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Skyline Books NYC
Rating Details »
Category: Bookstores [Edit]
Neighborhood: Flatiron13 W 18th St
(between 5th Ave & Avenue Of The Americas)
New York, NY 10011
(212) 759-5463
- Nearest Transit:
-
14th St-6th Aves (F, V, L, 1, 2, 3)
23rd St-Broadway (R, W)
Union Square (4, 5, 6, L, N, Q, R, W)
- Hours:
Mon. 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tue-Sat. 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
- Price Range:
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$
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"This is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. With three floors, 10 foot-high stacks and a seemingly endless number of books, I could…" read more »
13 reviews for Skyline Books NYC
Has a rambling old-school feel and plenty of space to display books. Apparently there have been sales going on for quite a while, and some of the stock seems depleted right now -- although there are still plenty of high-end firsts and art books in the cases, some of which are even being discounted. Still, I found a few good obscure titles, and I'm glad I made the trip.
Prices (after discount) for general books were inexpensive to moderate, rare books ranged from inexpensive to a bit pricey.
PS. Agree with Jennifer, the cat seems to be having behavioral or health problems -- it fled as soon as I or the owner approached. It's hard to know what to do with an unfriendly bookstore cat.
Skyline is old school. It's one of those used bookstores that has a LOT of stuff-- some of it quite interesting, some of it less interesting, some of it ready for the trash. With enough digging around, I can find at least 3 or 4 things here worth buying, and the price is right.
On another note, I absolutely LOVE the Skyline cat (someone has posted pictures of Mr. Lovely Cat here on Yelp). In fact, any time I go there, I spend time cuddling Mr. Lovely Cat. That said, Skyline is starting to smell distinctly cat-ish (particularly cat pee-ish) and it makes me wonder if Mr. Lovely Cat is getting the attention he needs. So please, Mr. Skyline Owner, take good care of Mr. Lovely Cat who is just so sweet and adorable, and please air out the rear right hand side of the bookstore which is smelling far too litter box-esque.
UNIQUE SELECTION, GREAT CHARACTER
This place reminds me of the type of bookstore in the movies.
It's not like Barnes & Noble at all. This is a real bookstore.
If I say it myself I have frequented and over-frequented bookshops in the last twenty years; on sundry continents. Henley-on-Thames... Wallingford... Reading... Oxford... London... Canterbury... Norwich... Cromer... New York... California... I have little to impart from this experience except perhaps that most booksellers are mad and thwarted.
I too have worked in the booktrade, I should add. "Et in Arcadia ego." So I believe I have a handle on this thing called bookselling. It's so easy to do, really, and yet so many people make a foul and ludicrous botch of it.
New York has some very good bookshops. There is Strand of course, for all its sins, as well as the place round the corner from Strand. Then there's Mercer Street, noble Housing Works, and by far best of all (now unfortunately transposed to downtown Brooklyn) what was Twelfth Street Books.
There's also Skyline but that's always been a last resort. It is only impressive to that Yelper (below) who usually shops in Barnes and Noble or Borders and so who habitually remarks of second-hand bookstores that they are "the type of bookstore in the movies." This is becoming quite a well-worn cliche among people who go to bookshops once a decade.
No; Skyline is merely average in the first place. That is, until one takes into consideration the two considerable negatives afoot here; the prices and the service.
As to the prices, you may decide for yourself; but I will expound a little anent the little grey man who sits there all the time smoking cigarettes and typing on the computer.
This little fellow is decidedly funny-peculiar. He sits there morosely amid the ruins of his shop, seemingly wishing that this world of appearances would vanish and begone from him, leaving him in the realm of pure introspection; THOUGHT.
He swears that the world of appearances is the Devil's!
Is that Zoroastianism? Is it Neoplatonism?
Be that as it may, if he wants quiet and solitude he should of course not SIT IN THE MIDDLE OF A BOOKSHOP. Yet this he does; all the live-long day.
So since there he was, and after hunting high and low for a book for about ten minutes here I was, I hesitantly but affably wondered aloud whether I might ask him something.
