Lately, my favourite bookstore has been a small shop called 'Raven' in harvard square.
It deals only in used scholarly books. The quite and dark non-confronting landscape of the store makes you feel immediatly at home. Unlike the other large commercial stores I mostly make my purchases at, this is a very small 'mom & pop' store with freshness and novelty.
They play interesting non-conventional music and everytime I have been in the store, I got delightfully introduced to an interesting new artist. Try 'Manu Chao' and you won't be disappointed. However, please be informed that it is all french and spanish.
I can't think of a place other than Harvard where such a store can survive.
The bookshelves are diverse and yet, structured at the core. As you browse through the sections of India, China and other parts of the world, you can't help but notice the distinct difference among the varieties of books.
Books on India mostly deal with the wounds of the age-old civilization and the challenges related to economic liberation. The narratives are often deep and critical of the government and the elite alike. The books are a testimony to the democratic values of the country.
This feelings becomes more sharp as you look at the section on China. The books about China all have a mystic title. As if the authors are trying to explore the unknown and the content always falls short of comprehensiveness. This speaks a lot about the role of individual and the freedom of expression in this famously oppresive state.
The section of Asia is also dense with books about the darkness of Afghanistan. The pain is described in poetic eloquence by intense american authors. How ironic that much of that pain is caused by their own country men.
As you move to the books on Germany, you can't miss the sub-section of Holocaust.
The imagery becomes to too heavy by this moment and if you are still man enough to be in the section, you can give me an advice or two about how to control emotions.
The other shelf I found is of great value is the one on 'media and society'. I ended up purchasing a book from this section titled 'Self-Help, Inc'. The book deals with many doubts you always harbor about Stephen Covey and other authors who sell the idea that it is possible to shift to an alternate reality. The author does a fine job of dislodging the claims of all the semi-bogus authors.It may be the one book I want to gift to my cousins in teenage if they should ever ask me any questions related with "before and after".
An other interesting book I found was titled 'Forbidden Knowledge'. A philiosphical exploration of the dark side of human ingenuity and imagination.
I quote from an analytical passage of the book:
"SARA: Axel! [He is pensive]. Axel, are you forgetting me already? The world is out there. Let's go live!
AXEL: No. Our existence is already fulfilled. Our cup runneth over. All the realities, what will they be tomorrow compared to the mirages we have just lived?"
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