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Hidden-away bookstores and other ways to get your muse on

yeager-bookstorePhoto: Morgan Ione Yeager

L

ike everyplace else, brainy Boston has been hemorrhaging bookstores, what with the attack of online retailers and the iPad. In fact, Boston still ranks first in the nation in the number of bookstores per capita, and, with one percent of the population, we buy 3.3 percent of the books, including 4 percent of all biographies, 4 percent of histories, and 3.5 percent of all adult nonfiction. There remain some great hideaways for bibliophiles,tucked away in quiet corners. Some are hard to find, or eerily quiet. But don’t judge a book by its cover. These are the places you can go and get your muse on. Here, to inspire you: seven great secrets for book-lovers.

1


A bookstore where everything is half price
 

2


A tiny surviving gem of a bookshop
 

3


A
science book club for the really, really smart
 

4


A used-book store with a kitschy secret treasure
 

5


Unusual meals and great reads in the same place
 

6


A local bookstore in all the meanings of the word
 

7


A store that sells only science fiction and fantasy books
 

8


A never-ending used-book store, with hidden bargains
 

9


How to get into America’s largest private library
 

10


A warehouse full of books you never knew you wanted