Best spots to read: quiet cafés and peaceful spaces
“Places where you can sit for two hours with a book and no one bothers you.”
Busboys and Poets
2021 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009
“Bookstore-café-restaurant on 14th St NW, large space with good wifi and no pressure to leave, weekday mornings are the working-friendly version”
Library of Congress
101 Independence Ave SE, Washington, DC 20540
“The Main Reading Room is one of the best interiors in DC and most visitors don't know there's a free public gallery overlooking it”
Dupont Circle
Dupont Circle, Washington, DC 20036
“The actual park is small with chess tables and a fountain, but the neighborhood around it is one of the most walkable in DC with good bookstores, cafés and restaurants”
Finding somewhere to read
Reading in public works when the spot is genuinely quiet, the light is decent, and no one's playing music at volume. These places have been tried for exactly this: sitting with a book for an extended stretch without feeling like you need to order something every 20 minutes.
Some are cafés that happen to be calm, some are parks with good benches, some are spots most people walk straight past.
Worth sharing
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