Art, literature coalesce at 10th Ave. bookstore

By Charlotte Cowles

Although the early spring evening was cool, the interior of Chelsea’s 192 Books was almost stiflingly warm as listeners packed together, filling up wooden folding chairs, standing in the back of the tiny bookstore and sitting on the floor like children in a library.

“There’s a coziness about the space,” said Kristen Elde, 30, who had come from Park Slope to attend a reading this week by memoirist, novelist and short-story writer Tobias Wolff. Wolff, looking every inch a distinguished author with his white mustache, wire-rimmed spectacles and black turtleneck, read two of his short stories aloud in a low, clear voice before taking questions from the audience and speaking with humorous candor about his writing.

“People are always surprised at how intimate this bookstore is—that you can come here and be so close to a notable author,” said 192 Books manager Patrick Knisley.

The boutique bookstore, located on 10th Ave. at 21st St., is able to attract such an impressive roster of authors mainly due to its owners, Jack Macrae and Paula Cooper, both big names in the world of art and literature. Macrae, a book publisher with his own imprint under Henry Holt, is heavily involved in the store’s selection of literature, which ranges from children’s books to literary translations. Cooper, an art dealer with her own gallery less than a block away in the gallery district, chooses the store’s art books and curates its exhibition space—namely, one large wall and a small area behind the cash register.

This is what makes 192 Books a hybrid in many senses. Both bookstore and art gallery, it provides general-interest literature for locals, picture books for young children, and serious art and literary theory titles for scholars. It draws together tourists and longtime residents under its tiny roof, functioning as a throwback to the old Chelsea with its original storefront and homey, small-neighborhood feel. At the same time, it ushers in the new era of Chelsea as a hotbed of contemporary literature, art and ideas.

“We definitely have a lot of loyal Chelsea customers,” said Knisley, citing picture books as especially popular among the neighborhood’s families with young children. However, the store also relies heavily on the gallery-goers that flow through the neighborhood. “When the galleries are not open, we are not busy,” he added.

Founded in April 2003, the bookstore’s guiding principle is, according to Knisley, “that people should always be surprised when they come here.” The store’s breadth and depth of merchandise illustrates a sense of competent whimsy as well as a confident knowledge of the many facets of the literary world. A nearby tabletop displayed a richly illustrated children’s book, “The Mighty Asparagus” by Vladimir Radunsky, alongside Richard Price’s new urban thriller, “Lush Life.” Cookbooks cozied up to translated works on the crowded shelves.

Knisley said that the owners have incorporated artwork into the space so that the Paula Cooper Gallery is “umbilically connected” to the store. The art that currently hangs on the walls—one large canvas painted a rich golden yellow and printed with the words, “YOU ARE ALONE SLOW DOWN THERE IS NO ONE TO PLEASE BUT YOUR” followed by the beginnings of an “S”—is clearly textual. “It’s not always text-related or writer-oriented, but it’s nice when it works out that way, and she often tries,” Knisley said of Cooper’s art selections.

aMacrae and Cooper are themselves longtime Chelsea natives, having previously lived on 21st St. and now residents of London Terrace on 23rd St. and 10th Ave. They are both familiar presences in the store. “Paula walks this way to work,” Knisley noted.

The reading series, which has grown in reputation since the store’s founding, has included authors such as Joan Didion, John Ashbery and Orhan Pamuk. Last year the store was named “Best Store to Hear an Author” in New York magazine’s “Best of New York” issue.

“We set a pretty high bar,” Knisley said, adding that the store invites emerging authors to read, as well as established award-winners. “Sometimes we take a chance, and it doesn’t work out,” he added.

But frequent visitors to 192 Books readings seem to think it’s working out just fine. “Everyone I’ve heard here seems well-suited to this environment—you know, they’re comfortable reading in this intimate setting,” Elde said.

Kimberlee Salmond, 31, said that readings at 192 Books are drastically different from the usual auditorium setting at colleges or libraries. “You usually don’t get that intimate feeling that I did in here,” she said.

The quiet, close quarters give rise to a more informal feel in the author’s discussion, both women agreed. Wolff appeared at ease, joking about his writing process and poking fun at his narratives. “I have been writing stories for a long time now, and I’ve never had a talking dog before,” he said regarding “Her Dog,” one of the short stories he had read aloud.

At the end of the night, flushed listeners spilled out onto 10th Ave., clutching their freshly signed books and happy to stretch their legs. Commented one woman, “It was almost a little too cozy in there.”