He scowled and groaned. I took this for an assent.
I had a sense just by regarding him that he would be a cranky little snot; but of course we must not judge people by their appearances after all - that way lies trouble - and so I, as I say, affably asked whether he knew the whereabouts of a book that I had seen there only last week and which I couldn't now find.
Without looking up from the screen he grumbled something inaudible, low and gruff, finishing with "or we might have sold it for all I know."
Or for all I care, he might as well have added.
I was none the wiser and he was unforthcoming.
He made Fred Bass suddenly seem like scintillating company.
I say in that moment I actually pictured Fred Bass as a kindly old grandfather to booklovers of the city.
Is there a worse indictment possible of FRIEND GRAYLOCKS in Skyline Books?
I have noticed lately, sadly, that the bookshops and libraries of this our city are neck-deep in, and chock-full of, embittered, crabby rascals muttering and glowering in their nooks.
Come on, lads, is this what letters has done to us?
Here are the sad and disappointed characters, angry because life has not equalled the spangled world promised to them by classic literature. This the error of Emma Bovary and Tom Sawyer alike.
Plato would have thrown them out of the Republic.
I can understand that, in part. I indulgently considered myself "a Quixote among Oblomovs" for a while in my twenties, in London. "The Walter Mitty of the Holloway Road." Do you remember? The trouble is that these people are furthermore, to a man, buffoons.
So my little man and I had completed our exchange and he fiercely returned to his magnum opus on the screen before him.
As I turned on my heel, I remarked ironically "I beg your pardon. For a moment I was under the mad impression that you worked here!"
"I DO work here," he grunted.
"No," I replied. "You certainly don't."
Simply put, Skyline Books is a total crapshoot.
Located on the very busy 19th Street, this humble store is a complete disconnect from the busy and fashionable Flatiron District right outside. Entering the store, you get the impression of traveling back into a time before computers, mega-chain bookstores, and fire hazard codes. The store is like something out of a movie as the (stereotypically) charmingly shambled shop where piles and piles of books line the floor and shelves and an intriguing (if not erratic) owner lords over the literary disarray with little interest in your coming and going.
This shop is definitely a book forager's shop and not one for those with a weak sense of adventure. If you prefer your bookstores with organized shelves, clearly marked prices, and pristine covers, this place is not for you. But if you're one who doesn't mind combing through titles for hours on end, Skyline, with its jumbled collection, can be quite a treat.
And though Skyline Books is undeniably eclectic, it seems fortuitously so, rather than being consciously wide-ranging. Now, let me clarify that rather muddled statement. If you were to tell me that during your visit to Skyline, you've found the book that your great grandmother used to read to you during stormy nights, I would not be surprised. But with that said, if you scan through the mixed collection, you'll see that there's really no order or thought behind the assemblage.
I have to admit that I have been and am disappointed by the selection, especially the fiction. Though the shelves are lined with smart choices, they are, as one may expect, heavily Anglo-American in their selections. And while this may be helpful for you folks who read nothing but works of the New Yorker alumni, it can be vexing if you're looking for a translated work. Also, their selection for non-fiction seems haphazard and outdated.
The real gems of the store are in the "random finds" pile. From beautifully illustrated complete Grimm's fairy tale collections to a first edition Jon Dos Pasos to comic books, Skyline has a healthy assortment of treasures for you to enjoy... once you find them, of course.
With all this said, if I had to describe Skyline with just one word, I'd really only use the word "crapshoot". I've came and left here several times with empty handed. And other times, I've left with my arms full of great finds. My two favorite buys so far have been Kenzaburo Oe's (and if you've been reading enough of my bookstore reviews or random babblings, you'd know he's one of my favorite authors of all times) "A Personal Matter" for $3.50 and an advance reading copy of Saul Bellow's "A Theft" for $10 (I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Bellows, but that I wanted an advance reading copy for my amateur book collection).
There is also a $10 minimum for credit cards. The cool thing about the store is that because they have such eccentric titles lounging all around the store, if you're ever short for the minimum, you could pick a book randomly and find it to be a pretty interesting read.
