Best of Boston

Best Bookstore

2011 Best Bookstore

Brookline Booksmith

Brookline
As it marks its 50th year, this place is still free of the "ism"s (elitism, hipsterism) that characterize too many independent booksellers. Instead, it continues [...] read more»
2011 Best Bookstore, West

New England Mobile Book Fair

Newton Highlands
Forgive this book shop for its bizarre name and oddball location. Once you get past the tiny storefront, the Mobile Book Fair stretches through a [...] read more»
2011 Best Bookstore, Cape Cod

Parnassus Book Service

Yarmouth Port
Owner Ben Muse's bookshop is 56 years in the making, and it shows. Every spare inch of the space is jammed with books, from bodice [...] read more»
2008 Best Bookstore, North

Cornerstone Books

Salem
With tarry-awhile touches like overstuffed chairs, a fireplace, and a wee café offering bites from nearby bakery A&J King, this handsome independent shop encourages people [...] read more»
2008 Best Bookstore, South

The Blue Bunny

Dedham
Once in a blue moon, you get a Blue Bunny. Cofounded by children's author-illustrator Peter H. Reynolds (The Dot, The North Star) five years ago, [...] read more»
2008 Best Bookstore

Brookline Booksmith

Brookline
At heart, a bookstore's job is simple: Carry the latest and greatest. The Booksmith does this handily, while rising above Blahs & Noble to stand [...] read more»
2008 Best Bookstore, West

Newtonville Books

Newtonville
How did book lovers ever live without Itty Bitty Booklights and Page-a-Day calendars and frightfully clever refrigerator magnets? Quite nicely, as proven by this 10-year-old [...] read more»
2007 Best Bookstore

Harvard Book Store

Cambridge
Sticking it to the corporate chains is most satisfying when you can do so without, you know, sacrificing anything. Seventy-five years after Boston native Mark [...] read more»
2006 Best Bookstore, New Books

Brookline Booksmith

Brookline
Their fiction inventory is faultless; their nonfiction, superb. But it's Brookline Booksmith's book cellar that again propels this independent store to the top of the [...] read more»
2005 Best Bookstore

Brookline Booksmith

Brookline
It's not easy for an independent bookstore to weather the perfect storm of Barnes & Noble, Borders, and Amazon.com; more local favorites have closed this [...] read more»