One of my favourite things to do in New York

The New York Public Library (NYPL) has several chapters spread across the city. For someone who doesn't even live in the city (or for that matter, in the US!) but loves books, the NYPL book sales are great fun, especially if you have a couple of hours to kill.

One such chapter of the NYPL with a regular book sale is the St. Agnes Branch, which is b/w 81st and 82nd Streets on Amsterdam Ave. Sales are on almost every 3 weeks or so. The sale books are to be found in the basement of the building. The counters are manned by wonderful, genial volunteers - quite a few of them members or former staff. I met one such friendly lady when I was there earlier this year and told her that it must rank among one of several, but little known pleasures of New York. I offered to post about it on my blog but it took me this much time to finally write it down. I would strongly recommend you visit the library and check out the collections. The rates are ridiculously cheap - with fantastic buys for $1-2.

Let me know if you are in the city sometime and manage to check out the sale. What I did was take a long walk around Central Park, shuffled across to the library, killed an hour or so, then got myself a coffee and then went back to the Park for another walk. Can't imagine a day better spent