That's how I found my copy of a Robin Moore book from the 70s. It was called, "The Making of the Happy Hooker," and let me tell you, I raised more than a few eyebrows reading that one on the subway.
I classify books into three categories.
1) The first is the academic/educational type - like school textbooks and work-related references. For these, I use http://amazon.com.
2) The second is the recreational, for-leisure type - mostly fictional, suspense novels. For these, I go to Borders so I can carefully pick and choose.
3) The third is the purely RANDOM type - books that I pick up without any expectation, but only to discover something new. For these, I stop by at Skyline Books.
At Skyline, you can let yourself be completely open and random. There are sooooo many different kinds of books here from various generations and locations. They're used, but mostly in good conditions. The store itself is small and cramped, but you'll find more variety and history packed into the shelves than anywhere else. It's mind-boggling.
Plus, every book should be recycled, no? And reading second-hand books is a unqiue experience in and of itself. You get to flip through the pages, wondering what the previous readers were thinking when they flipped them...
So yeah, all I need now is MORE TIME so that I can actually read all three types of books!
I wasn't sure what to expect when I walked into this bookstore with a few minutes to kill before meeting up with friends at The City Bakery. I certainly wasn't expecting to see a stack of Mad Magazines dating from the 1950s. Then, just above it, could it be?
Don Martin, my favorite Mad Magazine cartoonist of my youth, possessor of a truly warped sense of humor and engineer of the finest comic sound effects to ever appear in printed media. A paperback book filled entirely with Don Martin. My eyes popped.
BADOINGADOING!
I grabbed my newfound treasure off the shelf.
SHOONK!
I took it to the cashier, who rang it up for me
KACHINGACHINKA DING!
Five dollars plus tax. Come here and see what treasures you can find.
After a meeting in the neighborhood for work, I stopped in for a looksee on the way back to the office. The bookstore is relatively cluttered in its appearance, but they have a great selection. The New York bookshelf yielded a couple of solid finds for reasonable prices, and then, as I browsed the rest of the store, I came across the '60s section. The '60s section should really be called the Beats section, and Skyline has one of the more impressive offerings of Beat and Beat-related writings for a used book store.
As I was checking out, I chatted a bit with the guy working the store. His name is Rob, and it turns out that Carl Solomon -- one of the authors whose books I picked up today (and the fella to whom Allen Ginsberg dedicated "Howl") -- used to work at the store. He worked there for a few weeks before he became ill and passed away, said Rob, who went to Solomon's funeral.
So it makes sense that the Beats section is what it is. A bookshop I'll return to! (And right across from Books of Wonder, so you can hit both in short order.)
i just received an email from Abby at Skyline books saying that the cashier I had a really bad experience with is gone. As I mentioned to her, I'd met sanitation workers in a better mood than this guy. Knowing that I won't have to deal with him again, I've added a star and will go back with the hopes that I will not be humiliated with a snarky "duh.. used books go up in price!"-ittude when I double check on a price that seems (just seems, but who knows) high. I thought it was quite nice that she sent the email, and fyi yelpers, there's a 30% off summer sale goin on right now. Have I been won over by niceness? Yes. Yes I have. Am I excited about supporting an independent bookstore again? Hellz yeah. Kitties and books, here I come.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/12/2009
the kitty here is very sweet, but the staff is pretty snarky.
while i did find some gems, i was a… Read more »
This used book store has a good selection of used books in stock. You may not always find what you want but you will always find what you didn't know you wanted. They're selections are a bit eclectic but you will always find something interesting on the shelves.
Four and a half. You don't find the book you wanted here. It's more like a book-you-didn't-know-you-needed kind of joint. Now that The Strand redecorated, we need a new favorite. Come to shift and shuffle.
Yes, Strand has redecorated and Strand has become NYC mainstream...but so what? It's still as good as ever and this shop is definitely no Strand's. However, it does have an extremely interesting selection and the vibe is good.
Great book store to browse. You'll find somethign interesting that you never knew was there.
