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The Great Literary Trip: Day 11

 I'm back! Welcome to the Day 11 recap. 



Day 11

CITIES

Today was our Cambridge + Boston day, and I must say, Boston is certainly one of the better cities we've been to on this trip. I'm not a city girl, but Boston went fairly well today. Ubers and crosswalks and intersections: I feel like a city success tonight. 


BOOKSTORES

Brattle Book Shop
This bookstore was not originally on my Boston list; however, our docent at the Rosenbach suggested we go to this store, so we decided to give it a go. To be honest, it wasn't my favorite. The store is not in the best part of town, but that can mean you've really found an awesome store. Unfortunately, we did not find an awesome store. While it is advertised as a rare and used bookstore, which I would normally love, the selection was not amazing. The coolest thing, however, about this store is the outdoor stalls, and they are, in fact, very cool. I just hyped up this bookstore a little too much in my head (I suffer from "bookstore over-hyping." Let me know if you suffer from this affliction as well.) This bookstore's owner has a podcast about books. I am looking forward to listening. 




Trident Booksellers
This bookstore was also a little bit of a bust. Oh, the selection was perfectly fine, and a sweet little cafe was attached to it, but I'm really tired of politics being on display more than books in bookstores. Is it just me or is it the job of a bookstore to literally just sell us books? That's it. Book + store = a store that sells books. The best book stores display the books in categories and leave the rest to the consumer. Isn't that the beauty of a book shop? You pick up a book, draw your own conclusions, and either place the book back on the table or take it home (after paying of course). Clothing stores don't put "Republican clothes" or "Democrat clothes" or "Clothes for people with only *elevated* or *intellectual* views and ideas." They just put "skirts" or "jackets." That's it. Let the titles speak for themselves. Isn't that why books have covers, titles, and summaries on the back so that we don't have to just pick up a blank set of pages and hope for the best? Some bookstores actually drive more people away by promoting an exclusive set of ideas as inherently "right." This trip has shown me that the books a store places towards the entrance usually sets the tone for the rest of the experience in the shop. Trident had a book called I Hate Men right at eye level on the first shelf immediately inside the door. While I understand this title is (hopefully) hyperbolic, I don't find that very inclusive, as it alienates half of the world's population. It is certainly not the books' fault. 



LIBRARIES

The Boston Athenaeum
I'm about to tell you a sad story, so prep accordingly. My sweet father saw a magazine article about a week before we left on our trip about the Boston Athenaeum, a private collection and members-only research library. Daddy left the magazine open to the article on the kitchen table. I read the article and found that this would be an amazing stop on my literary road trip. I was so excited to see this intellectual watering hole, until about 24 hours ago. Each evening, I book tour tickets for each place we are going to the next day. Unfortunately, the art and architecture tour of the Athenaeum was completely SOLD OUT. (First, I'm happy it was sold out in the sense that this intellectual and impressive LIBRARY is doing well tourism-wise. Second, WHY WAS THE ATHENAEUM TOUR COMPLETELY FILLED UP ON A THURSDAY AFTERNOON?! Anyways, back to the regularly scheduled programming.) The man at circulation told us that we could come back at 3:00 pm, the time of the tour, to see if some people did not show up. When we came back, everyone showed up. Good for them; bad for us. The Boston Athenaeum is currently undergoing some *serious* construction, so we would not have been able to tour most of the impressive building anyways. That makes me feel 1% better. I decided to learn about the famous library for myself. I will share a little bit of my newly acquired knowledge with you now. 

"The mission of the Boston Athenæum is to engage all who seek knowledge by making accessible our library’s collections and spaces, thereby inspiring reflection, discourse, creative expression, and joy." Founded in 1807, the Athenaeum combines the advantages of a public library with the great works of literature in science. Today, the collections contain half a million volumes mostly made up of Boston and New England history, biography, English and American literature, and the decorative arts. 


The Boston Public Library
My experience at the Boston Public Library was absolutely wonderful. I would like to dedicate an entire post to this visit when I reach home (if I ever get back to my house again...fingers crossed we make it in one piece). Here are some pictures from today. I am planning a long and in-depth post about transitioning libraries from antiquity to modernity where I will include this entire experience. 






Widener Library
The main library at Harvard University is certainly lovely from the outside. We did not get to go inside, but we did eat dessert on the famous steps. That was good enough for me. Library + cheesecake cup = pure bliss. 




I took 18,176 steps today. Check back in tomorrow for another recap. 

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