Boston The Bookcellar Cafe US Map & Phone & Address
• 1971 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge; (617) 864-9625
A funky little book shop run by the same folks who brought you the famous Ave. Victor Hugo bookstore on Newbury Street, this Porter Square shop sells both new and used books. New titles, whether hardback or paperback, are all 10% off the retail price, while used books are generally about half of their cover prices.
As befits brainy Cambridge, literature is the specialty here, coupled with more unusual selections like a shelf of “Writers’ Lives,” or a whole section of poetry books. Plenty of sci-fi, too, and there’s a smallish area of kids’ and young adult’s books. Used magazines and literary journals, too.
Shelves in the adjacent cafe room hold a more random selection of older books. All paperbacks in the cafe are 500 (five for $1), and all hardbacks are $1 (six for $5). The organization in this area is loose, to say the least: Mine spotted a copy of the Bible next to a Judith Krantz romance! Great food and entertainment in the cafe, too see the listing under “Entertainment Readings and Literary Events” for more details.
