AN INVITATION FROM THE MILLIONS BLOG:

Join Us: The First Annual Millions Walking Tour of NYC Indie Book Stores.
One of the supreme pleasures of reading is the way adventures begun on the page - or on the screen - take on a life of their own.

Since posting our revised and expanded "Walking Tour of New York's Independent Bookstores" last week, we've been overwhelmed by great feedback.

Now, the siren call of an afternoon of leisurely urban hiking having proven too enticing to resist, we've decided to make our hypothetical tour a reality. This May, we're going to convene the First Annual Millions Walking Tour of New York's Independent Book Stores. Notwithstanding the tough environment facing indies, we'll get a chance to celebrate some of New York's best, to explore what keeps them vital - and to hang out with fellow readers.
The details:
Time and date: Saturday, May 2nd, 11am (rain date Sunday May 3rd, 11am).
Itinerary:
While our online tour features 11 stops, for our first attempt in person, we've decided to shorten it to a more manageable six stops (and an approximate total distance of 4.5 miles).

At 11am, we'll meet at Three Lives (154 West 10th Street at Waverly Place) -(pic left from a couple of Christmases ago).

From there we'll venture to Housing Works Used Book Cafe (126 Crosby St. between Prince and Houston), where we'll try to snag some sort of coffee and snack special for those who like to nosh while they browse.
Then it's around the corner to McNally Jackson (52 Prince St. between Mulberry and Lafayette). pic right.
Then a few blocks to Bluestockings (172 Allen Street between Stanton and Rivington)

The next leg, taking us over the bridge to Brooklyn and to BookCourt (163 Court St. between Pacific and Dean) will be by far the longest (about 3 miles).
And we'll wrap things up at Freebird Books & Goods (123 Columbia St. between Kane & Degraw), which will host a little backyard party with beer and refreshments.
With about a half hour at each stop, we anticipate that the whole tour will take three or four hours. We hope that you will join us. Anyone can just show up and come along, but if you RSVP to mailto:themillionsbookstoretour@gmail.com?Subject=RSVP, we'll be able to alert you if we need to postpone due to weather.

The whole thing is going to be informal - no tour bus, no red umbrella - and if you want to try to catch up with us partway through, you are welcome to, but the only way to be sure to be with the group is to show up at Three Lives at 11am.

Garth and Max will be leading the jaunt and we'll likely be joined by one or two other Millions regulars. Please join us! If all goes well, perhaps we'll reassemble in 2010 for another tour, focusing on the uptown venues we'll be neglecting this time around.

Footnote:

How The Bookman would love to be there for this walking tour. It includes two of my favourite New York bookstores, Three Lives and McNally Jackson. Honorary Kiwi Cheryl Sucher (and occasional reviewer for the Sunday Star Times & NZ Listener) is at McNally Jackson and visiting NZ'ers can always be assured of a warm welcome. I'll keep this itinerary and the next time I have the great fortune to be in NY I'll do the tour myself.