Good bookstore and choice of restaurant in Greenwich Village
 

Wanted: an intriguing bookstore for a book-loving 13 year old boy in GV. Also, your vote on these choices of restaurants for a Sunday lunch/brunch: Good, Jane, Cafe Reggio? Which would be the least crowded do you think? I know Jane takes reservations, but am unsure of the others.

I can't think of a better bookstore for a book lover than the Strand on 12th Street and Broadway. They claim to have 8 miles of books! I can lose the daylight browsing in there.

http://www.strandbooks.com/locations/

The Strand certainly has the largest selection in NYC. Note it doesn't open til 11 on Sun. If he's interested in mysteries you might want to visit Partners & Crime in the Village or Murder Ink on the upper west side.

Regarding the brunch/lunch question, I also found a place called 9th St. Market that sounds excellent. It is located between 2nd and 3rd. If we were to go there before we started our GV "tour", how far of a walk would it be to go west and see the village? Or should we just take a cab into the Bleeker St., Washington Square Park area? Sorry for all of these naive questions! I am trying to get my thoughts together for what to do and how to do it! :)

As the Chelsea parent of a book loving 9 year old - these are my suggestions. Although the Strand does have tons of books - it is, in my opinion, uncomfortable for browsing and reading . . . crowded and dusty and haphazardly organized. It carries mostly used, remainders and reviewers copies. It's great for Art and Architecture and out of print books, tho. . . .

If you want the quintessential independent GV bookstore, you could try Three Lives on Waverly Place - small and quaint. If you want everything: clean, good selection and places to sit and read, I hate to admit it, but the Barnes and Noble on Union Square fits that bill.

For another great independent store, for kids' and young adult books, the beautiful Books of Wonder on 18th between 5th and 6th is a wonderful place to spend an hour.

Now food: Good is good - but just that - a terrific brunch (with incredible desserts) can be had at City Bakery, also on 18th between 5th and 6th. Cafe reggio - does anyone actually eat there? I've heard Jane is ok - nothing spectacular.
All of these places are a fairly easy walk - the farthest from the bookstores mentioned is Jane on Houston.

Definitely the Strand, although it is mostly a used book store.

There is a small Barnes and Noble on 396 6th Avenue at 8th Street. But you might want to go to one of the larger Barnes and Noble either Union Square 33 East 17th Street or Chelsea 675 6th Avenue at 22nd Street.

I think mp's advice on bookstores is good. I too wondered whether the Strand would be overwhelming. As to Good, Zagat doesn't agree & says "Good is great"-however I've never been for brunch. It may not be the best place.

Since there are tons of brunch places, why not pick a bookstore first & then decide on eating? Tartine is another good brunch place but is small & gets very crowded unless you go early.

Try the Christopher Street Bookstore. He will love it. If he doesn't find anything up front that interests him, let him wander into the backroom. I'm sure he will find plenty of great discoveries there.

Thanks everyone so far- some great choices- I am afraid I will have to bring an egg timer with us- this child's idea of an incredible time is in any bookstore! ) He also is into comics. I saw in a guidebook that there is/was a comic book store called Village Comics- is it still there? The City Bakery sounds nice- I guess we will wander and hope to find something that doesn't have too much of a wait before we start our walking.

I see that the abusive post wasn't here very long.

I vote for the Strand if he's really a book-lover -- I think it's one of the great experiences of the English-speaking world.

The fact it's a used bookstore is what is super about it -- you don't know what you'll find. Books are very well organized, alphabetically within categories, except for paperbacks, which are organized by category but then you have to go through them. I loved doing that when I was a kid - and older - and maybe he will too.

Near the Strand - on same side of Bway - is Forbidden Planet, which is Teen Boy nirvana I think, a store devoted to comic book/comic-collector culture. (Mom - you might like to browse the shoe store across the street
if your boy is the kind of kid who'll be into Forbidden Planet. It can be slightly boring if you don't live and breathe super-heroes. Just one woman's opinion.)

The place on 9th St you are thinking of is a nice walk from the Strand. Then after the Strand you could take a deep breath and walk across 8th St to Fifth Avenue and Washington Square. Deep breath to prepare you for 2000 teen-agers' shoe stores. Or -- walk across 9th St, which is a shoe-store-free zone.

If you get to Three Lives (I like this store too, but it's small), be sure to also get yourselves to the Magnolia Bakery, on Bleecker St at 11th Street, for famous excellent cupcakes -at the least -which you must eat standing outside.