Comments (0) Best Literary Stew (1975) - 2010
Book Soup
One of the last large independent bookstores in Southern California, Book Soup, which bills itself as the “Bookseller to the Great and Infamous,” survived the death of longtime owner Glenn Goldman in 2009, as well as the competition from Internet shopping and the huge chain bookstores and their discounted wares. In fact, according to Book Soup staff, the West Hollywood landmark is booming. A big reason for that is Vroman’s, a major independent bookstore in Pasadena, which bought Book Soup after Goldman died, and over the past year has invested its deep-pocketed resources to maintain and build upon Book Soup’s inventory of more than 60,000 titles. Another reason is that Book Soup, which opened in 1975, still specializes in books customers crave in the areas of art, photography, film, music, literary fiction, L.A. noir, celebrity biographies and controversial nonfiction. The store continues to champion hard-to-find books by university, international and small presses, while offering author signings every week. If you want to learn about a world of ideas and transforming stories, Book Soup is the place to go. 8818 Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd. (310) 659-3110, booksoup.com. —Patrick Range McDonald
