A Review of Green Hand Bookshop
661 Congress Street, Portland, ME
Green Hand is the kind of throwback second-hand bookshop you yearn to find, where new books sit side-by-side with old-school pulp paperbacks in every row, aisle, stack, and nook in a long tangle of a one-room shop. It’s the kind of place where you should ideally set aside more than an hour to explore, a whole afternoon if you’re ambitious. I mean, as the good doctor Hunter S Thompson said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right,” right? Well, I did it wrong and only gave the shop a quick half hour, but it was enough to fall in love.
With a logo straight from the noir pulps of yore, a big green hand greets you as you enter this magnificent shop. Long rows extend to the rear, each one stuffed with books and nooks covering all the genres and categories imaginable, but the ones that stood out to my particular interests included the copious amounts of pulp, potboilers, noir, mystery, sci-fi, horror, westerns, poetry, classic lit with cool older cover art you just can’t find anymore, spooky stuff, and the strange/occult titles that are sometimes protected with plastic sheeting and sometimes available to thumb through, the mass-market spines gently worn in ways that feel good in your hands. But there are plenty of newer books too, all manner of mainstream literary, recent topical non-fiction, historical explorations, memoirs and biographies, and yes, more and more occult specialties as I moved toward the rear. It was a cool, unique catalogue of titles.
And the vibe is also a fun throwback to the idea of a bookshop being a hangout spot. Not with a coffee shop or café where you need to pony up cash to chill, but the kind of place where readers and staff can talk shop, swap recommendations, and hunt up rarities side-by-side. While I browsed my way through there were a number of people doing just that, socializing over books and genres and sort of just chilling. It’s the kind of shop where you browse hoping a book will find you more than the other way around, but it’s also clearly staffed by people who can help you find just the weird little book you’ve been searching for. An absolute gem of a used bookshop. If you’re in Portland, make it a destination.
Atmosphere — A bookstore that celebrates throwback pulps, noir, and the occult as much as recent releases and mainstream fiction, just packed to the gills and begging you to come lose track of time for a couple of hours.
Quality — The books are in good shape, ranging from new to vintage paperbacks that have clear wear but are still chic and sought out for that very purpose—the feeling that these books are survivors and have their own stories to tell.
Quantity — There’s just a ton of books to sift through here, especially for a “one room” shop.
Diversity — You’ll find almost anything here, the usual assortment of classic fiction, history and biography, travel and YA, kids books and cookbooks, but loads of occult, noir, pulp, horror, sci-fi, etc.
Affordability — New books at new prices, and more rare vintage at a price you’d expect, but in between are lots of very affordable paperbacks.
Amenities — The shop is near some cafes and bars but you’re here to browse.
Location — At the corner of Avon and Congress, this shop sits at a great location in the heart of Portland because you can take Congress in either direction and find more bookshops, bars, cafes, hotels, etc. An extremely walkable area.
Customer Service — Plenty of staff were on hand and chatting with browsers.
Overall — Green Hand is a throwback bookshop where you roam towering stacks for new and vintage books alike, where time slips by and you end up chatting about your favorite horror novel, or a vintage series you forgot about, or a new collection of essays you didn’t know had dropped. It’s a literary nexus and well worth the time to stop in.
