Are you tired of going to Museum "bookstores" only to be met with designer tchotchke and Vincent Van Gogh coffee mugs, while the books are sadly relegated to a tiny shelf in the back corner of the store? If so, The Menil Bookstore is your antidote. In the current climate of big box retail giants The Menil Bookstore is a real treat. This bookstore has a more specialized, consistent, and diverse selection of art, architecture, and theory related texts in a friendly and intimate environment than almost any other in the state. Located in a small house across from The Menil Collection itself, the bookstore specializes in artist?s monographs, exhibition catalogs, critical theory, architecture, quarterly magazines, and the latest publications from all over the world. Looking for a Wallpaper City Guide to Paris with that Foucault text? Want a coffee table book of Houston architecture to accompany the latest issue of Parkett? Or maybe you would just like a postcard and a coffee? Whatever the reason for your trip, the Menil Bookstore will not disappoint. It is the perfect compliment to one of the best museum experiences in the country, and I would expect nothing less from an institution like The Menil. This is an institution that is about putting the work first, and the bookstore reflects this by carrying the most up to date texts surrounding the collection, and the larger art world, historical and contemporary. I am sure to stop in whenever I am in Houston and usually end up leaving with not only what I was looking for, but an armful of things I wasn?t. What more can you ask from a bookstore experience?
Pros: Great selection of art, architecture, and theory related texts, nice patio for coffee, hard to find publications, exhibtion catalogs, artist monographs, friendly and knowledgable staff
Cons: none
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