Classics like “You’ve Got Mail” and “Notting Hill” have ingrained the romantic and magical reputation of the urban bookstore into pop culture, and Cleo Le-Tan’s newest book “A Book Lover’s Guide to New York City” pays tribute to the mystic literary hubs throughout New York.
To celebrate the book’s arrival Le-Tan hosted a signing and champagne reception this past Thursday at Marc Jacobs’ West Village bookstore, Bookmarc. When speaking to The Knockturnal at the event about how this project started, Le-Tan said inspiration struck while she was at work.
“I wrote my first book in the Mulberry Street Library in Soho, so I wanted to do a book about libraries and that kind of sparked my interest. After that I sort of developed into bookshops and literary landmarks and also I thought it’d be good to do interviews with bibliophiles and book lovers for the book.”
For the stores and libraries featured in the book, Le-Tan says she just represented what she saw.
“It’s true that [bookshops] are romanticized in pop culture, but I also feel very much that it is like that in real life in New York. The people are just as romantic.”
Le-Tan’s father, the acclaimed French illustrator Pierre Le-Tan passed last month, and he provided the drawings for A Book Lover’s Guide. Le-Tan said that working together on this project was special.
“I love his drawings, it was a collaboration, and it would never be anyone else. So it was very exciting to get him to do the drawings for it, but it was definitely a process.”
“It was so fun to do it with him and it was so great because I love his art and his vision. It would have never happened without him.”
A Book Lover’s Guide to New York City is out now.
