Montreal’s independent bookstores offer readers a hearty supplement for their cultural and intellectual curiosities. Walking into each store feels like meeting a new character, each built from the ground up with unique qualities they hope to share with readers, if you’re willing to get to know them.
To show you where to start, The Tribune has compiled a guide to some of the best independent bookstores scattered across the city so you know exactly where to find the next comfort read to keep in your rustic messenger bag.
The Word, located just a few steps from McGill’s downtown campus on rue Milton, has been selling secondhand books since 1975. The store itself is small but plentiful, with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves stocked with every genre, from classics to music, fiction, and history. Rare first-edition, antiquarian, and collectible tomes sit among copies of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. The gas stove that rests against the wall of the store is a testament to its timeless nature, despite the ever-changing variety of books available.
L’euguelionne (pronounced: ler-gay-lee-onn, for novice French speakers) is located a bit further from campus on Rue Beaudry in The Village. The store is named for its specialty: French feminist literature; its name is aptly taken from Quebec’s first feminist novel, L’Euguélionne: roman triptyque (1976) by Lucile Durand under the pen name Louky Bersianik. As a non-profit solidarity co-op, its values radiate through its collection of new and used books, zines, and print art. The store’s diversity of media effectively conveys its commitment to anti-racism, anti-colonialism, feminism, and queer-positive principles.
Librarie MAKTABA
MAKTABA (meaning ‘bookshop’ in Arabic) awaits you in Montreal’s Old Port, cobbled into the neighbourhood’s stony aesthetic. Inside, a vast red Persian rug adorns the space for comfortable and effective reading. MAKTABA seeks to open visitors’ eyes with its collection of English-language books curated from far corners of the world. If you happen to be looking for an analogue soundtrack to accompany your reading, vinyl records are also sold in-store.
Looking for a great Francophone establishment? Ouais! Librairie Gallimard is nestled in Montreal’s Plateau-Mont-Royal district with an excellent selection of books en français. Its bright red exterior is hard to miss if you pass by, and the books inside are sure to ensnare you as well. Literary essays, philosophy, history, youth, Quebec history (if you don’t know where you live), and more line the shelves. Be sure to check out their website for literary events like their recent Against excess – Authoritarian excesses in America discussion with Jonathan Durand Folco, Mark Fortier, and Alain Roy.
Librairie Anarchiste L’Insoumise
Do you swing both ways? Librairie Anarchiste L’Insoumise is perfect for bilingual speakers with a propensity toward sudden and vigorous anarchism. Nestled down on boul. Saint-Laurent, be sure to bring cash, not card, because this store’s commitment trickles down to its accepted payment methods. After all, who else will fight against the ever-expanding power of the plastic card owned by the banks and corporations who seek to control you? Be sure to stop at Librairie Anarchiste L’Insoumise for radical and subversive texts rooted in the Libertarian Socialist movement.
Physical media allows us to be conscious of worlds, languages, and cultures that we would have otherwise never touched. Without this consistent supply of maps to the foreign from independent bookstores, we run the risk of sleeping through the changes that seek to suffocate us into unconsciousness.
