Best of Boston

Much more than best-sellers and self-help, this complex two-store shrine to the written word stocks and discounts almost everything from Aristotle to Zagat’s. Books are displayed in a way that makes bibliophiles quiver— it’s kind of a cocktail party for readers, with quirky reads scattered throughout the stacks. Bonus: Great people-watching, especially if you’re studying, say, the sociology of the attempted literary pickup scene.