a strong-willed Iraqi refugee who finds herself trapped in Egypt after her petition to resettle in America with her husband is denied. Charlie, her foolhardy attorney, whose frustration with the legal bureaucracy and complicated feelings for Dalia have led him to forge a not entirely legal plan to get her out. Aos, Charlie's fastidious translator and only friend, who spends his days trying to help people through the system and his nights in Tahrir Square protesting against it. And Hana, a young and disenchanted Iraqi-American resettlement officer; she is the worker assigned to Dalia's case, deciding whether to treat her plight as merely one more piece of paperwork, or as a full-blooded human crisis. As these individuals come together, a plot is formed to help Dalia. But soon laws are broken, friendships and marriages are tested, and lives are risked--all in an effort to protect one person from the dangerous sweep of an unjust world.(Source: www.greenlightbookstore.com)
I have not read the book (I'm backlogged on the books I need to read. Thank you all for the wonderful gifts of reading!) nor do I own it, but it was amazing hearing the author bring to life the characters of the book, live.
Image Source: www.killingwilliamsburg.com
Apparently this place was featured in HBO's Girls according to my paramour. This was the last stop our date and book tour. It reminded me of a bibliopole's storefront that I frequented often when I lived in the Southeast. Quaint and flush with the smell of old books and magazines, Spoonbill and Sugartown is a book connoisseurs heaven. We browsed their offerings, hand in hand, and took in the curious collection before us.
New York is a place filled with hidden gems and curious wonders and I look forward to exploring the nooks and crannies of this city each month.