Cafes have been hubs of cultural activity since at least the 17th century, when Dutch painters took to gathering in local inns to eat dinner and have a friendly chat. Historians speculate that this happened simply because inns were better-heated than the artists' workshops. Over time, this tradition gave birth to such cultural institutions as Les Deux Magots in Paris, which still capitalizes on the glory of its former customers (Ernest Hemingway, for one) by charging an arm and a leg for a glass of lemonade. But apart from being social venues, cafes provided shelter for more solitary pastimes, such as reading. This trend is now becoming more and more prominent in Russia.

Not long ago, reading in a Soviet-style catering enterprise was unthinkable. Even if a customer were to ignore the uninviting atmosphere and open a book, he or she would be immediately rebuked by the waiter with something like, "What do you think this is, a library?" Several factors must combine in a cafe to make it a suitable reading place. First, it has to be cozy. Second, it has to be relatively quiet, which disqualifies many places in Moscow. Third, it must not be crowded. Fourth, it must be affordable, as few people would go to an expensive restaurant alone just to read. Lastly, the management has to tolerate clients spending a couple hours with just a cup of coffee.

It has become a rule of good taste for cafes in Moscow to have a stand with an assortment of magazines and newspapers. Books are seen somewhat less frequently, but places like Apshu, the club for aspiring intellectuals at 10 Klimentovsky Pereuolok, boast a haphazard -- and therefore extremely interesting -- collection of used books, brought in by staff and customers.

I took a quick poll of my friends and acquaintances to find out their favorite "reading cafes" in Moscow. Many mentioned popular chains such as Zen Coffee, Kofetun, Coffee House or Shokoladnitsa. Some singled out the Coffee Bean located in the former Filippov bakery at 10 Tverskaya Ulitsa, noting (Russians grudgingly, Americans approvingly) that "you can't smoke there." A couple of glamour journalists said that the posh Pushkin restaurant on Tverskoi Bulvar was also nice for the purpose.

A separate entity is the bookstore cafe. There are few British institutions I treasure more than cafes in London book supermarkets, where you can leaf through your catch and decide what to buy and what to discard. These are emerging here as well -- the Bookberry chain now has cafes in its stores, and Moskva-Medvedkovo on the northeastern outskirts of the city has recently opened one too, igniting the hope that the larger downtown Moskva will follow suit.