{"id":18225,"date":"2011-07-12T15:26:06","date_gmt":"2011-07-12T19:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=18225"},"modified":"2011-07-12T19:20:17","modified_gmt":"2011-07-12T23:20:17","slug":"the-secret-bookstore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2011\/07\/12\/the-secret-bookstore\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret Bookstore"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch this beautiful video about Brazenhead Books, a secret bookstore that\u2019s been tucked away in Michael Seidenberg<\/a>\u2019s apartment on the Upper East Side ever since the rent for his original retail space in Brooklyn was quadrupled. (Jonathan Lethem used to work there<\/a>.) \u201cThis would have not been my ideal,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have thought I want to have a bookshop in a location no one knows about.\u201d But Brazen says it\u2019s a continuation of being the kind of bookseller he wants to be\u2014not on the street, not at book fairs, but inside, the shelves lined with first editions, knickknacks, and, one hopes, a cat. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s my familiarity with failure,\u201d he adds. \u201cI find ways to survive without it making enough money to be what you would call a successful business. If it\u2019s all about money, there\u2019s just better things to sell.\u201d And how do those of us who\u2019ve never been find him? He\u2019s in the phone book, he says with a smile. Hiding in plain sight.<\/p>\n